In Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, a delivery man galloped on the way to deliver food. Oriental IC data
Wang Fanglin stared at the computer, and his eyes were less than 15 cm away from the screen.
From the time the customer places an order to the time the merchant takes an order to start catering, a new takeaway order is generated as an order to be assigned, and "wave after wave, wave after wave" floods into the computer screen.
Wang Fanglin is the captain of the Anyi Road detachment of a take-away platform in Shanghai. He assigns the order to the rider. After receiving the order, the rider will fly within a radius of 3 kilometers around the merchant, or take the meal or deliver the meal.
Between the risk of running a red light and the fines and complaints caused by overtime, riders are more worried about the latter.
On March 13th, it began to rain in Shanghai. When crossing the intersection with a green light, Zhang Ming was hit by a rider from another platform. For the rider, this kind of accident has become a habit, especially on such a rainy day.
From 11: 00 a.m. to 12: 00 a.m., the order volume surged to 264 orders, and at least 4 takeaways entered the list to be assigned every minute on average. The Anyi Road detachment began to enter a tense "explosive order" state.
In Ningbo, Zhejiang, in fast food restaurants, take-away orders keep coming out. Oriental IC data
"Did you fly there?"
"You have a new order, please deal with it in time."
When the assigned order arrives, the background will issue such a notice. Wang Fanglin turned off the speaker before the arrival of the noon peak, "it will explode when it is opened."
Wang Fanglin is the captain and dispatcher, and his team is responsible for delivering the take-away orders of some merchants within 20 blocks of hang lung plaza and Jing ‘an Museum.
Wang Fanglin stretched out during the gap. "I’m a little tired and don’t want to do it," he turned his head and told reporters. Then, a new order popped up and he continued to stare back at the screen.
The screen shows the real-time positions of 45 riders, and he needs to consider multiple factors to send orders: what is the impact of weather conditions on food delivery, will the merchants with slow food delivery slow down the orders of other merchants, and whether to assign several orders in the same direction to the same rider …
Wang Fanglin started smoking obsessively, and the stainless steel ashtray on the table was soon filled with cigarette butts.
"Consider the rider," he added. In the daily food delivery war, the rider’s work experience, familiarity with the route, ability to adapt to the road conditions, and even working attitude to deal with orders are the key factors of the war.
The 45 riders of Anyi Road detachment are divided into early, middle and late shifts, and there is also a "combat readiness group" set up to deal with more difficult and on the verge of overtime orders.
For the rider, the order is difficult.
Many orders from the same merchant sent to the same direction, the delivery distance is not long, and the delivery location is simple and easy to find. Such orders are the "toon" that riders are rushing to send; However, difficult orders, such as two orders from the same merchant, one for the east and one for the west, the complicated delivery route and the imminent overtime order, are "hot potatoes" for riders.
During the afternoon rush hour, Wang Fanglin was most annoyed to receive a call from the rider under unexpected circumstances. "Pick the bill, you don’t want to send it far away, you have everything."
The more difficult the order is, the more difficult it is for riders who don’t pick the order. Song Jun, who is divided into the "combat readiness group", is such a rare rider.
"If others can’t deliver it, pass it on to us. The dispatcher believes that you can finish it, and you don’t want to disappoint the dispatcher," said Song Jun, who has been a rider for one year.
He remembers that once in the afternoon rush hour, the captain "jammed" him with an order sent from Beijing West Road to Jiangning Road. It was two kilometers away and he had to cross eight traffic lights. The delivery time was only 10 minutes.
"When I delivered the meal to the guests, there were still 4 minutes left. Wang Fanglin said if you flew over. The guests said that I just looked at your trajectory and thought that you must overtime, but you didn’t!" He vividly described the customer’s surprise at that time.
He has been deeply impressed by the delivery, and luck without overtime accounts for a large part. "I didn’t wait for any traffic lights, it was a green light, so I went straight there."
In Taikooli, Sanlitun, Beijing, an anxious takeaway brother ran to deliver food. Caixin reporter Ma Minhui/vision china map
"I’m really fighting with my life."
The rider’s meal delivery time includes the meal delivery time after the merchant takes the order. At the noon meal peak, the merchant has to take delivery and eat in the hall at the same time, which sometimes leaves the rider with harsh delivery time.
"Normally it’s 20 minutes, and some have a few minutes left." During the rush hour, Song Jun will frown and wait for us. "Merchants can’t eat, guests are rushing to eat, mobile phones open the APP, and time is also urging us."
