As one of the key tasks of the State Post Bureau to strengthen the supervision of the express delivery industry, it clearly stipulates the employees, service time limit, fees, weight and volume of a single piece, inquiry time limit and compensation standard of domestic express delivery service institutions, which is regarded as the first industry service standard that may be implemented in the domestic express delivery industry.
The lowest price standard is adopted for express delivery, which stipulates that "the express delivery service fee in the same city is not lower than that in 8 yuan, and the domestic express delivery service fee is not lower than 12 yuan". Compared with some central urban agglomerations with developed express delivery industry, the charges for express delivery in the same city or even between urban agglomerations are as low as those in 5 yuan. This minimum price standard is regarded as "the price increase order for express delivery" and criticized as "administrative intervention in the market".
However, the private express delivery companies that have written articles for the living space for many times because of "unfair competition treatment" are calm and self-sustaining.
"You might as well wait and see." On July 15, several senior executives of express delivery companies said in an interview with this reporter.
The industry threshold has increased.
"This is one of our recent priorities." On July 13, a staff member of the State Post Bureau said in an interview that the State Council has clearly stipulated that the State Post Bureau, as a postal regulatory agency, will exercise unified supervision over the universal service and express delivery business in the mainland postal market. "Yesterday, together with the National Bureau of Statistics, we published the survey data of the first express delivery service industry in China, completed a thorough survey of the whole industry, and entered the publicity stage as a useful attempt to standardize the industry."
According to this person, the exposure draft was organized by the State Post Bureau and investigated 18 domestic state-owned, private and foreign express delivery enterprises. Finally, the draft was drafted by China National Institute of Standardization. It was published on the Internet on July 6th, and the consultation will end on the 20th. At that time, the draft can be discussed or revised and supplemented according to the collected opinions and suggestions. But so far, the time limit for the official introduction has not been determined.
According to the introduction of the State Post Bureau, the industry is mainly regulated in terms of company size and employees' norms, minimum price of charges, weight and volume restrictions of express mail, service time limit and compensation standard. "They are all aimed at promoting the healthy and orderly development of the industry, raising the industry threshold to a certain extent, avoiding various hidden dangers brought about by excessive competition and reducing industry complaints."
On July 12, the State Post Bureau and the National Bureau of Statistics jointly released the first survey data of domestic express service industry. By the end of 2006, there were 2,422 legal person enterprises engaged in express delivery business in China, with 227,000 employees. The annual express business volume was 65.438+0.06 billion pieces, and the express business income was 29.96 billion yuan, an increase of 25% over 2005.
Among the express business income, domestic business income in the same city accounts for 9%, domestic business income in different places accounts for 49.2%, international business income in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan accounts for 39.7%, and other express business income accounts for 2. 1%. Among them, in 2006, state-owned, private and foreign express delivery enterprises realized express delivery business income of 654.38+0.484 billion yuan, 5.24 billion yuan and 9.88 billion yuan respectively, accounting for 49.5%, 654.38+07.5% and 33% of the total express delivery business income respectively.
However, the domestic express business income of private express delivery enterprises increased rapidly, with an increase of 54.4% compared with 2005, and the share of express delivery business in the same city increased by 6.8 percentage points.
"According to our company's own calculation, the previous express delivery in the same city, 5-6 yuan, is a meager profit operation. No matter how low the price is, there is no profit. The express charge between developed cities is also the previous standard, so the lowest price standard of the State Post Bureau is not outrageous, which is basically in line with the interests of large express delivery enterprises. Appropriately raising the industry threshold can also regulate the excessively competitive market. " The chairman of a well-known private express delivery company, who asked not to be named, said in a telephone interview with reporters on July 15, "However, the express delivery industry itself is a product of the market economy, and pricing has always followed the market. This may have an impact on some small and micro express companies that have just entered the market or at the county level. "
Due to market demand, the number of employees in the express delivery industry grew rapidly last year, with 404 new express corporate enterprises, an increase of 20%. The employees of all the surveyed express delivery enterprises increased by 36.3%, the express delivery business increased by 22.4%, and the income of express delivery business increased by 25%.
Xu Yong believes that "in fact, the express delivery industry, like the catering industry, needs star-rated hotels, but it also needs food stalls to meet the requirements of different consumers. Standards can regulate the market, but they cannot price the market. "
He said that as a service industry, the cost of the express delivery industry is difficult to define. For example, the management cost of a small company with 20 people and a large company with hundreds of people is simply incomparable. Also, the same product, such as express delivery in the same city, needs different fees from the next day. Consumers should also get more flexible quotations for different needs of the same product. One-size-fits-all pricing is not suitable for consumers' demand for market segments. For example, in terms of domestic business, FedEx recently launched three kinds of domestic limited-time express services, namely "Next-day delivery", "Next-day delivery" and "Next-day delivery", which are aimed at customer groups with high requirements on timeliness and reliability.
