Last mile aunty - a new service in China (6 photos)
A new type of service has emerged in China in Shenzhen: replacement delivery. It's a last-mile delivery service, often run by part-time "aunties." But who's responsible if they spill food or mix up orders? And what is a "last-mile auntie" anyway? 
A middle-aged woman went to work part-time
Why do we need such aunties
In essence, a replacement delivery person is needed to take orders from a courier in a shopping center or office center and take them to the customer's twentieth floor. A very popular service in glamorous Chinese offices. So the employee does not need to go downstairs, and the courier does not need a pass or undergo a search if the building has increased security requirements.
These ladies write the information on the packages, which office and where to deliver the package to, and deliver several orders at once.
For each such delivered order they receive about 2 yuan, but all they have to do is go up to the right floor, they don’t even have to cross the road. 
Another lady takes the order right at the doors of the glamour center
The problem is that these ladies collect the orders in the lobby, and only then deliver them.
How a new type of service appeared
Such replacement delivery workers are in demand in the commercial areas of Shenzhen. Most of them work part-time, they are housewives or women who are shown a reduced workload.
In a large office center, you can deliver about 30 lunches at lunchtime, which will give her 1000-2000 yuan per month from her part-time job.
Such a request arose due to the high population density, of course, but completely unexpectedly. There are a lot of people, but there are few elevators! At lunchtime you can’t wait to go down and up, you can wait for your turn for 15 minutes, and then the elevator will go down with a stop at each floor! Here you will definitely fork out 2 yuan, time is more precious than anything. 
Aunties exchange orders to optimize their routes
For example, in Huaqiangbei there are office floors in a skyscraper with 71 floors! And such aunties quickly study the layout of the building and deliver 20 orders in half an hour, thereby reducing the load on the elevator.
At the same time, several delivery aunties can work in one large center in order to have time to deliver everything during the lunch break. Therefore, they can exchange orders with each other so as not to be scattered across all floors.
Is this a social workplace? 
And you have to carry a lot in your hands, I wonder if you can buy a cart and push it in front of you?
The thing is that Huaqiangbei is the largest wholesale electronics market in China. And it is quite difficult for housewives to find a part-time job here if they do not understand the latest technology. And this job does not require any technical buildings.
There are urban legends that the most active last mile aunties make 10 thousand yuan a month. But the aunties themselves say that it is purely physically impossible, how many meals can they deliver to them per hour – a hundred!?
Who pays the aunties 
Some shopping centers take away their bread and put in lockers for couriers, but this does not solve the problem of overloading elevators at lunchtime
In fact, this is a very ramified system. Because some couriers themselves pay 2 yuan so as not to go to the 70th floor during rush hour, but to take a new order as soon as possible.
But then they risk giving their delivery to the devil himself (in fact, this is a violation of the delivery agreement, transferring the purchase into the hands of third parties). And the couriers' pay is not that big, on average 4-7 yuan per order depending on the distance, and of that, 2 yuan should be given to the auntie?
And other aunties are paid by the office workers so that they don't have to go downstairs for food themselves. It depends on how you negotiate, women with good communication skills are needed. 
We have fast food delivery, but in China it's much faster!
But it's obvious that the last mile auntie works in a zone of absolute trust, what's stopping her from collecting 30 lunches and disappearing in an unknown direction?
Do you think such an aunt would have taken root in our skyscrapers or have they already introduced the position of some manager with a maximally vague job title?
