The bill of the "courier"

In this new first-tier city, 29-year-old Xiang Kai is the "single king" of a courier outlet.

In order to fight against the dog days, he will get up before 6 o'clock and finish the heaviest scheduling task of the day before the heat consumes his energy. Due to the sultry noon, the person in charge of the outlet asked the "little buddy" to set aside an hour to rest and breathe. When the scorching sun regains its edge, this dark post-90s man will continue his "runaway road" until the light at 9 o'clock in the evening.

Xiang Kai doesn't want to leave this industry.

After staying in this city for five years, his footprint is almost limited to a radius of three kilometers. He is so skilled that he can know his address at a glance and climb a floor in three seconds. He believes that he is born for this job.

However, hesitation always happens at the moment when the paycheck comes: the lover and children in his hometown are looking forward to economic materials, but for him, relying on a job that doesn't pay "five insurances and one gold" and overdraws his physical strength, he dare not want to stay in this city.

Xiang Kai's situation is the epitome of millions of couriers in China.

Recently, the Ministry of Transport, the State Post Bureau, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Commerce, the General Administration of Market Supervision and the All-China Federation of Trade Unions jointly issued the Opinions on Doing a Good Job in Protecting the Legal Rights and Interests of Courier Groups (hereinafter referred to as the Opinions). Behind the protection of courier group rights and interests is the discussion of "courier income" and "social security and identity"

According to the Survey Report on Current Situation and Job Satisfaction of Grassroots Couriers in China in 2020 published by China Express, over 50% of couriers earn less than 5,000 yuan a month, and only10.3% earn more than 1000 yuan a month. According to the number of 3 million couriers in China, only 39,000 people earn more than 10,000 yuan a month, and more than 6,543,800 couriers earn less than 5,000 yuan a month.

How much can a courier earn by sending an online shopping product?

The answer is given to Kai's outlets: the residential area delivers the bill 1.2 yuan, and the office building delivers the bill with 90 points. After deducting the delivery penalty, telephone and SMS charges, express cabinet use fees, bus fees and other expenses, on average, the courier can't make a net profit of 1 yuan.

Behind this small profit of 1 yuan is a high-intensity work rhythm.

In the 15 "courier brother" of outlets, Xiang Kai is the "courier king" and works at least 12 hours a day.

In Xiangkai's payroll in June, the actual income from bills of exchange and dispatches was 65,438+04,378 yuan, excluding bill cost, billing tax, transit fee, tricycle rental and fines. 67 14 yuan. In addition, Xiangkai also has a part of the income received. There are some local companies that make medical devices and lamps and building materials, with more than 30 tickets every day. Generally, customers receive 4-5 yuan for one piece. After deducting the reserve price and packaging fee of outlets, they will earn about 1-2 yuan. The collection fee of Xiangkai in June is 1.592 yuan.

Therefore, Xiang Kai's income formula is: net income = dispatching fee 14378+ receiving fee 1592- various fees 67 14 yuan =9256 yuan.

This income is barely close to 1 10,000 yuan, which is already the highest in this small network. Xiang Kai said that the average salary of outlet couriers is around 6000-7000 yuan. Due to the high mobility of outlets, couriers basically have no social security such as "five insurances and one gold". In addition to the basic living expenses of rent, meals, etc. 1000 yuan, Xiang Kai will also save most of his salary for his hometown to raise children.

According to this income, you can clearly calculate the specific workload to be paid to Kay every month:

At least 9,800 tickets have to be sent and 1 0,000 tickets have to be received, and tens of thousands of packages have to be processed. In the case of a full moon, Xiangkai has to complete more than 300 express or collection tickets every day. This means that if you work 12 hours a day, each express package will only have 2 minutes to process.

This seems an almost impossible task. For the average person, it takes 1-2 minutes to find the location of the recipient in an area with thousands of customers, while it takes longer for customers who need to deliver goods to their homes in an old community without elevators to complete a delivery.

