Video of delivery controversy goes viral

A video about a delivery man asking for a price increase before delivering rice has gone viral. But it was a result of misunderstanding and a spur of rage while the delivery man finally completed the mission without additional fees.

Many neitizens commented that timely deliveries of supplies like rice are very important during the lockdown, so how can delivery men raise their fees?

The delivery man, under the assumed name Wang Wei, recalled the incident on April 10 and felt aggrieved.

"I received more than 10 orders from one restaurant at around 1pm that day," said Wang, a Meituan employee. "I thought they were box lunches. However, when I arrived at the restaurant, I realized that some of the orders were raw rice. There were four bags of rice, each of which weighed 5 kilograms, but the delivery fee for each order was still 8 yuan (US$1.3)."

He became emotional and phoned the customers to inquire about a price increase but they refused.

Wang finally delivered the 20 kilograms of rice, because he was worried it would adversely affect his assessment if he didn't.

Wang delivered a total of eight bags of rice from the restaurant that day, and the delivery fee for each order was 8 yuan. One of the customers tipped him another 10 yuan.

Wang conceded that there was probably a better way to remedy the situation.

"I should have reported the situation to my company's customer service department instead of asking for a price increase," he said.

Meituan claimed the incident was a dispute between the delivery man, restaurant and customers, which occurred after he discovered the rice in the orders was actually several bags of rice, but the delivery man didn't charge the fee in private.

Meituan added that bagged rice can't be sold as a restaurant commodity on its platform, because the weight of meals is quite different from that of bagged rice and the delivery fees are different.

The restaurant has been removed from the platform for rectification.

Tips are permitted on many delivery platforms. However, the tip limit on some platforms is 200 yuan per order.

Many delivery platforms strictly prohibit delivery men from increasing delivery fees and have clarified delivery rules for employees.