Zhang Cheng, 20 years old this year, asked why he became the "single king", he raised his voice, "I do it with my life, and others don't take my life (do it)." ”
What kind of job can a young person who graduated from a technical school get?
20-year-old Zhang Cheng chose to become a delivery rider because of this "quick money". And, if you work hard enough, you can make more money.
Since delivering takeaways, Zhang Cheng has worked hard, wanting to save hundreds of thousands of dollars as soon as possible while he is young. He has been working towards this goal, and in the past few months, he has earned more than $20,000 a month.
In the race against time, Zhang Cheng occasionally stops to think about his future direction. It's just that he wants to break his head, and there is no better way out:
I can't meet nobles, and I don't have a degree, so I can only rely on a healthy body.
In the Yanta District of Xi'an, there is a young figure active.
Zhang Cheng is 20 years old this year, 1.7 meters tall, and often wears a bald head, passing through the crowd in a hurry. Whether the weather is good or bad, he is "always in a hurry". During the peak period of food delivery at noon and evening, Zhang Cheng has to take seven or eight takeaways at a time, and the delivery range is centered on the hot business district in Yanta District, diverging to a radius of four or five kilometers.
He is a Meituan Le Run rider, simply put, he is a temporary worker in Meituan's special delivery, the list is delivered by the system, and there is no strict limit on the working hours, as long as the running order is enough, the income is correspondingly considerable.
Riders at the same site almost all recognize Zhang Cheng. At the end of each month, his name is always in the top position on the platform's monthly order volume list. A screenshot of Zhang Chengfa on social platforms shows that he delivered 3,510 takeaways in a month, ranking first, more than 600 orders more than the second place.
Netizens in the comment area ridiculed, "A person with a monthly salary of 20,000 will send me a meal with a monthly salary of 7,000".
Asked about the reason for becoming the "single king", Zhang Cheng raised his voice and said, "I do it with my life, and others don't take my life (do it)." ”
Zhang Cheng is used to being in a hurry. Starting at 6:22 a.m., every minute his phone alarm goes off. After the third piece of music was suppressed, Zhang Cheng got up and washed up. His breakfast is a bag of bread, "bought in Pinduoduo, 12 yuan a box, there are 14 packs", which can be eaten for half a month.
After eating breakfast briefly and going to the toilet, Zhang Cheng left the rental house with his bag on his back, "It usually doesn't exceed 6:40." He had a power bank in his bag, went out for a long time, and then came back to replace it with another one.
Riding on the electric car, turning on the mobile phone, Zhang Cheng entered the working state.
He only rests twice a day. At about ten o'clock in the morning, buy a white film on the side of the road, and then add a pack of spicy strips for five cents, which is a breakfast and lunch. At about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, he went back to the rental house, rested for a while, and then worked until he went offline in the evening. Dinner is usually settled at a stall, soaked in steamed buns or noodles, "ten yuan can be all-you-can-eat". When you get tired of eating, you buy a bowl of thirteen pieces of flower nail powder to improve your life.
In the afternoons and late at night when the list is low, Zhang Cheng would rather circle around nearby restaurants and shopping malls, waiting for orders that may not necessarily appear, rather than find a shop to sit down and rest like other riders.
He is used to "squeezing himself like crazy" and does not feel any pressure, "making money is my pleasure".
Zhang Cheng's goal is to catch up with Shanghai's "single king" Chen Si. According to media reports, Chen Si earned 1.02 million yuan in three years, with an average monthly income of more than 30,000 yuan. And Zhang Cheng's monthly income is about 23,000 yuan. In his post, he lamented, "It's still difficult to surpass Chen Si."
However, this is already the maximum salary for delivery riders. Zhang Cheng's site group has about two or three hundred people, and he often receives friend applications from group friends, and some people directly call him in the group to ask for some running skills.
"I didn't understand it at the time, why do you add me? I don't even know them. Then I asked and found out that there was a leaderboard, so they all knew me. ”
Becoming a single king is not an easy task, in addition to enough online time, speed is the first priority. On the road with takeaways, the horn, steering wheel, and brakes must be well controlled, in Zhang Cheng's words, it is not easy to hit people with "people and vehicles", and "at most you will fall yourself".
As for the red light, "try to run if you don't have a car", otherwise you will be late for the delivery.