In order to save time, Xiang Kai even knew the address at a glance, and he could climb a floor in 3 seconds. Even in the recent hot weather of 38, he gritted his teeth and insisted on not reducing the shipment. In order to avoid heatstroke, Xiangkai will avoid the scorching sun at noon, and ensure that the scheduling is completed on time by starting work in advance and delaying the off-duty time.

In 20 16, Xiang Kai left his hometown of Bozhou, Anhui Province alone and went to a strange city hundreds of kilometers away to work hard. New foothold, no acquaintances, no diploma, the courier provided him with the identity of quickly integrating into the city.

In today's developed transportation network, hundreds of kilometers is not far. However, in the past five years, Xiangkai has been almost open all year round. Except for a short reunion with his family during the Spring Festival, he dared not get sick and had no entertainment life. "I used to go back for a few more days during the Spring Festival, and now I have to deliver it during the Spring Festival. Basically, I have to come back in two or three days, otherwise the customer may be taken away. "

Busy with work and separation from family, these hardships and thoughts can be overcome by Xiang Kai. What makes this man uncomfortable and anxious is the "being fined" caused by customer complaints.

Although it has been an instant, Xiang Kai will still receive some calls from recipients, or ask and blame "why did it appear in the morning and not be delivered at night?" "Why not send it home and put it in the hive express cabinet?"

In the face of these calls, he will generally explain patiently, but what he is most afraid of is that customers will complain directly to the company without calling. Once the complaint is found to be reasonable, it will face a fine of 100 yuan. If you complain to the postal administration, the fine will start in 500 yuan.

In addition to the timeliness of delivery, false delivery, damaged packages, bad attitudes, and bad reviews from users will all lead to fines. Some customers will use fine rules to make harsh demands on couriers and even create the illusion of missing parts to "blackmail" couriers. Due to the lack of protection mechanism, couriers often have to bear it silently.

"We also want to get some warmth or respect from our customers." Tell Kay.

In June, Xiang Kai's payroll included a fine of "false delivery". In order to catch up with the delivery time, he accidentally missed the "one-click receipt" option, which was originally placed in the mailroom to collect the package and marked "I sign for it". Although there is no missing piece, the recipient insists that a phone call should be made directly to the company. Xiang Kai was fined 100 yuan, and Shui Piao was beaten for half a day.

"It's hard to guarantee a month without a fine. Now the company is in the mode of' hosting by penalty'. When it comes to demanding users, it can only admit that it is unlucky. " Xiang Kai said that a courier in his outlet resigned because he could not bear the fine. "I was fined more than 5,000 yuan because I was unfamiliar with the business, and the amount even exceeded the income of the month."

Although the amount of money is increasing year by year, Xiang Kai obviously feels that it is getting harder and harder to earn money:

The price of distribution fee and agency fee is decreasing. In particular, the collection fee, which was originally charged to customers at 7-8 yuan, has been reduced by competitors to 4-5 yuan.

According to the assessment standard of the courier company, if the outlet fails to achieve an annual increase of 20%, the insufficient amount will be deducted. Therefore, even if it is pressed into unprofitable order-taking business, in order not to lose customers and complete the assessment increment, we must bite our teeth. All these make Xiangkai's task bigger, but there is no room for improvement in income.

Wen Bin, an "old courier" who has worked for more than 20 years, is also deeply touched by this.

Twenty years ago, Wen Bin was proud to run the express delivery business. In 2000, the salary of courier can reach 1000 yuan, and the profit of a package is 3-4 yuan, so it is very comfortable to send 300 bills a month.

In Wen Bin's memory, 20 10-20 12 was the golden age of express delivery. At that time, the average monthly income of couriers was seven or eight thousand yuan, which was no worse than that of office white-collar workers and earned several times more than farm work. It is not uncommon for big stores to earn 3 million to 5 million yuan a year.

