After 2 p.m., Xiao Lins main task becomes receiving parcels. His day doesnt finish until 10 p.m. Since Singles Day Nov. 11, Xiao Lin had to shorten his lunch break and work longer into the night.
“Usually I ride a dozen times, but now I have to ride 20 to 30 times to deliver all the parcels. Each time I carry only a dozen of parcels for fear that I might lose them.
“Xiao Lins concern is quite understandable. Elsewhere in the city, a courier with YTO Express, Xiao Wang, was inside a building delivering a parcel when 90 undelivered packages were stolen along with his electric bike.
According the company regulations, the courier must pay a penalty of 2,000 yuan US$313.12 for each lost package after the company receives a clients complaint. For the 90 packages Xiao Wang had lost, his fine could go as high as 180,000 yuan.
There are hundreds of express companies with nearly 10,000 workers in Hangzhou. The incident has caused a stir in the express industry.
Life for these workers, however, are not about to get any easier.Singles Day this year turned into an online shopping festival. Taobao Mall Tmall, Chinas largest online market, secured orders worth 3.36 billion yuan that day. This reflected a changing trend of shopping habits in Chinas younger generation.
Chairman of the board of Guangdong Shentong Express, Gao Tanggen, said that traditionally speaking, most of the express sectors business comes from factories or trade companies, but now online shopping has claimed 60 percent of the sectors business and is expect to rise.Wang Xiaorong, deputy-secretary of Zhejiang Express Delivery Association, said the emergence of private express companies was quite legendary, pointing to over 100 express companies in Hangzhou.
The most famous private express companies such as Shengtong Express, YTO Express, Zhongtong Express, Huitong Express and Yunda Express were all founded by people from the Tonglu area. In 2010, these five companies had recruited nearly 291,000 employees. Their combined revenue reached 25.6 billion yuan, accounting for half of Chinas express delivery industry.
Read the full story at Logistics industry faces reshuffle – China.org.cn.
