Barogo, Additional Rider Recruitment "Prolonged COVID-19 and Cold Wave... Rider Shortage"

COVID-19 Prolongation and Onset of Cold Wave Lead to Surge in Delivery Volume

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Cheol-hyun] Barogo, a startup operating a last-mile logistics IT platform (CEO Lee Taekwon), announced on the 22nd that it will recruit additional delivery riders.

Barogo explained the reason for the additional rider recruitment, saying, "It has been about four months since we launched a recruitment drive for 5,000 new riders at the end of August, but the number of riders recruited is only about half of the target." They added, "With the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic and the onset of cold waves, delivery volumes have increased, and the workload for riders remains high."

According to Barogo, the rate of increase in the number of stores requesting deliveries currently exceeds the rate of increase in the number of riders performing deliveries. In fact, the number of stores requesting at least one delivery per month through the Barogo program increased by 17% compared to August last month, while the number of riders performing at least one delivery per month increased by only 14.9% during the same period.

The number of deliveries performed by Barogo recorded 13.5 million in August, then dipped to 12.6 million and 12 million in September and October respectively, months which are off-peak for deliveries and had relatively less COVID-19 spread. However, after social distancing measures were tightened in November (13.1 million deliveries), the numbers have been rising again. Between December 1 and 20, the number of deliveries performed was 10.7 million, and the total deliveries for this month are expected to surpass 15 million.

A Barogo official said, "As COVID-19 prolongs, the workload burden on riders is increasing, and with the cold wave following, difficulties on the ground continue." They added, "There are limits to the subsidy policies from platform companies for rider recruitment, so government policy support is urgently needed."