Chao News Client writes Xu Tiancheng
Recently, according to the website of the Ministry of Transport, the newly revised "Express Delivery Market Management Measures" (hereinafter referred to as the "Measures") were passed by the Ministry of Transport's executive meeting on December 8, 2023. Effective from March 1, 2024. As soon as the new regulations of
came out, the "Express Delivery Market Management Measures" promulgated by the Ministry of Transport in January 2013 in the Ministry of Transport Order No. 1 of 2013 was simultaneously abolished. The new regulations introduced by
after ten years have put forward new requirements in terms of low-carbon development of the industry, maintenance of market order, improvement of service quality, protection of user information, and strengthening of supervision and management. It is mentioned that: Enterprises operating express delivery business are not allowed to confirm receipt of express delivery without the user's consent, and are not allowed to deliver express delivery to smart express boxes, express service stations and other express terminal service facilities without authorization, etc., which has even attracted citizens and related companies. attention and discussion. Under the new regulations of
, what changes will the express delivery market usher in? What will happen to the express delivery you and I receive in the future? The reporter conducted a survey with consumers, courier boys, heads of courier points, and industry experts.
Picture source: Visual China
html I have paid express cabinet overtime fees dozens of times in 31 years
Which "door" is on the "door-to-door delivery"
Starting from March, if the express delivery is delivered without my consent, I will find someone to sign for it. If stored in smart express cabinets and service stations, the relevant express companies will face notifications, criticisms and even fines. "Finally someone is going to pay for them." After hearing about this regulation, Ms. Wang, a Hangzhou citizen, believed that this measure was necessary because in the past year, she had lost a pair of sneakers and a quill at the community express service station. and a small vase.
"There are really many problems with receiving goods caused by signing and depositing on behalf of others." Ms. Wang did the math. In 2023, she was forced to hand in dozens of overtime storages just because she was unable to receive goods at the express locker in time because of a business trip. fee.
When receiving express delivery, there should be no middlemen. It is a matter that needs to be "hands-on". According to Article 25 of Chapter 4 of the "Interim Regulations on Express Delivery" (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations") issued by the State Council on March 2, 2018 and effective on May 1 of that year: Enterprises operating express delivery business shall Deliver the express parcel to the agreed delivery address, recipient or consignee designated by the recipient, and inform the recipient or consignee to accept it in person. The recipient or collection agent has the right to accept the goods in person.
face-to-face acceptance, relying on what we often call "door-to-door delivery". This "door" initially refers to the door of your home, school, or work unit where the recipient is located. After arriving at the door, the recipient himself or the designated collector needs to sign face-to-face for receipt. This is considered to have completed a compliant express delivery service.
But in fact, due to the uncertainty of express delivery time, busy "workers" will inevitably stagger the time when they can receive the express delivery in person. This has led to the emergence of smart express cabinets and services that undertake the "collection" function in recent years. More and more sites are being built all over the place. The "door" of "door-to-door delivery" has gradually become the door of express cabinets and service points.
Although many express delivery companies have internal regulations to contact users in advance, in actual operations, in order to improve delivery efficiency, a large proportion of couriers contact users after depositing or even not contact them.
"Essentially, delivering express delivery directly to the express locker without the user's consent is a violation of industry regulations." said an express delivery employee in Hangzhou.
Such violations will soon face clearly stated penalties. According to Article 54 of the "Measures", if an enterprise operating express delivery business has any of the following circumstances, the postal management department shall order it to make corrections, issue a warning or circulate a notice of criticism, and may also impose a fine of not more than 10,000 yuan; if the circumstances are serious, A fine of not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 30,000 yuan is imposed: (1) Confirming receipt of express mail without the user's consent; (2) Using smart express boxes, express service stations, etc. to deliver express mail without the user's consent; (3) ) Throwing or trampling on express items.
This means that in order to complete a compliant delivery, the courier needs to notify the recipient by phone or text message and obtain delivery consent before each express delivery.No matter how big or small the express delivery is, whether it is valuable or not.
So, in practical terms, is this feasible?
During the interview, most citizens agreed with this requirement, while some felt that it did not matter. But express delivery practitioners raised confusion.
"Our service group is college students. When most express delivery arrives, students have course schedules. If they really need 'one delivery and one phone call', then the order of college classes may be disrupted." In Qiantang, Hangzhou City A person in charge said that a SF Express service in the district is spot-on.
