Status Updates From I Deliver Parcels in Beijin...

"We sourced ranges in bulk according to what was selling well. So, if one store was onto a winner, then it wouldn’t be long before others who managed to find a supplier would follow suit. It was why store managers sat on their bestsellers like it was top-secret information. Talking prices with customers, we always typed them out on a calculator, in case the neighboring store workers were eavesdropping."

"Individuality is a myth; all we have that is unique to us are our relationships with others. Relationships that repeat. When your new girlfriend starts to seem more and more like your last girlfriend, know that it’s not because they are all that similar as people, but that their having been your girlfriend has shaped them, bringing out certain facets of their personalities."

The anecdote of this guy's fervent button pressing is so dryly funny I love it.

He moves across the country on a whim and is immediately headhunted by multiple recruiting agencies for a bunch of delivery jobs. The size of the economy in China is so enormous that he never worries about finding work even for jobs with the lowest barriers to entry, which for that reason are flooded with applicants. He has his life beaten out of him by overwork--but not his humanity. The writer is gentle and kind.

On page 65 he talks about a workers village filled with farming folk forcibly resettled by the government as part of its urbanisation push. He talks repeatedly about 'parks', which refers to large areas of land zoned for single uses, such as logistics parks, science parks, etc. He writes of being overawed by the immense size of the delivery warehouses he works in. China's scale overwhelms even the Chinese.

Similar to Bukowski's 'Post Office'. Simple descriptions of low-wage working life in the gig economy of mainland China. It sounds abysmal. Work-life balance is nonexistent: the author often worked 6 days per week, 12 hours per day, with lots of unpaid overtime. He made a measly wage and even making that required him to deliver 1 package every 4 minutes for his whole shift. Its plain language is quietly literary.