These days, many depend on delivery services for essential goods like groceries, medicine and food. Thanks to delivery riders, countless families are able to stay safe and protected indoors. 27-year old Julio "Yukii" Artana from Imus, Cavite is one of those delivery riders. Along with others like him, Yukii braves the streets every day to bring food to people's homes.

A rider who delivers both food and fun

Yukii is also a TikTok creator, entertaining his followers with dance videos, which he frequently creates while wearing his delivery uniform. He first joined TikTok because it was popular during lockdown. Little did he know that, a year later, he would have 132k followers on the app, and that his content would gain millions of views.

Here are some of Yukii's best TikTok videos, including one that has already garnered 4.6M views!

https://www.tiktok.com/@yukii_artana/video/6941611468450319617

https://www.tiktok.com/@yukii_artana/video/6918670990172081409

https://www.tiktok.com/@yukii_artana/video/6940142233463131394

https://www.tiktok.com/@yukii_artana/video/6939102089347878145

https://www.tiktok.com/@yukii_artana/video/6930541499381828865

Having worked as a food delivery rider for two years, Yukii feels a sense of responsibility and pride in his job, and in his ability to provide this service to many Filipinos. He shares, "Masaya ako dahil nakakapaghatid ako ng tamang serbisyo sa customers ko, at nakakatulong din po kami upang mabawasan ang paglabas ng mga tao."

The job isn't always easy, and Yukii says that some days aren't as productive and profitable as others as far as bookings are concerned. Apart from this, he also faces many other challenges as a rider. "Bukod po dito sa pandemic , may pagsubok din kami dapat kakaharapin kagaya po ng panahon ngayon. Sobrang init din po sa labas, samahan pa ng usok ng mga sasakyan minsan umuulan pa, at isa sa mga kinakatakutan namin na minsan na may mga client kami na hindi nakuha yung pag pagkain dahil sa kulang sa inpormasyon, like wrong pin location, dahil pera talaga namin pinang-aabono namin," he says.

The health risk is another major concern for Yukii. Knowing this, he always makes sure to follow proper safety protocols. Yukii says, "Sa totoo lang po nakatakot talaga ang virus dahil hindi natin sya nakikita, kaya double ingat din ako sa sarili ko, at tamang suot lang ng facemask, palakasin lang resistensya, at sumunod lamang sa tamang protocols."

Safety should be a priority, both in the real world and online

While our present situation requires us to take measures to remain safe and healthy, TikTok also takes steps towards fortifying its safety features, for the wellbeing of all users on the app. These features include:

•Family Pairing, which allows parents to turn certain app features on and off remotely

•Screen Time Management, where parents can limit their child's daily screen time to 40, 60, 90, or 120 minutes on the app

•Restricted viewing mode, which limits the appearance of content that may be inappropriate

•Preventing downloads of videos created by users under 16 years old

•Preventing the use of videos created by users below 16 for the Duet and Stitch features, which gives other users the ability to clip and integrate scenes from one user's video into their own

•Restricting the use of videos for Duet and Stitch to friends only for users aged 16 to 18

•Restricting of comments on videos created by users aged 13 to 15 to friends only

•Limiting livestream hosting access to users aged 16 and above

•Limiting buying, sending, and receiving of virtual gifts to users aged 18 and above Join the creative community on TikTok today! Download the app on your iOS and Android devices to get started.