"On the way, I saw an interesting motorcycle. Photo courtesy of the narrator
However, if you are in a hurry on the road for a long time, even if you are skilled and cautious, you will still encounter some accidents.
It was October last year, Zhang Cheng was waiting at an intersection to turn, the delivery rider behind him was about to run a red light, the two cars were too close to each other, the other party did not brake, Zhang Cheng and the car overturned to the ground.
"His legs and hands hit the ground first, and his body bled out", he didn't care about his injuries, got up and continued to deliver food, and didn't go to the hospital afterwards, "just wait for it to scab over." "Finding the other party to claim compensation is something that will not happen. Delivery riders inevitably bump into each other, and as long as it's not serious, they treat it as if nothing happened.
"At that time, it was a burger and soy milk, which happened to be closer to the business, and he was willing to change it for me. Zhang Cheng cares more about whether the meal is okay and whether it can be delivered on time.
All riders are afraid of overtime, and even if they overtime for one second, they will be deducted three dollars. Zhang Cheng said that sometimes when the food is delivered upstairs, the mobile phone system shows that there are still three minutes, but when you go downstairs, there is no signal in the elevator, and if you can't deliver it, you will be deducted money. The last order of the evening, he often forgot to confirm it, and always found out when he got home.
After a long time, Zhang Cheng will call the customer a minute or two before the order overtime, and if the other party agrees, he will click "delivery" in advance.
There are also times when he prefers to take the initiative to time out. The rider has his own "home field", and every time he delivers a meal, he will give priority to the unfamiliar and distant areas, leaving the familiar areas last. The logic of the system is to dispatch orders to the nearest rider according to their location. In this way, he can ensure that he is in the area where he is used to running.
"If an order is too far away, I will send it directly offline, and then go online after returning to the place where I usually take orders. ”
Zhang Cheng likes stalls like Ganjiazhai Night Market that are open on the street, unlike shopping malls that twist and turn, and the food is also fast. And those "businesses that don't eat for a long time" are usually well-known stores, or national chains. Because of the food, he occasionally had an argument with the merchant, "so he said a few words loudly and urged him." Usually when I talk a few words, the merchants won't say anything, and they know that they are slow to eat. ”
As for food delivery, it is best to deliver it to stores along the street, and the residential buildings in the community are a little "troublesome".
He said that he had suffered a lot of "losses" in this regard. Many communities will restrict the entry of food delivery riders, and he is often stopped by security guards, so he can only park his car outside and trot all the way to deliver food, "or stuck in the blind spot of the security guard's vision, and when he sees that the owner has entered, he immediately rushes out to keep up."
In order to deceive the security guard, Zhang Cheng no longer wears the clothes of a rider, only a "very real old man", who will stop him to check the access card and key, and most of the time he will be released, "After all, the security guard is also afraid that you are really the owner and will cause a complaint in vain."
Before becoming a delivery driver, Zhang Cheng was a student at a technical school in Xi'an, majoring in auto repair.
He has two part-time jobs, Monday to Friday, working as a helper in the school cafeteria, and he is rewarded with taking care of meals every day, and on Saturdays and Sundays, he goes out to find a day-end security job. There was also a period of time when he practiced online and played Glory of Kings for five yuan a game.
Zhang Cheng is a native of Xuchang, Henan Province, whose parents used to make a living by selling vegetables, and later worked in a glass factory. Grandpa is in his hometown, taking care of his younger sister who goes to school and grandma who has Alzheimer's. Growing up in such an environment, Zhang Cheng felt that he had to have money in his hands since he was a child, "otherwise he would have no sense of security".
When he was a child, his only hobby was martial arts, but due to his family's financial conditions, he was unable to learn it. When he went to technical school, he didn't have any ideas, just "go with the flow, ask the people around him, go to the Internet to check, and people say that it takes a long time to learn." At that time, the school promised that after graduation, they could arrange jobs for free, "and only later did I learn that it was actually entering the factory." ”
After graduating last year, Zhang Cheng worked in the factory for a few months, earning about 6,000 yuan a month. "Actually, the factory wages are okay, if I haven't been exposed to takeaways. Before graduating, he briefly ran for a while, "The factory makes money regularly, and you can make more money by working hard to make takeaways." ”
Another reason for leaving the factory was that he didn't like the environment of the factory and really didn't have a good impression of it.
