Deliverymen ride hard road to dreams

Lack of respect

Yu Tao, a rider for Tiantian Express, has worked in the sector for more than six years. After Spring Festival, he came back to Beijing in February, just as people began to understand the threat posed by the disease.

The 35-year-old from Tai'an, Shandong province, is responsible for collecting and delivering parcels to four communities. From 7 am to 6:30 pm every day, he deals with nearly 200 packages. The express station where he works usually has 12 employees, but only eight worked from February to April because the others were quarantined at home.

In early May, Yu and his peers were allowed to enter communities again. Before that, they had to avoid close contact with people by waiting outside for clients to collect their parcels, which effectively tripled delivery times.

"I had to ask clients' permission to put packages in designated places outside the community, but if any parcels went missing I received complaints and was fined," Yu said.

He recalled an experience in May when a client wanted him to take a package directly to the front door. When Yu arrived and knocked on the door, nobody answered. He heard people talking inside so he knocked several times.

After waiting 10 minutes, he called the client and told him he would store the package for him because he had hundreds of other items to deliver. Yu stowed the package and sent the withdrawal code to the client, but about five minutes later, he received a complaint.

"It wasn't my first complaint, but it was the first time I had met this kind of client. They have the right to complain about problems, but they shouldn't do so without a proper reason. Some clients are quite bossy and feel they are superior, but they should show us understanding and respect," he said.