Last year, a GrabFood delivery rider returned a lost wallet he found in Petaling Jaya to its owner in Klang.
Little did he know that his good deed would soon lead to an opportunity to make extra money during this trying time.
Dedee Laksmana Ra found the wallet by the roadside in the middle of delivering an order in Damansara on 17 September 2020.
However, he forgot about the wallet when he returned home in Sungai Buloh that night.
While checking his delivery bag, he realised that the wallet was still sitting there.
He then looked through the wallet in the hope to find the details about the owner. He identified the name and owner’s address from an identification card.
Dedee searched the name up on Facebook and found a match where the photo on the identification card looked identical to the profile picture on Facebook. He sent the Facebook user a message, but received no reply.
Image via The Bangkok Post
The next morning, Dedee decided to personally return the wallet to its owner, who was believed to be living in Klang
Speaking to SAYS, the 39-year-old said he crossed his fingers and hoped to find the wallet’s owner, then rode from Sungai Buloh to Klang.
“If I couldn’t find her, I would hand the wallet to a nearby police station,” he said over a phone call interview.
“It took me about an hour from my home to arrive at the address stated on the IC. I have never made any delivery more than 20 minutes as a GrabFood rider.”
In the end, the wallet was returned. The owner was not at home when Dedee visited. It was the owner’s mother who received on her behalf.
On 17 September, the owner wrote a heartfelt post on Facebook, thanking Dedee for saving her so much trouble.
Image via Vivien Jamie Pillai (Facebook)
The post quickly went viral and caught many Malaysians’ attention, including Ali, Muthu & Ah Hock restauranteur Ernest Ong
According to Dedee, Ong managed to track him down and invited him for a free meal.
“He said I could bring whatever number of people to his restaurant to eat. So I brought my family there, but he wasn’t at the restaurant when I visited,” Dedee related.
“It was only last week I met him.”
The GrabFood rider said that Ong recently launched a new range of products and he asked if he could become an agent to help him sell the products.
Ong quickly agreed. Dedee currently sells Ali, Muthu & Ah Hock 3-In-1 White Coffee as his side business.
“I am a GrabFood rider, I do sell other things, and now I help Ong sell his coffee sachets,” he said, adding that he managed to sell quite a lot of them after Ong promoted the product on Facebook.
“I am selling the coffee online. One bag costs RM14 and it comes in three flavours: original, less sugar, and no sugar. I charge a flat rate — RM5 — for delivery for anyone living in Klang Valley.”
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, Dedee said that he was a lorry driver. He lost his job after the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and decided to become a GrabFood rider to make ends meet.
If you want to purchase Ali, Muthu & Ah Hock 3-In-1 White Coffee from Dedee, you can make an order via WhatsApp at +6012-2735485 or reach him on Facebook here.
