College students turn delivery boys to earn pocket money

Nineteen-year-old Bhargav Jain, a student of Visual Communications, has a hectic day. He is in college till 2 pm. Then he takes his bike and goes to a local restaurant, where he works as a delivery boy between 3 pm and 10 pm, earning Rs 12,000-15,000 per month. “It is a great way to earn pocket money. I don’t have to call my parents, who stay in Bhopal, for money. Not only does it take care of the rent, but also the extra expenses when I go out with my friends on weekends,” he says. 

The summer vacation also offer youngsters the time for such a vocation and those who ride bikes find it convenient to take up delivery jobs. “On an average, delivery boys earn Rs 12,00016,000 per month, depending on the number of deliveries they do,” says Rakesh Mani, co-founder of Genie, an app-based delivery service. “They mostly work as part-time delivery boys and do as many deliveries as possible within the time frame. We give them training before putting them on the job. For instance, they need to have a basic sense of direction and should be familiar with the city’s streets. We don’t want them to call the clients often. Also, they must know how to talk to  clients. We tell them about basic manners. For our business, we also have to interact with business houses and each one is different from the other. We also train them to interact with some high-profile stores so that the job is done much more easily,” says Rakesh.

Many entrepreneurs find it easier to work with college grads as they are fluent in English and are at ease with all kinds of crowds. “Most youngsters we work with are keen to learn and they take on as much as possible,” says Santhosh Muruganantha of Kolapasi. He adds, “They are full of ideas and we take their suggestions seriously.”