Recently, Fengchao Express announced that it would charge overtime fees to users, which caused many controversies and discussions. On the one hand, many communities in Shanghai, Beijing, Hangzhou and other places said “no” to the toll express cabinet, while on the other side, Fengchao Company “cries” because of the overtime charge for the express cabinet. Can the courier cabinets placed to facilitate the residents' pickup at any time solve the problem of "last 100 meters" for couriers? Does paid use solve pain points or exacerbate them? The dispute of express cabinet charges is still to be solved by all parties.
For efficiency or profit?
Beijing citizen Wang Kun recently picked up the express from the Fengchao express cabinet in the community. After entering the pickup code, the cabinet door did not open as usual-due to overtime storage, Wang Kun had to pay 0.5 yuan to continue the pickup. The system prompts that he can choose to use a bank's APP to pay or apply for a monthly card, so that he can enjoy discounts or free of charge.
"Five cents is not much, but the courier did not obtain my consent before delivery, nor did I tell me about the overtime charge." Wang Kun said.
During this time, many online shoppers have encountered the same situation as Wang Kun. As the epidemic prevention and control situation is improving, online shopping continues to grow, and the sudden express cabinet charges have added congestion to consumers. In Hangzhou, some communities declared “suspending use” of Fengchao express cabinets on the ground of infringement of the rights and interests of owners; in Shanghai, some community business committees issued an open letter requesting Fengchao to change the charging rules.
According to the news released by Fengchao Technology, the specific plan for the price adjustment is: ordinary users will keep the packages free of charge within 12 hours, after the timeout, they will be charged 0.5 yuan every 12 hours, and the cap will be 3 yuan. If users open a 5 yuan monthly card or a 12 yuan seasonal card, they can be stored for free for 7 days.
Regarding overtime charges, Fengchao said that this move is to encourage everyone to pick up as soon as possible, in order to save grid resources, accelerate express mail turnover, and improve the industry's service capabilities. Since the online membership function, the pick-up rate of Fengchao Express has increased by 5 percentage points within 12 hours.
Li Wenqing, chief marketing officer of Fengchao Technology, said that the daily delivery peak of couriers is concentrated between 9 am and 11 am, and generally reaches the peak at 10 am. According to the free within 12 hours, users can still pick up for free at the latest until 23:00. "If you don't pick up after this time, it may affect the normal delivery of the courier at the peak of the next day's delivery."
There are also opinions that Fengchao chose to launch a charging policy in the near future, which is related to its development stage and profit requirements.
According to the "2019 China Express Development Index Report", the box delivery rate of China's express delivery industry will exceed 10% in 2019. This means that one out of every 10 parcels is placed in the courier cabinet. Among them, Fengchao Express's market share is 44%. Soon after the overtime charging policy was announced, SF Express announced that Fengchao intends to reorganize its shareholding with China Post. The industry predicts that after the reorganization, Fengchao's market share in the express cabinet will increase to about 70%. But at present, the express cabinet industry as a whole is still in a state of continuous loss, and the profit demand is more urgent.
Yu is well-founded but he is unsympathetic
Regardless of the original intention of the overtime charge, in the eyes of many consumers, Feng Chao's move belongs to "cut first and then play", infringing the consumer's right to know.
Lin Long, a citizen of Qingdao in Shandong, said that many couriers now put couriers into the courier cabinet without saying hello. When the mobile phone prompts, the courier has left the community. "I have already paid the courier fee when shopping, why should I pay extra?"
There is also a view that although the overtime charging of express cabinets improves the efficiency of use, the time limit of 12 hours is open to question. In response, a community proposed to Fengchao that the free period should be extended to 24 hours, and a prominent notice should be posted on the express cabinet. The courier must put the courier into the cabinet after the customer agrees.
As a matter of fact, the relevant departments have already stipulated the right of choice and the right to know the delivery of the express cabinet. On June 20, 2019, the Ministry of Transport issued the "Administrative Measures on the Delivery Service of Smart Express Boxes", which stipulates that couriers use smart express boxes to deliver express mail, and the recipient's consent is required.
Zhu Wei, deputy director of the Research Center for Communication Law of China University of Political Science and Law, believes that in accordance with the "Management Measures for Smart Express Box Delivery Service", courier companies provide free services within a certain period of time, and provide value-added services after the deadline. Overtime charging does not violate relevant laws. But whether the package is delivered through the express cabinet, the courier should respect the consumer's right to choose.
The courier's attitude is also very complicated when it comes to using express cabinets. On the one hand, the express cabinet does increase the delivery efficiency. A person in charge of a courier online store said that compared with sending goods to the door, sending packages directly to the courier cabinet can increase the amount of deliveries by 70%. Therefore, before charging users, Fengchao has started to charge the courier brother a fee of 0.2 to 0.5 yuan per item.
On the other hand, the courier's workload increased a lot after the user was charged late. "In the past, you can put it in the express cabinet, but now you must communicate with each user before sending the piece." A courier said.
Can the end get through the "obstruction"?
In 2019, China's express delivery business volume totaled 63.52 billion pieces. With the growth of express delivery business, the "last 100 meters" problem at the end of express delivery has become increasingly prominent. The controversy overdue charges for express delivery cabinets is a prominent manifestation of the contradiction.
According to industry insiders, as the construction of courier terminal service facilities is strengthened, in the "last 100 meters" courier service field, the coexistence and coexistence of the three modes of "courier door-to-door + smart express box + service station" have been formed, bringing users More choices. However, in this process, how to coordinate the interests of the courier cabinet, courier company, user, community property and other parties is very important, otherwise it will exacerbate the "obstruction" at the end.
At present, in the final distribution of the express delivery industry, its infrastructure, resources and other aspects are being further promoted.
The General Office of the Ministry of Commerce and the State Post Office jointly issued a notice a few days ago, requesting further implementation of the "Opinions of the General Office of the State Council on Promoting the Coordinated Development of E-commerce and Express Logistics". The notice pointed out that all localities should clarify the public attributes of smart express boxes and express terminal integrated service sites, include smart express boxes and express terminal integrated service sites into the planning of public service facilities, and provide supporting measures such as land use guarantee and financial subsidies.
Some experts also suggested that while strengthening the construction of express terminal service facilities, consumers should be given more choices and the right to know. To this end, the industry can establish a data exchange and sharing platform to accelerate the effective sharing of data between express cabinet operators and e-commerce and logistics companies to ensure that user information security and the efficiency of logistics end operations are effectively improved.