Running In Carnival

The "double 11" of the courier Shen Qiang started at 5:30 a.m. on November 12.

After a simple wash, he put on his work clothes which had not been washed for several days, and arrived at the network early to scan and distribute the goods. Today, Shen Qiang's delivery volume is estimated to reach 600 pieces, 30% higher than usual. Deliveries are expected to increase tomorrow.

On the evening of November 11, Shen Qiang, together with the couriers of other franchised express companies, set up a group of shelves in the residential area where Shen Qiang was responsible for delivering the largest quantity of pieces, acting as a temporary storage and signing point for express delivery.

This group of shelves are labeled as "rookie base", implying that express delivery of SF express, Jingdong express and other express companies are not allowed to put on it. Only in the morning of November 12, 21st century economic reporter roughly counted more than 200 Express items on the shelves.

This is Shen Qiang's fourth double 11, but this year, he feels busier. This year's "double 11" front has been lengthened - tmall officially released the "new play method" on October 20, dividing online shopping time into two stages: November 1-3 and November 11.

This makes Shen Qiang happy and worried. If he is happy, the distribution volume will increase and the income will increase; if he is worried, the distribution will be difficult to complete and the pressure will increase. In Shen Qiang's eyes, "double 11" is not a holiday for express delivery, he has no time to buy online.

On the evening of November 11, Shen Qiang and other couriers set up a set of shelves. Only on the morning of the 12th, the express delivery on the shelf has exceeded 200 pieces. Photo by Cao Enhui

"Because of the delivery fee, a lot of couriers have quit."

At 24:00 on November 11, tmall immediately announced the total turnover of "double 11 carnival season": 498.2 billion yuan. This number is much higher than in previous years. The difference is that this year's tmall's "double 11" transaction data is calculated from 0:00 on November 1.

After that, some leading express companies also announced the "double 11" war report: Yunda shares and Yuantong Express successively announced the news that the express received more than 100 million pieces on the day of "double 11"; Zhongtong express also released complete data, the order volume from November 1 to 11 reached 820 million pieces, and the business volume exceeded 760 million pieces, both of which were far higher than the same period last year. Zhao Xiaomin, an expert in express delivery industry, told the 21st century economic report that the competition for the second place in the express market reached its peak on November 11, and the data was close for a time. It is still uncertain which company will be ranked second at the end of the year.

Under the "double 11" peak season effect, the strategy of express companies to increase business volume is more obvious. For this reason, they did not hesitate to squeeze profits after the epidemic situation stabilized and the industry recovered, and once fought a "price war". One of the details worth mentioning is that in the half month before the "double 11" peak season of previous years, China express, Yuantong express and other major express companies will announce the increase of express fees. But this year, similar announcements did not appear on the official websites of these express companies.

Insiders of Zhongtong express told 21st century economic report that the company did not issue price adjustment notice this year, but many outlets raised prices according to the cost and business volume demand in the peak season.

However, not all outlets can successfully adjust prices. "In fact, some companies issued a price increase notice, but the implementation of the various outlets did not go up." A person familiar with the matter told the 21st century economic reporter that the main reason for the decline was that all outlets were scrambling for business volume.

Shen Qiang is not sensitive to the above news. What he can directly feel is whether his payment has changed.

"My payment this year has not changed, but it has not been increased." Shen Qiang told the 21st century economic reporter that the cost of sending each express was 1.4 yuan regardless of the size of the express.

According to the 21st century economic report reporter's understanding, different express companies in different regions, the express delivery fee calculation method is different, the network has a certain degree of autonomy.

Shen Qiang also heard that since the beginning of this year, some nearby outlets have come to send the news that the fee has been lowered. "We have a group of couriers who will inform each other of some information." He mentioned that there are indeed some outlets because of the delivery of fees, many couriers are not doing.

On the eve of the "double 11" this year, the news of staff stoppage in express outlets across the country was rampant, with the core reason pointing to the reduction of distribution fees. The reporter of 21st century economic report successively checked with express companies such as Zhongtong express, Yunda shares, Shentong express and Baishi group, and all of them were responded to as "false news". The outlets of the company were normal.

