“It’s true that every profession has its masters.”

“Indeed, these delivery riders are incredible at what they do. Their effort deserves that monthly salary of over ten thousand yuan.”

“Although it’s physical labor, it’s still much more comfortable than working in factories or construction sites. No wonder so many people choose to be delivery riders—this profession really does make good money.”

“I see some delivery riders complaining about low wages, but isn’t that actually because their efficiency is low? Look at these delivery riders who can earn more than ten thousand yuan monthly. That’s already higher than many white-collar workers.”

“But there are many prerequisites to earning that much money.”

“So what if there are prerequisites? They can achieve it, you can’t—isn’t that because your efficiency isn’t good enough? Delivery work definitely makes money, but it’s not a place for lazy people. If you slack off and can’t improve efficiency or provide better service to customers, of course you’ll earn less.”

Many viewers were impressed by the delivery riders’ excellent performance, some even envying them. After all, quite a few people earned less than these delivery riders.

After introducing the daily work of these delivery riders, the final segment revealed the true focus.

The program staff asked the delivery riders several questions. One question was whether they would prefer more rest time—for example, after delivering orders for one hour, they must rest for 10 minutes to prevent excessive fatigue. Or perhaps setting a daily limit on the number of orders, after which they couldn’t accept more. Or maybe a rule that they couldn’t accept more than 10 orders at the same time.

What was thought to be a measure to reduce the burden on delivery riders was instead unanimously opposed by them.

“That definitely wouldn’t work. Why would you do that?”

“Did these regulations consider our feelings at all?”

“We don’t need rest; we just want to make money. If we rest for 10 minutes, we lose a lot of money.”

“I can currently handle 15 orders at once. If you force me down to 10 orders, what about the money from those other 5 orders?”

“Exactly, these rules can’t just be made impulsively. They need to consider our perspective too.”

All delivery riders unanimously opposed these suggestions.

Although the video didn’t explicitly state a specific viewpoint, Homely Delivery could still guide public opinion through comments with obvious leanings in the comment section.

This opinion guidance focused on two aspects:

First, emphasizing that the delivery industry has always been one where more work means more pay, and the delivery riders’ hardships were their own choice. Even if delivery platforms wanted to lower their requirements and let riders accept fewer orders, the riders wouldn’t accept it.

Second, emphasizing that delivery platforms had already provided many subsidies to delivery riders, merchants, and customers. Otherwise, it would be impossible to simultaneously achieve high salaries for delivery riders and low delivery fees.

This argument was similar to what Shengrun Express had claimed before: that a delivery fee of just three yuan could deliver goods from merchants to homes—what more could people want? Weren’t these inexpensive delivery fees and high incomes for delivery riders built on the foundation created by the Homely Delivery platform?

This was clearly a counterattack to the previous episode of “Manager’s Talk” that had dissected delivery tactics. And the effect was not bad, because these arguments were indeed confusing!

Especially paired with the delivery riders’ statements in the video, it seemed more convincing.

Everyone knew that most other delivery riders probably shared this attitude. They became delivery riders to make money, and if restrictions were placed on their order volume and working hours, they would actually have significant objections.

Pei Qian looked at Ma Yang. “Old Ma, what do you think of this video?”

Ma Yang scratched his head. “I feel like something’s wrong somewhere, but I can’t put my finger on it.”

Pei Qian nodded slightly. He saw more than Old Ma did and could roughly explain some of the underlying issues. But for now, he didn’t plan to strike back at Homely Delivery, because current delivery platforms were still relatively positive and healthy platforms.

Although these internet innovation platforms would produce a series of adverse effects after establishing monopoly positions, at least in the current situation, they were still positive and progressive.

Just like the impact ride-hailing platforms had on the taxi industry—although ride-sharing platforms would develop various problems after monopolizing the market, they initially did bring convenience to the industry, integrated demand, and had great progressive significance.

Many things needed to be viewed dialectically, objectively, and fairly based on facts.

Of course, Homely Delivery’s arguments wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny. Once examined closely, all kinds of problems would be revealed.

On one hand, merits couldn’t offset faults; having made contributions didn’t negate the objective problems that existed on the platform.

On the other hand, even if these platforms had certain progressive qualities, that couldn’t prevent better platforms from replacing them.

Pei Qian just felt there was no need to completely eradicate these platforms now; they could remain active for a while longer.

Even the Anti-Tenda Alliance’s resistance gave Pei Qian some hope. Not just hope for Pei Qian, but hope for the entire industry.

Through this public opinion battle, everyone could gain a deeper understanding of the tactics involved and recognize the problems more clearly, which would guide the industry in the right direction.

Were Tenda’s principles inviolable golden rules? Was Tenda always right?

Pei Qian certainly didn’t think so.

In fact, Pei Qian felt that the “Manager’s Talk” program was going too smoothly. Every time it dissected tactics, it received enthusiastic support from ordinary people. This kind of influence was actually a double-edged sword and could be dangerous.

Pei Qian hoped that ordinary people would also listen to opinions from various sides and think independently to judge whether something was right or wrong, rather than blindly following and pandering to Tenda.

“Alright, that’s enough gaming for today. I need to go home and rest,” Pei Qian stood up, preparing to leave.

……

Late Sunday night, April 21st.

