A cold wave in 20 years, the circumstances of the delivery site running on ice

Evening of January 6. Following the issuance of a heavy snow warning by the Meteorological Administration, white snow covered major areas in Korea such as Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Chungcheong, and Gwangju. On January 7th and 8th, a cold wave broke out, which broke the record in 20 years. The temperature in Seoul on the 8th is -18 degrees Celsius. Korea froze.

It is a’delivery platform’ because there is a place where it stopped with a record cold wave. From the 6th to the 8th. ‘Delivery Delay’ notices have appeared one after another on major delivery platforms such as the People of Delivery, Yogiyo, Coupangitsu, and Wemepo. Within the platform, restaurants that announced the suspension of delivery business themselves appeared one after another. A consumer who ordered chicken using the delivery platform on the 7th said, “Food arrived only two hours after the order,” and “there are two cases where orders were forcibly canceled before that time.”

Bad weather disrupts the balance between supply and demand in the delivery industry. For safety concerns, the supply of riders at the delivery site decreases, but at the same time, the demand for orders from consumers who do not want to leave the home increases. That’s why delivery speed naturally slows down. In the meantime, there are delivery riders who come to the scene at the risk of heavy snow and dangerous ice roads that cover their eyes. To secure an immediate livelihood.

The bad weather is a big concern for the logistics operator that operates the rider network. If there is a customer (restaurant) who wants quick delivery service even in inclement weather, while taking care of the safety of the riders going around the site, the claim must be received. We heard stories of delivery agencies, delivery platforms, and delivery riders about what was going on in the invisible field.

Delivery agency’s circumstances

The delivery agency business is largely divided into’platform’ and’branch’. If the platform is a company that supplies business programs used by delivery agents and branch offices, branch offices are organizations that hire, manage, and sell riders on site. It is also necessary to look at the response of delivery agencies to bad weather separately.

The first is the case of platforms. The delivery agency platform took measures to notify the suspension of operation for rider safety in consideration of weather conditions. Barogo, a delivery agency platform company, announced the suspension of delivery at 7 pm on the 6th. Of course, not all Barogo delivery services have stopped. Barogo stopped only the B2B volume secured through a direct contract with the franchise headquarters. This is explained that this is because Barogo, the platform, does not have the authority to suspend the volume of the local delivery agency (Hub). Barogo said that the decision to suspend business in the region was left to the voluntary control of the delivery agency manager.

Another immediate countermeasure for the platform Mesh Korea was’Suspension of rider delivery business’. It is explained that Mesh Korea is making manuals to stop delivery of riders when driving conditions are difficult due to road icing or heavy snow due to natural disasters such as cold weather. According to Mesh Korea, the delivery service in 1/3 of the country, which was found to be impossible to perform the delivery service even in connection with this heavy snowfall, has been suspended.

From the morning of the 7th, Mesh Korea arranged an alternative transportation method and put it into the delivery site where supply is insufficient. Mesh Korea is a company that not only has a two-wheeled vehicle distribution network, but also a’four-wheeled truck’ distribution network. It is explained that a team of two people and one delivery person was formed and a small truck was put in to support areas where some delivery delays occurred. There is another case of emergency arrangements for four-wheeled vehicles that replace motorcycles and bicycles, such as Mesh Korea, and put them into the field.

The second is the case of delivery agencies. In fact, it is difficult to’generalize’ the countermeasures for bad weather by delivery agencies. This is because in many cases, on-site operation is decided according to the autonomy of the branch manager, each of which is the representative of the company.

According to an official from a delivery agency, the branch saw that it was impossible to perform the work on the 7th, so it carried out only orders received first, and then did not work. On the 8th, work resumed, but the on-site manager first identified areas that were deemed impossible to be delivered by traversing the assigned areas of the delivery agency. The explanation is that if a customer order comes in from the region, it notifies the restaurant that delivery is not possible. In addition, for the safe operation of riders, it is explained that measures were taken to limit the driving distance of delivery riders, which were usually ordered within 3 km, to 1-2 km.

A representative of the delivery agency said, “We have limited the ability to receive orders within 1km to the destination from the starting point of the affiliated store (restaurant) by this morning, and to perform delivery.” The distance was increased, and now (around 6 p.m.), the order volume was a little quiet, so I actively increased it to 2 km. When the sun goes down and the road conditions worsen again, the distance limit will be flexibly reduced to 1.5km. The on-site control station is doing this.”

Delivery platform circumstances

Delivery platforms should also be divided into two main entities. One is the case where the delivery service is carried out by leaving it to the autonomy of’restaurants’ like platforms such as the People of Delivery, Yogiyo, and WeMepeo. In this case, the restaurant directly hires manpower to deliver delivery or uses a delivery agency to perform delivery. The restaurant determines whether delivery is possible and announces itself. The platform does not force restaurants to be delivered or not.

