王月眉2025年9月30日在赛格广场外，一名骑电动车的外卖骑手将餐食交给一位代送跑腿员，由他送到大楼里下单的顾客手中。 SEG Plaza, one of the tallest skyscrapers in Shenzhen, China, has about 70 stories and thousands of tenants. During the lunch rush, the wait for an elevator can stretch to half an hour — a nightmare for a food-delivery driver trying to fill as many orders as possible.赛格广场是中国深圳最高的摩天大楼之一，有大约70层，入驻了数千租户。在午餐高峰期，等电梯的时间可能长达半小时——这对试图完成尽可能多订单的外卖骑手来说简直就是噩梦。The solution? People like 16-year-old Li Linxing.解决方案？像16岁的李林星（音）这样的人。As lunchtime approaches on a Monday in August, he positions himself near the building’s entrance, eyes scanning the surrounding streets. When a delivery driver appears, Linxing thrust his hand into the air and shouts: “Delivery stand-in!”8月的一个周一，当午餐时间临近时，他来到大楼入口附近，目光扫视着周围的街道。当一名外卖员出现时，李林星高举手臂大喊：“代送！”The driver, still straddling an electric scooter, hands an insulated takeout bag to Linxing, tells him which floor it goes to and scans the QR code that Linxing wears printed on a card hanging around his neck, to pay him 2 Chinese yuan, about 28 cents. The whole operation takes mere seconds. And then the driver speeds off to the next destination.仍跨坐在电动摩托车上的骑手将一个外卖保温袋递给李林星，告诉他要送达的楼层，并扫描李林星挂在脖子上的二维码卡片，向他支付2元人民币的报酬。整个过程仅用了几秒。随后，骑手便飞速驶向下一个目的地。The last leg of the journey is up to Linxing. He squeezes into the elevator lobby with dozens of other people — many of them fellow delivery runners — to go up to wherever his hungry office worker awaits. Then it is back downstairs and repeat for the rest of the day, from lunchtime through the afternoon and into dinner, until around 8 p.m.最后这段路就交给李林星了。他挤进电梯间，和其他几十人——其中许多是代跑腿的同行——一同乘电梯上楼，去往饥肠辘辘的上班族所在之处。然后，他再下楼，重复这样的劳动，从午餐时段一直到下午，再到晚餐，直到晚上8点左右。This logistical feat, a gig economy within a gig economy, is another example of the entrepreneurial spirit of Shenzhen, a city of about 18 million in southern China that pioneered the country’s embrace of a market economy. None of the dozens of last-mile delivery workers who mill outside SEG Plaza every day has a formal contract. Most are retirees, although during the summer, teenagers like Linxing appear, too. Some are there out of financial necessity, others for fun or exercise.这种物流协调上的成就，即一种“零工经济中的零工经济”，是深圳创业精神的又一例证。这座拥有约1800万人口的华南城市率先开启了中国对市场经济的支持。每天在赛格广场外聚集的数十名代跑腿配送员都没有正式合同。他们中的大多数是退休人员，不过在夏季，像李林星这样的青年也会出现。有些人是出于经济需要，还有一些人则是为了乐趣或锻炼身体。All of them are there because there was a need, and someone had to meet it.之所以存在这样一个群体，是因为有需求，必须有人去满足它。进入赛格广场狭小的电梯。Linxing had started a few weeks earlier, after the school year ended, at the suggestion of his uncle, a delivery driver. “Originally, I just came to see what it was like. Then, I started doing deliveries myself,” he said.李林星是学校放假后，听从他当骑手的叔叔的建议，在几周前开始这份工作的。他说：“本来是想过来看看的，怎么送，后面看着我自己就送上去了。”It was tiring standing in the sun from 10 or 11 a.m. until 8 p.m., he said. The building was a maze, too, with dozens of elevators, some going only to certain floors. But there was a simple reason Linxing kept coming back: “The money.”他说，从上午10点或11点一直站在太阳底下，直到晚上8点，其实非常累人。这座大楼也像一座迷宫，有几十部电梯，有些只到特定楼层。但李林星坚持下去的原因很简单：“有钱。”There is actually not much to be had. Runners say they generally earn about 100 yuan (about $14) a day — far less than the average wage of about $37 a day for private sector workers in Shenzhen.其实赚得并不多。