Courier services to deliver record number of parcels in 'double-11'

Due to that expected shopping boom on November 11th, courier services will also be in high demand from the online retailers we just mentioned.

9 o'clock in the morning is never too early for Dai Haitao to begin his work as a courier in Shanghai. Dai said he will deliver about 100 parcels today, and he will become even busier next week.

"There are already starting to be more and more parcels. It's normally 120 a day, but now it's at 140. I am very busy. Online retailors are offering discounts, and people who would normally buy one or two items are now buying four or five." Courier Dai Haitao said.

Dai said he was lucky to have 15 minutes for lunch today, although he still has another 60 parcels to deliver in the afternoon. But he said an on-time lunch will be a luxury during the shopping spree.

"I'll just grab something quick for lunch and then get back to the deliveries. If things are too busy I'll get something outside, at 3 or 4 pm when things are at their busiest." Dai said.

Dai is just going to get busier and busier. More than 20,000 vendors on Alibaba sites - Tmall and Taobao – are promising 50 percent discounts on the day. Major competitor JD.com promises speedy delivery as well. Some other online shopping sites like Shanghai based Yihaodian, which was just purchased by WalMart last year, has even extended the sales period to the weekend after double eleven. Last year delivery firm Shentong shipped more than 8 million items during "double eleven." The company has more than 150,000 staff, and expects things to be even busier this year.

"At a delivery center like this, we usually use about 40 trunks, but we borrow another 30 for the double eleven peak. We delivered 78 million parcels a day nationwide last year. That was already a miracle, but the figure will reach 200 million this year." Chen Yu, manager of Shentong Express, said.

And recruiting agency in Shanghai said they are getting more business from delivery companies who are asking for extra workers.

"The recruiting began as early as this July and August when we saw a big increase in job offers. According to our nationwide database, the number of job offers in delivery companies has increased at least 20 percent year on year. Many companies are looking for professional human resource companies to help with the extra workers, because they can't handle the large-scale influx." Wei Zimin, director of Daguu.com, said.

Last year Alibaba generated 19.1 billion yuan in sales during the double eleven promotions, twice the revenue generated by the US' Cyber Monday event.