Shipper Nghe An 'runs' for Tet orders

Starting from 5am, Mr. Nguyen Quoc Viet, residing in Hung Binh ward (Vinh city) went to the local home-made food production facility to receive orders, receive goods and start delivering them to the inner city of Vinh. Mr. Viet is considered a "regular" shipper of this facility. Normally, every day, he receives 30-50 orders, each order is 10,000 - 15,000 VND (depending on the distance). During Tet, the peak is from December 20 onwards, when people prepare for Ong Cong, Ong Tao and Tet Nguyen Dan, the number of orders increases 2-3 times. Therefore, he has to work from 5am to 12pm to deliver orders to customers.

Mr. Viet said: “Most of these are pre-ordered orders, they receive the goods on the scheduled date, so I have to deliver the goods on time. Every day, there are 100-150 orders, the nearest order is about 3 km, the farthest can be up to 15 km, so driving a motorbike around nearly a thousand kilometers is normal.”

Having worked as a shipper for a delivery company for 3 years now, Mr. Nguyen Ba Tu (residing in Quynh Thien ward, Hoang Mai town) is used to the pressure of work during the peak Tet season. The trend of shopping on online platforms is increasing, especially at the end of the year, so from the New Year onwards, his work has been extremely busy. He delivers goods to Hoang Mai town, Quynh Luu and even the communes of Thanh Hoa bordering Hoang Mai town.

“Normally, I only receive a maximum of 25-30 orders, but at the end of the year, the number of orders doubles, and from December 20 onwards, the orders triple. I have to travel from early morning until late at night to deliver to customers on time.”

As a seller of confectionery and imported food from Russia in Vinh city, Ms. Duong Van Nga said: “From Christmas to Lunar New Year, the number of customers ordering goods increased 2 to 3 times compared to normal. Although there is a store, customers mainly buy goods through Facebook.

Therefore, I have to hire a shipper or a shipping unit (if the customer is in the suburbs or another province). At this time of year, it is more difficult to call a shipper because they have a lot of orders every day. To be proactive, I have to hire 2 people who specialize in shipping orders for my store at the end of the year."

Nowadays, online shopping has become a common trend for people because of its convenience and cheaper prices. Many people, especially young people and office workers, are used to shopping for Tet with just one click rather than going directly to the store. As e-commerce develops, online delivery people are also increasing in number.

Shippers are busier these days due to year-end shopping demand and promotional programs. Many delivery units have had to hire more workers to ensure the large volume of orders.

Mr. Thai Van Phat, representative of a fast delivery unit in Vinh city, said: “Our facility has 50 shippers. At this time, the number of orders has increased, each person must ensure the delivery of 100-120 orders/day. Particularly during Tet, we continuously recruit and add staff but still cannot meet the needs of customers. Therefore, the work of shippers is very stressful, they have to work 12-14 hours a day, most of them have lunch and dinner on the road to ensure work progress.”

Not only facing time pressure, to complete the job well, shippers need to know the route, keep accurate time, and plan the movement to optimize delivery time. During the year-end shopping season, near Tet, they also have to be more careful and thoughtful when delivering special items such as ornamental plants, food, wine, fragile goods...

Despite the hardship and pressure, most delivery staff feel excited because the more orders they receive, the higher their income.