PILES OF PACKAGES: A delivery man gets a parcel from his client in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang Province (HAN CHUANHAO)

The plan aims to improve the overall service quality of the express delivery industry while accelerating mergers and acquisitions of smaller services to root out unqualified companies, Liang Huanlei, an analyst with Distribution Productivity Promotion Center of China Commerce told the Beijing-based daily International Financial News.

Expectations are that the government will push the express delivery industry to more than double its revenue to 143 billion yuan ($22.7 billion) by 2015, with an average annual growth of 20 percent, according to the SPB's plan. More than 6.1 billion deliveries will be made by 2015, representing an annual growth of 21 percent.

By then, the express delivery industry will also have created more than 350,000 new jobs, employing 1 million people. According to the SPB, China's express delivery industry hired 542,000 people at the end of 2010.

Fundamental changes to the industry are needed. Efforts should be made to enhance administration and stability of the delivery service network. Advanced technological practices will be adopted to track and handle packages. Most importantly will be a shift in priorities from speed and scale to quality services.

Calling all couriers

But express delivery firms have their own difficulties.

"No matter how hard we try to improve our transportation means, distribution networks and delivery services, we just can't keep up with the increasing business volume," said Chen Dejun, President of STO, a Shanghai-based express delivery firm.

Online shopping since a Single's Day (November 11, 2011) promotion has seriously overstrained China's delivery firms. Statistics from Taobao, a leading e-commerce website in China, show that purchases on that day topped 5.2 billion yuan ($816 million), with 28.5 million gifts being whisked around the country.

According to the SPB, China's express delivery firms made 390 million deliveries in November alone, a year-on-year increase of 69.7 percent.

Delivery men hardly had time to catch their breath when the Double 12 (December 12, 2011) promotion, Christmas and the New Year spurred new online buying sprees. Between December 26 and 31, 16 million deliveries were made per day, 63.3 percent higher than the previous year, according to the SPB.

Now, some express delivery firms are on the brink of putting limits on or halting outright the acceptance of new parcels in the run up to China's Spring Festival, which falls on January 23, said Xu.

The SPB issued a directive on December 21 requiring all delivery companies to maintain normal operations during the year-end delivery period or face a revocation of their license.

But soaring demand does not necessarily equate to higher profits.

"During peak seasons, express delivery companies have to hire more couriers and rent more trucks, which eats into the couriers' profits," said Xu.

Xu suggested that e-commerce companies should promote sales for a week rather than a day.

"The concentration of transactions on one day makes it difficult for delivery companies to guarantee service," Xu said.

It also puts a dent in service quality, Xu said.

Wang Tao, a courier in Beijing, has worked 14 hours every day since mid-November to deliver at least 180 parcels a day.

"I had to ride more than 100 km, make at least 180 phone calls and climb 100 floors every day," Wang said.

For his labor, Wang earned 1.3 yuan ($0.21) for every parcel he delivered and around 5,000 yuan ($793.65) a month.

"I don't think people realize how much work and strain goes into this job," Wang said.

According to Chen, the STO now has more than 100,000 couriers and will be looking to hire another 10,000 a year over the next few years.

Even as express delivery firms hire more couriers, a greater number of delivery people are leaving their jobs, said Xu.

"Many feel they aren't achieving anything. Others feel it's a dead-end job," said Xu.

Express delivery firms need to take steps to stabilize their staff, Xu said.

The SPB's plan also described the need for professional training for couriers. By the end of 2015, a professional training project will be launched in around 100 universities and train at least 50,000 express delivery professionals. 

Email us at: liuxinlian@bjreview.com