When I saw this news story, my first reaction was actually one of surprise. After delivering food for so many years, I’ve seen all kinds of bizarre orders—flowers, cakes, cell phones, and even someone who asked me to deliver an umbrella to a park—but this is the first time I’ve ever heard of delivering food for a chicken in an apartment building.

What Happened

On April 3, 2024, a magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Hualien, which was felt throughout Taiwan. During the earthquake relief efforts, a screenshot of an order circulated in a Facebook group: A member of the public had ordered greens and a dairy drink through a food delivery platform, with the delivery address listed as the Uranus Building. The recipient was listed as “CTi News Reporter,” and the notes section read, “Please airdrop this to the chicken inside the building.”

The order sparked a flurry of discussion online. Some found it creative, praising the customer’s ability to find humor in difficult times, while others questioned whether it was staged or a publicity stunt. Regardless, the order certainly garnered a great deal of attention in a short period of time.

How do food delivery drivers view this situation?

To be honest, when we delivery drivers come across orders like this, we usually have a couple of reactions. The first is, “Are they serious with that note?” The second is, “Oh well, I’ll just do whatever the customer says.”

In this situation, the delivery driver’s role is actually quite straightforward—to deliver the item to the specified location and hand it over to the designated person. How the notes are written or what their purpose is generally falls outside our purview. As long as there is nothing wrong with the item itself, we will deliver it according to standard procedures.

That said, these “special orders” that spark so much discussion are actually a nuisance for delivery riders. Why? Because there are press conferences and photo ops, and since the orders involve specific media outlets, it’s hard not to feel like it’s all just a “stunt.” We’re just out here making a living—we really don’t want to get dragged into this kind of media circus.

Seeing things from a food delivery driver’s perspective

Many of my colleagues have discussed this topic. The general consensus is:

First, the comments in the "Notes" section are getting more and more outrageous.
In the past, guests would at most write things like “Please leave it at the front desk” or “The doorbell is broken—please call us,” but now we get all sorts of strange requests. Although we do our best to accommodate them, we can’t help but feel that some of these requests go beyond what’s “reasonable.”

Second, delivery drivers in news stories tend to come under intense scrutiny.
Once delivery riders find themselves in the midst of such controversial news stories, it’s easy for people to interpret their presence in all sorts of ways. The truth is, we’re just working to make a living—we don’t have all those political considerations.

Third, the platform’s mechanism for handling “special orders” is unclear.
For orders that are clearly "staged" like this, does the platform have a responsibility to filter them out first? At present, there appear to be no clear regulations on this matter.

What does this tell us?

To be honest, I think this incident is more symbolic than substantive. It’s perfectly understandable that people would express their concern for earthquake relief efforts in their own way. However, leaving such detailed comments on a food delivery platform makes it hard not to suspect that it was done on purpose.

For us delivery drivers, this incident serves as a reminder: in the digital age, our work can be photographed and widely shared at any moment. Today you might be the lucky one delivering chicken feed, but tomorrow you could find yourself under intense scrutiny because of a single order. So, keeping a low profile and focusing on the job at hand might be the best way to handle it.

FAQ

Q: Can delivery drivers refuse to accept these special orders?
A: Yes, but generally speaking, rejecting an order without a valid reason will affect your acceptance rate. Unless the order is clearly illegal or involves harassment, we will, in principle, do our best to fulfill it.

Q: If I provide such detailed information in the notes section, will the platform review it?
A: At present, it appears that the platform’s review process for the notes section isn’t very strict. As long as the item itself is legal, whatever you write in the notes section will likely not be filtered out.

Q: Will this news story affect delivery drivers' work?
A: There may be some extra attention in the short term, but it won’t have any real impact in the long run. We’ll still have to handle the orders as usual.

Conclusion

On the surface, the "Uranus Chicken Delivery" incident appears to be an amusing piece of social news, but upon closer inspection, it actually touches on many of the challenges that delivery riders face every day—creative requests from customers, platform management systems, and our professional image in public spaces.

My advice is this: when you encounter special orders like this, just stay calm and focus on doing your job well. As for the rest, just treat it as a bit of light-hearted gossip to share over tea or dinner.