Under Chinese law, only 10 percent of a company’s staff should consist of shipping workers. However, Zhang says the regulations are often not rigorously enforced. She noted that companies can also get around this limit by having workers classified under different outsourcing programs that work largely the same way – a strategy that Shein employs in job postings.
A spokesperson for Shein confirmed to WIRED that the company “works with third-party vendors to operate the vast majority of our warehouses,” but declined to specify what percentage of employees fall into the shipping category. “Shein’s practices are consistent with industry standards and are compliant with local laws and regulations,” a spokesperson said in an email.
Because many of Sheina’s warehouse workers are classified as gig workers, they are not guaranteed a fixed hourly wage, much like Uber drivers and food delivery couriers. Job postings and several videos reviewed by WIRED indicate that while workers are promised a monthly base salary, their total compensation is calculated based on their level of productivity, which can be summarized as “more work, more pay.”
This structure gives employees the opportunity to seek higher income. However, as one of the videos shows, when Shein’s orders drop, their wages may also drop through no fault of their own. In a recording posted in January on ByteDance’s Xigua platform, one of Shein’s alleged employees complains that she can’t make enough money because “the quantity of goods is insufficient.” She adds that she imagined that at this stage of her life she would have a more stable salary.
“Shein is committed to ensuring that all workers in our supply chain are treated fairly and with dignity and is investing tens of millions of dollars to strengthen governance and compliance,” a Shein spokesperson said.
Shein told WIRED that based on supplier records, the company estimates that junior warehouse workers earn about RMB 7,000 ($997) a month, while senior workers can earn an average of more than RMB 12,000 ($1,709). The current monthly minimum wage for full-time workers in Guangzhou, a major Chinese city located near many Shein warehouses, is RMB 2,300 ($327), According to to China Briefing, a website run by consulting firm Dezan Shira & Associates (this figure does not include overtime pay and other forms of compensation).
Shein’s apply of labor dispatchers was discussed earlier. In 2021, Chinese news site Sixth Tone reported that Shein allegedly “appears to rely heavily” on shipping agencies for its warehouses, which, as the article notes, “has been linked to a number of labor-related issues.”
Shein, however, never mentioned this practice in its annual sustainability and social impact reports, which detail the company’s efforts to ensure its suppliers comply with local regulations and a code of conduct. In his own latest report published in August, Shein revealed that it hired outside firms to audit 15 of 21 logistics warehouses in China last year and found that “all… performed well.”