CJ Logistics

These days, Lee Ho-gi, 36, who is in his 9th year as a delivery driver, has little occasion to interact with customers in person, as non-face-to-face delivery has become common since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, because he visits the same area at the same hour every day and regularly exchanges text messages with customers about deliveries and returns, seeing a customer's name on screen is enough to make him feel a sense of intimacy with the customer. One day though, he was shocked by a text message sent to him by a customer. The customer told him in the message that because she thought he might be a scary person based on his profile photo in the delivery service app, she always used her local convenience store when she needed to return a package delivered. When he heard from a photo truck that happened to be in the same terminal as him that he could get his profile photo taken, he decided to change his profile photo. Lee said, “I never thought that a customer would develop a certain negative idea about a delivery driver after looking at the driver's profile photo in the delivery app. I tried to show myself with a brighter smile to the customers, who can usually only see me in their imagination because deliveries are made in a non-face-to-face manner.”

The dark and rigid-feeling profile photos of delivery drivers in the delivery service app have been replaced with smiling ones; some 1,000 delivery drivers participated voluntarily in the campaign.

On the 1st, CJ Logistics announced that in the whole month of August, it had conducted a “We Deliver Even Smiles. Smiling Delivery Service” campaign for some 1,000 delivery drivers to replace their profile pictures in the delivery service app. The “Smiling Delivery Service” campaign is intended to replace delivery driver profile photos that can be viewed in CJ Logistics’ delivery service app. Delivery drivers wishing to participate in the campaign chose their own poses and took their profile photos by themselves. A mobile self-portrait studio visited 14 terminals in the Seoul metropolitan area during the month of August, and 1,011 delivery drivers participated voluntarily.

Anyone who has a package scheduled to be delivered to them by CJ Logistics can view the profile photo of the delivery driver assigned to their area in CJ Logistics’ delivery app. CJ Logistics initially created this service with the intention of gaining customer trust by revealing the faces of their delivery drives to them. Usually, delivery drivers get their photos taken when they are about to first start their job after signing a contract with an agency. However, despite the purpose of the service, delivery drivers often regard photo-taking as a bothersome task, and as a result, the quality of the photos dropped significantly. In most cases, they looked expressionless, dark, and rigid in their photos, which consequently were believed to reinforce the consumers' negative perceptions of the delivery drivers.

The “Smiling Delivery Service” campaign was planned with an aim to create a fun and lively vibe starting right from the app where customers get to meet their delivery drivers for the first time. The idea was that replacing the existing dark, rigid-feeling profile photos of delivery drivers with ones in which they smile brightly would increase customer trust. At the same time, as delivery drivers become aware that their smiling faces are seen by customers, they would naturally make more efforts to raise the level of the services they provide. The sense of intimacy and bonding that a customer feels when they see a photo of a delivery driver smiling brightly can lead the delivery driver to take greater pride in their job.

Delivery drivers posed and took selfies in a mobile studio. The new profile photos are expected to increase their vocational self-esteem as well as customer trust.



The “Smiling Delivery Service” campaign was carried out at CJ Logistics’ 14 delivery sub terminals in the Seoul metropolitan area in a rotating manner, with the first stop being the company's Siheung terminal, visited on the 1st, which was followed by Nowon, Yeongtong, Jongno, Gangseo, Gimpo, Geumcheon, Gwanak and Yeonsu. 1,011 delivery drivers participated in the campaign voluntarily, including those who did not like their existing profile photos and those who had just recently started working and had yet to submit their photos. Photos were taken in a mobile studio created by remodeling a 5-ton cargo truck. The studio was divided into a powder room where delivery drivers got ready for their photo shoots and a photo booth where their self-portraits were taken. Through cooperation with South Korea's first self-portrait studio brand “Photomatic,” the photo booth was fitted with instant printing equipment that enabled delivery drivers to take their portraits using a remote control and print a set of four photos for themselves. The delivery drivers, who participated voluntarily for the sake of their customers struck playful poses that conveyed their own individuality, such as making a V or a heart with their hands, and pressed the shutter themselves. The photos taken will be uploaded in sequence to CJ Logistics’ delivery service app to replace the old ones by the end of September.

CJ Logistics: “The level of the services provided to the public increases only when the job satisfaction level of delivery drivers is high. We will continue to provide our delivery drivers with the highest level of welfare benefits in the industry.”

Delivery driver Geum Jong-myung, 36, who participated in the “Smiling Delivery Service” campaign, said, "The profile picture I took when I was starting out as a delivery driver left a lot to be desired because I looked stiff in it. This time, however, I took my photo with a wide smile, thinking that customers who are waiting for me to deliver their packages to them would actually see my face. I hope that this new profile photo will help me get closer to the customers in the areas I'm in charge of.”

CJ Logistics provided each delivery driver who participated in the Smiling Delivery Service campaign with refreshing red bean bingsu and a heat-beating gift box made up of bibigo samgyetang and abalone porridge.

An official from CJ Logistics said, “We launched this campaign to strengthen our services for our customers who receive packages delivered by us and to increase our delivery drivers’ pride in their job. We will continue to provide the highest level of welfare benefits in the industry to delivery drivers with the belief that the level of the services provided to the public increases only when the job satisfaction level of delivery drivers is high.”