Fast fashion victims: the couriers working long hours against the clock for low pay to deliver online orders

In Malaysia, delivery men on ‘no work, no pay’ contracts and whose base salary may be barely above the minimum wage can’t afford medical care for work injuries

To have a living wage they need bonuses, earned by delivering 100 or more parcels a day, riding their motorbikes on roads that are among Asia’s most dangerous

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A Zalora courier makes a delivery in Kuala Lumpur. Couriers have to work fast lest a customer complains, and must put in long hours to pick up the bonuses that give them a living wage. Photo: Zahim Mohd

Published: 1:33pm, 7 Oct 2019Updated: 9:22am, 17 Oct 2019

It’s normal for Hassan Muhammad* to put his life in danger. For the 25-year-old courier with Asian fashion e-commerce giant Zalora, it’s part of his job. From Monday to Friday, he makes the 35km journey from Zalora’s warehouse to his delivery area in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

He does this on his motorbike, dodging cars and 20-tonne buses on what the United Nations ranks as the sixth deadliest road system in Asia. And he has to do it fast.

There are at least 40 packages to deliver daily, more if there was a big sale the day before. Being slow is not an option – he could lose incentives or worse, face penalties if the customer complains. The more parcels he delivers, the more he earns.

“My personal record is 160 parcels in a day. That took several trips to the warehouse and back,” he says.

A courier rides his motorcycle on a busy road in Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia has some of the deadliest roads in Asia.

For this intense and precarious work, Zalora pays him more than the minimum wage – around US$35 more.

“Our monthly basic pay is just 1,200 ringgit (US$287),” he tells the Post. With incentives, he takes home around US$300-400 more than that each month. But this means working fast, working hard, and working long hours. The incentives aren’t fixed – they vary according to monthly sales.