Tell us your stories about delivery workers | Chitchat

The Spring Festival holidays may be the only period during the year that you don't see couriers busy delivering and picking up parcels. Since you still can't stop buying online, do you miss them?

Actually, delivery workers endure long hours, low wages and poor job security. Here are some true stories.

Yang Lei works seven days a week. It's common for him to deliver a total of 300 to 400 parcels a day. His pregnant wife lives in an outlying suburb of Beijing, but Yang is usually too tired to go home, as it involves traveling for more than two hours by subway and bus. So he often sleeps in a downtown house that a local agent has rented to use as an office. 

When Beijing issued a red alert for air pollution, Yang didn't bother to wear a mask, even though he had to ride his electric tricycle more than 10 hours a day and was exposed to fine particulate matter that can be harmful to human health. Long days spent battling the wind and dirt on the capital's streets have left his skin darkened and pitted, making him appear older than his years.

Yang's work is financially risky because couriers sometimes have to compensate those expecting a delivery for the loss of parcels, even if the loss is not their fault. In one case, Yang handed over a parcel containing valuables to colleagues at another branch, but the parcel later went missing. When Yang called the branch and explained the problem, the workers refused to speak to him. The sender asked Yang for compensation of 3,000 yuan, which he was forced to pay out of his own pocket.

Having worked for Shanghai YTO Express and SF Express in Beijing, Sun Bun (not his real name) thinks delivery workers have low social status and often are insulted.

In July, during a torrential rainstorm, a registered letter Sun delivered to an address in Beijing was accepted by the addressee's wife, but a short time later Sun was called by the intended recipient who said he hadn't received the letter and began verbally abusing him. "He began swearing at me as soon as I picked up the phone," Sun said.

The caller insisted that his wife had been with him all the time and hadn't taken delivery of the letter, so Sun headed back to the man's home where he confirmed that the woman who signed for the delivery was indeed the wife of the addressee, who had been absent at the time of delivery. Sun still doesn't know what happened to the letter.

"Despite the heavy rain, I fulfilled my obligations and delivered the letter, but instead of respect, I received insults. Would that man have insulted me like that if I had higher social status?" he said.

Did you ever encounter a deliveryman who impressed you? Tell us your stories about your experiences with delivery workers. We will collect the best ones and publish them next Friday.

Hou Liqiang contributed to this story.