Special food delivery software is installed on the rider’s mobile phone, which shows the customer address and delivery time of the order, and is used to receive, pick up and deliver the order. From time to time, the mobile phone sends out female voice reminders of "You have a new order" and "Your order is about to expire".
The sound is sharp and pleasant to the rider.
"If you want to make money by delivering take-out, you can deliver the orders that others don’t want to deliver. If you deliver them when others don’t want to deliver them, you will definitely make money." At Anyi Road Detachment in Jing ‘an District, the rider’s salary is calculated according to the single amount, and each order is 7 yuan.
Wang Fanglin thinks that this way of making money is fair to riders.
However, every time the rider exceeds the time limit, half of the single delivery fee will be deducted. If this leads to customer complaints and bad reviews, 20 yuan will be fined, which is close to 3 times of the delivery fee per order.
When the timeout is inevitable, the rider will confirm the delivery in advance after communicating with the customer. It’s against company regulations, but it’s the last resort to save the bill.
However, this method does not always work, and Wang Fanglin has encountered it. "I gave her the meal and said I hoped you wouldn’t complain. She said yes, I wouldn’t complain about you. After 5 pm, the complaint result came out." He was fined 1000 yuan for being complained that he had confirmed the delivery in advance, which was almost equivalent to giving it away for three days.
"I was very angry at that time, and she still told me with a smile." At that time, Wang Fanglin didn’t take long to be a rider. He lost his mobile phone and had his car stolen when delivering food. Coupled with this fine incident, he once had doubts about this business.
"You can’t complain to us over time. If you complain, there is not enough time, and the red light will definitely run, which will have a great impact on our delivery." Chu Jiaomin, a Cantonese who has delivered food for more than two years, hopes that the rider can negotiate the arrival time with the customer and consider the actual situation in the delivery process to the greatest extent.
"Sometimes the red light doesn’t matter. As long as there is no car, we basically go there," Song Jun said.
Between the risk of running a red light and the fines and complaints caused by overtime, riders are more worried about the latter. In order to seize the time, run a red light and go retrograde in violation of traffic regulations, the probability of traffic accidents naturally increases.
"Some time ago, a takeaway buddy on Xinzha Road was hit by a car and died the day before yesterday," Song Jun said with wide eyes.
Before delivery, he worked as the deputy director of the workshop in a chemical plant in Huai ‘an, his hometown. Because of a chlorine gas leakage accident, he was hospitalized for a week, and then he decided to change careers. After changing careers, he realized that the risk factor of walking on the road was not lower than that in the chemical plant. "It’s really a fight with life."
On August 23, 2017, in Guangzhou, typhoon "Tiange" brought rain, and a takeaway was riding in the rain. Vision china diagram
"Don’t worry about sending it slowly."
In the afternoon, it rained harder and it was more difficult for riders to deliver food.
When crossing the green light at the intersection of Chengdu North Road and Weihai Road, Zhang Ming met other platform riders who ran the red light. "I looked like I was going to hit it, so I had to brake."
Even people and cars slipped out a few meters away, and Zhang Ming’s knees and palms were injured. The perpetrator handed a cigarette to apologize, and Zhang Ming didn’t have any trouble for the rider who was also in a hurry to deliver food.
He can understand his peers and those who don’t seem to understand him: the security guards who don’t allow him to enter the mall in rainy days, the passers-by who accuse him of riding on the sidewalk, and the traffic police who ask him to push the cart on special sections. "They also act according to the law."
Some office buildings do not allow food delivery staff to take the passenger elevator, but only take the slower freight elevator with more floors to stay; Some office buildings don’t even allow food delivery staff to take all elevators, so riders can only climb stairs.
Wang Xu, a novice, once climbed two high floors in a row. "On a Friday rush hour, I climbed a 37th floor and a 23rd floor. After coming down, people were floating and my legs were unstable."
Although 20-year-old Zhang Ming is a novice, he is more open-minded than many old riders. Compared with his previous work in a factory, he feels that being a rider is not tiring, and he also likes the freedom of riding on the road, even if he sometimes encounters some grievances.
A meal was delivered, and the customer didn’t indicate the location. He called the customer three times before delivering it, and then received a complaint: "Too stupid, I can’t even find a way."
Sometimes grievances come from passers-by. Song Jun once took the elevator to deliver food. An old lady took the wrong elevator which only led to the high-rise area above the 16th floor. After coming in, she kept pressing the 15th floor. The takeaway brother next to her said that she would sit next door. She ignored her and the elevator "cut" and suddenly closed.
