As an emerging industry, express delivery is changing the public's consumption patterns and way of life. However, problems such as damaged parcels and lost or late delivery have turned out to be frequent occurrences, exposing a lack of service standards and staff training.
Since May 4, the State Post Office Bureau has publicly criticized three express delivery companies for lost parcels, including Yunda, Yuantong, and Shentong. The government is now considering regulating the sector with more intensive efforts.
As express delivery demand grows, more problems appear
China's express delivery services have reached a bottleneck, as the current situation cannot sustain the high growth in demand. More and more complaints about the quality of service have appeared recently.
After Mr. Peng, a citizen in southern China's Guangdong Province, was informed that his parcel was lost in transit, he tried to negotiate with Yuantong Express several times. Because he did not buy postal insurance in advance, the company said they could only pay three times the total charge as compensation in accordance with China's Act Governing the Administration of Post Offices.
Liu Li, a college student in Beijing, found a scratch on her recently bought laptop. However, she was not worried at first because her brother had paid for insurance before the delivery and she knew the compensation could be up to 3,000 yuan. However, when she asked for compensation, the express company responded that she was unable to get it because she did not check the parcel on the spot.
These are every-day occurrences in China's express delivery industry. Though express delivery increases consumers' convenience and saves time, it also causes many unexpected problems.
"From 2000 to 2010, the amount of express delivery parcels processed every day increased from 1 million to 10 million," revealed Shang Zhonglin, deputy secretary-general of China Express Association. He said on-line shopping has largely stimulated the increased demand.
Statistics released by the State Post Office Bureau show that more than 95% of postal complaints involved express delivery in November 2010.
Problems arise with staff misbehavior
"Almost all the staff has access to the parcels," said Zhang Liyang (alias), a branch manager of several express companies who has been working in the industry for eight years. He said couriers, drivers, scanning workers, and customer service representatives all have opportunities to get access to the parcels.
Wang Bin (alias), a former porter agreed with Zhang, he said he once witnessed a colleague steal a parcel. During the day, his colleague kicked a parcel under a car when he thought no one was watching. Then he snuck out to get the parcel later that night.
Moreover, many customers have complained that the goods inside their parcels were gone but the parcel seemed to be intact without any apparent damage.
Wang explained: "This is also simple. The staff can open the parcel from the bottom or other sides. After taking out the goods inside, they replace them with stones or two bottles of mineral water. Once the receiver has signed without checking it, then he or she has to swallow their anger because nothing can be done."
Measures to plug loopholes
Regarding the staff's transgressions, express companies have taken some measures such as installing CCTV cameras and weighing parcels during every part of the process. Some companies even use penalties to strengthen management. For example, Yuantong Express fines the staff 200 yuan if they receive complaints by customers.
Meanwhile, Shao Zhonglin disclosed that the problems with China's express delivery industry result from insufficient capacity, as the huge market demand has outpaced the number of couriers and warehouses.
Shao said in order to set standards for the privately-run companies, the State Post Office Bureau is planning to restructure management at different levels, giving them different responsibilities. "Consumers can choose different services according to their own demands. For example, they could choose superior companies with higher security and costs to mail expensive or important goods."
