Our reporter Li Chunlian Li Qiaoyu
"Your courier has been placed in the courier locker, please go to the XX smart locker to pick it up with the pickup code." Such familiar pickup information may become history.
On January 7, the State Post Bureau issued the "Administrative Measures for the Express Market (Revised Draft)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Administrative Measures"), emphasizing that companies operating express delivery services shall not confirm receipt of express mail without the consent of users; Delivered to express terminal service facilities such as smart express boxes and express service stations.
In this regard, Wei Jianhui, an analyst in the circulation industry of Analysys, told the "Securities Daily" reporter that this policy is an important measure to implement the high-quality development of express delivery companies.
At the same time, Zhao Xiaomin, CEO of Guanshuo Capital and an expert in the express delivery industry, said in an interview with a "Securities Daily" reporter that this is also a refinement of the "Interim Regulations on Express Delivery" issued by the State Council in 2018.
Chaos sparks many disputes
On January 8, Ms. Wang, who lives in Chaoyang District, received a text message saying, "State Post Bureau: Do not deliver express to express boxes without authorization."
Coincidentally, just a few minutes later, she received a message from Jingdong Express that a package was put in the Jingdong Express locker to be picked up.
Ms. Wang did not receive a dispatch call.
Subsequently, Ms. Wang got in touch with the courier. The employee said that all the time, except for fresh packages, which will be contacted in advance, other packages are directly placed in the express cabinet.
There are many similar cases with Ms. Wang.
Consumer Xiaolin said that when shopping on the e-commerce platform, he will specifically mark please call before delivery, but there are only a handful of couriers who will call in advance.
Xiaolin tried to contact the customer service of the courier company to solve the problem. The customer service explained that under normal circumstances, the courier would call or text the recipient in advance. In response to the situation encountered by Xiaolin, the courier number can be provided to file a complaint.
For a long time, the inability of express mail to be delivered to the door has been a bottleneck for the improvement of the service quality of the express industry, which has also caused many disputes.
The "Administrative Measures" proposed, or will effectively solve this problem.
In addition to further clarifying the delivery rules, the "Administrative Regulations" also stipulate that if the express mail is not delivered according to the recipient address agreed with the user, the express mail will be confirmed on behalf of the user without the user's consent, or the express mail will be delivered by means of smart express boxes, express service stations, etc. For express mail, a fine of not less than 3,000 yuan but not more than 10,000 yuan may be imposed; if the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 10,000 yuan but not more than 30,000 yuan shall be imposed.
Those directly responsible may be fined not more than 1,000 yuan; if the circumstances are serious, a fine of not less than 1,000 yuan but not more than 3,000 yuan will be imposed.
"Express delivery management is indeed difficult. When the daily delivery volume is too large, an orderly transition and the improvement of corresponding technical means are also required." Wei Jianhui said that the needs of different customers are different, which will reduce the delivery efficiency of couriers.
At present, some express companies use artificial intelligence customer service to get in touch with customers in advance, but the overall experience needs to be further optimized and improved.
Zhao Xiaomin said that when a user fills in a specific address for shopping on an e-commerce platform, the user contract has already been formed.
Therefore, it is a basic requirement for the courier to abide by the agreement to deliver the courier to the designated location.
However, in recent years, the business volume of the express delivery industry has grown rapidly, and the express delivery price has been upside down, but the incentive mechanism of the courier has not changed accordingly, which has led to the contradiction between service quality and service cost.
It can be seen that under the price war, the decline of the service quality of the express delivery industry is inevitable.
Zhao Xiaomin believes that in the development process of the express delivery industry, there are two key time windows to solve the problem: the first time window is in 2016.
At that time, there was a wave of listing in the express delivery industry. With the help of listing financing, the express delivery company was enough to achieve transformation and reform; at the same time, the express delivery business was also in a state of rapid growth, helping the company to recover to an upward path after "labor pains".
The second time window is in 2018.
At that time, the State Council issued the "Interim Regulations on Express Delivery", which could promote the express delivery industry to solve many problems in the industry at the policy level.
Now it seems that the express delivery industry has missed the above two critical periods, which means that express delivery companies have to go through more challenges.
The inflection point of high-quality development has reached
Looking back to 2021, the price war between express companies will gradually cool down, and the industry's "involution" behavior will be managed.
In recent years, the volume of express delivery business has repeatedly hit new highs, and it entered the era of 100 billion pieces last year.
According to the 2022 National Postal Management Work Conference, the national express delivery business volume in 2021 will reach 108.5 billion pieces, a year-on-year increase of 30%; in 2022, the express delivery business volume may reach 122.5 billion pieces, a year-on-year increase of 13%.
With the rapid development of the express delivery industry, supervision is not increased to ensure the "quality and quality" of the industry.
Since last year, relevant departments have continuously introduced measures to regulate the development of the express delivery industry.
For example, on December 29, 2021, the China Express Association issued the "Guidelines for the Accounting of Final Delivery Fees for Express Enterprises" (hereinafter referred to as the "Guidelines"), which will be implemented on March 1, 2022.
The "Guidelines" proposes that the delivery fee for couriers should be "local minimum wage * multiples / (number of daily deliveries * 26 days)", and the multiples are generally 2 to 3 times, and the labor rights and interests of couriers are protected by quantitative means.
In this regard, the research report of Essence Securities believes that the intensive issuance of policy "combination punches" will effectively standardize the operation behavior of the main players in the express delivery market. The high-quality development of the express delivery industry has arrived, and the industry has turned to high-quality development. The trend of service and product competition is clear.
Wei Jianhui said that the key to the establishment of a high competition pattern in the industry lies in the improvement of enterprise service quality and the diversification of products, so as to better and faster meet the comprehensive needs of customers.
At the same time, at the National Postal Management Work Conference in 2022, Ma Junsheng, director of the State Post Bureau, emphasized that in terms of development, we must not only focus on solving problems and make up for shortcomings, but also consider consolidating and building on existing advantages.
With the release of the "Administrative Measures" as a sign, the express delivery industry is ushering in a new stage of development.
First, the era of high-quality development of the express delivery industry is coming.
Zhao Xiaomin said that 2022 will be a year of high-quality development of the express delivery industry.
The model of winning by quantity through price wars has come to an end, and the competition in the express delivery industry will be all-round.
For the express delivery industry, the dividends of strong consumer demand and the rapid development of e-commerce have gradually subsided. As the end of the express delivery industry tends to be diversified, the incentive mechanism for express delivery should also change accordingly.
It can be seen that the diversification of the express delivery business may become an important direction for the high-quality development of the express delivery industry.
At the same time, Wei Jianhui said that express delivery companies need to continuously expand their service boundaries, provide diversified products and services, and strengthen logistics services in new fields such as express delivery, cross-border, cold chain, and medicine.
Second, mergers and acquisitions may become a key word in the express delivery industry.
In Wei Jianhui's view, the current express delivery industry has developed to a relatively mature stage, and the market shares of various enterprises are relatively balanced. Merger and reorganization among enterprises may become the mainstream way of clearing the industry.
Zhao Xiaomin believes that the express delivery industry may usher in a reshuffle next, mergers and acquisitions in the industry may accelerate, and companies that cannot adapt to new needs in a timely manner will face the risk of elimination.
(Securities Daily)