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The sudden death of a takeout deliveryman in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou has thrown into stark relief the strenuous nature of this gig industry, where drivers are working ever-longer hours to chase shrinking fees as competition grows amid China’s bleak job market.杭州外卖骑手“猝死”，骑手工作强度问题再引关注。近日，杭州市余杭区一外卖骑手躺在电动车上休息期间猝死视频引发关注。9月9日，杭州市余杭区闲林街道办事处发布情况通报，称针对近日网民关注的本辖区雅乐国际花园附近非机动车道上一男子晕倒经抢救无效宣布死亡事件，经查，死者袁某某（男，55岁），系外卖配送员，公安部门已排除刑事案件可能。
A middle-aged deliveryman was found unconscious on his electric scooter outside a local residential complex early Friday morning, Jimu News reported, quoting an eyewitness. He had been lying on the scooter for several hours before fellow delivery riders realized something was wrong, the witness said.The deliveryman was always seen working, taking only short breaks by lying on his scooter, according to the witness. He would immediately get back to work as soon as he received an order on his phone, the witness said.此前，极目新闻报道，一名目击者介绍，9月5日21时许，这名外卖员送完单躺在电动车上休息，直到6日1时许，同行发现这人睡了很久，感觉不对劲，就去摇了一下他，发现他醒不来，就告诉了小区物业人员，随后小区物业人员拨打了120并报警。目击者称，这名外卖员是众包外卖员，是附近的“单王”。
On Monday, a neighborhood committee in Hangzhou’s Yuhang district confirmed in a statement that the 55-year-old deliveryman, surnamed Yuan, died despite rescue efforts. Police have ruled out foul play, the statement said.China’s sluggish job market has put increasing financial pressure on delivery riders, with competition for orders growing ever fiercer and working hours longer, as the number of riders increases and order fees decline, several drivers told Caixin.Yuan was a freelance delivery rider who took orders from various platforms including Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s Ele.me and Meituan, a person familiar with the matter told Caixin. As gig workers, such delivery riders’ income depends on the number of orders they take, while they do not receive the social insurance and other benefits that the platforms offer to regular employees.If a platform detected that Yuan had been working too long, it would issue a fatigue reminder, but he could keep working by switching to another platform, the person said, noting that platforms have no measures in place to force freelancer riders offline.一名了解情况人士对财新表示，猝死的杭州骑手并非传闻中所谓“单王”，其本人身份为众包骑手，平时在饿了么、美团等平台都有接单，一个平台触发疲劳提醒了，可以换另一个，此前在某平台的日均单量在40单左右，在资深骑手中属于常规水平，月收入约在万元左右。
该人士称，美团平台专送骑手受到配送站点排班管理，一旦超过10-12个小时，合作方有权让骑手强制下线；众包骑手则无时间限制，10小时左右系统会弹出“疲劳提示”的弹窗、短信等，但无强制下线的措施。
Despite the difficulties of the job, the delivery business has seen an influx of workers as unemployment has climbed in recent years. “Among those I interviewed were former teachers, civil servants, military veterans and chefs, and many of them use takeaway delivery as a transition, working for a month or two and then leaving,” a takeaway franchisee previously told Caixin.A total of 7.45 million riders earned an income by delivering Meituan orders in 2023, according to a report released by the food delivery platform. The figure was 6.24 million in the previous year.多名骑手向财新记者表示，骑手数量增加、配送单价下跌，是导致部分经济压力大的骑手不得不“卷”单量和时长的主要原因。就业市场紧缩大背景下，外卖骑手在这两年加速扩容，两大外卖平台美团和饿了么的骑手规模目前合计已经超过千万。根据美团外卖发布的报告，2023年745万骑手通过美团平台获得收入，这一数字在2022年为624万；2022年5月至2023年9月期间，饿了么平台上的活跃骑手超过400万。
Many young people nowadays would rather work as delivery riders than in factories, as they consider the former a relatively “simple and flexible” job with a higher income, said a Meituan driver surnamed Xie in Guangdong province.In July, the number of young people without jobs in China rose for the first time in five months as millions of fresh graduates entered the labor market.“我面试的人中有老师、公务员、军人、厨师等等，很多人把送外卖当过渡期，干一两个月就走。”一名外卖加盟商人士此前对财新称，骑手付出辛苦真的能挣到钱，在大环境不好的情况下能弥补失业期间收入。此外，广东东莞美团外卖骑手小谢向财新表示，现在很多年轻人不想进厂“打螺丝”，认为外卖行业比较简单，工作时间比较自由，又在网上看到一些消息说送外卖挣得比较多，“但是实际上并不是这么回事”。
However, delivering takeaway may not pay as much as people think. Currently, takeout drivers earn an average of 4.5 yuan (63 U.S. cents) for an order that requires a delivery distance of more than three kilometers, less than half of the 10 yuan they could have earned in 2019, Xie told Caixin.Pay for orders requiring shorter delivery distances has also declined, with some falling below 3 yuan, he said, noting that the decline is a common problem in cities across China.他向财新表示，2019年其刚开始做骑手的时候，配送单价在5-6元，超过三公里的单价可达10元。但是目前超三公里订单单价已经腰斩至4.5元，三公里内订单跌至3.8-4.2元区间，畅跑甚至跌至3元以下，高温补贴也已经取消。
Most delivery riders now earn between 5,000 yuan and 6,000 yuan a month, he said. Those wages might not be enough for them to live in big cities, where the demand for ordering takeout is highest. In Hangzhou, for example, employees in the private sector earned an average of 7,152 yuan in 2022, official data showed.
Writing by Wang Xintong
Editing by Jonathan Breen
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