Restrictions on Dawn Delivery Take Away the Freedom to Work

The controversy over dawn delivery has flared up again. As the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions’ parcel delivery union has proposed restricting “late-night delivery,” which takes place from midnight to 5 a.m., citing workers’ right to health, backlash is growing among consumers, small business owners, and companies in the field. But the essence of this debate is not simply a matter of working hours; it is a question of how far we are willing to recognize labor autonomy and market freedom.

Workers’ right to health must be protected. But that justification should not be realized in a way that infringes on the freedom to work. People who prefer night work also clearly have the right to choose their own working hours. Institutional improvements to reduce risk are necessary, but if they result in a blanket “time-slot ban,” that is not “protection” but “interference.” A society that takes away freedom of labor ultimately becomes a society that reduces jobs and opportunities as well.

Dawn delivery is no longer just a convenience service. For families with infants and young children, the self-employed, and residents of remote island and mountain areas, it is a foundation of daily life. In particular, for small business owners who make a living through online sales, it is a “lifeline.” One study estimates that if dawn delivery and seven-day-a-week delivery were halted, domestic small business sales would decline by about 18.3 trillion won, and the total economic loss would reach 54 trillion won.

No matter how noble the justification for regulation may be, if the result is to undermine people’s livelihoods and economic activity, it cannot be called sound policy. The regulation of large supermarkets’ business hours, which continued for more than the past 10 years, did not protect small business owners and only led to a slump in the offline retail market. The discussion of restricting dawn delivery is an extension of that same approach. We have already experienced the fact that when the government or organized groups intervene in the market in the name of the “public interest,” the actual result is often to restrict both consumer choice and corporate autonomy at the same time.

The foundation of a market economy is “autonomy.” Transactions between consumers and businesses function most efficiently when they are based on voluntary choice. Yet the recent regulatory trend is increasingly eroding this freedom. Restricting dawn delivery will inevitably reduce logistics efficiency and raise living costs for consumers and small business owners. In the end, the burden always falls on the market’s main actors: consumers, who are ordinary citizens.

The core of policy lies in “precise targeting” and “proportionality.” The goal of improving dangerous working conditions is valid. But the solution should not be a “blanket restriction”; it should be practical measures such as spreading out workloads, strengthening shift systems, guaranteeing rest periods, and expanding health checkups. Above all, we must remember that the fundamental solution is not “prohibition” but “improvement through efficiency and competition.”

Accordingly, what the state should do now is not “regulate” but “create the right environment.” The government’s role today is to guarantee free contracts between platform companies such as Coupang and delivery drivers, and to create a market environment that promotes competition and innovation. Banning dawn delivery and controlling platforms is not what the actual parties involved, including the Coupang union, want; it is merely excessive intervention and control.

Labor has value only when it is grounded in freedom. Protecting the right to health and preserving the freedom to work are not mutually exclusive choices, but compatible values. Rather than being swayed by the claims of particular groups, the government must not forget its principle and role of respecting autonomy and diversity in the platform market.

Sung-no Choi, President of the Center for Free Enterprise (CFE)

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Original title: 일할 자유 빼앗는 새벽 배송 제한

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2025-11-13

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=press&idx=28255