In the college campus of Qiantang District, Hangzhou, there are three express delivery service points less than 50 meters away. Photo by Chao News reporter Xu Tiancheng
A postal courier in Shaoxing City told reporters that his business department divides express delivery into ordinary parcels, standard express delivery, and express mail based on merchants’ delivery requirements. "Standard express and express mail are mostly fresh food, electrical appliances or fragile goods, which require us to call one by one and deliver them to your door. Ordinary packages are mostly goods sent by merchants such as Pinduoduo and Douyin, accounting for about 70%, most of this type of goods will be stored in express cabinets and service stations, and then notified to users. If users encounter special circumstances and require removal, they will contact us directly." He also added that the station where he is located needs to be delivered within one day. The express delivery volume is about 15,000 pieces, and each courier needs to deliver three to four hundred pieces a day on average. When
discussed with several couriers, they all raised the same confusion: If every express delivery needs to be communicated in advance, will the delivery efficiency be greatly reduced, and will the customer experience be worse than before?
It can be seen that finding a balance between standards and efficiency will be an important issue that the express delivery industry needs to solve after the implementation of the new "Measures" .
The express delivery is damaged, is it all my fault?
Who is taking away the "dignity of express delivery"
"It was originally worth a lot of money, but now it looks extremely shabby." Ms. Liu recently received a winter coat that she had been looking forward to for a long time, but when it arrived, the packaging bag was quite damaged. . She said that the express delivery had lost its "dignity" at first glance.
Violent sorting and violent delivery have always been deeply disgusted by the public. However, many users are angry at the courier delivery personnel, which makes them feel aggrieved.
"We treat everyone's express delivery as a 'treasure'. If there is a problem with the express delivery from our hands, the responsibility lies with us. How dare we throw it away or trample on it at will." A courier boy complained to the reporter, "Received When packaging severely damaged packages, we will also specially repackage them."
According to industry practitioners, as the express delivery industry becomes more and more automated, the phenomenon of violent sorting and violent delivery has gradually become less common. . At present, except for the loading and unloading process, which is still mainly manual, other processes can basically be operated by machines. Most of the express delivery damage encountered by citizens comes from manual operations.
Image source: Visual China
"But users generally do not pay attention to the front-line procedures. Most of the people they come into contact with are front-line couriers, and they naturally think that it is the responsibility of the couriers." Compared with ordinary citizens, couriers generally believe that, The "Measures" once again clarify that throwing and trampling on express items are subject to legal liability, which is very necessary.
In fact, in recent years, express delivery companies have also been conducting self-supervision on illegal loading and unloading. "Our company hires a third party to monitor all sites, and regularly checks videos to monitor whether employees are violently sorting, throwing away, loading, etc. If caught, they will be fined in mild cases and dismissed in severe cases." Zhejiang Debang Logistics Co., Ltd. A regional head of the company told reporters.
Regarding the disciplinary provisions in the "Measures" for throwing and trampling express packages, many business companies believe that this can restrain the behavior of express delivery employees to a greater extent and reduce the degree of damage to express delivery. However, there is currently no standard for the definition of the word "throw" in , so there may still be controversy during the specific implementation process.
The other side of the lack of respect for the "dignity of express delivery" is also reflected in the leakage of user information.The "Measures" clearly stipulate that companies operating express delivery services are not allowed to sell, leak or illegally provide user information learned in the process of providing express delivery services. No unit or individual may illegally use or resell express waybills. The
reporter learned from a scholar who had just investigated express delivery services in 2023 that at present, there are still many information leaks in the express delivery market. "According to preliminary survey statistics, a piece of user information can be sold for 1 to 2 yuan in the market. If the quantity is large, the profit will be huge. Under the temptation of profit, many express delivery practitioners will take risks. ”
Zhang Shoulong, head of the safety technology and management major at Zhejiang Vocational and Technical College of Posts and Telecommunications, has been paying attention to the development of the domestic express delivery service industry for a long time. In his view, in recent years, many business companies have also been thinking of ways to protect user information: for example, many express companies have appropriately hidden information such as customers' addresses and mobile phone numbers on one side, and used virtual numbers. Contact users, these are powerful measures to protect privacy.
