Coupang to sterilize all delivery parcels

Coupang's delivery men spray sterilizing fluid on parcels in Seoul, June 24. / Courtesy of Coupang

By Kim Jae-heun

The country's largest online retailer Coupang said Wednesday it will strengthen sterilization procedures for all overnight package deliveries.

Parcels will first be cleansed at the warehouse by Coupang workers and before delivery workers place them in front of the customers' door, they will spray the boxes with liquid sterilizer.

Coupang said the sterilizers used have been certified by the Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The company also developed a notification function on a mobile application exclusively used by delivery workers so they don't forget to sterilize parcels. When they make a delivery and confirm it in the system, a pop-up message will remind them to spray the sanitizer. Then, the system will send a delivery notification to customers five minutes later, so the sterilizer liquid has time to dry.

So far, no virus infections transmitted through delivery boxes have been reported, but Coupang plans to take "excessive" measures for the safety of customers.

"We will take all measures that can ensure the safety of customers so they can place orders without worrying," said Ko Sam, a director at Coupang. "We also plan to focus our technology and capabilities on ensuring that Rocket Delivery becomes the standard of the safest delivery amid COVID-19.

Coupang will implement various safety measures for customers and employees apart from sterilizing all products delivered nationwide. We will share it all with our partner companies so they can take part in our efforts to ensure safety against the virus."

Coupang is making steady efforts to overcome the social crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has been delivering daily necessities to more than 1 million households, selling more than 100 million face masks for a total 6 billion won in May after it decided to freeze sales prices.

Coupang also continued to create jobs here by hiring 20,000 people in the first quarter of this year. It recently paid a 1 million won stability fund to its temporary workers who have been excluded from government support.

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