"Coupang delivery drivers working under multi-tier subcontracting… work 30 consecutive nights", 15 June 2026

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Jae-seok is a "Coupang Man" but he is not an employee of Coupang. Around 70% of Coupang delivery riders are workers in non-standard, special-employment relationships. The arrangement works as follows: Coupang Logistics Service (Coupang CLS), Coupang's delivery subsidiary, assigns the delivery of a specific zone to a subcontracted courier outlet, and that outlet then enters into a consignment agreement with individual riders. (…)

…Some time after starting work, Jae-seok discovered that he was in fact affiliated with A Logistics, a second-tier outlet receiving a sub-subcontract from C&K. On the surface it appeared to be a first-tier subcontract; in reality, he sat beneath a second-tier arrangement.

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The representative of A Logistics acknowledged that fees had been deducted twice.

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Jae-seok had no idea how much the delivery fee originally paid by Coupang had been reduced by the time it passed through the first and second tiers of subcontracting.

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Following a spate of industrial accidents in 2024, (...) Coupang publicised plans to introduce a "biweekly five-day system" for night-shift drivers. (...)

However, this was of no use to Mr Seo. The biweekly five-day arrangement was merely a recommendation, and outlets routinely disregarded it on the grounds of being busy. Riders were even called in on their scheduled days off.

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According to Mr Seo's work log covering December 2024 to April this year, the number of occasions on which he worked continuously beyond six days reached no fewer than 20. (…) between 28 June and 27 July of the same year, there was a stretch of 30 consecutive nights

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Even more striking was the fact that, on rest days marked "OFF" in his work log, Mr Seo stopped only the deliveries themselves; his duties as team leader continued. On his days off, he still managed other riders until the end of the night shift and maintained communication with Coupang. In name only were these rest days; in practice, he was still working through the night.

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Newstapa put the following questions to Coupang: whether it had knowingly tolerated or permitted the multi-tier subcontracting arrangements; why a clause banning re-subcontracting had been removed from contracts and then later restored; whether, if re-subcontracting had indeed always been prohibited, it had ever imposed sanctions — such as termination of contract — on outlets found to be in breach; and why delivery fees were being reduced.

Coupang issued only a brief statement: "In keeping with the intent of the standard contract prescribed under the Parcel Service Act, we have from the outset prohibited outlets from re-consigning work without prior consent. The contractual wording reflects verbatim the standard contract published by the government." It made no response to the remaining questions.