跑腿的人说，他们通常每天到手大约100元，这远低于深圳私营单位工作者每天约260元的平均工资。The delivery drivers usually earn between 4 and 8 yuan per order, so giving the last-mile runners 2 yuan is no small cut. But the drivers say it is worth it to speed up deliveries. And for the runners, the pay is enough to be worthwhile — pocket money for teenagers, or extra cash for retirees who would have trouble being hired elsewhere.外卖骑手通常每单赚取4到8元，所以给代送的跑腿员2元的提成可不算少。但骑手们表示，为了加快配送速度，这是值得的。而对代送者来说，这份报酬也足够划算———对青少年来说是一笔零花钱，对难以在其他地方找到工作的退休人员来说则是一份额外收入。To get an edge over their competitors, many sprint to flag down a driver first. And some runners have perfected their techniques for maximum efficiency. They won’t head upstairs until they have enough orders to make the trip worthwhile — sometimes as many as six or seven bags in each hand.为了超越竞争对手，许多人会冲刺着率先拦下一名骑手。一些跑腿员已经完善了他们的技巧以实现最高效率。他们会等攒够足够多的订单才上楼，这样才值得跑一趟——有时他们每只手里拿着多达六七个外卖袋。A runner in a purple visor, who gave only her last name, Zhou, pressed the call button for a down elevator as soon as she reached her floor. By the time she had finished her delivery and run back to the elevator bank, the elevator was waiting. She said she started doing deliveries after hitting the mandatory retirement age of 50 at her job in a cafeteria. “It’s exercise,” she said. “I can’t sit at home. Doing nothing is tiring and unhealthy.”一位只透露自己姓周的跑腿员戴着紫色遮阳帽，一到达要去的楼层就立刻按下了下行电梯的呼叫按钮。等她完成配送、跑回电梯厅时，电梯已经等在那里了。她说自己是在食堂工作到法定退休年龄50岁后开始送外卖的。“锻炼身体，”她说。“坐在家里我们闲不住，闲着也很累，闲出病来。”Ms. Zhou picked up a steady stream of orders throughout the day, but by far the highest volume went to Shao Ziyou and his wife, who were positioned on a prime corner in front of SEG Plaza. They had so many packages that they subcontracted the actual running to a dozen people working under them. The couple took 1 yuan for every bag, the runner the other.周女士一整天都能接到源源不断的订单，但到目前为止，拿到最高订单量的是邵子友和他的妻子，他们占据了赛格广场前一个绝佳的角落。他们的外卖袋多到不得不将实际跑腿的工作分包给手下的十几个人。这对夫妇每袋抽取1元，剩下的归跑腿员所有。赛格广场是中国深圳最高的摩天大楼之一，入驻了成千上万的租户。代跑送餐员邵子友。This arrangement is possible because Mr. Shao is known, in local media and according to the other runners and drivers, as the first to set up outside SEG Plaza, and many drivers said they know and trust him.这种安排之所以可行，是因为根据当地媒体以及根据其他跑腿员和司机的说法，邵子友被认为是第一个在赛格广场外开始代送服务的人，许多骑手表示认识并信任他。Mr. Shao, 47, said he came to Shenzhen from Anhui Province in eastern China, and for a time sold circuit boards in the building’s sprawling electronics market. Seven or eight years ago, he said, he was taking a smoking break outside when a passing delivery driver complained that the building was confusing to navigate.47岁的邵子友说，他从中国东部的安徽省来到深圳，曾在这栋大楼庞大的电子市场里卖电路板。他说，七八年前，他正在外面抽烟休息时，一位路过的外卖骑手抱怨说，这栋大楼的结构太复杂，很难找到路。Mr. Shao said he could help make the delivery. The driver offered to buy him some water in return, but Mr. Shao said he could just pay him instead — 3 yuan, the price of a bottle.邵子友说他可以帮忙送餐。司机提出给他买水作为回报，但邵子友建议不如直接付钱——3元，一瓶水的价格。At first, Mr. Shao said the task was something to do during lunch breaks. Some drivers were nervous about handing over the packages, he said: “They worried I’d take it out and eat it.”他说，一开始他只是想在午休时间找点事做。他表示，有些骑手会不放心把东西交给他：“害怕往里面拿了吃了。”But word spread, and in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic stopped foot traffic to the electronics market, Mr. Shao switched to deliveries full time, joined by his wife.