In Seoul
IN SOUTH Korea, the delivery man on his motorbike is an ever-present danger to pedestrians and other road-users.
They cut suddenly into lanes, they drive against the flow of traffic, they zoom along pedestrian walks. Yet traffic police tolerate them.
These delivery men are a menace yet a necessary evil.
With a booming online shopping industry and food catering business, they are the crucial link between businesses and consumers. These people made no apologies about flagrantly flouting the rules. They are poorly paid (one delivery earns them about S$3) and time is money.
After a day of backbreaking work, most of them earn less than 100,000 won (S$100) a day, from which they have to deduct their gas fees and commission to the agent. On top of that, they have to pay for their own gas and insurance expenses.
But some of the haste had resulted in tragedy. I had seen a delivery man collide head-on with a bus and was flung five metres into the air. He died instantly.
The sad thing is that the companies which hire them do not give any compensation for work-related injuries as they are deemed free-lancers and not staff.
In view of their working conditions, nowadays I cast an understanding look at the delivery man who may scare the hell out of me when he appeared to charge out from nowhere.