Drive until midnight
Mr. Dam Van Nga, 65 years old, residing in Team 7 Yen Xa, Tan Trieu Commune (Thanh Tri, Hanoi) is a 4/4 disabled veteran. Every month, in addition to his 3 million VND disabled veteran salary, Mr. Nga has additional income from driving a tricycle to deliver goods for his acquaintances.
According to Mr. Nga, his two children are married and help their parents a little bit every month, but because his wife has many chronic illnesses and is unable to work, he has to work as a driver to earn extra money to pay for his wife's medicine.
“I have five or six regular customers in the village and commune, mainly transporting foam boxes from the craft village to restaurants and supplying some types of garment materials. In addition, some painting studios also hire me to transport paintings for customers, but the schedule is not fixed,” said Mr. Nga.
These days, Mr. Nga is busy receiving more orders to transport ornamental plants from some shops selling orchids, kumquats, etc. on Pham Tu Street (Thanh Tri, Hanoi). Mr. Nga said that many companies and businesses buy plants early from the beginning of December to decorate their offices, so he transports flowers and ornamental plants all over the city. "My income in the month before Tet last year from transporting peach, apricot, and orchids was 18 million VND, equal to several low months. This year, the economy is difficult, flowers and ornamental plants are selling slower, but I predict that I will still earn more than 10 million VND," Mr. Nga said.
Mr. Hoang Cong Tu in Yen Nghia (Ha Dong, Hanoi) works as a motorbike taxi driver in the Yen Nghia bus station area. In recent years, before Tet, Mr. Tu has been taking orders to transport food from the bus station to ship around the city for a relative who has a supply of frozen food and seafood from Quang Ninh. “Squid rolls, shrimp, crab, peeled mantis shrimp... are the items I ship continuously in the days before Tet. For each shipment, I receive about 150 kg of all kinds of goods from the bus, then follow the correct address and phone number of each order to ship all of them during the day. There are days when I receive goods at 8am, but due to many individual orders, I have to ship until 11pm to finish the last order; the most leisurely days are when I receive a ton of goods but only have to ship to 2-3 wholesalers,” said Mr. Tu.
According to Mr. Tu, in the last 2 years, his shipping income was 5 times higher than his motorbike taxi income. “Every week, I receive 5 shipments, from Tuesday to Saturday every week. Each delivery order is divided by distance, weight... the average income per day is 500,000-600,000 VND,” Mr. Tu shared.
Want to pay social insurance
Mr. Nga is a war invalid and is eligible for social insurance. Most freelancers like Mr. Tu are not eligible for social insurance. If they want to participate, they must register to pay voluntarily. However, due to limited income and many other expenses, not everyone is interested in participating in social insurance early. For example, Mr. Tu is 40 years old this year, an age that he said is "half wanting to pay, half not, half wanting to participate, half afraid it's too late".
Ms. Mai Thi Thu is a shipping employee for a delivery company. The warehouse where Ms. Thu works is located on Phung Hung Street (Phuc La, Ha Dong, Hanoi). According to Ms. Thu, women working as shipping employees are at a disadvantage compared to their male colleagues due to poor health and less volume of shipments... but she doesn't have many options because this job requires a schedule that is suitable for a single mother raising a daughter like her. During the days before Tet, when there are many orders, she even asks her neighbors to feed her daughter dinner so she can work overtime and earn more income.
Ms. Thu's wish is to work as a delivery person for about 2 more years, when her child enters first grade, she will apply to be a factory worker to have a stable income, and pay social insurance to ease the burden when she gets old. "I have chosen a company and an elementary school near where I am renting a room, when my child enters first grade, I will apply to be a factory worker and apply for my child to go to public school", the 28-year-old mother shared her dream...