但消息传开了，到了2020年，当新冠疫情导致电子市场的人流戛然而止时，他和妻子就转为全职做外卖代送。Soon, others caught wind of the opportunity: retirees from the neighborhood and people from the building’s cleaning staff, after their shifts. Inevitably, competition stiffened. Some runners offered to complete the delivery for 2.5 yuan, then 2. But business surged nonetheless, because the pandemic had made people so reliant on online deliveries. Runners expanded to some nearby buildings, too.很快，其他人也嗅到了这个机会：有附近社区的退休人员，大楼保洁人员下班后也加入了。不可避免地，竞争变得激烈起来。有些跑腿员提出以2.5元完成配送，后来降到2元。但业务量依然激增，因为疫情让人们对外卖配送的依赖大大增加。跑腿员们也将服务范围扩展到附近的一些大楼。“Everyone’s used to it, and people are lazy. Sometimes, you send it to their door, and they’re sitting inside and say, bring it to me here,” Mr. Shao said. “Do you want me to feed you too?”“都习惯了，人也懒。有时候送到门口了，他坐在最里面，他说拿来我这里，”邵子友说。“我说要不要喂你？”一名代送跑腿员正在赛格广场的一间办公室里寻找订餐的顾客。在午餐高峰期，电梯等待时间很长，走楼梯反而可能更省时间。On an average day, Mr. Shao said, he and his wife dispatch 600 or 700 orders to their assistants. If a customer complains about a missing delivery, the driver demands that Mr. Shao track it down or pay compensation. (Drivers can be fined 50 yuan by the delivery platforms for lost orders.)邵子友说，他和妻子平均每天会向他们的助手们分派六七百单。如果顾客投诉外卖丢失，骑手就会要求他找回来，否则就得赔偿。（一旦订单丢失，外卖骑手可能会被平台罚款50元。）Heated scenes over wayward deliveries play out multiple times a day.关于送错外卖的激烈争执每天都会上演多次。“5911B doesn’t order food until noon!” Mr. Shao said to a runner who had delivered to that suite in error. “I’ve been around for so long, you think I don’t know who orders early and who orders late?”“5911B 12点才点餐，”邵子友对一个把外卖错送到那个套间的跑腿员说。“我还不知道哪家点餐早，哪家点餐晚？”“OK, OK, I’ll pay for it,” the runner eventually admitted.“好好好，我来赔，”那个跑腿员最终承认了失误。Still, the atmosphere is generally civil, if chaotic. There are enough orders to go around, and most drivers said they weren’t picky about who they handed off to.不过，虽说有些混乱，这里的气氛总体来说是友好的。订单足够多，而且大多数骑手表示他们不挑剔把外卖交给谁。There was one exception. This summer, a new group of competitors emerged: children, some of them in elementary school. Their parents had brought them to get a taste of hard work during their summer vacations. Viral videos on social media showed hordes of children, some in pigtails or school uniforms, swarming around delivery drivers and clamoring for orders.也有一个例外。今年夏天出现了一批新的竞争者：儿童，有些甚至还在上小学。他们的父母带他们来，想让他们在暑假里体验一下劳动的辛苦。社交媒体上的热门视频显示，成群孩子围着外卖骑手，有些扎着辫子或穿着校服，吵着要接订单。Shao Yang, a driver, said he would not entrust the children with his orders. “I was afraid they’d get lost,” he said. “They were all really small.”骑手邵杨（音）说，他不会把外卖交给这些孩子。“因为我怕他们找不着，”他说。“全是那种小小个子。”Soon after the videos surfaced, the local government prohibited children from deliveries, citing safety concerns.在这些视频出现后不久，当地政府以安全为由禁止了儿童从事外卖配送。The legal age for regular employment in China is 16, so Linxing could keep running. He didn’t plan to stay for long, however. He wanted to find a factory job instead.在中国，正式工作的法定年龄是16岁，所以李林星可以继续跑腿。不过，他没打算做太久。他想找一份工厂的工作。“I like that kind of work better,” he said. “Sitting in an air-conditioned room.”“更喜欢那样子的工作，”他说。“坐在空调房里面。”图片/视频：Gilles SabriéSiyi Zhao对本文有研究贡献。王月眉(Vivian Wang)是《纽约时报》驻华记者，常驻北京，撰写关于中国的崛起及雄心如何塑造普通人日常生活的报道。翻译：纽约时报中文网点击查看本文英文版。获取更多RSS：https://feedx.net https://feedx.site