How Amazon helped push Japan’s famed delivery men to the edge
Person-to-person home delivery sales have been an important cultural feature in Japan for decades, but modern demands are grinding the workforce down, parcel by parcel
Japan’s home-delivery system, the envy of the world, is breaking down under the load of rapidly expanding e-commerce companies demanding same-day delivery of their wares.
Want to play a round of golf but don’t have a car? No problem. Simply drop the clubs off at the local convenience store, and they will be delivered straight to the golf course – and back to your front door after the round is over.
Gift giving is a big thing in Japan, and whole floors of department stores are given over to gift packages of oranges, melon rice, grapes, beer and numerous other products that must be delivered to the beneficiary during Japan’s busy summer and winter gift-giving seasons.
Person-to-person home delivery sales have been an important cultural feature in Japan for decades. So the growing burdens of e-commerce that threaten it are not just a business story; they are a story about social infrastructure.
For the delivery companies and their hard-working army of truck drivers, it means long days of hard work at low pay. However, companies had managed to cope until the rise of online shopping and its demands for quick delivery.