Should You Order Food Delivery in Heavy Rain?

The sweltering summer is about to end, but the autumn rains may prove just as chilling.

This summer has been far from typical. Extreme rainfall and scorching heatwaves have swept across the country in quick succession. Surface temperatures in Shaanxi peaked at a staggering 72.9°C. Harbin, deep in the northeast, witnessed a sudden surge in air conditioner installations. In Beijing, four days of torrential rain delivered a full year’s worth of precipitation.

Whenever the rain lashing against the window turns to a blinding sheet of white, a familiar thought often crosses our minds: the rain is impartial, falling equally on every person in this world. Yet we overlook the observation made by Lao She in Rickshaw Boy: “In truth, the rain is not impartial, for it falls upon a world that knows no justice.”

Not long ago, an article in Nature Cities explored how consumers shift the risks of extreme weather onto delivery riders. Rather than drawing a groundbreaking conclusion, it merely formalised—in “scientific” terms—a reality that people widely sense but are reluctant to confront.

Foodthink subsequently chronicled the unseen hardships faced by several delivery riders battling adverse weather in Commercial Warfare in the Downpour: Delivery Riders’ Bitter Summer, never expecting it to ignite a fierce debate in the comments over whether one should order takeaway during a heavy downpour.

In the comments on another Foodthink article, *Is Food Delivery a ‘Short-Lived’ Job?*, readers also debated whether we ought to care about what delivery riders eat. Unfortunately, the piece has since been deleted for breaching some unknown guideline.

As one netizen noted, this topic has been debated round after round over the past decade, yet it invariably spirals into a rigid binary trap: “Order takeaways—couriers get soaked, but at least they earn money” versus “Don’t order—couriers stay dry, but they’ll be left out of work.”

@gogo: One weekday around midday, I was at the bank running an errand. The sun was beating down so hard the pavement felt like it might catch fire at any second. Sitting in my car, I noticed that at that hour, the only people still dashing about outdoors in the city seemed to be delivery riders.

@Roo: Why are so many people reluctant to believe that delivery riders simply don’t want to deliver in foul weather? Even when weighed against the pressures of making a living, that sentiment is tucked away just a little bit in the depths of their hearts. In reality, everyone wants work that treats them with more dignity; it’s merely suppressed.

@衣襟溶绿: I’m just wondering: on scorching, freezing, or rainy days, should we be ordering delivery food? If we don’t, won’t the riders lose their income?

@俞黛眉: My takeaway from the article is that the extra income riders earn for working in extreme weather falls far short of the suffering they endure. Most importantly, working in these conditions is mandatory; riders have no way to opt out.

@木匠锯子: So if we stop ordering delivery in bad weather, who’s putting money in the riders’ pockets? To a certain extent, it’s just refusing to eat for fear of choking.

@寺: Have you actually read the article? When a heavy downpour leaves water knee-deep, what rider would willingly risk their life for a few hundred yuan?

@HE (delivery rider): The water levels rose incredibly high during the heavy rain last year. I was feeling a bit slack and had no intention of heading out to deliver. But not long after, the station manager posted a notice in the group chat about other riders getting fined. Missing a single day means a 500 yuan deduction, which wipes out a day and a half’s earnings. That put the fear into me, and I rushed out straight away. If I’d slipped into a pothole or a manhole cover had floated up, it would have been truly the end of me. On another note, when I last asked the station manager for leave, I claimed I was taking my wife to the hospital for a check-up. In truth, I haven’t even got married. When you’re backed into a corner, you just have to make something up.

@Shen Du Jun: We’re all simply driven by the demands of life, forced to keep going in extreme weather even at the cost of our health and safety. If anyone could afford to take a breather, they’d naturally stay indoors during such conditions.

@Jane Tian Xiuzhen: For those who make their living delivering food, simply being able to grab a meal is enough—who has time to worry about nutrition or health? They dart across roads and mutter complaints in elevators. Many couriers are just sprinting to survive and scrape together a living; nothing else matters to them right now.

@Anonymous (Delivery rider): I’m still young, but the grind has left me with occasional chest pains. I took a few days off in a row to avoid the high intensity—guess what happened this month? I’m practically broke. So you have to keep working; stop working and you starve. You have to push hard, but what exactly has my body done to deserve this?

