Home delivery man: ‘I work 14 hours a day and earn about USD 30’

Javier Jesús Rojo Delgado is 30 years old and was born in Venezuela , where he was the promoter of a cooperative of taximotos. He has lived in Quito since 2017. A year and a half ago he formed his own delivery service group, which operates in three sectors of the city.

On Vaca de Castro street, in North Quito, Javier has a meeting point with his delivery colleagues.

Here is his testimony:

“I have lived in Quito for four years. My first job in the city was in a restaurant , located on Vaca de Castro street, in the north. There I worked as a ‘multifunctional’ and after two months my boss bought a motorcycle to provide home service .

As I have always liked working with a motorcycle, my boss told me to collaborate on deliveries. My first tour was in Calderón, and that’s how I began to get to know various sectors of the city and it went very well for me. In the restaurant he worked as a cashier and on weekends, in deliveries.

I already had delivery experience . In Venezuela I had two motorcycle taxi cooperatives that we set up with all the legal papers. We made parcels and gave service to the community in the surroundings of where I had my stop.
Thank God I managed to buy a motorcycle . Working hard I brought my family: my wife and my children. I was like that for two years, until I left the restaurant and started working in delivery .

I joined a platform , but I quickly realized that these applications take a lot of profit from both restaurants and motorized ones. They are not profitable. Even more so considering that being on the street is not easy. There is a lot of risk.

With a partner we got together and decided to form a group, with some restaurants that he knew. So we put together our own service, it’s called Moto Delivery Activo del Norte .

We work with restaurants on Vaca de Castro street, the Real Audiencia and others that are in the Cotocollao sector. We also order from pharmacies, liquor stores, hardware stores and a variety of stores . There are about 45 businesses and we are 23 motorized. If any of them need an order, they write us to the group and we send it.

We don’t function like other apps that charge customers high fees and pay drivers low.

We do not work like that, we do it directly with the route, which is USD 0.50 per kilometer and we do not charge extra for increasing dishes or more things that customers ask for.

The group was formed almost a year and a half ago. I saw it as an opportunity.

Before the pandemic, apps made up to $ 800 a month, when there were only two platforms.

Later the profit fell, and my colleagues counted that they paid them USD 200 every 15 days. It was no longer enough.
We focus on providing quality service to customers so that they always feel satisfied. We have no problems with the almost 1,700 clients that we have.

The group emerged shortly before the pandemic , and in the quarantine we expanded further. There was high demand and we couldn’t cope with everything. They called us to bring food, medicine, grocery shopping, everything.

I had up to 30 orders a day, the least I had was 15. Every day they worked, because almost no car could leave. When we started at the red light I only stopped for two to three days. I couldn’t stop anymore, because I needed to support my wife and children.

We had to pay the rent, water and electricity. I practically earned USD 40 to USD 50 a day, we were doing super well.
Right now I earn less. The same work from 08:30 to 22:30, they are 14 hours a day, and I take between USD 30 and USD 35 . On the weekends it does go up a bit. But of that amount, every day, I have to get $ 5 to refill gas.

The main risk of being on the streets is that there are motorcyclists in a hurry who do not know how to drive. And the same thing happens with buses and taxis, that for taking a passenger do not look at us and they almost bump into us. That is a danger. Thank God I have not had any accidents, but I always try to be careful.

I am not very afraid of infections, because we are getting used to the routine of care . Every time we get home we go into the shower and have our own ‘drink’: baby’s aspirin with lemon and boiled water.

We take this home remedy in the morning before we go to work and in the evening when we arrive, because I have my family and I have to protect them. In addition, we work with all biosafety measures .

And although it may not seem like it, an advantage is the rain, because there is high demand and customers do not want to go out. But at the same time it is also a bit unfavorable, because there is danger on the bike. The suits that are needed when it rains are essential, but too expensive.

I have asthma and when it rains my chest closes up and sometimes it is more difficult to work like this, but we still have to continue.

Everything in this life is possible, for everything there is a solution and if we fall we have to get up again. Always with faith in God and firm, so we have done with my partner Willchar Escalante , with whom we started the ‘delivery’ group.

We want to expand with a motorcycle stand in the Rumiñahui sector and in Lizardo Ruiz street, outside a local, and in the Cotocollao square ”.