Egypt’s educated youth turn to delivery work

A search for the phrase “delivery rider killed” on Egyptian search engines will quickly reveal a long list of reports in local news outlets documenting the deaths of dozens of people working in what many Egyptians call the “flying coffin” profession.

Egyptians refer to delivery riders as “pilots” because they speed through the streets on motorcycles, resembling “flying coffins”, racing against time to deliver as many orders as possible. They do so amid growing risks caused by the lack of safety standards, long working hours, and the absence of legal protection or insurance coverage.

Six million delivery riders

There are no official estimates of the number of Egyptians working in the delivery sector. However, a parliamentary briefing submitted by Egyptian MP Maha Abdel Nasser to the prime minister revealed that there are six million delivery riders in the country, and that 63 per cent of them have experienced workplace accidents or injuries.

“I have a bachelor’s degree in arts, and I work in food delivery services,” said Ali Abdullah, 25, describing his experience and struggles as “a humiliating job and a deadly profession.” “Those who work in this field suffer serious health problems because they spend long hours riding and working in difficult weather conditions, whether in winter or summer,” he added.

A motorcycle, bicycle or scooter, along with an identity card and driving licence, are the only equipment and documents required to work as a delivery rider in Egypt.

Delivery riders typically work an average of 12 hours a day, with no employment contracts, fixed salaries, risk allowances, benefits or compensation in the event of an accident or damage to the motorcycle, according to workers at Talabat, the delivery service company operating in Egypt under Germany’s Delivery Hero Group.

Talabat is an online platform that receives customers’ orders and delivers them to their homes. It operates in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Iraq and Jordan.

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Harsh conditions

Delivery workers in Egypt receive between 30 and 35 Egyptian pounds (around $0.70) for each order, with payments made at the end of every week. They are also responsible for covering the cost of their own food and drinks, motorcycle fuel and any repairs required if their vehicle breaks down.

The income is not fixed and varies depending on the area where the delivery worker operates and whether services are provided to customers in affluent neighbourhoods, poorer urban areas or rural communities.

Delivery services in Egyptian cities are no longer limited to food and groceries; they now include the delivery of clothes, shoes, books and medicines. The industry has also expanded into rural areas and cities in Upper Egypt, in the south of the country, with more women joining the field amid rising unemployment and delayed marriage rates among Egyptians.

Ahmed Sameh, 30, who holds a bachelor’s degree, said he paid the delivery company he worked for 800 Egyptian pounds ($16) for the box used to carry customers’ orders and a company-branded T-shirt. “When I was involved in an accident, the company abandoned me, forcing me to cover my own medical expenses and pay for repairs to my motorcycle,” he said.

Speaking to Middle East Monitor, he added that labour supply offices and companies operating in the industry have no obligations towards delivery riders and provide no financial compensation if a worker is injured or killed in a road accident.

Delivery workers risk riding at high speeds on roads that often lack safety standards in order to deliver as many orders as possible each day and receive tips from customers in addition to their payment per order. They hope to earn around 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($400) a month, which attracts many workers with university and intermediate qualifications to the field.

Egypt’s minimum monthly wage stands at 8,000 Egyptian pounds (around $160), following recent increases approved by the government as part of the 2026/2027 state budget.

Daily risks

Eighty per cent of delivery workers in Egypt operate without written employment contracts, 97 per cent lack social insurance coverage, and only 2 per cent have received compensation for workplace injuries, according to the briefing submitted by MP Maha Abdel Nasser to the Egyptian parliament.

Abdel Nasser said workers in this line of work operate without effective legal protection or insurance coverage, despite the daily risks involved in the job that threaten their right to life, physical safety and social security.

Mustafa Mahmoud, a computer science student, said he did not sign an employment contract to work as a delivery rider. Instead, he was required to sign a promissory note worth 10,000 Egyptian pounds ($200) in favour of the company to guarantee it receives payments for the orders he handled. “Workers have no rights,” he said, pointing to painful stories of delivery riders who have died in road accidents and others whose motorcycles were stolen without receiving any compensation.

Official data shows that the number of people killed in road accidents rose to 5,829 in 2025, compared with 5,260 deaths in 2024. The number of injuries also increased to 84,553 in 2025, compared with 76,362 in 2024, according to Egypt’s Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics.

Your safety matters

Since last year, Egypt’s Ministry of Labour has been running a national campaign called “Your Safety Matters”, targeting delivery workers with the aim of improving their social and professional protection and providing them with a safe and decent working environment. However, unofficial surveys have found that only 12 per cent of delivery riders have any form of health insurance, while 48 per cent have been forced to sign promissory notes and 21.5 per cent have experienced unfair dismissal.

As part of the “Your Safety Matters” campaign, the Egyptian government has sought to provide workers with personal protective equipment, including helmets, reflective vests, gloves, face masks and first-aid supplies. There have also been popular calls to establish a trade union representing delivery workers, but no action has been taken so far.

According to economist Mohamed Abu Zeid, the growing number of people working in what he describes as “the profession of those with no profession”, particularly among university graduates, is driven by deteriorating economic and living conditions, rising prices, increasing unemployment and low wages.

During the presidency of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, Egyptians have faced a sharp decline in the value of the local currency (with the dollar reaching around 50 Egyptian pounds), rising inflation and increasing poverty levels.

Egypt’s unemployment rate stood at around 6.2 per cent at the end of 2025, according to government data. However, notably, 82.1 per cent of the unemployed are holders of intermediate, post-secondary, university or higher qualifications, according to the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics.

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A profession of death

Delivery riders may work for years without employment contracts or legal, insurance or health protection. There is no trade union or labour body advocating for their rights, nor is there a comprehensive database documenting their numbers, making them the weakest and most vulnerable link in Egypt’s delivery market, which is classified as part of the informal economy.

Food delivery platform Talabat, grocery shopping app Mongz, and ride-hailing service Uber each received a score of 1 out of 10 in 2021, according to assessments by the Fairwork project at the University of Oxford in cooperation with the American University in Cairo.

According to labour and human rights activist Khalil El-Masri, the owners of digital platforms providing delivery services are the biggest beneficiaries of the delivery system. Workers bear the costs of transportation, fuel, maintenance and the risks involved, while becoming its first victims, without life insurance or adequate protection. He added that the activities of labour supply offices have also expanded, despite many of them operating with limited government oversight.

Delivery work in Egypt is fraught with risks and has become associated with death, with riders increasingly falling victim to road accidents while enduring long working hours without contracts or legal and health protections, as well as unfair dismissal, bullying and harassment.

Yet despite these challenges, delivery work remains one of the most common forms of employment among Egyptians, particularly those with university and intermediate qualifications, as they seek to escape unemployment, poverty and rising living costs.

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.