@IKe: Typical ‘why not just eat cake?’ advice from someone out of touch. Sure, skipping meals might keep you going for years, but sticking to a proper schedule means missing out on shifts and going hungry within days. Who doesn’t know regular meals are better for you? But is that really the heart of the issue here?

@EFL Team Everton: ‘Starve if you eat regularly’? Quite the claim. Have you ever done delivery work yourself? Is it really wrong to encourage riders to look after their health? If your perspective is skewed, perhaps it’s best to keep it to yourself rather than trying to sway others.

@Irritable A Pan (Delivery rider): Food delivery is essentially trading your health for cash. I’ve been in the game for eight years. At first, like many newcomers today, I’d stick to meal times, even if it meant eating an hour or two late. Eventually, my habits changed; I switched to foods that were quick to eat and wouldn’t delay me when sudden orders popped up. There was even a period when I bought military-grade survival biscuits, just to have a couple of bites while waiting at traffic lights. Later on, I went further, trying to save every minute and avoid unnecessary trips to the loo. As most people know, eating inevitably raises the chance of needing the toilet. For us riders, if we have a choice, we opt not to go—because even a quick trip to the urinal could mean missing out on a couple of high-paying orders.

@Wie (Delivery rider): This piece really struck a chord with me. I hope both the authorities and the platforms can refine their policies so our working conditions keep improving. Discussion Two: Solidarity or Confrontation? Today’s Consumers, Tomorrow’s Wage Earners

When it comes to the hardships faced by couriers in extreme weather, opinions are split. One camp argues that workers are simply earning a living by delivering food, while consumers are paying for a service they need. After all, many of those ordering in are working-class themselves, juggling demanding jobs, and having a legitimate need for takeaways shouldn’t come with a side of moral guilt. The other camp maintains that workers’ safety and dignity must be upheld; precisely because consumers are everyday workers too, they should stand in solidarity and look out for one another. Some bystanders skipped the debate entirely, offering direct concern for injured riders instead. Others found common ground by sharing memories of their own or their families’ experiences in the delivery industry.

@Seasoned Onlooker: Those ordering food in torrential rain, snowstorms, or gales are mostly without conscience.

@Aogu Kailin: By that logic, people who visit doctors in the middle of the night lack a conscience for disturbing their rest! Shoppers on Singles’ Day lack a conscience because couriers work around the clock! Anyone calling the police or fire brigade in an emergency lacks a conscience for putting innocent first responders at risk and making them suffer!

@JustScrollingBy: Truly ‘great’ that someone can compare human lives to whether they get their takeaway on a rainy day.

@Aogu Kailin: If delivery during heavy rain poses a risk, do you think that pressure comes from consumers or the platforms? Did customers set the delivery time limits or the reward and penalty systems? Do they even have a say in the decision-making? Does the pressure on couriers come from the orders themselves or the platforms? Why is everyone condemning consumers instead of holding the office-bound capitalists accountable?

@JustScrollingBy: So the mindset is, ‘In a downpour, someone else will order it anyway, so why not me?’ As a responsible adult, is it really that difficult to cook at home, pop into a nearby takeaway, or just settle for a bowl of instant noodles?

@Clémence: This is fundamentally a rationalisation rooted in a sense of entitlement. The crux of the matter isn’t whether you “can” order food delivery, but rather—when you know full well that riders are braving typhoon-force storms to complete their orders, are you willing to keep your finger off the button, choosing not to put others at risk for your convenience in such extreme conditions? Advocating for platform reform is certainly important, but until that happens, every consumer can at least ensure they do not exacerbate the riders’ risks during the most perilous hours. This represents the bare minimum of empathy and propriety.

@momo: Ordinary customers shouldn’t be guilt-tripped. Do what you have to do. I find my daily work gruelling too, so why is no one sympathetic to me? Riders only earn money when we place orders. If they don’t want the job, they can quit. You’ve simply been pampered. If you can’t stand the rain and sun, go work in a factory instead. Isn’t every job a struggle?

@福团: Is it really that difficult to treat yourself and others as human beings? We’re back to the cynical notion that those at the bottom inevitably turn on each other. The ability to show understanding, empathy, and a moral compass is simply what makes a well-adjusted person.

@momo: I can’t even treat myself with enough dignity to turn down the brutal 996 schedule, so how can I be expected to treat others as fully human and expend energy on them? Does that not make sense? You self-righteous lot can’t bear to see riders braving heavy downpours, yet you turn a blind eye to people like us grinding on such hours and going hungry?

