During the upcoming holiday period of the 14th–15th, approximately 20,000 delivery workers nationwide will take a day off, but most e-commerce (electronic commerce) companies are understood to be operating normally. Except for platforms providing third-party logistics services such as open markets, most offer delivery services.
According to the relevant industry on the 11th, major e-commerce platforms including Coupang, Curly, Sseuk.com, Lotte Mart Zeta, and Oasis will continue to provide early morning delivery and same-day delivery services normally during the holiday period of the 14th–15th.
Coupang will operate its Rocket Delivery and Rocket Fresh services normally. Curly and Oasis also allow customers to use their fresh food early morning delivery services as usual. These companies have established a seven-day-a-year-round system because they supply direct-purchase products through their own logistics networks, regardless of courier rest days.
Shinsegae Group's e-commerce platform Sseuk.com and Zeta, the fresh food delivery platform operated by Lotte Mart, also provide early morning delivery and same-day daytime delivery services regardless of courier rest days. In particular, since this weekend is not a mandatory closure day for large department stores, same-day and reservation-based delivery orders based on offline store locations such as E-Mart and Lotte Mart will proceed normally.
However, open market-centered business structures that entrust delivery volumes to logistics companies participating in courier rest days, such as CJ대한통운 (CJ Logistics), Hanjin, and Lotte, are reported to deliver orders placed after the 14th on or after the 16th. Platforms centered on Naver, Gmarket, and 11th are among these.
Convenience store GS25 also continues to accept items normally without holidays for its "half-price courier (movement between convenience store outlets)" service, which utilizes its own logistics network, and collection and delivery will proceed smoothly. However, general courier services entrusted to external logistics companies for delivery to specific destinations will resume after the holiday period. CU has outsourced all courier work, including half-price courier operations, to Lotte Global Logistics since early this year, so it is also taking a break from all courier tasks.
As news spread that major logistics companies would be closed on courier rest days, some consumers expressed concerns such as "Will early morning delivery also be suspended?" and "Won't large department stores close on public holidays like Liberation Day?" However, confirmation shows that consumers can still order e-commerce early morning delivery during this holiday period and can also shop at large department stores.
In the industry, while respecting the rest rights of courier workers, there is also an opinion that if sufficient replacement personnel are secured, there is no need to designate a specific courier rest day; workers can freely take time off when they want without reducing their income, so it is better for each company to operate autonomously rather than having a simultaneous closure structure like a mandatory holiday.
According to the "Survey on the Structure and Working Environment of Courier Services" released by the Korean Society of Labor Economics on the 31st of last month, among courier drivers at agencies operating seven-day delivery, the highest replacement personnel recruitment rate was found at Coupang's delivery subsidiary, Coupang Logistics Service (CLS), at 85.9%. CLS also had the highest proportion of work schedules of five days or less every other week (less than six days a week) at 77.1%.
Meanwhile, the courier rest day system was first introduced on August 14, 2020. At that time, online shopping surged, leading to a significant increase in delivery volumes, and consecutive overwork-related deaths occurred due to long-term labor. As a result of demands from the labor movement, the system was institutionalized through an agreement between the government and courier companies. However, this is not a legally binding law-based system but rather based on an agreement, so it is not a mandatory rest day.
in LIVING
