Editing questions
Starting from September 1, the courier fees of Zhongtong, Tong Yuan, Shentong, Baishi Express, Dayun-"Four Links and One Arrival" and Extreme Rabbit were raised together, and each ticket was raised by 0. 1 yuan to "subsidize" the courier's income.
The "delivery fee" is the commission income calculated by the courier brother outside the basic salary. The price increase of 0. 1 yuan is equivalent to the adjustment of the internal proportion distribution of the courier company, and the income is subsidized to the courier, which has no interest relationship with ordinary people. Based on the calculation of 200-300 yuan per person per day, an increase of this dime per order can increase the income of 500- 1000 yuan for little brothers and sisters every month.
According to relevant statistics, in 2020, the number of domestic couriers will reach nearly 4 million. Accordingly, the active turnover rate of express logistics personnel is as high as 33. 1%, ranking first among all kinds of personnel. Behind the business flow is the logistics and express delivery industry, with goods at one end and people at the other. This is a fully competitive industry, but the gradual involution of ecology makes the industry a key node.
In July this year, seven ministries and commissions jointly issued the "Opinions on Doing a Good Job in Protecting the Legal Rights and Interests of Express Delivery Groups", and this fee adjustment was also regarded by the industry as a positive response to industry norms.
A number of city franchise outlets and merchants told e-commerce online that they had received the notice of express price increase. The increased distribution fee and cost are indirectly passed on to the merchants. In Yiwu, Zhejiang Province, where the business changes most dramatically, many merchants said, "The express delivery they have cooperated with has basically gone up, most of them are a dime, and some have gone up by 15 cents. According to the experience of previous years, the double 1 1 will rise again in the second half of the year. "
Why does this dime of the courier's salary increase cause a series of chemical reactions? In the final analysis, it is the express delivery industry that redistributes income. Among them, merchants, courier companies, franchisees and consumers all have different demands.
China has nearly 300 million express parcels running on the road every day, of which 240 million are e-commerce express. With the popularization of Internet and the improvement of visible aging, the average unit price of express delivery will decrease by 8 yuan from 20 12 to 2020. But in the end, these packages were delivered from door to door by couriers.
A large number of courier brothers, plus merchants with delivery needs, courier companies that organize transportation capacity, and courier outlets distributed around the country, * * * have jointly formed a benefit * * *. Therefore, this dime of the increase in courier fees is also closely related to these upstream and downstream links.
Zhongtong, Tong Yuan, Shentong, Best Express, Dayun and Polar Rabbit all belong to private express delivery, which is different from the platform mode of rookie and the direct mode of logistics enterprises such as JD.COM and SF. In the early days, the franchise system was used to expand the market rapidly, which also brought more complicated personnel management and income distribution.
Under the operation mode of franchise system, a courier is sent from place A to place B, which is roughly divided into three links: "take-transport-send". The first step is "recruitment", which is completed by the affiliated outlets in place A; The second step is trunk transportation, which is completed by the courier company. The third step is "dispatching", which is completed by the affiliated outlets in place B. Among them, the outlets in place A are responsible for collecting the courier fee and need to pay the face sheet and trunk transportation fee to the head office, and the outlets in place B get the dispatching fee, including the courier's dispatching fee (dispatching commission).
The income of a courier is mainly composed of basic salary+delivery commission+receipt commission. Generally speaking, the basic salary is about 500- 1000 yuan, and the courier's income mainly depends on dispatching parts, and the commission for each piece is between 0.8- 1.2 yuan. Comparatively speaking, the receiving commission is higher, but the large receiving outlets are often in the hands of express franchisees, and it is difficult for couriers to get customers.
Judging from the existing private express delivery mode, the express delivery fee issued by a merchant has to be distributed many times-the headquarters of the express delivery company, the franchisees of the express delivery company and the couriers are all assigned to the same cake. Moreover, because the delivery fee is sent to the courier through various outlets, the income of the younger brother often depends on the "face of the boss of the outlet". After announcing the price increase of the distribution fee, Zhongtong emphasized that "the rising distribution fee will be sent directly to the distributor's palm through the App", in order to avoid the subsidy being absorbed by the terminal outlets privately.
The question is, who will pay for the rise in the environment where the industry cake as a whole has not become bigger?
According to media reports, on August 27th, after Zhongtong took the lead in announcing the increase of delivery fee, local express franchisee outlets successively received notices of the increase of delivery fee from merchants. A franchisee of Tong Yuan Outlets in Yiwu North Zhu Xia told E-commerce Online that he would not bear the cost, "in the end, most of them will go out to the merchants".
The data shows that the single ticket revenue of express delivery companies is basically declining. In July, the single ticket revenue of Shentong decreased by 7.08%, that of Tong Yuan decreased by 6.33% and that of Dayun decreased by 1.49%. Profits are already thin-taking Tong Yuan as an example, the business volume in July reached 654.38+39.7 million tickets, with an average of more than 46 million tickets per day. Paying 0. 1 yuan per piece means paying 4.6 million yuan more every day and spending more than 800 million yuan in half a year, while Tong Yuan's net profit in the first half of this year was only 646 million yuan. This dime is likely to make you fall into a situation where you can't make ends meet.