"The takeaway brother was a little impatient:’ I told you it was next door’, and the aunt gave him a white look, and the 16th floor went up, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 …", "I sweated, pressed every floor, pressed every floor, and I was really going to collapse!"
Song Jun, who still has eight orders in his hand, and the little brother looked at each other and sighed. "What a sigh, believe it or not, I pressed it for you." We dare not speak. "
Song Jun wants to work hard in Shanghai after graduating from computer school, but his father doesn’t support it. He felt that his father was always giving him a hard time: after graduating from high school, he wanted to be a soldier, but his father opposed it. After marriage, he wanted to sell electric cars, but his father still opposed it.
Until this time, Song Jun made up his mind to come to Shanghai after hearing relatives say that take-out can earn 10,000 yuan a month. Finally, he persuaded his father by sending home 5,000 yuan a month.
When Zhang Ming first earned money for his family, he was not as happy as he thought: he dropped out of school to repair his car before graduating from the second grade. After half a year, his mother didn’t praise him when he excitedly took the earned 900 yuan to his mother, even though it was the first time he earned money.
"Why didn’t you praise me? Is it too little?" He was a little confused, but he didn’t say it. After that, I entered the factory, worked as a decorator, and delivered takeout food. Every time I changed my profession, I only made more money.
When he was in the factory, he saved more than 20,000 yuan to take home for the New Year. When his mother chatted with his neighbors, he talked about the money that each other’s children gave home this year. His son’s income attracted everyone’s envy, but Zhang Ming was not so happy. "I told my mother that next time others asked, don’t say so much. I don’t like it."
Sometimes, Zhang Ming will feel "the warmth of home" from his customers. He still remembers that a boy wrote in the note of the order: "It’s raining today, so be careful, the road is too slippery, don’t worry about sending it slowly, and pay attention to safety."
"In fact, this kind of greeting is rare, and it can’t be said that everyone has it, really rare." After saying this, Zhang Ming fell silent.
"The customer is not hungry, we are hungry."
For Song Jun, this job has brought him some "small fortunes".
He found that he can not only save money, but also become more cheerful and talkative. "Sometimes I run more orders and earn money, so I take my wife to eat mala Tang. She especially likes to eat mala Tang, and she is very satisfied every time."
Because he came to Shanghai with his wife, his clothes were cleaner than those of others in the team. Before coming to Shanghai, Song Jun didn’t want her to come, but his wife only asked, "Can you wash clothes?"
Talking about the future, he wants to save enough money and go back to his hometown to open a tea shop. He can’t wait to reunite with his two daughters.
Wang Fanglin doesn’t want to be like these people who got married early in the team. After telling the reporter about his experience of selling fruits, working as a worker in an electronic component factory and working as a waiter in a water bar over the years, he suddenly felt that "what he had done was a waste of time".
Before becoming a captain, he, like most riders, likes to watch the live broadcast on the fast hand, play the glory of the king in groups, and invite other younger brothers to drink and sing after work. Now, considering the work of dozens of people under his command, he dare not and have no time to play.
"I have exercised a lot more than before, and I have gained and lost." Wang Fanglin felt more responsibility and began to want to make some plans for the future.
Wang Xiangkun will come to Shanghai for one year tomorrow morning. He is Zhang Ming’s brother-in-law. His son is three years old and bought a Buick car in his hometown. His goal now is to buy a school district for his son. He doesn’t want his son to be a rider when he grows up.
Zhang Ming envies his brother-in-law’s car. He is saving money. In the countryside, he is old enough to get married. He needs money to marry, have children and build a new house.
Most of the members of Anyi Road detachment are like this, giving up a fairly comfortable life in their hometown in order to go back better.
When Zhang Ming sent a takeaway on the sixth floor, he climbed to the second floor "really exhausted". He remembered that he had forgotten to eat, and dragged his voice in the WeChat group of the detachment and shouted: "I am starving, and I have no energy at all."
This job is often like this, giving meals to customers, "customers are not hungry, we are hungry", Zhang Ming said.
The afternoon peak starts at 10 am and lasts until 4 pm. During this period, 45 riders delivered 938 orders.
Song Jun also reported for dinner in the group, which is the procedure for riders of Anyi Road detachment before eating-Wang Fanglin will stop sending orders to them in the background after receiving the report.
As the volume slowly declined, Wang Fanglin got up slowly and left the computer desk with a slightly narrow space. "I feel dizzy and a little nauseous," he described the feeling when I left my seat.
At this time, he finally had time to open the already cool takeaway box lunch.
(Some characters in the text are pseudonyms)