Cho Yong-moon, 75, spends nine hours a day, five days a week using his free pass on the Seoul subway to shuttle parcels among clothing and jewelry stores.
With pension payments falling short of living costs for many of the elderly, he is among a growing number of senior citizens in the South Korean capital carrying boxes for "silver service" courier businesses.
"This job isn't easy, especially when I'm walking up the subway stairs carrying heavy stuff," said Cho, who earns about 500,000 won ($430) a month — half of what he and his wife need to live on. "There are limited seats for the elderly in the Seoul subways, and I often have to stand for hours."