[The Survival Record of Workers in New Employment Forms①] Takeaway riders deliver meals for you and me. Where do they eat?
In recent years, with the vigorous development of the platform economy, more and more workers have tried to make a living on the platform.
The number of new employment forms such as takeaway riders, courier brothers, and online ride-hailing drivers has increased significantly.
They provide great convenience for people's life and work, allowing you and me to use your fingertips and enjoy many services without leaving your home.
While these new forms of employment are busy running around in big cities, we can’t help thinking about how well they are living away from home.
Deliver food to us, where do they eat?
Help us deliver things home, where is their home?
What to do if workers in the new form of employment work hard in the city and get sick or injured?
Recently, reporters from the Workers' Daily visited several new employment forms of workers in Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Wuhan, Changsha, Zhengzhou and other places to find out how they eat, live, and seek medical treatment.
From today, this edition launches a series of reports on the Survival of Workers with New Employment Forms, so stay tuned.
I hope that they will be treated with gentleness who are struggling in the city.
--editor
Taking orders, picking up meals, delivering meals, takeaway riders is a profession dealing with "meals".
When they arrive at a meal, they shuttle between the streets and alleys, rushing between the buildings, racing against time to deliver steaming meals to the people.
However, where do they eat?
"Worker's Daily" reporters visited the lives of takeaway riders in Beijing, Shenzhen, Chengdu and other places to appreciate the ups and downs of the food delivery...
Beijing rider:
Cheap restaurants are not easy to find, eat on the roadside when waiting for orders
At 10 o'clock on September 24, Beijing was rainy and rainy. On the street next to the North Third Ring Global Trade Center, Han Leiqiang ended the delivery of food during breakfast. He parked the electric car on the side of the road and prepared to have breakfast.
While the rain was getting weaker, he quickly took out a cup of soy milk and drank it with his head up. The hot steam made the glasses foggy. Because of the urgency of drinking, the raincoat was also splashed with soy milk.
He didn't care too much, and while drinking, he took out two biscuits to satisfy his hunger.
This breakfast cost 9.5 yuan.
"Beijing is too big. Cheap restaurants are not easy to find, and they are far away from places where orders and food are delivered. I often go by wherever I go, just buy something to pack, and wait on the side of the road for one-sided eating." Han Leiqiang has been working for 6 years. The rider, due to the recent drop in unit price, he started taking orders from breakfast.
Between talking to the reporter, Xindan was dispatched, and he stuffed most of the biscuits into his mouth, and galloped away.
At 13:30, Meng Jun, who was running with Han Leiqiang in the Hepingli area, was about to stop work for dinner, and suddenly received a call from a customer: The noodles delivered were only soup, not noodles.
He immediately contacted the merchant and sent another copy.
At 14:30, there were fewer orders, and he had to think about his lunch.
At a fast-food chain restaurant, he ordered a pickled cabbage fish for a rider's discounted price of 11.5 yuan.
The reporter visited in Beijing and found that many takeaway riders did not have time to eat breakfast due to “lack of time and fear of delay in taking orders”.
At the dining location, the riders have no fixed place to eat. Except for merchants with preferential packages and low-priced small shops, many of them eat takeaways on the side of the road.
The takeaway riders in charge of popular business districts feel this deeply.
To take more orders, some riders are staring at their phones even while eating.
"Sometimes I just buy something and eat it directly on the lunch box." Although Pang Qinglong, the rider in charge of the Financial Street area, has been a rider for less than a year, he has been in the forefront of the rider running list several times. In August, he delivered a total of 2,585 orders. The running order ranks third in the area where it is located.
At 20:45, after the evening peak, Pang Qinglong came downstairs to a shopping mall in Xidan.
"The neighborhood is very expensive, and this mall is relatively cheap." He took off his helmet and ordered beef noodles, which was a rare relaxing moment of the day.
It has been nearly 12 hours since his last meal, which was breakfast.
The reporter saw that the peak ordering period had passed by this time, and many riders were coming in and out here.
Shenzhen rider:
Waiting for orders at any time, not daring to run away for dinner
At 13:30 on September 24, next to an office building in Longgang District, Shenzhen, white-collar workers hurried back to the office after lunch. Takeaway rider Chen Zuo received an order and sent it from Minzhi Street, Longhua District to Bantian Street, Longgang District. 4 kilometers, half an hour for the whole journey.
Hurry up and hurry up. After delivering the order within the specified time, Chen Zuo was already hungry, so he settled for lunch at a roadside fast food restaurant.
"I start delivering food at 7 o'clock every day, and I carry it until 13:30 for lunch." On the same day, Chen Zuo ordered two meat and two vegetables, 13 yuan, and free rice.