However, it is undeniable that it is true that the courier resigned.

"There is no" shutdown "in our nearby outlets, but some of the people I know have already resigned in advance before the advent of the" double 11 " Shen Qiang sighed.

Mr. Zhao, who is a member of the express company, resigned from the company.

Zhao Lidong is 25 years old, 15 years younger than Shen Qiang. Both of them are from Hunan Province. Because of his education background, Zhao Lidong was introduced by Shen Qiang to a nearby express network last year. But he had experienced his first "double 11" as a courier within a few months.

Recalling last year's "double 11", Zhao Lidong said that time was lack of sleep. "Every day, I worked until 12 o'clock at night. I didn't sleep long. I got up in the morning and picked up the goods."

Shen Qiang jokingly called Zhao Lidong a "deserter" and "young people can't bear hardships." But Zhao Lidong also refuted that tiredness is one of the reasons, but on the other hand, it is the wages of the network where he works.

According to Zhao Lidong, before the end of the year, the boss suddenly informed that the salary originally paid at the end of the month would be paid in January this year. But soon the epidemic came, and the boss reassured him that it would be distributed together in February. The Spring Festival holiday combined with epidemic factors, Zhao Lidong encountered a four month window period. Back in Shanghai at the end of April, he quit after working for a few months.

"If you can't get seven or eight thousand pieces in time, you can't work hard." Zhao Lidong was indignant.

But when he really quit his job, he felt flustered: "what else can he do besides delivering express delivery?" Not long after that, various outlets were preparing for the "double 11" campaign to expand their manpower. Zhao Lidong became a temporary worker again. His wages were settled on a daily basis, and the payment for each piece was 0.8 yuan higher than that of Shen Qiang.

"The rookie post station is coming, and the express cabinet in the community has been reduced"

Shen Qiang thinks that he can be regarded as the old staff of express outlets in this area.

Indeed, courier is one of the most mobile professions. Or because of wages, or pressure, express outlets are almost difficult to close a group of fixed staff. In particular, there are not many couriers like Shen Qiang who have worked for four years.

"Almost seven couriers left in the second half of the year." Wang Mengli, the boss of Shen Qiang's network, told the 21st century economic report that the number of full-time couriers in his outlets maintained at about 20, but some people left their posts every other time. In response to this year's "double 11", Wang Mengli early out of the recruitment information, added a number of temporary workers.

"Double 11" is the express peak season, but also the express enterprise recruitment peak season. According to the statistics of the national post office on the eve of the "double 11", in order to cope with the peak season of this year, the headquarters of major express enterprises have strengthened the reserve of personnel, transportation capacity, site, processing equipment and information system capacity, and has added 490000 temporary employees, while the national postal express employees are no more than 4 million.

In the face of the 21st century economic report reporter put forward whether there is a change in the deduction of each express delivery fee query, Wang Mengli hastily clarified, "my network is better near the business, the distribution fee is also relatively high."

However, Wang Mengli also mentioned that as the person in charge of the network contractor, his task is to collect the express as far as possible. No matter it is the company customers in this area, or the regional express delivered by the head office, he can make a profit by increasing the quantity. However, if the quantity of express delivery goes up, it is necessary to send out and deliver in time, otherwise the ticket of express company headquarters will come down.

This has tested the delivery ability of the courier including Shen Qiang. However, in this part of the delivery assessment, Wang Mengli is a "villain": his outlets require the courier to deliver 30% of the collected express before 10:30 a.m. and 98% before 2:00 p.m. every day.

According to the 21st century economic report reporter's understanding, the delivery assessment of several other franchised express outlets in the vicinity is similar. As a result, a "grab cabinet" war appeared.

The continuous improvement of the express industry has led to the rapid development of express cabinets. But in the eyes of consumers, this is a "Pandora's box": its emergence has led to many couriers no longer delivering goods to their homes, but delivering them into the cabinet. At the same time, the express cabinet also has the collection time limit express custody fee.

