Baby Truck

To push forward with a new policy, one must first obtain the city council's approval for the budget allocation.

Although there was still plenty of time before the bill would be tabled at the plenary session, Lee Yun-hyeok met with the councilors from both parties and the council chairman beforehand to negotiate.

Since it was a major policy initiative, he knew it would be much ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠smoother to keep a continuous dialogue going.

"It is an excellent policy."

Jeong Hyeong-seok, the Mir City Council Chairman, was in favor.

"In short, it is an expanded version of the newborn essentials package. Instead of just handing out a few diapers and renting out breast pumps, we are taking it several steps further by lending out strollers and car seats. Is that correct?"

"Exactly. The initial target for the project is infants and toddlers from zero to thirty-six months old."

"I don't think allocating the budget itself will be an issue. However..." Jeong Hyeong-seok trailed off. "I do worry about whether this is realistically feasible."

"Mayor, if I am being completely honest," said Shin Young-hwa, a city councilor from the Hanmin Party. "The workload of our city hall employees is already at a breaking point."

It was one of the universal laws of the civil service: the more brilliant and diligent the leader, the higher the labor intensity for the staff.

Between the Innovation Lab in Jungang-dong, the high-tech industrial cluster in Durim-myeon, the redevelopment projects, the residential zoning initiatives, coordinating with other municipalities adopting Mir Childcare 365, and on top of that, the Smart Farm Innovation Valley in Doma-myeon and Hawol-myeon...

"I suppose I have been driving them quite hard," Yun-hyeok admitted with a sheepish smile.

In truth, he was well aware of the situation.

Even though Yun-hyeok had personally cracked down on malicious complaints to protect them, their workload was still incomparably heavier than it had been under the corrupt former mayor, Baek Hyeong-guk.

The only reason there had not been any open grumbling yet was because morale across the city administration was at an all-time high.

Most of the projects Mir City had launched yielded spectacular results in a short span of time, earning widespread praise. This sense of accomplishment kept the employees motivated enough to endure the grind.

But this new initiative would undoubtedly be on a completely different level.

"There are about 7,200 infants and toddlers under thirty-six months old in Mir City," Jeong Hyeong-seok noted. "Even if not all of them use the service, the volume will still be staggering. It will quickly become a workload that our lower-grade civil servants simply cannot handle."

He was right.

Furthermore, this was not a project with a set end date; it was a continuous, daily administrative grind. The staff would burn out in no time.

"And finding a place to store all those bulky items will not be easy either."

Currently, smaller items like breast pumps were sterilized with UV sanitizers and stored at local public health centers. Mothers would apply for a rental and pick them up in person.

But strollers, car seats, and baby cribs were far too bulky and heavy to be stacked inside local health clinics.

In that case, why not go all the way?

"Let's establish a logistics hub directly managed by the city."

That would be far more efficient.

In the past, whenever he tried to implement a policy, he had to go through hell—threatening to pull city funds from the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, pitching endlessly for central government grants, and squeezing budgets out of the Office of Education. But things were different now.

He was going to show them just how spectacular public administration could be when an experienced administrator had free rein over a multi-billion-won budget.

"We will remodel the abandoned Dong-mir bus depot."

Located on the outskirts of the city, about a twenty-minute drive from Mir Station, lay a massive, idle plot of land.

It had once been used as a parking and maintenance depot for intercity and metropolitan buses.

However, with the opening of Mir Station and its integration into the metropolitan subway network, bus ridership had plummeted. Several bus companies went bankrupt, leaving the depot completely deserted.

Although a private company, Seongil Transport, had owned a partial stake, the city had bought them out and reclaimed it as municipal land. It was currently sitting empty.

This was the perfect starting point.

They would bring in demolition crews to clear out the rusted maintenance racks and scrap metal, then hire professional cleaners to thoroughly sanitize and disinfect the entire site.

Next came structural reinforcement, insulation installation, and replacing all the lighting.

The drab, dusty warehouse floors would be coated with bright epoxy. They would set up a steam-cleaning zone using vehicle-washing equipment, and convert the old maintenance bays into a UV sterilization room, an inspection room, and a packaging station.

The site spanned six thousand square meters.

They would transform the massive parking lot into a state-of-the-art logistics warehouse and hang a brand-new sign.

During the planning phase, the Director of the Welfare Policy Bureau raised a concern.

"But Mayor, if we are not distributing these from local community centers or health clinics, won't it be too difficult for citizens to come all the way out here to pick them up?"

But Yun-hyeok shook his head.

