Photo/Illutration Takahiro Otaki delivers Amazon parcels on a hot July day in Nagasaki Prefecture. (Takuya Isayama)

On a sweltering day in July, parcel delivery driver Takahiro Otaki called his subcontractor to say for the first time he would not meet his morning deadline for deliveries.

Since 2021, Otaki, 51, has worked as a sole proprietor for a delivery company that subcontracts parcel deliveries for Amazon.com Inc.

He's among the myriad of delivery drivers across the country who are toiling under grueling conditions for relatively low pay. 

On that July morning, Otaki's smartphone’s Amazon app showed 132 parcels to deliver to 96 destinations.

No small task, considering that Otaki works in Nagasaki city, which has many hills and narrow roads that make it difficult for drivers to approach some homes.

At 2:30 p.m., Otaki still had 20 parcels to deliver, but his phone died since the Amazon app ate power faster than it could be recharged.

Otaki was finally able to call the delivery company’s office and said he would not be able to meet the morning deadline.

When he first began working as a delivery driver, Otaki had about 100 parcels a day. But that number began increasing in the spring of 2022, and now there are days when he has to deliver 200 parcels.

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The Amazon delivery app on Takahiro Otaki's smartphone lists all the destinations of his deliveries for that day. (Takuya Isayama)

Over that time, his daily pay of 14,500 yen ($98) increased by just 500 yen. That translates to about 70 yen for delivering each parcel. Additionally, he has to pay for gasoline out of his own pocket.

In September 2022, Otaki and fellow drivers formed a labor union and entered into collective bargaining with Amazon and the subcontractor. The union is demanding higher pay and a more manageable number of parcels to deliver.

“Unless something changes, more drivers will quit because not many will last in such a lousy environment,” Otaki said.

LIFELINE FOR ISLAND RESIDENTS

Those who deliver daily necessities to the residents of isolated islands also have few options except to persevere under difficult conditions.

Okishima island lies in Lake Biwako about 1.5 kilometers from the coast of Omihachiman, Shiga Prefecture.

Parcels are transported by a ferry that makes 12 trips a day and reaches the island in 10 minutes.

The 240 or so residents of Okishima receive their parcels from the ferry.

But for those islanders who use Yamato Transport Co., Sayomi Kitamura, 65, delivers right to their doorsteps.

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Takahiro Otaki searches for the parcel he has to deliver. (Takuya Isayama)

Kitamura works for a seafood company on the edge of Lake Biwako. When she gets off work at 5 p.m., she loads Yamato Transport parcels kept in her employer’s storage facilities onto a dolly and boards the ferry.

Some days, Kitamura has about 15 items to deliver, including food and daily necessities. On other days, she delivers 30 packages and there has been a noticeable increase in parcels from Amazon in recent years.

After arriving on Okishima, Kitamura transfers the parcels to the cart of a three-wheeled bicycle. Because she knows where everyone lives, she only has to look at the recipient’s name before starting her delivery rounds.

Kitamura has been delivering on Okishima for about 10 years. Her predecessor, a fisherman who lived on the island, died suddenly. Yamato Transport contacted the seafood company where she worked because it had a refrigerator to keep parcels cool before delivery.

Kitamura agreed to make the deliveries every weekday and has been doing so ever since.

But in March, she was hospitalized for surgery to correct a blockage in her intestines. During her hospitalization, another employee at her seafood company took parcels to the ferry, while Kitamura’s younger brother received and delivered the packages to Okishima residents.

“I am not young so I don’t know if I can continue delivering for the next 10 years,” Kitamura said. “I have to remain in good health because a successor has not yet been found.”

(This article was written by Takuya Isayama and Yuki Shibata.)

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