This contradiction broke out in May this year. Fengchao technology, the leader of express cabinet, announced the launch of member service on the eve of May 1, and charged overtime storage fee for non member users. Subsequently, from consumer complaints, to the community industry committee "counterattack", disputes continue to ferment.

Looking back on the storm a few months ago, Shen Qiang is no doubt a man of the storm.

"After a few years of experience, many people go to work during the day, either send the express to the collection point or put it in the express cabinet. Otherwise, they will take care of them after signing for them, and then deliver them at night. " Shen Qiang complained that during that period of time, he received complaints put into the express cabinet increased significantly. If he did not handle the complaint well, a complaint call would cost 100 tickets. "If Fengchao didn't charge, it would certainly not happen."

In Shen Qiang's view, Fengchao charges ordinary users to break a balance. In this balance, the courier delivery into the cabinet, most consumers enjoy free storage, willing to accept, the courier can also complete the task of signing in rate. But obviously, in the express cabinet profit model is not clear, charging ordinary users is sooner or later.

In fact, Shen Qiang's delivery habit is on the verge of being complained about. He said that he would not take the initiative to call the recipient before putting the express into the express cabinet, which is a waste of telephone charges and time. Instead, when the recipient calls to ask for delivery, he will take it out and deliver it. Shen Qiang believes that only in this delivery mode can he complete the task, otherwise he will face a fine.

In fact, including Shen Qiang, the courier is the main group of express cabinet charges. He made an account to the reporter of 21st century economic report: at present, the delivery charges of Fengchao express cabinet are 0.45 yuan, 0.4 yuan and 0.35 yuan respectively. On weekdays, Shen Qiang delivers about 500 pieces of goods per day, of which 200-300 pieces will be put into the express cabinet to help him achieve the signing rate of 40% to 50%. Therefore, his daily expenditure cost in the express cabinet is between 120 yuan and 150 yuan. The rest of the express, Shen Qiang will flow in the express area, always staring at the vacancy situation of the express cabinet. Or, sign and keep it on your behalf.

Shen Qiang said he would do what he could. In the first stage of this year's "double 11", he set his own record of delivering 928 pieces in a single day on November 4. That day, he took the branch to reward the employee with the largest daily delivery volume of 500 yuan, but that day, he was also busy until 3 a.m. the next day before going to bed.

When accompanying Shen Qiang to deliver express to a community, he specially reminded that the charge of Fengchao express cabinet in this community is lower than that in other communities. The 21st century economic report reporter saw that the express cabinet charge in this district is generally 0.1 yuan less than that in other districts, that is, the delivery charges of large, medium and small counters are 0.35 yuan, 0.3 yuan and 0.25 yuan respectively. The reporter of 21st century economic report learned that 80% of the residents in the community are tenants, with office workers as the main body. A month ago, a new rookie post station was opened near the community. In order to attract couriers to express into the cabinet rather than into the station, the express cabinet in this district has reduced the charges.

At 4:30 p.m., Shen Qiang delivered the last basket of express. Next, he's going to take over the night shift and do it for a while.

During the "double 11" period, Shen Qiang's network cancelled the usual one-day delivery and acceptance rate assessment, and extended the time limit of signing rate to two days.

But the real test will not begin until November 13.

On November 12, the State Post Office issued "tips on service consumption of express delivery business in peak season (1)". Monitoring data showed that from November 1 to November 11, China's postal and express enterprises handled a total of 3.965 billion Express items, of which 675 million were processed on November 11, a year-on-year increase of 26.16%, a record high.

Another forecast of the State Post Office shows that during the "double 11" period (from November 11 to November 16), the business volume will reach 2.97 billion pieces, an increase of 28% over the same period last year. The daily average express business volume will reach 490 million pieces, about twice the daily business volume.

"From tomorrow till the 20th, I will deliver at least 700 pieces a day." Shen Qiang said that he had to go all out.

(editor Cao Jinliang)