But he didn't expect that there are too many unknowns in this industry now.

Starting from 20 17, the express delivery industry ended the high-speed growth of business volume with an average annual rate of 50%, and the growth rate dropped to about 25%. Industry cakes are shrinking, and express delivery companies want to continue to maintain 20%-30% growth. Only through price wars and crazy involution can they seize the market.

A few days ago, the express delivery industry once again ignited a fierce war because of new entrants. Extreme rabbit has no more advantageous business model and no more efficient logistics solution. On the contrary, the original price war of "earning less but not losing money" between companies has been turned into a money-burning war of "losing money together and seeing who can stand it".

In Yiwu, an important e-commerce town, Extreme Rabbit even hit an unprecedented "national 80 cents" lowest price, and did not hesitate to attract small and medium-sized business customers at a loss price.

Under pressure, various courier companies are constantly cutting prices, and the profit margin of distribution is squeezed again and again. According to the monthly business report in May this year, the single ticket revenue of SF decreased by more than 30% compared with that of more than two years ago, while the single ticket revenue of Dayun, Tong Yuan and Shentong all decreased year-on-year, as low as 2.02 yuan, 2.04 yuan and 2.07 yuan. At present, the first-quarter financial report of ZTO Express, which has the highest market share, shows that the price of a single ticket decreased by 12.4% year-on-year.

According to the recently released performance report of SF Express, in the first half of 200212002, the net profit of SF Express returning to its mother is expected to be between 640 million and 830 million yuan, down about 80% year-on-year.

"Now can't use bayonet see red to describe, is a bone. The profit is so low, whoever raises the price will die first, and will die together without raising the price. " Wen Bin said.

"It is difficult to recruit people" is another difficult problem faced by outlets. In the past, when someone saw the door of a courier point, they would come to the door and ask, "Do you want to recruit a courier?" Nowadays, the hard work of couriers, which is "all year round and the salary is not high", is not very attractive. After working for more than two years, I am basically an old employee.

China Express has always been regarded as an "incredible myth" in the world.

According to the data monitoring of the State Post Bureau, in the first half of this year, China's express delivery business has exceeded 50 billion pieces, nearly half a year ahead of the first completion in 20 18 and about two months ahead of 2020.

The increase in the scale and speed of the express delivery industry has activated the market economy in China. Behind this, there are intelligent improvements in all aspects of logistics, as well as more than 3 million courier brothers who are active in terminal distribution.

However, the price war that is difficult to brake in the industry and the imperfection of the guarantee mechanism have caused the express delivery practitioners to suffer greatly.

Recently, the opinions jointly issued by seven departments focus on ensuring the reasonable labor remuneration of couriers and enabling couriers to enjoy better social security and social recognition, and put forward four targeted measures, such as formulating distribution fee accounting guidelines, formulating labor quotas, rectifying differentiated distribution fees, and curbing "hosting by penalty".

For example, the State Post Bureau has instructed China Express Association to carry out terminal payment accounting pilot projects in some cities; In the case of exceeding the labor quota, the courier company will be guided to consider factors such as working hours and salary income, so that the courier can have corresponding labor remuneration.

A number of courier companies are also in action. For example, some announced the establishment of the "Express Brother Care Fund", and some said that they would start to pay "five insurances and one gold" for couriers.

The implementation of the policy is essentially to promote the rational, healthy and sustainable development of the whole industry.

There were 1000 courier brothers in the mass parade on the 70th anniversary of the National Day. At that time, the media commented that they were representatives of a new era and a new profession. Their first appearance in mass demonstrations showed that the occupational composition of the crowd was becoming more and more diversified, reflecting the earth-shaking changes that have taken place in China in the political, economic and cultural fields in the past 70 years.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Xiang Kai rode a tricycle full of express parcels and rushed to the hot sun.

(At the request of the interviewer, Xiang Kai and Wen Bin are both pseudonyms. )

Editor Li