SEOUL (SOUTH KOREA) – Some of the world’s biggest food delivery companies based in South Korea are bracing to face an estimated $4 billion (3.1 billion pounds) new orders and they have employed thousands of new two-wheeler riders in the wake of the pandemic spread.
South Korea was ranked third in the food order services last year and the appetite for meal deliveries has been whetted by the lockdowns and other social distancing regulations, said consultancy Euromonitor.
According to Euromonitor, the country’s food delivery market is slated to surge 40% this year to around $15.4 billion from $11 billion in 2019.
With the rise in consumer demand for door delivery of food, many South Koreans are looking at the prospect of a career as a self-employed rider earning more an hour compared to many other part-time jobs. Earlier this year, the pandemic had brought the joblessness rate in the country to a 10-year high.
Jobs such as delivery riders will keep growing in number amid the coronavirus crisis, said Kim Sung-hee, professor of labour studies at Korea University, adding that there is a need for government scrutiny of “non-regular work”.
“A lot of the contractor jobs, including riders, have minimal access to labour rights,” Kim said, “they have no access to occupational health and safety insurance and no employment safety net.”
Woowa Brothers, which runs the leading food delivery service Baedal Minjok, said it has expanded its fleet of motorbike delivery riders this summer by 50% from 2,100 earlier. Smaller competitor Barogo is recruiting 5,000 more riders.
This is beneficial for people like Chey Young-ah, a 37-year-old former art teacher in Seongnam. When the crisis forced classes to shut, she found that the delivery orders were surging at a fried chicken outlet where she worked part-time. She lost no time in becoming a delivery rider herself in August.
“I feel lucky I found this field at a time when deliveries are booming,” she said. “One of the merits of this job is that the entry barrier is low. They don’t care whether you’re a man or a woman, you don’t need a job interview.”
Chey, who has a motorbike, said she has already earned 1.8 million won (1,213 pounds) last month working six to eight hours seven days a week. It is nine times the salary as an art instructor.
She works for Baedal Minjok and Coupang Eats, which are operated by SoftBank-supported e-commerce firm Coupang. These jobs are offered to riders through phone call via an app. They can select a suitable job based on distance and pay.
They say they earn close to 3,300 won for each delivery they make.
“The competition is getting fiercer … Some (riders) violate traffic rules to make one more delivery, putting their safety at risk,” said Chey.
Food delivery firms are also coming out with bonuses to rope in faster riders. Coupang Eats said riders can earn up to 15,000 won per order, depending on order volume and weather conditions.