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Delivery drivers reportedly doing questionable side jobs to supplement slumping income

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Image: iStock/SetsukoN

A man we'll call Mr K, driver for a well-known food delivery service, arrives at his destination. Instead of waiting for the apartment's elevator he chooses to climb the stairs to the fourth floor.  

Outside the customer's door, he sets down the order, summons the app on his smartphone and presses the "delivery completed" button. 

In addition to his regular work, however, K has added a new sideline. He transmits the customer delivery data via the Line messaging app to another client. 

"For each item that I send, I get ¥500 transferred to me via PayPay," K is quoted as saying. "From November last year, I've sent about 800 of these, which earned me around ¥400,000. Even if I send data on the same person to whom I delivered previously, as long as the delivery's made on a different day they still pay me for the data. 

"I know four other guys doing deliveries who have the same arrangement," he adds. 

Writing in Shukan Gendai (Jan 25) Yuki Okukubo reports that the delivery drivers he spoke to who admitted to supplying such data, but claimed to have no knowledge of its intended purpose beyond "market research." 

K's own motivation is simple enough: "My earnings are way down, and I'm grateful for the extra money," he explained. 

For the drivers working for a certain service, remuneration for a delivery made within a radius of under 3 kilometers is reportedly down to ¥300. Less than a year ago, in the spring of 2024, that figure had ranged between ¥600 to ¥700. 

According to a recent survey by the Freelance Association, an organization based in Tokyo's Chuo Ward founded in 2017, food delivery drivers earning a weekly income of ¥100,000 or higher dropped from 8.1% to 5.5% of respondents. And it appears likely that the decline is occurring across the board. 

To make up for the shortfalls, some drivers are also said to earn tips for performing additional services, such as offers to discard rubbish placed outside the householder's entrance. Many fuu-deri services prohibit their drivers from such practices, but faced with declining income, it's becoming common. 

"Once a customer said to me, 'I'll give you a ¥1,000 tip, so can you please pick me up some cigarettes from a convenience store?'" said K.  

"At first I felt a bit perplexed because cigarettes in particular are expressly forbidden by our regulations. But I didn't want to turn down such a generous offer, and there was a convenience store selling cigarettes located close by. 

"I thought perhaps the customer might have made the request because he was under the legal age to buy tobacco products; but he turned out to be about the same age as me." 

Apparently the request for cigarettes concealed an ulterior motive. 

"He said to me, 'I've got a proposal for you do to some work on the side.'

"I guess the way he figured it, if I was willing to bend the rules and buy him cigarettes, I'd be amenable to other types of illegal jobs," K observed.  

Okukubo contacted Uber Japan, a major food delivery service, and inquired about the stories its drivers were engaged this new type of gig. 

"We are not aware of any cases in which our  delivery agents were found to misuse personal data," came the response. "Moreover, the people who order via our service are free to use any names as they please, and can designate deliveries to be made by dropping off the food outside their door. Our app does not inform the delivery driver of the actual names customers nor the composition of their household." 

Okukubo thinks the purpose of the data mining is to set people up for door-to-door sales calls. At places where the resident is believed to be young women who work at night, it's likely a decision will be made to call on their places during the daytime. 

He also suspects certain new religions may be seeking to procure name lists of young people living alone in order to proselytize.  

More ominous, however, is the possibility such data are being supplied to the rapidly-increasing yami-baito (dark part-time jobs) outfits, which have become notorious over the past several years for farming out targets via social networks for purposes of robbery or fraud. 

Some food delivery services are said to have been obliged to adopt a facial recognition system to prevent delivery drivers from farming their work to others. In 2024, the Fukuoka Prefectural Police arrested 10 people, including a Vietnamese restaurant owner and a Japanese, who have since been indicted on computer fraud charges. They had allegedly been using multiple Uber Eats delivery accounts to place spurious orders and defraud people of delivery fees. 

The accused had been circulating flyers offering drivers ¥90,000 a month for lending out their account information. Over the previous two years, the group is suspected of having illegally raked in ¥30 million.

© Japan Today

©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.

6 Comments
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I worked with a guy who delivered potted trees and plant for a nursery. But down at the bottom of that drop frame semi-trailer were some other plants he was selling as a side line. Made enough money to buy a home in San Diego County. He never spoke of this until the statue of limitations had long passed : o

8 ( +8 / -0 )

The freeloaders and legal scammers these days are the middlemen, be it Uber, Amazon, eBay, PayPal etc people are working for less and less whilst these companies take ever more minimal effort.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

My immediate thoughts turned to more salacious activities.

Maybe I have been watching too many films of a more dubious nature,ala the milkmen of yore.

7 ( +7 / -0 )

I worked with a guy who delivered potted trees and plant for a nursery. But down at the bottom of that drop frame semi-trailer were some other plants he was selling as a side line.

I suppose if you turn up and hear a bit of Creedence or see a nice rug that just sets off the room nicely, you're onto a winner.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

My immediate thoughts turned to more salacious activities.

Maybe AI to could make us a "Carry On Uber Eats" with Sid James, Jim Dale, and Barbara Windsor.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

@kohakuebisu

Perhaps "Carry On Carry Out" for the U.S market?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

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