Meituan and Taobao "kill with red eyes": Some takeout can be "purchased for zero yuan," with staff claiming an average of 14 hours of work per person

Reporters found that starting from the evening of July 5th, Meituan and Taobao Flash Sale, two major platforms, issued a large number of takeaway red envelope coupons, including several high-value coupons such as "25 off 21", "25 off 20", and "16 off 16". JD Takeaway also issued 10 million exclusive "Su Super Takeaway" coupons, but currently, the main discounts on its takeaway interface are still the previously announced "100 billion subsidies". Against this backdrop, a cup of American coffee costs less than 4 yuan with free delivery, and a "Milk Tea Three Brothers" voucher from a single COCO store sold over 600 copies at 3.9 yuan per cup, with multiple consumers sharing "zero yuan purchase" orders on social platforms. A large number of users flooded the platform to place orders, causing Meituan to experience a temporary outage on the evening of the 5th. The official response stated that the order volume exceeded historical peaks, triggering server flow control protection. Most staff were caught off guard, and many merchants didn't even have time to check the actual subsidies and income. An employee from a leading tea brand revealed that due to the overwhelming number of orders, he only finished work after midnight, with colleagues averaging 14 hours of work. A tea merchant told reporters that in the new round of the takeaway war, the platform bears a larger proportion of the subsidies. However, more than one owner expressed that despite the order volume increasing several times, the actual revenue did not see significant growth, which is equivalent to "just making a noise"