A delivery worker calls his client to see if contactless delivery is an option in a Chaoyang District residential community, Beijing, July 28. Photo: Yang Xue/CSST

---

China’s digital economy is developing at breakneck speed, causing exponential growth in the express delivery industry. Waiting for packages, answering calls from deliverymen, and scheduling package pickups are activities which are now part of the fabric of daily life for Chinese urban and rural residents. Over the last decade, delivery workers have become somewhat “familiar strangers” that people interact with on a daily basis—but not much is known about this dynamic from a sociological perspective. 

China has roughly 3 million delivery workers, and most of these delivery drivers are migrant workers born “post-80s” or “post-90s.” This study combines participatory observational fieldwork with in-depth interviews, aiming to understand the social relationships that delivery workers build through their work. By dining, living, and working alongside delivery workers, researchers deeply participated in the labor process as close observers to the personal interactions and system processes taking place between delivery workers, consumers, residential property managers, and other stakeholders. 

Theoretical applications

Labor process theory is an important theoretical perspective to apply to the study of labor and production processes. This theory has profoundly influenced sociologists in China. It is widely referenced in labor sociology, labor relations, political economics, and many other disciplines. Chinese scholars have further advanced the development of labor process theory based on China’s practical experiences.

Through a review of existing literature, research perspectives on the social relationship between laborers and consumers can be roughly divided into three categories. First, in most service industries, due to the large mobility of customers, interactions between laborers and consumers are relatively limited, and deep interactions are relatively rare, such as with flight attendant and store sales clerks. A second category exists, which features long-term service interactions and a deep dependence between one or many laborers and a single customer, as with domestic workers. In the third category, which is somewhere in between, laborers have their own stable customer base, such as insurance managers, health care products sales workers, and so on.

Previous research noted that social relationships were embedded in the labor process of workers, but further analysis is needed. The analytical frameworks used largely follow the logic of industrial production, and primarily observe social relationships between managers and laborers. Although lately the research focus has shifted from the manufacturing industry to the service sector, most studies still center on the dynamics between managers and laborers. Also, social relationship networks in the workplace are more rigid, managers and laborers interact according to an organizational structure. Common power dynamics either feature a hegemonic relationship where managers control laborers, or laborers rely on social relationships to challenge the authority of management. Finally, in previously published studies, the instrumental nature of these workplace relationships is most prominent, but this not conducive to deepening our understandings of relationship networks.

As social relations are highly important in Chinese people’s daily life and work, this paper uses delivery workers as the lens through which the construction of social networks is studied. By measuring the impact of these networks on the labor process, this study intends to deepen understandings of social relationships embedded in the labor process.

Direct relationships

Field investigation made it clear that delivery workers’ labor processes routinely involved both direct and indirect relationships. Direct relationships refer to social networks with customers. Using labor process as a theoretical framework, the social relations network built by delivery workers, including consumers and other members of the community, can solve trust problems to enhance labor autonomy. 

As timeliness is an important feature of express delivery services today, delivery workers are required to deliver packages within two specific timeframes, referred to as “morning” and “mid-shift.” The morning shift packages must be delivered and signed for before 14:00 on the delivery day, while mid-shift packages must be received before 22:00 on the delivery day. If receipt of the package is acknowledged after the designated time slot, it will be considered a delay, and each delivery worker pays a penalty of 50 yuan per delayed package. Meanwhile, the penalty for an “improper” signature or a “failure to properly report problematic deliveries” is 5 yuan per package. Those who falsely report problematic deliveries or falsify signatures will face higher penalties.

When a package is signed for, it means that the entire logistics process of the delivery has been completed according to the courier company’s information monitoring system. However, in reality, the package may still be lying in the delivery vehicle and having not actually reached the customer yet. Delivery companies prohibit such behavior, and if workers are found cheating the system, delivery workers are fined 700 yuan per offense. With cooperation from customers, this type of behavior is easy to detect, because it only takes a phone call to customer service or a complaint submitted on the online shopping platform to uncover preemptive acknowledgement of delivery.

As courier companies strictly monitor delivery, how do so many early sign-offs slip under the radar? This is a function of the complex social networks which delivery workers have built with their clients. If a personal relationship with mutual trust is in place, delivery workers who need extra maneuvering space to finish their heavy workloads rely on regular customers not to report them. They form a social relationship similar to friendship, filled with both familiarity and professional distance, with their clients. This relationship that makes early sign-offs possible for delivery workers. A tacit understanding has formed between the two parties, and the client will not complain about the service because they trust that their local delivery driver will deliver the package eventually.