"But express delivery companies also have certain difficulties in applying privacy forms. On the one hand, if important information is completely hidden, it will reduce the efficiency of delivery for the courier. Even if the information is obtained by scanning the code before delivery, theoretically it will increase This increases the courier's working hours and reduces his work efficiency. On the other hand, when consumers choose to hide information, the virtual number of the private waybill is often blocked or rejected, resulting in the recipient being unable to be contacted. It also affects distribution efficiency to a certain extent." Zhang Shoulong said.
html On January 9, the Director of the State Post Bureau introduced at the National Postal Management Work Conference that preliminary statistics of my country’s express delivery business volume in 2023 will reach 132 billion pieces. This number is roughly equivalent to more than 69% of the global express parcel business volume in 2022. Such a huge business volume will greatly affect the user experience if it is not equipped with efficient delivery speed.In addition, Zhang Shoulong also believes that upstream and downstream companies in the express delivery industry do not share enough user data they possess. There are certain information barriers between e-commerce platforms and delivery companies, and delivery companies and post stations, which also restricts the promotion of private waybills. Therefore, how to protect privacy while improving efficiency and comprehensively promoting privacy forms is a topic that the industry needs to solve.
Image source: Visual China
Reasonable packaging, environmentally friendly design... have all become training courses for delivery boys
What changes will your and my express delivery have in the future
Co-director of the Digital Economy and Financial Innovation Research Center of the International United Business School of Zhejiang University Researcher Pan Helin said in an interview with Chao News reporters that the new "Measures" emphasize or add new ones, such as the need for couriers to obtain the user's consent in advance before they can find someone to sign for or store the express in the express cabinet; the courier needs to Ensure the safety, integrity and timely delivery of express delivery items; express delivery business units are strictly prohibited from leaking, abusing or illegally trading user information, etc. These are specific adjustments made in response to actual problems in express delivery services over the past 10 years.
In his opinion, these regulations are from the perspective of consumers, and after implementation, they will improve the overall service quality of the express delivery industry. Some of the specific penalties and punishment levels involved may need to be implemented by the express delivery company platform under the supervision of the postal management department in actual operations. This also puts forward higher requirements for the express delivery service industry itself.
Xiao Liu, who has been a courier in Hangzhou for 6 years, has gradually felt that in the past two years, the express delivery industry's requirements for employees have become clearer and more diverse. Take training as an example. In the past, the company held business classes every one or two months, mostly to convey the latest policies and feedback user reviews. But now, teachers from colleges and universities related to postal management majors come to teach from time to time, and the content has begun to expand to Reasonable packaging, environmentally friendly design, etc.
Industry experts provide business training for express company employees. Picture provided by Zhejiang Vocational and Technical College of Posts and Telecommunications
This is also reflected in the new "Measures". The reporter found out that the "Measures" put forward specific requirements for "green and low-carbon development", including guiding users to use green packaging and reduced packaging, encouraging companies operating express delivery business to carry out green design and choose green materials, etc."In the past few years, the express logistics industry has been exploring the recycled use of cartons and the harmless treatment of plastic packaging. It is foreseeable that under the new requirements, the express delivery received by citizens in the future will have more environmentally friendly packaging method." said a business manager of an express delivery company.
As for the internal management of express delivery companies, the "Measures" also put forward requirements. In the previous postal law and the "Regulations", "safety management" was covered, but the "Measures" gave clearer instructions. For example, regarding the establishment and improvement of the safety production responsibility system, it is no longer a "just a few words" mention, but specific responsibility requirements are put forward for the main person in charge of the express delivery business enterprise, other persons in charge and the headquarters express delivery enterprise, and the requirements are detailed. Contents of safety management matters.
Another example is that, as everyone knows, there are two main operating models of express delivery companies in my country, one is direct operation and the other is franchise. Representatives of the direct operation model are Postal Service and SF Express, while most other companies focus on franchising. There are situations where these franchised companies start business before obtaining qualifications. The new "Measures" clarify that companies operating express delivery business are not allowed to entrust companies that have not obtained the express delivery business license to operate the express delivery business in any way. At the same time, they are not allowed to entrust or be entrusted to operate the express delivery business beyond the scope of the license in any way. This will undoubtedly further standardize the market. order.
hopes that in the future, our express delivery will be able to wear multiple layers of protection and arrive home safely and on time.
"Please indicate the source for reprinting"