More importantly, Xu Yong believes that the market capacity and even the traffic conditions in various places will cause the price gap in the logistics industry, which is determined by China's current national conditions. Obviously, the pricing range of its products should be more market-oriented and flexible, rather than relying on administrative means to limit it. In addition, if a unified pricing standard is formulated, the operability of its implementation is poor and the monitoring efficiency is inevitably low.
Three major problems
There is an undercurrent behind the calm.
"We welcome all efforts made by the State Post Bureau to regulate the industry. At least the introduction of this standard has created a fair and just atmosphere for industry competition, and regulating the market through standards meets the requirements of a harmonious society. " Xu Yong, chief consultant of China Express Consulting Network, said in a telephone interview with reporters on July 14.
Although most executives of non-postal express delivery companies also expressed similar views with Xu Yong, saying that "it is commendable in the general direction", they also questioned the publicity.
Many problems include: first, the new one has not been introduced, and the old one has no concept of "express delivery" at all. In the case that the national laws and regulations have not defined the whole industry, it is worth asking.
Secondly, once again, it is mentioned that the qualification of express delivery service institutions must pass the "administrative license". Because the express delivery industry has not been defined, it is still controversial whether the express delivery industry belongs to the universal service industry. Under the premise of canceling the "administrative license" of international express delivery business in 2004 and implementing the "filing and registration system", is it a retrogression of history to define domestic express delivery organizations as "administrative licenses" in the standards formulated by the department? Is it against Articles 13 and 67 issued in 2004?
Thirdly, whether the procedures for formulating industry standards should be open and transparent, in the fact that there are thousands of express delivery service agencies in China, who drafted these people, whether these people have industry qualifications, whether they are widely representative, whether they are recommended standards or mandatory standards, whether they can be accepted by the market, and how they can be practically operated, there are doubts.
The owner of a well-known private express delivery enterprise added that industry standards can only be of certain guiding significance to some business levels, and standards cannot replace laws and regulations to solve substantive problems in the domestic express delivery industry.
In particular, the operability of supervision has not been resolved.
"Pricing can't be managed. Even if it is stipulated that the service fee for express delivery in the same city should not be lower than that in 8 yuan and that for domestic express delivery in different places should not be lower than 12 yuan, enterprises can evade it through product segmentation and even use rebates. For example, 8 yuan will be charged on the books, but it will be returned to 3 yuan at the time of monthly settlement, thus ensuring the express delivery to 5 yuan in the same city. Or, the book received 8 yuan, but it was not delivered on the same day and compensated the customer for 3 yuan. "
"For another example, the weight and packaging specifications of the courier are stipulated, but unless the regulatory authorities continue to block the car on the road like the previous post office, there is no way to manage what specifications the courier company has received."
"As for the issue of compensation, the original standard was quite low and it was also the most controversial among the people, but there was no solution at all."
Private express delivery is more concerned.
"Compared with' behind closed doors', we are more concerned about new processes. Whether it is really suitable for the market and whether it can be implemented smoothly, there is still a lot of time to verify it slowly, but it has been unresolved for life and death. " The boss of a private express delivery company thinks so.
Because the current version is 1986, there is no definition of "express" at all. According to the regulations, letters and articles with the nature of letters are exclusively operated by postal enterprises, but the detailed rules for implementation clearly define letters and other articles with the nature of letters-which makes the private express delivery enterprises born in the early 1990s in fact in an "illegal operation" state.
At the request of private express delivery enterprises, it was revised in April 2002, led by the Legislative Affairs Office of the State Council and drafted by the State Post Bureau. But until last August, the draft of the new Bayi was still delayed.
According to the eighth draft, non-postal enterprises need to pay the universal service fund to the State Post Bureau to enter the express delivery industry, and it is stipulated that the postal service will exclusively deliver letters below150g. Non-postal enterprises shall not open branches at will without the approval of the State Post Bureau.
Some industry veterans pointed out that the eighth draft even conflicts with some existing relevant regulations. For example, foreign-funded enterprises can do business in China for parcels under150g, while private enterprises have become "offside", which is a typical "unfair competition treatment". At the same time, there are still many restricted areas on express mail and parcels.
The industry hopes to learn from the double standards of weight and tariff generally adopted in the world. "The scope of postal franchise will be revised to below 50 grams. For letters below 50 grams, non-postal enterprises can also operate, but the tariff is required to be 2 to 3 times that of ordinary mail in the postal system, increasing consumers' choices."