@福团: It is precisely because of people like you, who provide fertile ground for such vicious logic, that we end up with this cascading chain of indifference. All I can say is you have it coming to be stuck in a 996 grind for the rest of your life. You simply don’t deserve a better existence or kinder treatment. Any of the rights hard-won by contemporary workers would just be utterly wasted if placed in your hands.

@momo: If you actually had any humanity, you’d be urging the platforms to change their rules instead of guilt-tripping everyday consumers. People like me, just trying to make ends meet, simply don’t have the spare energy or goodwill to decide which days we shouldn’t order takeaway.

@寺: The ‘heavy rain’ mentioned here clearly isn’t just ordinary precipitation. In Guangdong, it translates to typhoon-force winds and torrential downpours. Are we really being told it’s mandatory to order takeaway during a typhoon? Back when delivery platforms didn’t exist, everyone managed just fine. So why has the simple suggestion to avoid ordering during severe weather suddenly become ‘the working class taking the blame’?

@等石灰石: Someone in the comments is going to great lengths to defend ordering takeaway during torrential rain or scorching heat. While consumers certainly shouldn’t be condemned, that defence shouldn’t come at the cost of dismissing the riders’ plight, showing absolutely no solidarity with those at the bottom. Instead, they’re just whining, ‘My job is hard too, why doesn’t anyone care about me?’

@KNT: Ordering takeaway is a legitimate right and consumers should not be condemned. Injuries sustained by riders on the job are primarily the fault of the platforms and their systems. You can certainly encourage people to show empathy when ordering during extreme weather, but it is by no means an obligation. Blaming consumers is nothing more than manufacturing outrage and spreading a fundamentally flawed narrative.

@Roo: I understand that life is tough for everyone. But if we all adopt the mindset of pure consumers, viewing others’ labour merely as a means to satisfy our own needs while lacking even basic human empathy for the workers, can we really say that dignified work still exists in this world? Take a moment to consider how you would feel if others treated you or your family merely as service tools designed to fulfil their demands. Furthermore, those who constantly argue that we should only condemn capital and algorithms ought to reflect on this: if consumers regard themselves and other workers with the exact same cold detachment that capital does, on what grounds do we believe we have the power to effect any real change?

@Waiting: When we purchase goods or order takeaway, shouldn’t the default assumption be that the products and services provided have not been created through the exploitation of suffering individuals? Why is it now taken for granted that workers can be squeezed, leaving it to consumers to bear the mental and practical burden of making ethical choices? Delivery platforms systematically offload risks, costs, and moral pressure down the chain until it lands squarely on the shoulders of the lowest-level riders and everyday consumers. The platforms pocket the profits, workers risk their lives for a wage, and consumers are left with a guilty conscience. Whether a handful of people order takeaway or not will not disrupt the entire system. What would actually make a difference is for riders to form trade unions, band together to sue platforms for labour law violations, and push for the enactment and enforcement of legislation protecting delivery workers.

@蟲：Ask why those ordering meals no longer have time to cook and must turn to food delivery? Capital is like a sugarcane, sweet at every end; the working hours of cubicle-bound workers are stretched, giving rise to delivery camels.

@Duke Meishijin: In times of economic downturn, it’s not just capital that grows increasingly ruthless; ordinary folk are turning more hostile too. How on earth can so many people make life difficult for delivery riders who brave the wind and rain just to earn a few yuan per order? We really need to cultivate more empathy and compassion. We’re all human. If we don’t stand together to push back against the algorithms capital uses, sooner or later these repercussions will come back to haunt us.

@InsectIsland: A while back, DingTalk’s CEO spotted the office nearly empty in the early hours and berated staff for logging off early. It’s a stark reminder of the times. We’re all just beasts of burden in the same grind, pulling our weight equally. Even delivering food in a top-tier city or working in tech are seen as relatively well-paid gigs these days. The suffering of most is invisible; their struggles don’t buy them enough cash or draw any attention. Snagging a job now is like being handed a bowl of muck, with countless hungry people fighting over the same portion. So tell me, who’s actually living comfortably?

@MoreMeatEggsAndMilk: One summer, my younger brother started delivering takeaways. He came back looking visibly gaunt and utterly drained. He told me the platform’s rules were brutally strict. Sure, he made a bit of cash, but it felt like they were slowly bleeding him dry.