Franchisees can't take care of themselves, and courier companies can't empty their profits. The ball kicked around and got to the businessman.
The businesses that are most affected are those with low customer unit price and gross profit margin and relying on quantity. Yiwu Guanquan Commodity Co., Ltd. is an enterprise that produces, sells and manages warehousing products. The average unit price of their products is about 10 yuan, and the daily gross profit margin is 13- 15%.
"Transportation costs such as logistics, warehousing and manual packaging account for about 20% or even higher. Among them, the courier fee is beyond our control, and the impact on us can be said to be the most variable. " Chen, the person in charge of the company, told E-commerce Online that the courier fee has been rising this year. Last year, the minimum delivery fee was 80 cents, and now 1.65 yuan.
Although logistics companies have been emphasizing this distinction: the delivery fee has gone up, and the courier fee has gone up.
But in fact, not long after the news of the increase in delivery fees was announced, Chen successively received price increase notices from various express delivery companies. "Our daily sales can reach more than 20,000 orders. If we pay more than 0. 1 yuan, I will pay 2,000 yuan for express delivery every day. Overall, the gross profit margin is only about 10%. "
However, not all businesses accept to pay this fee. Experts from China Post Group have previously judged that large merchants have large orders and certain bargaining power. The increased delivery fee of 0. 1 yuan may be borne by merchants and express outlets respectively. Small enterprises have a weak voice and can only bear the impact of most distribution fees.
Large businesses are a stable source of income for franchisees, which can reduce costs through scale effect. For example, a merchant originally shipped 400,000 orders a day, but now it has risen to 450,000 orders. Although express franchisees earn less than 0.05 yuan per ticket, the huge business volume can basically offset the impact of the increase in delivery fees.
In the long run, the increase in distribution fees does not mean that it is harmful to the industry. Originally, direct logistics enterprises paid more attention to service quality, while joining logistics enterprises paid more attention to the number of dispatched parts, which is almost common sense in the industry. According to some merchants, the proportion of returned goods due to damage caused by Tongda logistics transportation is about 1-3%. "If I can get better service quality, it is actually acceptable to add a dime to save this part of the return cost." The merchant said.
In the initial stage when merchants grab market share, price wars sometimes have certain effects, but inflection points always appear.
In consumer brands, the price war will drag down the brand and finally be labeled as low price. Antarctic people, Yu Yu, because of low-price competition, the quality and brand of autumn clothes can not be qualitatively improved, and finally there are new brand forces such as UBras and Banana; In the Internet platform, online car sharing and bicycle sharing are the most typical. The war of burning money has given users short-term benefits, but only by truly returning to a healthy business model can stable profits guarantee stable services.
If the first half of the commercial war is a fanatical expansion, then the second half of the story has only one ending: returning to rationality and improving efficiency and service.
In the past, 80 minutes of express delivery could be sent to the whole country. The fierce price war forced logistics companies to shrink their costs, which made many logistics companies exposed the situation that outlets closed and couriers resigned. After the release of the latest quarter, Zhongtong expressed its intention to withdraw from the price war in the industry, saying that "low-priced loss-making parts are not sustainable".
A younger brother of Tong Yuan Express who has been in business for two years told E-commerce Online that he has been an old employee for two years. "Many people can see it this month, but it may not be there next month." The price war caused the income to shrink. Without making money, the courier brother left a lot. The excessive flow of personnel makes it more difficult to establish a unified service standard, and the service quality plummets. This is a vicious circle.
"It's not that we don't want to send a courier to your door. We also have to pay for it at the collection point and the courier cabinet. But compared with this part, it takes more time and energy to send it to your door, and you may be complained because of the time delay. Only by running a few more orders can we make up for the income gap. "
Compared with the delivery fee of one or two cents, the courier brother hopes to have a more reasonable assessment system. "If the delivery fee goes up by a hair, it will cost 500 yuan more a month. However, if you are complained, delay the order, etc. You can't afford to deduct 50 100 at a time. " For example, "If you don't contact, put the courier directly at the collection point" and deduct 200 yuan at one time.
In fact, the timeliness and quality improvement of the express delivery industry in recent years are visible to the naked eye. Many ordinary express items have also been delivered in two or three days, and the whole process is visualized and traceable, and the loss rate has dropped significantly. It is not the slow logistics, but the higher user experience of consumers.
Express companies have to do, in addition to large-scale investment in the construction of hubs, automatic sorting equipment, and their own fleets, how to improve the efficiency of terminal delivery has always been a concern of the giants.
After the price war stops, giving the courier a dime is only the first step. When Taobao, JD.COM and other e-commerce platforms, as well as large supermarkets such as Sam and RT Mart, all began to provide more time-specific services, such as same-day service and next-day service. The rest of the courier companies are really competing for services with higher barriers to competition. Only these services can enhance the brand premium, and consumers are willing to pay for it, can they really stay in the fierce industry killing.