Display even a trace of anger to a customer and 'they threaten to report you,' says Zhang. Yet he remains unfailingly polite on such calls. They will call just to make you walk up 11 flights of stairs or to criticize you for not delivering their package to their door that very day,' says Zhang, the delivery worker in my compound. 'Many clients really like to make life difficult. In China, customers are provided the delivery worker's mobile number for each package they order, giving the recipient a direct and highly personal link to monitor - or heckle - delivery workers. 'On those days, it is as if I worked the entire day, delivering 400 packages, for nothing,' he says. Lesser offenses can carry fines of about $30 to $80. If someone complains by email, Wang is fined about $300, nearly a week's wages. If Wang fails to garner at least one five-star review a month, he gets slapped with an $8 pay deduction. In the case of a late package or a three-out-of-five-star review, the app will knock off points. Good customer reviews earn delivery workers virtual points in the app, which serve as a buffer against deductions. 'The rewards are light, but the punishments are always heavy,' says a delivery worker named Wang who works for Zhongtong, one of China's largest courier services. Their performance is evaluated by mobile apps on phones that the courier services give workers - these delivery logistics apps track their deliveries, sometimes deducting hundreds of dollars in penalties from monthly compensation that averages below $800. They ensure that a food takeout order can arrive in minutes an online purchase, the same day.īut there is a dark side to this ultraconvenient service. 'Rewards are light' and punishments 'heavy'Ĭhina's more than 3 million delivery workers are a ubiquitous sight on city streets, zipping around haphazardly on scooters and auto rickshaws. Five Chinese delivery workers told NPR their per-package fees had dropped by an average of 25% in the past year. Yet even as booming e-commerce platforms result in higher numbers of packages delivered each day, courier services are cutting the fees they pay delivery workers per package delivered. The delivery workers described grueling routines: 12-hour days, six days a week, under the automated and watchful eye of mobile apps that track how and when they deliver hundreds of packages a day.ĭelivery workers are a critical link in China's on-demand courier services, which ship more than 60 billion packages a year and generate nearly 1% of the country's annual economic activity.

Apps that track packages