@WildMouseBarbie: I did a few days of delivery back in early summer, before the heat really hit. I ended up with a brutal heat rash on my bum—itchy, sore, and it took ages to heal. It’s genuinely miserable, and everyone’s working their socks off. There are far more female riders out there now. Women’s anatomy makes them more vulnerable to infections, and with toilets being so hard to access on the job, gynaecological inflammations are all too common. I really wish we all had iron constitutions that could just shrug off scorching heat and biting cold. One time I braved the wind and rain to make a delivery, only to have 70% of my pay docked for being a single minute late. It was past 11 pm. The customer had given a vague address and wouldn’t answer the phone. I lodged an appeal, but it was turned down. I was absolutely seething.

@evak2040: My younger brother is like me—always restless and needing to keep busy. He took up food delivery over the summer. The combination of overwork, a cold, and altitude sickness triggered a pneumothorax, and he needed lung surgery not long ago.

@YanPianZhuo: Just a quick note: Huoxiang Zhengqi liquid only offers mild relief for minor cases. With the weather we’re having now, if you genuinely get heatstroke, just go straight to A&E. Also, stash a couple of spare bottles of cold water and some ice packs in your insulated delivery box.

@法外葡挞：Areas of skin that have gone pale from prolonged waterlogging lack ventilation and are highly susceptible to bacterial or fungal infection. You could apply some erythromycin eye ointment and switch to more breathable footwear. If the original poster has a way to reach Old Cai mentioned in the article, it would be worth passing this advice along.

Discussion Three: Has the Cost Truly Been Shifted?

When discussing “ordering food delivery during heavy rain”—a topic that superficially appears to safeguard consumer interests—we must also ask: have these costs really been passed on? Or do they simply continue to circulate within this hazardous system.Businesses squeezed by high commission rates, the prevalence of unhealthy cheap food, and traffic accidents involving delivery riders: these repercussions may well ultimately bear down on all of us in myriad ways.

@理查德帕克：I suspect that when delivery riders are forced to shoulder such heavy workloads, the consequences will inevitably rebound onto consumers over the longer term. None of us are entirely removed from the picture.

@轻松熊嗷：The way platforms compress delivery windows has genuinely harmed so many people. It leaves riders’ safety completely unprotected and drastically increases the risk of accidents caused by rushing, which inevitably spills over to ordinary people. I personally dread riding my e-bike in case I cross paths with a delivery rider. They go far too fast, ignore traffic lights, check their phones while on the move, and suddenly dart out from every conceivable blind spot.

@Qingyang: I once saw a rider in Beijing delivering from Sam’s Club, laden with seven or eight, if not more, large shopping bags stuffed with goods, plus whole cartons of milk, rice, flour, and oil hanging from every side of his electric bike. He would race along the motor vehicle lanes of the ring roads or weave through the narrow, cramped lanes of old residential compounds—an arrangement that was extremely inconvenient and unsafe. In many cities, there are no dedicated lanes for electric bikes, which poses safety risks to pedestrians, motorists, and the riders themselves. Consequently, operating a food delivery service during torrential rain or heavy snow is simply inhumane. It mirrors the plight of Li Shande in The Lychee of Chang’an, where a slave from Linji dies of exhaustion while transporting the fruit. This latest platform war has squeezed the livelihoods of riders and small merchants to near nothingness. By defying both economic principles and natural laws, it invites an inevitable backlash—but who will foot the bill?

@Yi: I listened to a business podcast yesterday about the food delivery wars, and all I heard was talk of fulfilment costs and capturing the consumer mindset. JD’s Q2 financial results have just been released: new business divisions, headlined by JD Takeaway, saw revenue skyrocket but profits nosedive, and investors are having none of it. A handful of platforms are burning cash at a staggering rate and sparing no effort in their PR battles. In this war, riders are treated as little more than ammunition and expendables, while the mountains of single-use packaging and wasted milk teas stand as the scars the planet bears for their recklessness.

@Roo: I’ve seen people argue that as long as consumers are willing to pay, ordering milk tea at 2 a.m. is perfectly fine. But rather than getting bogged down in debates about the riders, shouldn’t consumers first consider the impact on their own health from drinking milk tea in the middle of the night? Discussion Four: Is Platform Gig Work Our Safety Net?

