You will see them on every pavement, because why use the roads when you can ride on the footpath? You won’t hear them, though, because they are riding electric scooters. The first you will know is when one zips past you, the rider - one hand on the handlebars, the other on a mobile phone - nonchalantly weaving between pedestrians while typing out a text message or checking the drop off address.
They are the yellow uniformed delivery riders for Meituan, China’s biggest online food delivery service. Meituan works with more than nine million merchants, processing over 6 billion orders per year for 600 million users, delivered by their more than 6 million delivery riders. Sometimes, walking the streets of Guangzhou, it seems that all 6 million are heading directly for me. Their logo is a kangaroo - I’ve no idea why.
As far as I understand many of the riders come from rural areas, or smaller urban areas, where work is often hard to find, though I have also seen claims that an increasing number of riders - possibly as many as a quarter - are graduates. Conditions are tough, though the Chinese government has been boosting legal protections in recent years. Despite this, it seems that it is possible to make good money - if you put in the hours, make your deliveries at high speed, and keep your customers happy.
For the riders, if a delivery arrives after the target time, they lose money. As a result, everything is done at speed, and sometimes their presence on the pavement does feel genuinely hazardous. I’ve yet to witness any collisions, but I have seen plenty of near misses, often involving children playing or chasing one another on the footpath.
Inevitably, certain times of the day are busier than others with lunchtimes particularly frenetic. So the daily routine cycles between frantic activity and downtime when the orders slacken off and the riders check their phones, play cards, or simply sleep.
I do use the delivery services, but I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand I know these services are providing employment for people who might otherwise not have jobs. On the other, these riders, despite recent law changes, have little legal protection and have to work long hours in tough conditions to make a decent income. I salve my conscience by given all my delivery riders five stars since I know that customer ratings are one of the data points used to determine pay. Not much I know, but the best I can do.