At the age of about fourteen or fifteen, Zhang Cheng already knew that it was not easy for his parents to make money, and wanted to help them reduce their burden, so he went to Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai to apply for a summer job. One of my earliest jobs was moving iron blocks in a factory in Shanghai, buckling the depressions on the sides of round iron blocks and moving them to cars one by one. He also glued computer screens and screwed them...... In exchange for each other, they are all on the assembly line, and they have to stand for about ten hours a day.
"It's numb. Repeating an action for a long time, time flies slowly, Zhang Cheng feels that it is too difficult. In contrast, food delivery is much more free, "you take seven or eight orders, and an hour passes after delivery, and you don't feel anything."
In the elevator downstairs to deliver takeaways|Photo courtesy of the narrator
While studying in technical school, Zhang Cheng also took the train with his roommate to work in Jiangsu. They contacted an intermediary company, "filled out some information, bought quilts, and finally dragged us to a very small factory, which was extremely gloomy and tattered", and in the hottest summer, there was not even a fan in the warehouse.
Realizing that something was wrong, Zhang Cheng and his classmates chose to "run away". Several people in the same group threw away the quilt directly, but Zhang Cheng was reluctant to throw it away, and took it all the way to Shanghai. In Shanghai, they also did not find a suitable job, and after sleeping at the train station for the night, they returned to Xi'an by car. In Xi'an, Zhang Cheng worked as a waiter in a restaurant, with "a very low salary" and did not make any money.
It seems that only food delivery, the money will come faster.
After the Spring Festival this year, he returned to Xi'an from his hometown and officially became a delivery driver. For Zhang Cheng, there is no burden in this job, even if he is online for 17 hours a day, he does not feel tired. There was no list at night, so he went around the business district and the restaurant, brushed two short videos of chicken soup, and there was no list yet, so he changed places.
In the past few months, his monthly salary has been maintained at around $20,000.
made a lot of money, but Zhang Cheng was still very frugal. Unable to stand the smoking, snoring, and dislike of cleanliness in the dormitory, Zhang Cheng rented a small room in an urban village, where he could only put down a bed and a table, with a monthly rent of 320 yuan. In the summer, he took a basin to the public toilet to take a bath, "and washed with some hot and cold water".
In order to save money for haircuts, Zhang Cheng's hair has never grown. Every time he returned to his hometown in Henan, he would ask his family to help him shave his hair, and when he returned to Xi'an, he would take the scissors himself, "where the long cut is".
Zhang Cheng himself hardly had any large expenditures, but he bought some items to his home, such as small household appliances such as old people's machines, air fryers, juicers, and some clothes. "It's not expensive," he was a little embarrassed.
During the Chinese New Year, take my sister to the mall|Photo courtesy of the narrator
Seeing those delivery riders on the Internet who publish their daily work routines and gain a lot of fans, Zhang Cheng will also be envious. Recently, he has been thinking about whether to buy an action camera and a computer, "whether he can sit in bed after work every day and deduct a piece of work".
But at the thought that it would cost a lot of money, Zhang Cheng retreated a little. The mobile phone he uses now is still a second-hand one he bought from a classmate when he was in school, and it occasionally freezes and blacks out, but Zhang Cheng has no plans to replace it for the time being, "Let's talk about it when I have money."
Zhang Cheng didn't really have no money. As soon as his monthly salary is in his account, he will arrange for the money to be deposited in the bank or lent to his classmates and friends. Only when you have no money in your hands can you maintain the mentality of making money desperately. Not long ago, he just lent a classmate 70,000 yuan.
"Aren't you afraid that you won't be able to get back the money you lend out?"
Zhang Cheng replied very simply, "As long as you know me, I trust me." ”
Zhang Cheng did not allow himself to stop.
Every day, he finishes the list in his hand as soon as possible, rides back to the "hot spot" of receiving orders, and waits for the system to dispatch orders. When there is no movement, he takes the initiative to "brush the hall" and grab orders with others. "Run, must run. Unless I'm sick or sick, I'll send a list if I have it. ”
Zhang Cheng likes rainy days, and in bad weather, the unit price can "rise a few cents". Especially in summer, riding a bicycle through the rain, "adrenaline is directly full", "because you have a lot of lists, you are excited when you have many lists, and the adrenaline quacks up." ”
Raindrops on the face can also keep people awake. The only trouble is Zhang Cheng's myopia, in order not to blur his vision, he can only stop from time to time and clean the lenses with a paper towel "picked" from the merchant. It's okay during the day, but at night, the lenses stained with raindrops will reflect the light, affecting the speed of food delivery, which is the most "uncomfortable" time for him.
