'Scorching' shippers amid Covid-19 pandemic

GOOD INCOME FROM DELIVERY SERVICE

During the pandemic, stores switched to online business and needed home delivery services. Photo: Thanh Phuc

During the school break due to the epidemic, Le Duy Niem - a student at a university in Vinh city, instead of returning to his hometown, stayed in the city to do delivery work. Having lived in Vinh for nearly 7 years, he knows the "ways and paths" in the city area well. Niem also has 2 years of experience as a shipper. Before that, he worked part-time, only accepting orders when there were no classes, mainly on Saturdays and Sundays, but now due to the school break due to the epidemic, shipping has become a full-time job.

Niem's ​​work starts at 7:30 a.m. and ends at 9:30 p.m. with about 50-70 orders. After deducting gas and phone expenses, Niem earns about 500,000-600,000 VND/day. Niem said: "During this pandemic, customers mainly buy online, so delivery staff like us have a good income. There are days when we are overloaded and cannot take on more orders."

During the epidemic season, the demand for shipping goods increased, so delivery workers had high incomes, from 500-700,000 VND/day, even millions of VND/day. Photo: Thanh Phuc

If in the past, only a few items used delivery services, now all essential needs of people from food, drinks, food, groceries to clothing, shoes, cosmetics, electronics... need shippers. Therefore, this is considered the "golden time to make a living" for home delivery staff.

Mr. Nguyen Phung Hung, head of a fast delivery group on Nguyen Viet Xuan Street, Hung Dung Ward (Vinh City) said: "Before, my delivery group only had 10 people. This pandemic lasted for a long time, especially after the Prime Minister's social distancing order, the demand skyrocketed, so the group had to recruit more staff. Currently, there are 25 people but still cannot meet the demand."

According to incomplete statistics, currently in Vinh city, in addition to companies, businesses specializing in delivery - receiving goods, post offices, professional delivery services, there are about 10-15 shipping groups owned by students and hundreds of people working as freelance shippers. If in previous years, after Tet, there were few orders, shipping staff had little work, this year, shipping staff could not keep up, the number of orders to be shipped increased by 250-300%. In return, the income of shippers is also quite good, averaging from 300-500,000 VND/person/day, some people "running" at full capacity, earning up to millions of VND per day.

THE "GOING TO THE MARKET FOR YOU" SERVICE IS BOOMING

In addition, the “shopping for others” service is also quite “attractive” during the current outbreak. Ms. Le Thi Tuyet, a contract cook at a private kindergarten, has been unemployed since the school closed as requested. Initially, to make ends meet during her unpaid leave, she turned to preparing food to sell online. After having a fair number of customers and seeing more and more orders, she switched to the form of “shopping for others” for those in need.

The "grocery shopping" service is also quite popular during the outbreak, bringing a good source of income for many people. Photo: Thanh Phuc

In the evening, she receives orders from customers from vegetables, pickles, fish sauce, salt to fish, meat..., making a specific list of each order to go to the market the next morning. "It's a waste of time to go to the market anyway, while many families of the elderly, mothers with babies, and civil servants don't have time to go to the market, so I do it all, buying for everyone. The customers are mainly people in the block and ward, each person pays from 10,000 to 20,000 VND (depending on the amount of purchase), each day also earns 200,000 to 300,000 VND".

The "shopping for others" service is also being used by many small traders at traditional markets in the city when business is slow. Ms. Nguyen Thi Lan used to sell breakfast at Hung Dung market, but now that her shop is closed, she has switched to the shopping for others service. Customers are neighbors and acquaintances, ordering goods on demand. At 9am, she collects goods, then processes them as required and delivers them to homes. The salary for each order (including processing) is about 30,000 VND, on average she earns about 500,000 VND per day.

During the pandemic, stores closed, companies laid off workers, most workers struggled to make a living, but there were people who were proactive and quick to change their business direction, so they had a stable income, which could be said to be quite good. Among them, we must mention the home delivery job, the "shopping for others" service. However, to earn tens of millions of dong per month from this job, they face many risks when they have to go out to buy, sell, exchange, and interact in crowded places to meet the needs of customers...

Thanh Phuc