The hidden life of a courier

13-hour days, rude customers – and big dreams. An army of drivers risked their health to get millions of people's goods during lockdown. But what is it like making deliveries while negotiating spiralling costs? Sirin Kale follows the delivery men and women. She reveals the drivers' constant struggles, such as parking fines, barely scraping a wage together and accessing shelter and toilets. 'Delivery is not, historically, an industry with large profit margins. “The only way it can be profitable is if you underpay the person who is the courier, by not treating them as an employee, by not paying taxes, by not paying their insurance, by refusing to give them sick pay or cover them if they have an accident or train them,” says Prof Annabelle Gawer, the director of the Centre of Digital Economy at the University of Surrey. “That is where the ‘savings’ are coming from.”'