Organized Informality and Structurally Differentiated Mobilities

This chapter analyzes two informal organizations of logistics labor for daigou. The first section depicts individual- and enterprise-based logistics outsourcing. I show how different daigou practitioners appropriate mediated mobility to make use of logistics labor in cross-border logistics practices. The next section discusses the gendered differentiation of logistics labor and mobility in a family-run shop for daigou. A common situation in family-run shops is that a male partner tries to help his wife’s business, because she cannot conveniently bodily transport commodities or because the logistics labor is insufficient to carry all of the goods. Shoppers in the family-run shop differentiate logistics practices based on the perceived gendered nature of technology use. Gender relations in family business anchor the autonomy and mobility that different practitioners acquire.