The old man died suddenly during the pickup, why didn't the courier deliver it to the door?

Source: China Economic Network

News Background:

Recently, the news of the sudden death of a 79-year-old man in the process of taking the courier and carrying it upstairs has aroused a lot of attention. The family of the deceased believes that the courier face sheet clearly reads "delivery upstairs", while the courier let an old man in his eighties climb the 6th floor to move 22 pounds of express delivery, "it is simply nonsense". Courier company response: When the courier communicates with the customer by phone, the customer indicates that he takes the initiative to go downstairs to pick up the goods, and the consignee directly takes the package away after checking the package and pays, and the operation is in line with the company's procedures.

China Economic Network Data Chart Wang Wei/Photo

Extreme cases have exposed the contradiction of the reality that express delivery does not deliver to the door

The question of right and wrong is still undecided, but this extreme case once again exposes the contradiction of the reality that express delivery is often not at the door. In recent years, people have sent and received more and more express deliveries, but the quality of service has declined significantly. Couriers generally no longer call in advance, "fire hydrant signing" and "door handle signing" have been calculated, and more are directly stuffed into the station or self-pickup cabinet. Users not only can not sit at home to receive goods, go out to pick up the goods but also be prepared for the second payment. In the long run, the convenience and happiness of online shopping will inevitably be discounted.

Objectively speaking, the responsibility for this incident has two aspects: one is not to deliver to the door; the other is the sudden death of the elderly. Among them, the physical condition of the elderly is an abnormal intervention factor, and the courier cannot foresee it. It is difficult to say that there is a legal causal relationship between the failure of the courier to be delivered to the door and the sudden death of the elderly.

The above incident is undoubtedly a small probability event, but the problem of whether the express delivery is delivered to the door exposed behind it cannot be ignored. It is worth noting that in the Weibo comment area of the above incident, many netizens are complaining about the inconvenience caused by the courier not delivering to the door - "The current courier naturally does not come to the door, you call him to the door he still has to sell miserably" "There are obviously people at home, the courier never asks, without consent to the package will be thrown at the collection point" "Not delivery to the door leads to the loss of the piece from time to time"... Couriers to be efficient, customers want to enjoy more complete, intimate service, how to balance the relationship between the two, how to further standardize the work process of couriers, reduce the occurrence of contradictions and disputes, is more worthy of consideration in addition to this incident in the express delivery industry.

Express delivery is a contractual service, why is it constantly shrinking?

The direct reason is very simple, the courier brother can not send it. According to the data, from 2011 to 2020, China's express delivery business volume increased from about 3.66 billion pieces to 83.36 billion pieces, an increase of 23 times; but the number of front-line couriers increased from more than 1 million to 3 million, only more than 3 times. There are fewer people in the goods, "the pressure is great", and the performance appraisal of the express delivery company is becoming more and more stringent. For example, a company implements a "369 hours" system for couriers - 25% of the 3 hours to sign, 50% of the 6 hours to sign, 75% of the 9 hours to sign, and if it is not completed, it will be fined. In this context, the courier brother is tired of running and it is still difficult to complete the "signing rate", and naturally he is reluctant to go to the door.

Behind the embarrassment is the development dilemma of express delivery companies. In the past decade or so, with the development of e-commerce, the express delivery industry has made great progress, but the means of competition between enterprises are very single, mainly to exchange low prices for the market. It is also under this logic that although express delivery companies generally have profit growth, the growth rate has declined year by year. At the same time, the cost of employment has been rising, and courier companies often fail to recruit enough personnel. In the end, sacrificing the quality of service has become a way to quench your thirst. It can be said that today's express delivery is not a symptom, and the root cause of the disease is that the express delivery industry has not yet jumped out of the development dilemma.

Top-heavy, big but not strong, this is the reality of today's express delivery industry to give people the impression of reality: the business is getting bigger and bigger, and the upstream is intelligent enough, but the "last mile" still relies on low-cost strategies and sea tactics to provide backward services. With the passage of time, "social + live broadcast + e-commerce" is bursting out of greater potential, logistics has increasingly become a necessary social infrastructure, and consumers' requirements for quality are even higher. If the company still uses the development strategy of ten years ago, it will only fall deeper and deeper in the current dilemma, and eventually miss new development opportunities.

Let the service be irregular, only to be afraid of getting into more trouble

Not long ago, there was an incident in Shanghai where a courier stepped on the customer's courier in person, but the cause of the incident was only the courier's own work mistakes. The frequent disputes caused by express delivery have gradually exposed the institutional problems existing in the rapid expansion of express delivery platforms. The volume of express delivery increased rapidly, but the allocation of courier personnel did not keep up, often external or employees directly on the job without training. Although this response ensures efficiency, it is difficult to ensure the quality of service. If the platform is so-so, the unhappy experience brought by the courier to the customer will ultimately hurt the company's image.

Customers choose to be inclusive is reasonable, express delivery companies should cherish the tolerant environment created by customers, seize the opportunity, grow up rapidly, provide customers with good service, improve user viscosity. Attach importance to the training of employees, pay attention to the cultivation of professional quality and service awareness, improve their service attitude and quality, standardize the communication methods of employees and customers, and clarify the corresponding processes. At the same time, users should be provided with a smooth complaint channel and take the initiative to solve customer problems. Of course, the courier should also be strict with their own requirements, perfunctory, prevarication attitude is difficult to get the customer's "praise" recognition, dedicated to every single in order to give back to the customer's choice and trust.

In today's people's lives are more and more inseparable from express delivery services, the express delivery industry development prospects in the context of broad prospects, the above incident is not a chance for reflection, but also a warning, laissez-faire service is not in place, not standardized, laissez-faire home delivery habits become natural, courier companies may cause more trouble.

(The above comprehensive workers daily, Beijing daily, red network)

In a nutshell:

@ No. 33 South Street: Since the delivery method is delivery upstairs, of course, the courier company is responsible for the accident, and it has nothing to do with the customer taking the initiative to go downstairs.

@ Yuanshan Rudai F: After the express delivery is taken, the thing is its own, how to carry, how to deal with the courier has nothing to do with the courier.

@ I change the name: if it is a young person, it does not matter, such an old man, walking so tired, even if it is not home delivery should also help.

@ Nomads in reinforced concrete: A little sad, and I have to consider the pick-up problem when buying things for my family in the future.

@ Zhang Dongwei: The courier is hard, so I work hard to make money?

China Economic Network Editor's Afterword:

The courier did not deliver to the door as agreed, and the elderly died suddenly on the way to pick up the package, although it was a small probability event, but it exposed the "last kilometer" problem of the express delivery industry. At present, the volume of express delivery business in China has soared, but express delivery companies are still trapped in a vicious circle of low-price competition. In the case of low dispatch fees and low courier fees, franchisees of express delivery companies often find ways to compress operating costs and reduce dispatchers. Couriers take orders under high load every day, and the quality of service is inevitably discounted. Incidents such as broken express mail and private express lockers occur frequently, and consumers whose legitimate rights and interests are damaged are not satisfied. From the perspective of the long-term development of the express delivery industry, it is imperative to make the "last mile" smoother. This requires express delivery companies to subdivide services and continuously optimize the profit model. At the same time, the relevant government departments should also participate, on the one hand, strengthen market supervision, urge the express delivery industry to improve service quality, on the other hand, increase policy support, promote the construction of terminal service facilities, so as to maximize the opening of blockages, card points.