The Delivery Man: Soar Cao of Sherpa’s

After working as a cameraman in Xinjiang, Soar decided to try his luck in Beijing. Now he spends his days zipping around town for Sherpa’s. Six months down the road, he realized that the life of a delivery guy is not unlike that of a cameraman: no office hours and always on the go.

What’s your delivery range and what hours do you work?
All of Chaoyang District, though sometimes if it’s in Haidian, I’ll still deliver. My shift is from 10.30 am to 9.30pm. We have another shift that goes until 10.30pm, which means if the customers order at 10.29pm, we’ll still deliver, but if they try ordering at 10.31pm, the system won’t process any more orders.

Do you get stuck in traffic?
Not often. Scooters are quite flexible. In the most extreme traffic jams, instead of going on the big streets, we can always try narrower roads.

Have you ever gotten lost?
Yes, with some hutong addresses. Sometimes the customer doesn’t even know what his/her address is; in those situations, we ask customer service to call them again and try to figure something out. If we really can’t find the address, we’ll ask the customers to meet us at a nearby location.

Does weather ever prevent you from doing your job?
Nope. Unless the road conditions are very extreme and there’s just no way that we can deliver. The heavy rain last summer was quite rare. I was asked to wade through the “river” and deliver – which of course didn’t happen.

Do you prefer to eat in restaurants or have food delivered to your home?
Being able to enjoy the environment of a restaurant is important. Unless it’s raining or snowing.

Where do you like to eat?
Karaiya Spice House in Sanlitun and Hutong Pizza in the Gulou area.

What’s one thing you’ve learned since taking this job?
Some customers give us tips because they think our jobs are tough and because they grew up in a culture where tipping is common. We are allowed to accept tips but we can’t ask for them.

What do you think of the food from the restaurants you deliver for?
I’m not quite used to eating Western food. Sometimes, when restaurants will have promotions like buy-one-get-one-free, the customers may not want to take that extra entrée – so I end up eating it. It doesn’t taste good.

Chaoyang (and Haidian) residents who’d like to meet Soar Cao can call 400 600 6209 or go to www.sherpa. com.cn.

Photo: Lova