Coupang CEO Harold Rogers is working an overnight shift to prepare for early morning deliveries at one of the company’s logistics sites from Thursday to Friday, with the intention to assess working conditions in the demanding atmosphere.
Rogers is to work alongside employees at a Coupang logistics center near Seongnam, Gyeonggi Province, handling packages for its Rocket Delivery system, which has been a key driver of its rapid growth in South Korea. He is to be accompanied by Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Yeom Tae-young, who proposed the idea during a parliamentary hearing on Dec. 31, 2025.
The e-commerce giant, currently under scrutiny over a massive consumer data leak involving some 30 million people, has consistently faced criticism over overwork-related issues among delivery staff.
In May last year, a delivery worker surnamed Jeong died of a heart attack at home after working six days a week, averaging 63 hours.
The controversy has fueled calls from some lawmakers and unionized delivery workers to halt Coupang’s signature overnight delivery service on its e-commerce platform.
In preparation for the overnight shift with Yeom, Rogers conducted a preliminary inspection on his own at the same site a week earlier. Wearing a blue Coupang jacket, Rogers loaded packages onto delivery vehicles and took part in early morning deliveries in the area, interacting with workers at the site.
Coupang said the CEO visited the delivery site to review operations and offer encouragement to the workers for their efforts.
cjh@heraldcorp.com