He sat down with a serving plate, before he could take off his helmet, he took a sip of the soup, and then ate it hungrily.
Chen Zuo said that he chose to choose fast food on the one hand, because it is economical, and on the other hand, he can eat quickly.
Chen Zuo has delivered meals in Longhua District for 3 years, delivering nearly 40 orders a day.
“Sometimes before 12 o’clock, I’m too hungry, say hello to the stationmaster, and quickly find a fast food restaurant to eat.” Chen Zuo said, in this case, you must eat quickly, and don’t dare to delay too long. Hurry up.
Longhua District's large supermarket Yifangtiandi is a place where takeaway riders gather and wait for orders.
Usually, most of them are holding their mobile phones, sitting straddle on the electric cars, chatting from time to time, and paying more attention to the reminders of orders in their phones.
There are many restaurants in Yifangtiandi.
Rider Fang Liwen picks up half of his orders every day.
He doesn't dare to run far to eat at ordinary times, so he usually chooses a cheap place nearby.
Because he likes to eat noodles, Fang Liwen often goes to a beef noodle restaurant for about 10 yuan a bowl of noodles.
Sometimes, he would go to the supermarket to order noodles to improve food, but the price doubled.
Compared with Longhua District, Nanshan District and Futian District are full of tall buildings, and the cost of meals for riders is higher.
In the afternoon of September 22, the reporter visited here and saw many takeaway riders who had just delivered their meals eating in small restaurants.
A takeaway rider told reporters that there are several public welfare canteens nearby. Riders can enjoy preferential prices for meals. The operating hours of the canteens are generally from 11:30 to 13:30. During this time, they are busy delivering meals. When time passed, he hoped that the dining hall could extend the dining time.
Chengdu rider:
Have breakfast at 15 o'clock
"I'll go to Jingronghui for dinner at 15 o'clock, let's see you there!" On the other end of the phone, Zhao Mingyang briefly agreed with the reporter on the time and location of the interview, and then continued to devote himself to the intense meal delivery.
For foreign riders, time is money.
It is often after dinner that they have time to eat.
In Chengdu, the gourmet capital, the food delivery industry is highly active.
Zhao Mingyang's business area is near Chunxi Road and within 5 kilometers centered on Taikoo Li.
This is the most prosperous business district in Chengdu.
In the two years since becoming a takeaway rider, he completed 19,480 orders around this "circle", with a cumulative mileage of 29,839 kilometers.
The reporter followed Zhao Mingyang to the Jingronghui shopping center, the automatic door slowly opened, and the staff greeted him intimately. Zhao Mingyang nodded and said to the reporter with a smile: "I'm all old friends. Eat here for 25 days."
"The business volume and income must be considerable for delivering meals and dining here, right?" the reporter asked.
"I ran more than 80 orders a day with the best performance, worked 12 hours, and earned about 400 yuan, but this situation is very rare." Zhao Mingyang introduced, there are many riders near Chunxi Road, although the order is large, but the advantage is It is not obvious that everyone's monthly income is around 6,000 yuan, and only a few riders earn more than 10,000 yuan a month.
During the talk, Zhao Mingyang brought the reporter to the dining spot, which is a chain of fast-food buffet restaurants, spacious and bright, with a clean environment and rich dishes.
Since the meal time has already passed, the customers are scarce, which makes the several takeaway riders who gather here to have a meal particularly conspicuous.
Zhao Mingyang chose 3 stir-fried dishes and spent 10 yuan after weighing. There is no limit on rice and free drinks.
It turned out that in order to ensure the delivery of food delivery all the time, the food delivery platform implemented a shift system for riders, which meant that many people were unable to eat on time.
Some platform partners have taken the initiative to provide meal discounts and rest places for riders.
Zhao Mingyang said that there are still many restaurants with similar discounts.
"Food delivery is very hard, but we often gain warmth." Zhao Mingyang said that now platform companies are paying more and more attention to the occupational health of riders, and the labor union department has also built outdoor rest stations for them.
He and his colleagues increasingly felt that the professional outfit of the rider was very dazzling.
In order to be impressive when delivering meals, some delivery people also stick ponytails and cute tentacles on their helmets.
"I like this job very much. I am rushing around the streets and alleys of the city, watching the hustle and bustle of people and cars coming and going, every day is full of vitality!" To facilitate work, Zhao Mingyang and two colleagues shared a lease near Chunxi Road. They don’t want to buy a house in a prosperous city, but they are willing to work hard for this goal.
(Some interviewees have pseudonyms)
Our reporter Wang Yu Liu Youting Li Na Our reporter Ma Dawei