Delivery boys and girls: Shouldering the festive burden

New Delhi: They are the young men and women tasked with delivering festivities to our doorsteps, constantly on the move and almost unseen in the crowd as they lug loaded backpacks to homes and offices in distant corners of the city. The squad that makes sure the process of online shopping is smooth for both the consumer and the supplier is also the one that shoulders the festive burden of discounts and the frenzy to buy new things. Riding two-wheelers with huge backpacks, delivery boys are a regular sight at traffic signals, waiting at apartment gates wiping the sweat off their brows, and going up and down stairs as they go about delivering everything from earphones to flat-packed furniture.

Running into women executives dragging bags as big as themselves and manoeuvring their way up one, two, sometimes even four floors has become pretty common too. It is not always the "khushiyon ki delivery", as a pizza brand famously said. Akshay*, who delivers packages for the fashion e-commerce company Myntra, said the festive season is a time he looks forward to for that extra income.

But the few extra bucks come with longer working hours, dealing with rude customers, and often no additional help from the online portals he delivers for. "I get paid Rs 14 per delivery, and since there are a lot more orders during the festive season, it helps me take home a little more than usual," Akshay*, who lives in Wazirabad, told PTI.

In these days before Diwali, he hits the road at 7 am to reach the Paharganj warehouse in time to load his backpack with the day's orders. The number of deliveries goes up to 100 every day during the pre-Diwali sale, compared to the rest of the year when he delivers a maximum of 60 orders in a day. He said he moves around his designated central Delhi area saddling the backpack that weighs anything between 40-50 kgs, and is on the job till 8 pm. In all of this, he said, the bike is his own, so is the fuel. And god forbid, if there's any damage to a product, the cost too is for him to bear.

A Myntra insider said the company's supply chain team consists of store partners and delivery agents and is geared to handle peak season.

The company has scaled up their delivery network through its MENSA (Myntra Extended Network for Service Augmentation) programme which consists of 15,000 kirana stores across 50 cities.

"The programme enables store owners to earn an additional source of income while also ensuring efficient and timely deliveries," he said. Amazon India, another major player in the e-commerce industry, recently announced the expansion of its delivery network for faster deliveries ahead of the festive season. "In an effort to provide a seamless shopping experience, we have created opportunities for more than 90,000 seasonal associates across our fulfilment network and customer service sites ahead of the festive season," an Amazon India spokesperson said. Pankaj* is part of the brand's delivery network.

He makes deliveries in Parliament Street and its surrounding areas, and gets Rs 17 per package. Since his region of work is mainly office area, most buildings have lifts. But there are some buildings, like the INS building, in which he has to climb up five floors with his backpack. "Some customers are so nice they treat us like we are family members, but many also behave terribly.