Yu Ping’an finally finished his day’s work and said goodbye to Master Li.

Master Li gave a thumbs up and praised him: “Well done, young man! Your efficiency has been improving these past few days. I believe you’ll soon be ready to work independently!”

“I really didn’t expect someone as bookish as you could do this job. Your perseverance alone is worthy of praise.”

Yu Ping’an shook his head somewhat embarrassed: “Ah, no, Master Li, I’m still far behind compared to you.”

Master Li smiled: “Practice makes perfect. Much of the time is squeezed out through exploration. The more desperately you crave money, the faster you’ll deliver.”

“From my observation, you’re probably not short of money. Coming down to experience grassroots life and managing to experience it to this extent is already quite remarkable.”

Yu Ping’an didn’t want to explain anything and just nodded: “Thank you for your help recently, Master Li. I won’t be coming tomorrow.”

Yu Ping’an was only a crowdsourced delivery person for Homely Delivery, not a regular employee. Moreover, his main job was still at Slackin’ Delivery. He needed to work normally from Monday to Friday and could only use his days off on Saturday and Sunday to experience Homely Delivery.

Slackin’ Delivery riders worked on a five-day workweek, with two rotating days off each week, not necessarily on weekends.

Since Yu Ping’an was coming down to experience grassroots life, he received some special treatment in this regard, with his days off arranged on weekends.

Yu Ping’an rode his electric scooter back home, thinking about the hardships of the past two days when unexpectedly, he looked up and saw a familiar face.

“Oh, isn’t this Professor Wang?” Yu Ping’an stopped his electric scooter and greeted the other person, who also stopped.

Both were wearing Homely Delivery uniforms, and they looked at each other, feeling a bit like looking in a mirror.

Yu Ping’an was surprised: “Professor Wang, didn’t you say you were going to write an academic paper about food delivery? So you’re…”

Professor Wang smiled: “Yes, I’m writing a paper, and it’s almost finished. You can only speak with authority after thorough investigation. I deliver food during the day and write my paper at night.”

Yu Ping’an suddenly understood: “I was planning to share my experience as a delivery rider with you to help with your paper. I didn’t expect you’d take the plunge yourself!”

Professor Wang was a young lecturer in sociology at Handong University. He was also a cooperating lecturer for the Useful App and Rabbit Tail Live Stream, with very unique insights on many social issues.

Seeing Yu Ping’an mention the paper, Professor Wang took out his phone: “Look, my paper is almost complete. This is the abstract.”

Yu Ping’an took the phone and saw that the paper’s title was “Labor Order Under Digital Control,” with the subtitle “Research on Labor Control of Food Delivery Riders.”

From the abstract, this paper researched the labor process of delivery riders from organizational and scientific technology perspectives. Platform companies seemingly abandoned direct management of riders, but in reality, this was to dilute employer responsibility, and labor-capital conflicts were correspondingly transferred between the platform system and consumers.

Digital control upgraded from physical machines and computer equipment to virtual software and data platform systems. By imperceptibly collecting and analyzing basic data and then applying the data results to the riders, it made labor order possible.

Digital control not only weakened riders’ resistance awareness and eroded the space for them to exercise autonomy but also unconsciously involved them in their own management. This caused capital control methods to not only shift from autocratic to hegemonic but also from physical to virtual.

After briefly reading the abstract, Yu Ping’an’s first impression was that it was profound and somewhat difficult to understand. But he believed that carefully studying this paper would resolve at least half of his confusion.

Yu Ping’an had also seen the video released by Homely Delivery. He vaguely felt that the video seemed to deliberately blur certain issues, causing some misleading guidance for viewers, but looking at the surface content, Yu Ping’an couldn’t immediately determine where the error lay.

Especially the words spoken by the delivery riders, which genuinely expressed to the extreme the grassroots workers’ urgent desire to make money.

Even Yu Ping’an himself had some doubts—could the models of Slackin’ Delivery and Homely Delivery actually coexist?

Slackin’ Delivery riders were indeed much happier than Homely Delivery riders because their work had adequate guarantees, and their working hours and environment were relatively secure.

But Slackin’ Delivery couldn’t possibly take on all delivery riders, and this model couldn’t apply to all merchants.

Shengrun Group was suppressed by Headwind Logistics to the point of disorientation because Shengrun Group had indeed aroused public anger. Its ugly behavior and greed were already well-known.

Homely Group’s rental business was similar, as both companies had largely completed their market conquest, so they acted without restraint.

But Homely Delivery was different. It hadn’t yet achieved a truly dominant position, and many of its regulations were still relatively conscientious.

Some delivery riders even had feelings for this platform, as delivering food on this platform earned them much more than working in factories or construction sites.

Who would go against money?

In this situation, winning the public opinion battle was far more complex than what Lü Mingliang had to do.

Homely Delivery had grasped this point and counterattacked in public opinion.

At this point, without some professional theoretical support, it would be difficult.

Although Yu Ping’an was just an ordinary delivery person, he still had a manager’s mindset and deeply hoped that Slackin’ Delivery would win.

Yu Ping’an said to Professor Wang: “Professor Wang, once this paper is published, you must write a column article on the Useful App and also give us a good lecture on Rabbit Tail Live Stream!”

Professor Wang nodded: “Of course.”