One rainy day, Zhang Cheng's mobile phone accidentally fell to the ground, and the screen got into the water. He had to change the screen to a new one, "the thief was terrible that day, and he was soaking wet".
Looking back on the food delivery experience in the past few months, Zhang Cheng believes that the most annoying thing is waiting for the elevator during the rush hour of food delivery.
If you happen to be a step late, "all three elevators go up", you may have to wait an extra 10 minutes. At this time, he will choose the stupidest way - directly climb the ladder. Zhang Cheng was impressed by an order for an office building, because he didn't have time to wait for the elevator, he climbed more than 20 floors in one go.
"Actually, the time it takes to climb the stairs is about the same as taking the elevator. Zhang Cheng downplayed the past, that day, he delivered the takeaway to the customer on time, but the other orders in his hand were "almost overtime".
In the gap between singles and singles, there are also moments that make him happy.
Milk tea delivered by customers|Photo courtesy of the narrator
Just last month, Zhang Cheng went to deliver an order for milk tea, and after putting it at the designated place, he received a reward of 50 yuan from the customer, "I was so happy at that time." But then, because the reservation order was ordered "delivered" in advance, Zhang Cheng was judged by the system to "not arrive at the designated place" and deducted 50 yuan.
He doesn't pay attention to the adjustment of the system, and usually only "knows when he is punished". Zhang Cheng wrote in the post, "crying to death", and did not forget to remind others to remember to check in on the spot.
In addition to the "squeezing" of the platform, there will also be competition and resentment among riders. Late one night, a "nervous" rider suddenly said to him, "It's all your fault, so I don't have a single run." The implication is to blame Zhang Cheng for being "too rolly".
After chatting a few words out of curiosity, Zhang Cheng learned that the other party used to be the owner of a restaurant, and because of the recession in business, the store closed down and owed hundreds of thousands. When people reach middle age, they have no job or income, so they have to come to deliver food.
Zhang Cheng is different, he took the initiative to embark on this road.
He wants to save hundreds of thousands while he is young, and then change to a different industry. According to Zhang Cheng's assumption, one year is enough, "after you have some money in your hand, go and see what you do." When he went to Zhou Heiya to pick up food last week, he also asked the boss about how much money he had invested in total and how his business was now.
However, opening a store is only an occasional flash.
A few years ago, his parents bought Zhang Cheng a house in his hometown, but later the project was interrupted and the house was unfinished. After several protests from the owners, the project was finally restarted. Coupled with the money lent to friends, Zhang Cheng's savings are 160,000 yuan, and he calculates that he will save enough money for the house first, "If you can pay off the mortgage in one go, you don't have to repay the interest." ”
During the conversation, Zhang Cheng repeatedly mentioned that he wanted to learn something. For example, if you go to a bubble tea shop or a coffee shop as an apprentice, "the kind of job where you can learn things and your salary can slowly increase is good." I'm off work and occasionally deliver food."
The rest of the people in the site group are not like Zhang Cheng, who spend all their time and energy on food delivery.
They chatted very well in the group every day, except for the transfer order that "couldn't be grabbed at all", they just made an appointment to drink and play cards. Some people "will take a photo and post it to the group when they see a beautiful woman or something". Zhang Cheng was not interested in these, and occasionally glanced at it and turned off the dialog box, "I don't have time at all."
He can't think of a better way out for the time being: he has never met a nobleman, "I can't learn anything, I don't have any education, I can only rely on my body to make money." ”
The week before the conversation, because it was the off-season, Lerun began to limit the number of shifts for riders, "There were five shifts a day to choose from, but now there are only three". The screenshot of the running time period sent by Zhang Cheng shows that the three periods are: breakfast from 7 to 10:30, afternoon rush hour from 10:30 to 1:30 noon, and evening peak from 5:30 to 8 pm.
Zhang Cheng speculated that the income in April may be cut in half, "estimated to be in the early 10,000s". The "day of changing industries" that he was looking forward to was a little farther away.