Delivery workers earn 100-200 yuan only after working 12 hours a day, what will they do when robots arrive?

Let’s talk about some heart-wrenching real cases. From the end of 2025 to the beginning of 2026, many delivery riders complained about their lives on social platforms and in research reports.

Take first-tier cities like Beijing or Shanghai as an example, an average delivery rider (full-time) works frequently for a day (online for 10-12 hours, actually delivering for 6-8 hours), with daily income often fluctuating between 150-300 yuan. For example: some riders share at stations in Hangzhou or Beijing, usually completing 30-45 orders a day, and after deducting penalties for exceeding delivery times, battery fees, and maintenance costs, they only take home just over 200 yuan. During the off-season or rainy days, it’s even worse; working 14 hours a day barely earns over 100 yuan.

Lower-tier cities are harsher; some say, 'Average hourly wage is 5-8 yuan,' working 12-14 hours a day, the income is only 100-150 yuan. Some riders in Guangdong or Jiangsu report that the system assigns orders randomly, deducts money for overtime, and each order only pays 3-5 yuan, with group orders even lower.

There are even couples who stay behind during the Spring Festival, averaging over 12 hours a day, relying on the increased holiday prices and subsidies, barely making over 40,000 yuan a month (averaging 600-700 yuan per person per day, but that is during the peak season). Normally? Many people run frequently for a month and only make about 7,000-9,000 yuan, averaging over 200 yuan a day.

These are not made up; they come from the 2025 trend news + Zhejiang University research, Meituan data, and real screenshots shared by riders in their groups. Among blue-collar workers, delivery riders have a relatively high hourly wage (averaging 34-39 yuan), but the cost is exposure to the elements, the risk of accidents at any time, and overtime deductions. Many people are willing to sleep only 4-5 hours a day to earn a bit more; their bodies can't hold up forever.

The income looks decent, but after deducting social security, rent, and living expenses, there’s not much left to save. Many people sigh: 'How much can one earn in a day? My wife and kids are still waiting at home.' Now, the era of robots has truly arrived.

‼️ Imagine this: you order takeout, and it’s no longer a rider braving the rain, but a Unitree quadruped robot or a humanoid robot carrying a box, steadily delivering it to your doorstep. It’s unbothered by heat or cold, doesn’t need to eat, doesn’t complain about fatigue, and has zero accident risk. Amazon and DoorDash are already piloting ground robots + drones, while Meituan and Ele.me are also testing robot fleets on a small scale in Beijing and Shanghai.

Efficiency increases by 40%, costs decrease by 30%—this is paradise for platforms and consumers, but a hellish forecast for riders. McKinsey predicts that by 2030, 30% of global delivery jobs will be automated, with China’s food delivery market being the first to feel the impact. Millions of riders may face unemployment or be forced to change careers, low-skilled labor will be marginalized, and income inequality will widen. But this isn't simply a bad thing. The era of robots is more like a reshaping of opportunities: machines replace repetitive physical labor, and humans shift towards higher-value work. If there’s a fair mechanism, the unemployment crisis can transform into new vitality.

@Fabric Foundation is such a project; it does not just sell robots, but builds the foundation of a 'robot economy' that allows machines and humans to coexist harmoniously.

The roots of Robo Fabric come from OpenMind, where founder Jan Liphardt is an associate professor of bioengineering at Stanford. He researched AI simulations of cellular behavior in his early years and was later shocked by the rapid progress of AI upon witnessing the emergence of large models like Grok.

He grew up in Germany, fascinated by Asimov's (Three Laws of Robotics), and has wanted to create 'safe AI' his whole life. In 2024, he started with a small team; Liphardt teaches during the day and adjusts prototypes with students at night. Core members Tony Zhao (with an MIT background, previously interned at NVIDIA) and Chi Cheng (from Stanford Robotics Lab) once conducted experiments in a Mountain View apartment. During one instance, a robot 'escaped' and knocked over a coffee machine, and the two chased it around the house, jokingly calling it a 'sign of rebellion,' which made them pay more attention to safety alignment.

In 2025, OpenMind launched the OM1 open-source robot OS, enabling collaboration among robots from different brands. The team realized that software alone wasn’t enough; robots need on-chain identities, payments, and coordination, leading to the establishment of the Fabric Foundation—a separate nonprofit organization to avoid corporate monopolies. Fabric members are spread globally: former NASA engineers work on navigation, and Harvard ethicists establish 'human-first' rules. Their stories are down-to-earth: during early tests, a robot 'refused' a dangerous task due to a bug, and the whole team cheered because the rules were effective.

The community is also active; by the end of 2025, they gathered volunteers to simulate a fleet through Discord. A former delivery worker who participated said: 'Robots are not taking away jobs; they are helpers. I now want to transition to being a robot manager.' Fabric does not hype up token structures but focuses on infrastructure: robots have transparent logs, traceable actions, can receive payments, and coordinate paths. In delivery scenarios, imagine a robot team: on-chain identities automatically settle payments, while humans handle complex coordination or skills training. Unemployed riders can transition to 'robot managers'—teaching robots paths, handling exceptions, and maintaining equipment. New positions are created while old labor-intensive jobs diminish. Of course, challenges are significant: technology maturity, regulation, and ethics.

However, the cross-disciplinary stories from the Fabric team tell us that persistence and openness can change the rules of the game. Liphardt once said, 'We are not building robots; we are building the future.' In the era of robots, the lives of delivery workers may be tough, but through projects like Robo Fabric, they can transform from mere laborers into participants in a new era.

Don’t fear unemployment; what’s scary is not being ready for change. The future has arrived; let’s embrace it together.#robo $ROBO