According to the *2024 Gig Economy Analysis Report*, the number of flexibly employed workers in China surpassed 265 million in 2024, with 175 million engaged in platform-based gig work. The gig economy essentially acts as a prism reflecting the broader economic climate; anyone who loses their job could easily slide into it. In that sense, when we worry about the working conditions of gig workers—such as food delivery riders and ride-hailing drivers—we may well be looking out for ourselves. Is platform gig work truly our “fallback”? As workers, can we hope for a more dignified future?

@ZhaXieDaNa: This is the reality behind the Douyin joke where kids say, “If it doesn’t work out, I can always deliver food,” treating it as their backup plan.

@Ameyoye: Food delivery, courier services, designated driver services, ride-hailing, freight transport—you name it. They’re all the same: workers trapped and bled dry by the platforms. Take Didi, for example. Sometimes a customer books a standard metered ride, but after it’s passed through several intermediaries, it arrives at the driver as a fixed-price fare. It’s not uncommon for a customer to pay 100 yuan while the driver takes home just 50, with platform commissions hitting 50%.

@ChuGou: When I was moving out after graduation, I had a long chat with a Blue Rhino driver on the way. I was surprised to find that no matter the time of day, as soon as I booked a move, a driver would instantly accept the job and get in touch. I initially assumed this was just how the market operated, but I later discovered the system automatically forces assignments onto drivers. They are required to call the customer within three minutes of acceptance, or face a performance penalty. That morning was sweltering, and torrential rain started after noon. The driver had already completed two jobs, and moving is grueling work, yet the system forced my booking onto him in the afternoon, completely ruining his plan to return to his shared accommodation and rest. He mentioned that a mover like him brings in around 8,000 yuan a month. After deducting 900 yuan for shared housing in Beijing, a 20% platform fee, and basic living costs, he’s left with just 4,000 yuan in net income. And this is during graduation season, when demand for moving services hits its annual peak.

@SilenceIsGold: Platforms relentlessly squeeze workers by slashing per-order fees, dropping from an initial 7–8 yuan to just 2–3 yuan now. They simply provide the marketplace while taking a commission from riders, merchants, and customers alike. If the average rate per delivery for riders were raised, they wouldn’t need to complete such high volumes daily. That would give them more time to choose how to spend it: resting, enjoying leisure activities, or caring for their families. But reality rarely offers that balance.

@ChaChaanTengMum: Don’t treat food delivery as a safety net. In fact, the fewer people doing the deliveries, the easier it will be to improve conditions and curb exploitation. I once saw a rider whose uniform had completely faded from the sun; the yellow Meituan jacket had bleached to white and was falling apart. Many riders just don’t look particularly healthy.

@tree: We’re seeing a trend where everyone’s taking up food delivery now, with some young women joining the ranks too. The economic climate speaks for itself. Conditions might be tough, but there’s still a shortage of riders.

@momo: The problem isn’t about the working class harming one another. That element exists, but it’s far from the core issue. It’s utterly unreasonable that the massive structural failures of these platforms are ultimately reduced to the sole responsibility of individual workers at the bottom. Until the algorithms change, nobody caught in this system will find any peace.

@哥伦布的蛋: I used to brush off layoffs, thinking I’d always have food delivery as a fallback. Reading this has made me realise I couldn’t possibly stomach that kind of grind. Best to just hang on and make do for as long as I can.

@_littleshuh: Meanwhile, the absolute worst, most repulsive ad of the year has just dropped. In a spacious, luxurious room, a corporate elite raises a wine glass and says, “When the lads are getting together, I choose Meituan.” Cut to a row of beaming delivery riders holding up takeaway bags with both hands: “Because Meituan is faster, more…” Then it cuts to a bunch of entitled old boys in waistcoats lounging on sofas and perching on coffee tables, basking in luxury. I have no idea what’s going through the heads of Meituan’s brand and PR teams. Are they completely out of their minds, or is this a deliberate stunt, left to fester so they can eventually take it out on the bosses?

@啥啥：When I was young, I read Ye Yonglie’s *Xiao Lingtong Roams the Future World*. There’s a passage describing how people in the future would eat: simply press a button at home, and steaming hot meals would be delivered through a small hatch in the wall.I never imagined back then that those idyllic visions from the book would ultimately be realised through the systematic cheapening of human labour.

Editor: Yuyang