During the epidemic, shippers in Nghe An make a lot of money

Difficulty in shipping goods during the epidemic

Hot weather and epidemics cause home delivery orders to skyrocket. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Ms. Nguyen Quynh Nga - a delivery employee of a technology service company in Le Loi ward (Vinh city) said: "The epidemic combined with the hot weather has caused orders to increase dramatically. There are days when I receive 70-80 orders from food, household goods, cosmetics... in which, the most are still breakfast food, office lunch and fast food. Therefore, if you work hard, you can earn 500,000 - 700,000 VND per day from delivery."

Shippers line up to buy items requested by customers at a store. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Since the outbreak, Mr. Nguyen Tu Tai, who used to drive a motorbike taxi, has also switched to home delivery. Thanks to his 10 years of experience as a motorbike taxi driver, Mr. Tai is familiar with every corner of Vinh city, so when he switched to being a shipper, it was very convenient for him to determine the location quickly and accurately.

“In addition to accepting online shipping orders, I also buy snacks and go to the market for housewives who request it. While the motorbike taxi service is sluggish due to lack of customers, this professionshippingalso earn at least 500,000 VND/day".

To earn 300,000-500,000 VND/day, shippers must accept driving motorbikes in extreme heat, with the risk of disease. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Although earning a decent income and not having to suffer unemployment during the epidemic, the home delivery profession faces many difficulties and risks. First of all, when the epidemic is as complicated as it is now, the shipper profession has to go to all the stores, markets, supermarkets and alleys to deliver goods, coming into contact with many people, so the risk of disease is high.

In addition, the weather is extremely hot, sometimes the temperature on the asphalt road reaches 45-46 degrees Celsius, but the shipper still has to run in the sun to earn money. Then they have to line up to buy things for customers, the daily income is to "pick up" each individual order from 5,000 VND, 10,000 VND, 20,000 VND, not to mention the cost of gasoline, damaged vehicles that need to be repaired.

“Working from 6am to 9pm or 10pm at most, I get 50-60 orders, minus the cost of gas, I only get 500,000-600,000 VND/day. The heat and the pandemic are very hard. But anyway, in these difficult times, having a freelance job with flexible hours and daily income is lucky. Now, many people like motorbike taxi drivers, taxi drivers or many other professions have to temporarily stop due to the Covid-19 pandemic and have switched to being a shipper, so orders are shared quite a lot.”

Mr. Hoang Nghia, a shipper shared

Serious epidemic prevention

To prevent the epidemic, in addition to implementing "5K", shippers also thoroughly deploy "Contactless Delivery". Photo: Thanh Phuc

Ms. Phan Thuan - owner of a clean pork shop in Vinh City said: "Every day, the shop receives about 50-60 orders from customers. Previously, the shop staff delivered to customers themselves, but when the epidemic became complicated, I was afraid of infection, so I turned to the shipping app. The goods were carefully packaged, with clear quantities and invoices, then left outside the shop. The shipper came to pick up the goods, pay or transfer money. Minimize contact."

For shippers, when delivering goods, they equip themselves with full protective gear such as: medical gloves, masks, anti-droplet glasses and hand sanitizer. Some shippers even carefully buy 70-degree alcohol to disinfect the packaging before delivering to customers. In addition, to keep distance when delivering goods, shippers often hang the goods at the gate, call customers to pick them up and transfer money to the account or tie a plastic bag to send them out.

During the epidemic season, shippers always keep their distance when delivering and receiving goods. Photo: Thanh Phuc

Mr. Tran Manh Trien - Head of Shipping Service Sales Department in Vinh City said: "To ensure the safety of both employees and customers, we require employees to strictly follow the "5K" recommendations of the Ministry of Health. At the same time, we assign a team to monitor the employees' dash cams. Anyone who does not strictly follow the epidemic prevention measures or is reported by customers will be fined. For delivery and pick-up services, we encourage customers to deliver without contact. When customers book on the app, the chat with the driver has a pre-installed message "Contactless delivery", customers just need to select it and when they arrive, the driver will leave the goods nearby, stand back, the customer comes to pick them up, the two people do not have close contact. The delivery bag is cleaned with disinfectant solution".

According to Plan 139/KH-UBND of Vinh City People's Committee on implementing the suspension of social isolation according to Directive 16, "Strictly manage services that have contact with many people such as shippers (weekly medical tests)". Regarding this latest regulation, most online store owners agree.

“Health safety is paramount. To maintain business and stabilize revenue, of course, we must strictly implement epidemic prevention measures. My sweet soup shop has 5 employees who both sell and deliver to customers. We will strictly comply with the city's regulations. Every week, we will give employeesCovid test-19"On request," said Ms. Ho Thi My Dung, owner of a sweet soup shop on Ha Huy Tap Street.

According to Ms. Ho My Dung - owner of a sweet soup shop on Ha Huy Tap street, the regulation "Shippers must test for Covid-19 once a week is necessary". Photo: Thanh Phuc

To support employees during the epidemic, many shipping service companies have agreed with customers to increase shipping fees by 10-15% compared to before. The difference will be used by shippers to buy epidemic prevention items such as masks, mouthwash, antiseptic water and to do rapid Covid-19 testing. Many companies also have a policy to support 50-70% of testing fees for shippers when the city requires weekly rapid Covid-19 testing.

In fact, neither sellers nor buyers need to check or require shippers to present Covid-19 rapid test results, but if done seriously, it will limit many risks of the epidemic. Because in the worst case, when the shipper is infected with Covid-19, it will be easy to trace, isolate and hold responsible if the shipper does not comply with the city's regulations.

Therefore, the awareness of each shipper, company, and delivery technology application is very important. And who will manage, check, and supervise the implementation of medical testing of this shipper team also needs to be clearly and specifically assigned.