Colin sometimes feels like Max Verstappen. When he speeds backwards in his white van in a narrow street, between the parked cars. Behind him on the right is a cyclist – bam, Colin steps on the brakes – on his left a scooter. Wait two seconds and then continue, straight back to the address he had just passed. “I’m flying,” he says. Unsafe? “No, I am a top driver. Safety comes first.”
In his hand he has the PostNL app, with instructions: Kuipersstraat, top floor, package from Zalando. That’s in the back of his van, with 199 other packages. Whole stacks of boxes and bags of bulb, kitchen herbs, Pampers, Praxis, Levi’s, Bloomon, medical equipment. He searches through the packages near the back door. Scans the package – administration – and runs to a front door. Ring the bell. Guard. Gives the package to the person who opens the door. Says nothing. And runs back to his van. The engine never turns off. He flies.
Colin Middellijn does not want to be a burden to anyone. “I never start a conversation, but I am open to it.” Sometimes he sees someone at the top of the stairs who is old or pregnant and whom he suspects may have difficulty getting down – then he brings the package up the stairs himself. He comes here every day, so he prefers not to make any enemies, says Colin. He helps people. And hey, he’s fit, so he doesn’t mind flying up a flight of stairs.
In the morning, Colin places the packages that belong to the end of his route on the bus. At the door he stacks all the packages for the first part of the route.
Simon Lenskens
Standing still for five minutes on the street is fine, says Colin, but no longer. Then people start honking. He usually parks on the sidewalk, if possible, between the lampposts, garbage containers, bicycles, flower boxes and posts. He doesn’t wear a seat belt, that takes time. He jumps off the bus, finds a package, scans it, and runs to a front door. 200 times a day. “Every action is recorded,” he explains. “Because it is susceptible to fraud.”
It’s focus, says Colin. Pure focus. “I do everything exactly the same every day. That way I don’t make any mistakes.” In the morning he places the packages that belong to the end of his route on the bus. At the door he stacks all the packages for the first part of the route. He can do this work so quickly that he delivers 200 packages in five hours. And this city district is very densely populated, which helps. Often fifteen parcels go to one street.
Colin delivers approximately 1,200 parcels per week. His eyes sparkle: “1,500 or 1,800! I expect that around Black Friday.” He indeed achieved that in the days before Black Friday: more than 250 packages per day.
Parcel deliverer Colin drives around via a subcontractor for PostNL.
Photo Simon Lenskens
Music
Walking is not wisdom, says Colin. So you don’t walk with a package to an address fifty meters away if you are not sure that someone will open it. “Then you wear something for nothing.” So, like all parcel deliverers, he drives ten meters each time – from stop to stop.
If the recipient does not open the door, he or she will ring the neighbor’s doorbell. There is almost always someone in the area who can accept the package.
The subcontractor he works for was immediately impressed by him. Colin (25) accompanied a delivery person for three days and was then allowed to go out on his own. “I liked it very much.” He has had his own neighborhood in Amsterdam for a few weeks now.
He gets up at six in the morning and then drives from Amsterdam South East to the PostNL distribution point on the edge of the city. Between a quarter past seven and a quarter past eight, he, like all other delivery people, receives a load of packages for his neighborhood. Then he fills up with diesel, buys a Surinamese sandwich, looks at his route and drives to his neighborhood.
He also takes the Mercedes van, which belongs to the subcontractor, home with him in the evening. The van is his office. Rap from Dutch artists such as Eves Laurent continuously blares from the speakers: The Ploff! Arabian Sun. Entourage. Colin thinks his music is important, he is constantly looking for new songs on Spotify. There are empty cans of Red Bull and paper bags from KFC on the floor of the bus – sometimes he takes a ten-minute break to eat something. “Otherwise you lose focus.”
Colin usually parks on the sidewalk, if possible.
Photos Simon Lenskens
No one on the street seems to hear the loud music in the van or see Colin. With his pale pink cap, a PostNL jacket, tattoos down to his neck, sweatpants and Nikes, he belongs to the street. Only when he blocks the road for a moment do passers-by react – and even then not always.
Colin is paid per package. He earns well from it, he thinks. About 1.50 euros per address, and 15 cents per parcel – so one parcel for one address yields 1.65 euros gross and two parcels for the same address 1.80 euros. He works six days a week and has a turnover of around 1,800 euros. This will deduct some costs such as diesel and insurance, but at this rate he will still have at least 6,000 net per month left over.
It’s not about the money, Colin says. “I don’t think about things that don’t help me in fulfilling my task.” He wants to live a good life and that’s how he does it. Colin believes in God and likes to think about life.
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