The second is the case where the platform directly operates the distribution network and provides it to restaurants, such as’Baemin Riders’ and’Coupang Itz’. In this case, it is possible to take measures in consideration of the weather situation because the platform company can control the distribution network to some extent.

First of all, the method Baemin Riders chose is not very different from those of delivery agencies. It is’stop delivery’. On the 6th, when the heavy snow began, the B Mart operation in the Delivery People’s People’s App was temporarily stopped around 7 pm. B Mart is explained that Baemin Riders riders perform the delivery, and in consideration of the safety of the riders, B Mart’s orders were prevented from occurring at all.

On the 7th and 8th when the B Mart delivery suspension was released, the graceful brothers restricted the’delivery distance’ of Baemin Riders and B Mart riders. Considering the site situation of each region, the delivery restriction distance changes flexibly. An official of the elegant brothers said, “It is difficult to operate because snow does not melt on the highlands and some roads behind them.” We are guiding you so that you can pay more attention to safety.”

On the 7th, Coupangitsu took measures to suspend delivery of the entire app. Unlike Baemin Riders, Coupang Itz operates by 100%’crowdsourcing’ the rider network. Rather than operating a branch network, it is a structure that individually recruits motorcycles, bicycles, cars, and walking riders who wish to work in the spare time through the platform. Although there are no full-time Coupangitsu riders, due to the nature of crowdsourcing, a large number of ordinary people working as side jobs are mixed in the Coupangitsu rider network. Because there are many side-job riders who are relatively less economically pressured, it is evaluated that the supply and demand of riders in Coupang Itz is difficult compared to other companies in cold weather.

Coupangitz delivery resumed at 3:30 pm on the 7th. However, not all Coupangitz riders have resumed operation since then. Coupang allowed only registered riders to carry out the delivery service, with a relatively low risk of ice safety accidents. If any of the registered riders of bicycles, motorcycles, and private vehicles wish to deliver, it has been announced so that they can apply for conversion to’walking’ riders. From the 8th, the operating conditions were changed so that all riders can deliver. However, we keep the notice recommending delivery on foot.

Like Baemin Riders, Coupang Itz also took measures to limit’delivery distance’. As of the 8th, Coupangitsu adjusted the app so that customers can order food only at restaurants within 500m of the destination. This is a measure taken by Coupang Itz in the judgment that long-distance driving by riders is still dangerous.

Delivery Rider’s Ejaculation

How are riders reacting to the actions of delivery agencies and delivery platforms? Delivery Riders Labor Union Rider Union Chairman Park Jung-hoon was asked about the on-site response of riders to the companies’ actions.

According to the evaluation of Rider Union chairman Park Jung-hoon, the initial response of delivery platforms such as Baemin Riders and Coupang Itz on the 6th during heavy snowfall was insufficient. According to Chairman Park, some riders who came to the scene for delivery work decided that delivery was impossible due to heavy snow. However, if the rider arbitrarily cancels a delivery order, the platform may suffer a penalty in assigning delivery orders in the future. Because of this, riders put inquiries on canceling orders to the CS channels of Coupang Itz and Baemin Riders, but the consultation on the CS channel on this day was not done smoothly in time. Rider Union member Rider Union explained that some riders had an accident while carrying out a delivery at risk because there was no answer for 20 minutes after entering an inquiry.

Chairman Park said, “It is a natural disaster, so there is a limit, but I think there is a problem in the communication structure of riders (delivery platforms). Again, the problem was that the early Coupang Itz and Baemin Riders couldn’t get in touch at all.” “In that respect, regular delivery riders are better. They call the delivery agency manager right away and tell them that they will cancel the order because the site is in a situation where they can’t carry out their work, and a quick response unique to the neighborhood is possible.”

Nevertheless, Chairman Park said that the response of the delivery agency and the delivery platform was not so bad. He said, “Baemin Riders delivered a notice to the riders that it doesn’t matter if delivery is delayed during business hours, but I think it’s an appropriate precaution.” I think it was good to have the rider switch to walking delivery.”

Chairman Park pointed out that although companies are taking measures, the biggest problem in this heavy snowfall and cold wave is’clearing’. He said, “After the heavy snowfall on the 6th, the snow removal was not properly carried out, so it was not an environment that could deliver delivery until today (8th). I think it’s true that we cannot deliver until yesterday. I think there is a big problem with the administration. I think that platform companies and self-employed people should ask for what they ask of the local government.”

An official from a two-wheeled logistics company running a business in Seoul said, “I went to the site yesterday to carry out the delivery work, but there was not too much snow removal, so it was impossible to work until today. “When I drive on the side of the road, it feels like I’m almost riding on the snow,” he said. “I saw a lot of motorcycle riders falling down while walking around the scene, and I fell twice. When I came back from work, I thought it was right to stop working today, so I asked the customer for understanding.”

“It could be a bunch of riders to get the job done,” he said. However, in the process, if the riders are injured, the work will be disrupted for about 7 to 14 days instead of a day or two. I think it’s more advantageous.”

Written. Byline Network

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