"Parents of newborns are already sleep-deprived from juggling work and childcare. Why on earth should we make them travel all the way here?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

He had never intended to make them do that in the first place.

"Besides, transporting bulky items like car seats, strollers, baby baths, and cribs is a massive hassle. It is not like the average citizen owns a pickup truck."

"Then..."

"We will take orders through our app and deliver them directly from this hub."

In Finland, there was a famous childcare welfare policy known as the "baby box."

When a child was born, the government sent a box measuring roughly 75 by 45 centimeters to the family. Inside were baby clothes, diapers, formula, bath supplies, and almost a year's worth of essentials.

The box itself was even designed to double as a bassinet.

"We are going to benchmark the baby box. But in our case, we are deploying the Baby Truck."

The sheer scale of this aggressive welfare policy left the directors speechless.

"Then... is the city going to purchase a fleet of trucks?" ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Kim Min-cheol asked, looking deeply concerned.

"Of course not."

How many car seats could they buy with the money spent on purchasing trucks?

He had no intention of wasting budget like that.

There was a deeply rooted, long-standing abuse in the domestic freight transport industry.

It was known as the Jiip system.

Common sense would suggest that if someone started a logistics company, the company would purchase the cargo trucks and hire drivers to operate them. In reality, it was the exact opposite.

Drivers had to take out personal loans to buy their own trucks just to join a logistics company. It was the equivalent of a software developer being forced to bring their own computer to work at an IT firm.

But it did not end there.

Most of these drivers received absolutely no benefits from the company—no health insurance, no paid leave, no retirement guarantees. Yet they had to drive the vehicles, handle all maintenance out of their own pockets, follow the company's strict directives, and even pay a monthly registration fee to the company.

How did the industry structure end up so deeply dysfunctional?

It traced back to 2004, when the government implemented a quota system on commercial freight vehicles.

What used to be a simple registration system for commercial truck licenses became a highly restrictive permit system, making it incredibly difficult to obtain a new commercial license.

As a result, independent drivers had to endure all kinds of exploitation from logistics firms just to squeeze their way in.

Why?

Because that was the only way to get their hands on the coveted "yellow commercial license plates" to attach to their trucks.

"But what we are running is a welfare program, not a commercial logistics business," Yun-hyeok pointed out.

One of the greatest advantages of a non-profit public project was that it was relatively free from commercial regulations.

"Let's directly hire these exploited independent truck drivers as municipal employees. They will bring their own trucks. To make it fair, we can provide them with a vehicle maintenance allowance."

They timed the release of the recruitment notices perfectly with the completion of the depot's remodeling.

Of course, they also had to hire administrative and maintenance staff to manage the facility.

"It would be ideal to hire people with experience in cleaning or logistics management, but if that's not possible, let's prioritize women whose careers have been interrupted by ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠childbirth or childcare," Yun-hyeok instructed.

Giving priority to women with career breaks was not just for welfare purposes; it was because they were the true experts.

Since they had been the primary consumers of these childcare products, they would naturally know them best.

The response to the recruitment notices was explosive.

Truck drivers who had been suffering under the exploitative Jiip system swarmed in like a flock of bees. Within just two days, the number of applicants surpassed fifty.

Drivers who had been crushed by company registration fees and suffocated by truck loan interest rushed to apply, drawn by the promise of a stable income and the safety net of the four major social insurances.

The administrative division was even hotter.

Nearly a hundred applications poured in from a diverse pool of candidates: a nursing assistant with a one-year career gap, a former distribution center employee, an accountant from a small business, and even a young man with six years of experience loading and unloading at Coupang.

"We need a more detailed blueprint for the policy's operation," Yun-hyeok instructed Kim Min-cheol, directing him to design the finer details of the system.

They had to determine how much deposit to charge for high-end items, how to limit the number of items rented per household over a set period through Mir Childcare 365, and what penalties to enforce for overdue or lost items.

They also added strict guidelines for purchasing used goods.

Strollers had to have undamaged frames and detachable, washable fabrics. Car seats had to be manufactured within the last five years, with their manuals and safety expiration dates verified. Baby baths had to be free of plastic discoloration and any trace of mold.

"We must not accept items that lack proper safety certifications, nor anything that falls short of our disinfection and hygiene standards. Also, let's avoid excessively expensive luxury brands, as they will hurt the cost-efficiency of our purchasing budget."

Once the preparations were complete, they officially began purchasing used childcare goods.

They put up notices and promoted the campaign across all channels.

This time, they even launched a live broadcast.

"Hello, citizens of Mir City. I am your mayor, Lee Yun-hyeok."