Zhang Xuesong, an official at Binzhou City's market-regulation bureau in Shandong, delivers takeout. At 10:30 a.m., heat shimmers off the asphalt as he weaves through streets and alleys. Between orders, he parks his e-bike neatly outside a mall where orders are easier to grab. Straddling the bike, he eyes the phone mounted on the handlebar, thumb hovering over the accept button, ready to snatch an order at any moment.
This July, Binzhou's market-regulation bureau assigned ten young officials to work two weeks as delivery riders on platforms including Meituan, JD Daojia and Taobao Flash. Zhang was one of them. Online food services grow fast and many problems are well hidden and hard to investigate. Sending officials as riders lets them directly observe storefronts and spot hidden issues. Bureau head Wang Bing said that reading reports and complaints in the office always leaves blind spots; only by participating personally can officials understand the situation precisely.
In 2022 the bureau led the creation of the city's online-delivery industry party committee, with Wang also serving as its secretary. In earlier visits, many riders were guarded around regulators some swallowed their concerns, some didn't know how to express them, some just waved and said 'all's fine.' Wang believes the best research is to wear the other's shoes and walk their road for a stretch, so you learn where the difficulties and needs are and can serve more precisely.
The 30-year-old Zhang, in the drug-market division, had been on the job just three years. When notified, he was both excited and worried. After the bureau coordinated with platform regional heads, they got the riders health certificates, bought insulated boxes and rented e-bikes to formal-rider standards, and arranged veteran riders for pre-job training. Initially a gentle 'one-order-at-a-time' dispatch was used; after mastering the process, order volume was gradually opened up. The key was to dispatch throughout as a real rider, no going through the motions, to see the industry's truest face.
Guided by veteran riders, Zhang got past the novice phase and gradually learned the tricks which stretch jams, which gated community has no elevator, which business district turns orders fast. Once, navigation said he'd arrived at the pickup point, but after a loop he couldn't find the shop and finally spotted the small restaurant in an inconspicuous spot among a row of storefronts. The vigilance was no accident: before departure, the food-safety division gave the officials special training clarifying five research dimensions business qualification, pickup address, kitchen hygiene, food waste and delivery seals.
