Film vs Reality: What It’s Really Like to Be a Food Delivery Rider | Food Talk Vol. 38

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In this episode of Food Talk, we welcome Foodthink’s new colleague, Yuyang, as our special guest. He is not only a fresh addition to our team but also brings a unique background: he spent four months in 2021 working briefly as a food delivery rider. Though interested in the labour process of delivery riders, he stresses that he didn’t take the job merely to “experience life”. During the summer holiday after securing a place for postgraduate studies at Peking University, he faced genuine financial pressures. Coupled with shared experiences with fellow riders, he quickly settled into their world.

In this episode, we follow Yuyang’s perspective to take a closer look at the daily realities of a delivery rider. Working as an Ele.me dedicated rider, his day began after the morning briefing and ended only when he clocked off at night. Throughout this high-intensity routine, Yuyang faced challenges almost every minute, requiring split-second decisions. Navigating between the delivery station, restaurants, and customers, and contending with platform mechanisms for order dispatch, complaints, and attendance tracking, he had to constantly devise strategies to squeeze out extra speed, boost earnings, and minimise complaints. At the same time, as a real person, Yuyang couldn’t always operate like a machine. Amid the rapid interactions with customers and the system, the riders’ inner emotions and feelings form a hidden dimension often overlooked by the outside world.

Through Yuyang’s observations, we also gain insight into the social position of delivery riders living away from home. Facing financial strain and the tension between the freedom and constraints of the job, how do they strike a balance? Amid extremely high turnover rates, what is the true attitude of delivery workers towards this line of work?

Furthermore, how do platform algorithms shape the riders’ working patterns? Under algorithmic control, can gestures of sympathy from consumers truly make a difference for delivery workers? Viewing the issue from the riders’ perspective may lead to quite different conclusions.

As a collective, delivery riders have drawn considerable public attention due to media coverage, becoming emblematic of the workforce in the gig economy. Yet, rather than relying on second-hand accounts, first-hand narratives and reflections deserve to be heard. We hope this episode will offer you a direct and unvarnished look at the true realities of delivery riders’ lives.

This/Episode’s/Guest

Yuyang

An INTP native of the No. 2 Livestock Branch in Bayan County, Heilongjiang Province, now drifting through Beijing. He currently focuses on issues surrounding digital technology, agricultural innovation, and sustainable development. His article, What Lies Beyond Algorithms: Exploring Labour Autonomy Among Delivery Riders, was previously published on The Paper’s ‘Thought Market’ platform.

 

 

 

Episode/Hosts

Wang Hao

Editor at Foodthink and a keen observer of labour and technology issues.

 

 

 

 

 

Xiao Jing

Host of Food Talk.

 

 

 

 

Timestamps

00:53 Working as a rider in Zhongguancun, Beijing’s “busiest food delivery hub”

14:10 Knocked over in a traffic accident, the station manager asks: “Can you still finish your deliveries?”

17:52 Strict attendance tracking forces riders to work non-stop every day

26:13 Which restaurants should you avoid, according to the rider picking up your order?

30:36 What was Yuyang’s most disheartening experience?

35:33 How do riders view customers ordering food in bad weather?

36:01 Riders’ rights on paper: minimum hourly pay, accident insurance, and trade unions

52:59 Why overemphasising riders’ hardships feels just as uncomfortable as idolising those who play the piano or toss a wok

57:06 Reading a poem by Wang Jibin, the “delivery poet”

The uniform and helmet for Ele.me dedicated delivery riders, which riders must purchase at their own expense.
The Fuyuanmen community where Yu Yang was living at the time is an urban village near Yuanmingyuan, and also a hub for delivery riders. “I did a rough count: there are around 1,000 electric bikes used for food delivery in the Fuyuanmen community. The community covers an area of 3.5 square kilometres, with a resident population of about 9,000. There are no high-rise buildings here, only single-storey houses and basic three-storey blocks, most of which are packed with tightly arranged partitioned rooms.”
Infrastructure of the delivery sector: battery swap cabinets.
A rider’s daily routine: sleeping on the bike (left), waiting for customers outside an office building (right).
Yu Yang’s delivery route for a single day.

Working at full capacity: delivered 75 takeaway meals in one go, then 17 milk teas half an hour later.
Unexpected setback: the rear-view mirror was stolen.

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Production Team for This Episode

Co-ordination / Production: Xiaojing

Music: Bannong

Cover Design: Wanlin

Images: Yuyang

Editor: Wang Hao

Contact Email: xiaojing@foodthink.cn

Published by Foodthink