Baemin to Compensate Food Costs Even if Orders Are Canceled Due to Delivery Delays

Improving Challenges for Baemin Riders Partner Merchants... Strengthening Delivery Quality

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Woowa Brothers, the operator of the delivery application 'Baedal Minjok,' has introduced a compensation policy to address the difficulties faced by partner merchants due to sudden customer order cancellations. If an order cancellation occurs because the delivery is delayed beyond the estimated delivery time communicated to the customer due to dispatch or delivery delays in Baemin Riders, the full cost of the food will be compensated.

According to Woowa Brothers on the 10th, Baedal Minjok (hereafter Baemin) has established and implemented this compensation policy from early this month within 'Baemin Riders,' which receives customer orders and handles delivery services. Previously, Baemin Riders only compensated the food price for customer order cancellations issued after the rider was dispatched and had requested cooking from the restaurant following the order acceptance. In other words, compensation was only provided if the food preparation was fully completed according to Baemin’s process and then the order was canceled.

However, in restaurants that handle customers directly or use multiple delivery apps simultaneously, cooking sometimes starts after order acceptance but before Baemin Riders’ cooking request is transmitted, depending on the kitchen situation. In such cases, if sudden order surges or situations like recent heavy rains occur, causing rider dispatch delays or delivery delays, and the customer cancels the order, compensation was difficult to obtain.

Therefore, Baemin decided to compensate the full food price if an order cancellation occurs due to delivery delays beyond the 'estimated delivery time' communicated to the customer, which is calculated based on the cooking time set by each restaurant at order acceptance and the average delivery time taken by riders. This move is interpreted as Baemin’s effort to defend its market position by compensating potential losses to partner merchants amid aggressive competition from latecomers in the delivery app market who are lowering commission fees.

Additionally, this policy seems aimed at resolving merchant inconveniences while improving delivery quality. It is said that this compensation policy was introduced in line with Baemin Riders’ recent recruitment of over 1,000 additional riders to enhance delivery quality. Until now, Baemin Riders faced complaints about delivery delays due to insufficient rider recruitment relative to increased order volume, and during bad weather or peak lunch and dinner hours when orders surge, rider shortages led to phased restrictions on delivery coverage. This compensation policy follows rider recruitment as a measure to resolve such delivery quality issues.