| Delivery workers drive motorcycles equipped with top boxes on a street in Seoul in this file photo. Yonhap |
By Park Jae-hyuk
KB Insurance has come into conflict with Woowa Brothers running the nation's leading food delivery app, Baedal Minjok, because part-time delivery workers driving motorcycles equipped with top boxes have been excluded from the insurer's budget insurance product for part-time delivery workers.
The two companies and insurance startup Smallticket joined hands in 2019 to come up with the special insurance product for part-time food delivery workers using Woowa Brothers' Baemin Connect service.
Starting from the first half of this year, the insurance products will also be available for part-time delivery workers using Yogiyo, Delivery Hero's food delivery platform which looks likely to be sold off to market to make way for the German company's planned takeover of Baedal Minjok.
Some part-timers, however, have begun to complain about the policy recently, alleging they were not eligible for the insurance because of top boxes on their motorcycles.
“The insurer abruptly started to ask us to send photos of motorcycles to show that they are not equipped with top boxes,” a part-time delivery worker wrote on the internet.
Another part-timer said he was told by a Baemin Connect official to use a backpack, instead of a motorcycle top box.
A Woowa Brothers spokesman explained part-time delivery workers can take out the special insurance policy, if they remove their motorcycle top boxes temporarily, when they go through screening for subscription.
“If they pass the screening, they will be able to get compensation for their accidents, regardless of their motorcycle top boxes,” he said.
| Representatives from KB Insurance, Woowa Brothers and Smallticket pose at the insurance company's Seoul headquarters in November 2019, after signing a memorandum of understanding regarding their partnership to launch an insurance product for part-time delivery workers. Courtesy of KB Insurance |
A KB Insurance spokesman refuted the claim, saying a motorcycle top box is an important yardstick to judge whether a delivery worker is a part-timer or a full-timer.
“Full-time delivery workers should take out an ordinary transportation insurance policy,” he said.
The ordinary insurance costs around 1 million won ($880) a year, while the insurance for part-timers charges them based on the time they spend on food deliveries.
In this regard, the Rider Union comprised of food delivery workers has condemned KB Insurance, saying the insurer should take into account other factors when judging whether a delivery worker is a part-timer or not.
“The insurance product for part-timers has become meaningless,” a Rider Union official said.
According to Woowa Brothers, the number of people registered on Baemin Connect jumped to 50,000 as of December last year from 10,000 a year earlier.
Among them, 10,000 are serving as part-time delivery workers, and those in their 20s and 30s account for 80 percent of the workers.