In recent days, several Chinese food delivery platforms have announced that they will contribute to social security for delivery workers, sparking attention. Analysts believe that the social security fund of the Chinese Communist Party is in crisis and they need to increase the harvesting of off-system personnel to fill the gap in the social security fund.
In mid-February, JD.com made a strong entry into the food delivery industry, stating that its logistics personnel will be interconnected with riders. On February 19th, JD.com announced that starting from March 1st, they will gradually contribute to the five social insurances and one fund for full-time delivery riders, and provide accident insurance and health medical insurance for part-time riders. They also announced that dining businesses that joined before May 1, 2025, will be exempt from commission fees for the entire year.
On the same day, Meituan announced that they plan to start contributing to social security for full-time and stable part-time riders from the second quarter of 2025. Following suit, Eleme also stated that they have been piloting social security contributions for riders in some cities since 2023 and plan to expand to more cities.
JD.com reiterated on the 24th that they will cover all costs related to contributing to the five insurances and one fund for full-time riders. Currently, JD.com claims to have 1.3 million active riders, with crowdsourcing as the core operational model. Therefore, not all of the 1.3 million riders have the five insurances and one fund, but it is a dedicated full-time rider team serving JD.com delivery services.
However, some delivery riders quickly complained about being “harvested” as platforms require a deposit to accept orders. For instance, a deposit of 100 Chinese Yuan is needed for express orders, 300 Yuan for regular orders, and 500 to 1,000 Yuan for mall orders. In addition, they have to pay 3 Yuan for insurance daily and also purchase equipment like clothing and food boxes.
Currently, JD.com’s food delivery service is available in 39 cities nationwide. A rider in Foshan tested the service and waited for 20 minutes in a business district without receiving any orders, let alone premium ones, but ended up taking two orders from Eleme instead. He then tried another business district with the same result of no orders.
One netizen promoting JD.com’s food delivery service complained that after a week, he hadn’t earned a penny. He contacted dozens of restaurants, only four agreed to join, and of those, three passed the registration and verification process. He then had to go through the store’s online service verification, which took three days to complete for him to receive commissions. It’s not as easy as it seems.
He said, “A store owner told me your people have been here dozens of times. My goodness, dozens of times, but we haven’t been paid yet and everyone is still working so hard? It’s amazing, everyone is really dedicated, each one is a hard worker.”
A laborer in Beijing told a reporter that food delivery is difficult as it pays only around 6-7 Chinese Yuan per order. Running for a 200 Yuan order is exhausting, while running for 300 Yuan means working at least 12 hours. Despite the hard work, with expenses such as 40 Yuan for meals, 15 Yuan for cigarettes, 30 Yuan for rent, and 12 Yuan for electricity, the daily living cost amounts to 100 Yuan.
Therefore, he opts for daily jobs. When there is no work, he rents a car for food delivery. He prefers to work for Meituan or local delivery services for higher pay. As for the five insurances and one fund, he says, “There’s no hope, the cost will be passed on to us.”
It is understood that the five insurances and one fund are not very appealing to struggling workers near the survival line. Many hope to contribute voluntarily rather than being obligated.
The work of food delivery workers is hard and dangerous, and many say they do not plan to stay long in the job. There is now an increasing number of people running food deliveries, with some needing to work 18 hours a day to earn more.
If the orders are good, one can earn a decent amount in a day, but with fewer orders, they can only make around 100 Yuan.
Two earlier contacted delivery workers, one switched to delivering fruits and snacks, while the other’s number showed as unavailable.
“Our Meituan station here is unable to find workers, constantly looking for temporary labor. Even with JD.com offering five insurances and one fund, with low order prices, there are still no takers; those who take up the job may quit after a short period,” said a netizen from Guangdong.
Providing social security for riders has always been a hot topic, but the food delivery platforms have made slow progress in this direction. Last year, Meituan was rumored to allow riders to purchase social security after running for several weeks, but nothing materialized.
A veteran mainland Chinese media personality analyzed that forcing express delivery and food delivery workers to contribute to the “five insurances and one fund” greatly increases a company’s costs. To maintain profits, business owners will have to pass on these increased costs to consumers and employees.
Calculating based on an average monthly salary of 5,000 Chinese Yuan for express delivery and food delivery workers, each person would need to contribute at least 2,630 Yuan monthly to the social security fund (calculated at the lowest 5% rate for housing provident fund), of which the company would pay 1,830 Yuan, and the individual worker would bear 800 Yuan.
The increase in costs for companies will inevitably lead to higher meal prices and lower wages for delivery workers, possibly resulting in layoffs. As a result, many express delivery and food delivery workers may lose their jobs.
A taxi driver from Shanxi province expressed that taxi drivers do not wish to purchase social security, as they believe it is just a facade and that they may never live long enough to benefit from it.
“Many people in China are choosing to discontinue social security payments, especially those in freelance occupations. Companies enforce it, but the average person no longer pays. Many of my friends are no longer paying medical insurance; they’ve given up on social security, ignoring it,” he stated.
He believes that making food delivery riders contribute to the “five insurances and one fund” is actually exploitation of the lower class. Social security contributions for freelancers like urban-rural freelancers have little to no benefits. Their monthly payouts will not exceed 1,000 Yuan at most, and the coverage is minimal, so-called “major medical insurance,” yet when it comes to seeking medical treatment, they are still unable to afford it.
“We are the people abandoned by society. In this situation, contributing to social security is actually another form of exploitation by private enterprises, impacting the livelihoods of the lower class. There’s no social status for us,” he concluded.
As unemployment rates rise, the number of food delivery workers in mainland China is rapidly increasing, with official media stating that over 12 million net-part-time delivery riders are registered on various platforms. When considering part-time workers, this number could be even higher. The recent downloads of Meituan’s crowdsourcing app have reached 89.19 million times (including re-downloads due to changing phones).
Social observer Xiaohei told a reporter that many people are no longer contributing to social security, hence the need for someone to fill the gap. The call for providing social security for food delivery workers is in response to the prevailing hardship they face. However, the social security contributions are currently benefiting those within the established system, failing to extend the benefits to the common people.
“In the past few years, 35 to 40 million Chinese people have given up on social security. Rather than saying food delivery riders need social security, it’s more accurate to say that social security needs food delivery riders,” he remarked.
It’s noteworthy that on February 17th, Xi Jinping, at a private enterprise forum, called on private companies to “share the country’s worries.” At this time, with JD.com entering the food delivery industry, breaking the monopoly held by Meituan and Eleme, it is believed to be under the directives of the Chinese Communist Party. Who would willingly raise their operating costs? The fear is being viewed unfavorably by the Party, as in the case of Jack Ma.
Analysis indicates that companies, under the pretext of ensuring workers’ welfare, are actually aiming to harvest and address the crisis in the social security fund. A major backdrop to this is the impending demographic crisis in China, leading to the imminent collapse of the social security fund. The Party needs to increase the harvesting of off-system personnel to safeguard the social security system within.
“As these monopoly companies act as the CCP’s puppets, China’s bourgeoisie lacks independent personality and serves as a tool for the Party’s exploitation of the people. On one hand, the CCP is absolute and oppressive; on the other hand, it knowingly provides space for China’s bourgeoisie to exploit people, resembling a jungle asset class with a ‘survival of the fittest’ nature.”
“Specifically, they let them flagrantly disregard labor laws, treat workers as commodities, as mere pawns. China’s bourgeoisie before the CCP is servile, a tool for laundering and money-making. As the CCP directly controls the economy primarily through state ownership, a system with low efficiency, it resorts to asset class figures for extraction,” he explained.