‘Not really sure who’s to blame’— Netizens’ concern grows over unattended delivery parcels scattered at an HDB void deck 

SINGAPORE: Netizens expressed their concerns about safety hazards, overconsumption, and the pressure put on delivery platform workers as they stumbled upon a post about a pile of delivery parcels left carelessly at a void deck.

On a Reddit post, one netizen shared a photo of the scattered delivery packages and declared: “There has to be a better way.” The netizen also wished good luck to the person who ordered a monitor and a microwave, given the state of the parcels. 

“Crazy seeing these boxes thrown around without any care. Not really sure who’s to blame at this point.” One of the netizens also admitted that the parcels looked like rubbish at first glance. 

The location of the void deck was not indicated in the post, but clearly, it was a mess. Smaller parcels were randomly thrown around the space or packed in large plastic bags placed disorderly on the ground. In the photo, a man was seen holding one of the packages.

One netizen blamed the delivery company. “Obviously the delivery company is to blame lor. Either they don’t train their employees well or they are pushing unrealistic workload onto the employees which results in them cutting corners.” 

A netizen shared an experience of her family member who worked for a delivery platform and admitted that the workload is ‘insane’. “He’s often out delivering until 4 or 5 in the morning, sleeps a few hours, then leaves again by 8. Most days, he sleeps in his van just to save time and continue deliveries in the same estate. It’s even worse when it rains. You can’t deliver them, especially if you have the landed estate route.” 

Another netizen commented that people want fast and cheap delivery, so something had to be compromised, namely worker welfare. There was also a comment stating that a better way to solve this kind of problem is to cut down consumption, as consumers are ‘part of the problem.’

“If you shop online like Shopee and Lazada, then you are part of that problem,” one commented.

One more netizen declared: “In consumerism – there is cheap, fast and good. You can only pick 2. If you want cheap and fast, it won’t look good , like in this situation. If you want good and cheap, it won’t be fast to deliver to you.If you want good and fast, it won’t be cheap to deliver your goods.”