"Thank you netizens for paying attention to the rider group, which prevented us from being fined." On December 31, a Meituan delivery rider in Beijing told a reporter from the Economic Observer Network. On December 27, Meituan announced that it would gradually cancel the overtime penalty policy for riders by the end of 2025. At present, this mechanism has been implemented in more than 80 cities including Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Hangzhou.
Recently, Meituan has launched many initiatives related to algorithm governance. In addition to canceling overtime fines, Meituan launched an anti-fatigue mechanism in major cities across the country on December 30, requiring riders to log off after running for 12 hours. Meituan also stated that it will continue to improve and publicize relevant measures based on opinions from all walks of life to promote the disclosure of algorithms.
No fine: little impact on income, but happy
The above-mentioned Beijing rider has been delivering food for 7 years. The food delivery platform has always had a mechanism for overtime fines. The riders at his site were fined an average of 5 times per month. Starting in the spring of 2023, Meituan has been piloting no fines for overtime in Beijing, instead of penalty points for overtime.
Overtime fines are generally a few yuan per order and dozens of yuan per month. It is rare that the fine exceeds one hundred yuan a month. This money does not have a big impact on the riders’ income, but the riders are very happy. A rider told Economic Observer: "A few dozen yuan is enough to eat a meal and buy a few packs of cigarettes." Data released by Meituan shows that the monthly income of riders in Beijing ranges from 7,629 yuan to 10,865 yuan.
A Heilongjiang rider told reporters that the overtime penalty mechanism was abolished in his area last month. He said that the lack of fines will have little impact on old riders, but will have a greater impact on new riders. New riders are generally fined 8 to 10 times every half month. Although the amount of money is not much, the way of fines can easily make new riders frustrated.
Changing from fines to deductions will have an impact on rider dispatch rates. According to the order dispatching logic of the food delivery system, the higher the rider's score, the higher the order dispatch rate. Currently, in some areas, there are a large number of takeaway riders and a small number of orders, so this mechanism will have a restrictive effect on riders.
Compared with fines, deducted points can be made up in other ways, such as positive reviews from users or participation in company training. The money from the fine will not be returned to the rider, but if the rider has any objection to the deduction of points, he can choose to appeal. In addition, all deductions under extreme weather conditions will be canceled by default.
Anti-fatigue: Single kings complain, but ordinary riders don’t feel much
On December 30, Meituan launched an anti-fatigue mechanism for riders in major cities across the country. In the second quarter of this year, Meituan piloted an anti-fatigue mechanism in East China. Pilot data showed that 99.82% of normal riders were not affected.
Both riders interviewed by this reporter received notices. Riders will receive reminders if they run for more than 8 hours, and then every hour. Riders who run for more than 12 hours will be forced to go offline.
The above-mentioned Beijing rider told reporters that this mechanism has no impact on him because he does not run more than 12 hours a day. But as far as he knows, the single kings of some sites have serious opinions on this. Single kings generally have higher incomes, with a monthly income of more than 13,000 yuan. They work right after waking up every day, without any rest time, and they take a long time to run orders. Sometimes they can run more than 15 hours a day. Shan Wang also said that if he was forced to go offline by Meituan, he would go to other platforms to take orders.
The above-mentioned Heilongjiang rider also mentioned that the anti-fatigue mechanism has little impact on ordinary riders, but has a great impact on riders with high pressure in life. He has a friend whose three children all rely on his father’s income as a rider. If he is forced to go offline and is not allowed to run orders, it will have a great impact on the life of this family. He suggested that the anti-fatigue mechanism should not be one-size-fits-all. Instead, authority should be given to the rider station, allowing the person in charge of the station to regulate and allow riders to work overtime appropriately while ensuring safety.