Indirect relationships

In addition to direct interactions and social relationships with consumers, field work uncovered an unexpected discovery: delivery workers also need to build indirect social networks to assist them in completing their work. For delivery workers, the importance of indirect relationships is equal to direct relationships. In some cases, they might be even more important.

Indirect relations refer to the social network that delivery workers build with community workers, residential property management staff, security guards, front desk staff, and so forth. Indirect relationships have the following three impacts on the delivery labor process. First, indirect networks grant access to communities. Modern apartment buildings are mostly equipped with entrance security systems. Without a sound relationship with “insiders,” deliverymen simply could not get past the door. Second, security guards and front desk staff can assist delivery workers in completing their work and improve their efficiency. If a client is absent, and not answering the phone, delivery workers must leave parcels at their doorstep, which has the hidden risk of theft or loss. If security guards and front desk staff can temporarily hold the package, it is safer and more efficient. Finally, this social network also helps delivery workers expand their business, since these staff members are also in charge of sending packages. Thus, the maintenance of a relatively harmonious relationship with indirect social networks has become an important measurement of delivery worker efficiency.

Social networking types

Whether with consumers or with other people in the community, building and maintaining social networks is an important part of a delivery worker’s labor process.

Social networking is the foundation of these relationships. Delivery workers need to get to know their clients, which means they need to take note of their clients’ habits and preferences to provide better service. As one delivery worker said in an interview, “you have to know which client will be fine with early sign-offs or contactless delivery. If not, you will cause yourself trouble.”

In indirect relations, delivery workers often take more initiative. Most delivery workers will spend their work breaks chatting with property management staff and security guards, or smoking together. With frequent and simple interactions, they can build warm working relationships.

The fact that delivery workers usually work in fixed distribution areas helps them maintain continuous and stable interactions with consumers, property management staff, security guards, and community workers. Though these interactions are relatively simple, over time, the two parties have evolved from strangers into “familiar strangers.”

Fixed distribution areas are beneficial to delivery companies, as local knowledge helps increase the efficiency of delivery. Developing a familiar zone has great strategic value to delivery workers. When a company has to relocate a delivery worker, the importance of reconstructing formerly stable networks will emerge. Delivery workers are reluctant to move to new posts for this reason. It takes time for the delivery person to settle into a new social scenario.

In addition to bonding with clients, the community, and mentally mapping their designated area, delivery workers build direct and indirect social networks through reciprocity. The best way to build a relationship with a client is to give discounts on outgoing packages. Online shopping often involves returning goods, so those who receive parcels are most likely also going to need to send packages out. In a given area, a delivery worker is often responsible for both package drop-off and pick-up. Establishing WeChat contacts with clients plays an important role in building a direct relationship. During field investigation, we found that clients usually use WeChat to contact their local delivery person when they need to send packages out, rather than placing an order on the express delivery company’s official platform. 

Summary

Direct and indirect relationships are indispensable to the labor process for delivery workers. These social relationships support their lives and work, but while these networks are instrumental, they can also become a constraint to the labor process. Ethics are hidden behind these relationships, and bind both sides of the interaction. Delivery workers strive for autonomy in their labor process through relational labor, and this relationship in turn will shape their physical labor. While the relationships influence clients, property management staff, and security guards, workers themselves are also affected by these relationships.

For example, the working day for a delivery worker is also shaped by the indirect social network they strive to construct. The pace of work is affected, as delivery workers need to consider the specific needs of different people in their social network in the process of scheduling their day. 

When we attempt to fit this working relationship into a model, we can better understand why delivery workers are referred to as “familiar strangers.” As migrant workers, delivery workers are first perceived as outsiders by consumers, security guards, and property management staff. However, with time and through daily work, delivery workers build social networks within Chinese interpersonal relationship customs, becoming familiar. This network building takes time and is not always smooth, but once a relationship is established, delivery workers are treated with more flexibility and kindness if minor errors are made. 

However, this social network is built from distant social relationships—and the delivery workers never move past the boundary of “stranger” to form an attachment. In our study, we saw that when delivery workers no longer work in a neighborhood, they do not have any further contact or interactions with the network of people they once knew from work. In this sense, it is a manufactured familiarity, brief and light, which eventually leads to alienation. 

Zhuang Jiachi is an associate professor from the School of Sociology and Psychology at Central University of Finance and Economics. 

Edited by YANG XUE