'No Parcel Day,' typhoon to delay deliveries

An employee at DongSeoul Mail Center in Gwangjin-gu, Seoul is organizing and sorting through parcels on Aug. 1. (Yonhap)

Any packages shipped after Thursday are highly likely to be delivered mid-next week, due to consecutive holidays and torrential rain in the wake of Typhoon Khanun.

Aug. 14 is "No Parcel Day" in Korea, designated in 2020 by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to ensure a day off for delivery workers. The next day is Liberation Day, and as most companies rest Sundays, deliveries will likely resume on Wednesday.

Major shipping companies, including Korea Post (EMS), CJ Logistics, Hanjin, Lotte Global Logistics and Logen, will halt operations.

Companies with independent couriers such as Coupang, SSG and Market Kurly will work through the holidays. Still, deliveries may be delayed due to inclement weather and they may have an earlier cut-off date for receiving orders.

Some in the industry projected that parcels could be delayed for up to a week due to the effects of the typhoon.

No Parcel Day came into effect after lengthy protests and strikes by delivery workers, whose workload has multiplied exponentially during the pandemic.

For the first time this year, most delivery workers will be able to take three consecutive days off.

By Park Soong-joo(soongjoopark@heraldcorp.com)