A delivery man contacts a customer by mobile phone in Beijing, capital of China, March 12, 2020. Photo: Xinhua

 

A number of major courier firms, including STO Express, YTO Express, Best Express, ZTO Express and Yunda Express, recently announced they would raise delivery prices, claiming that the transportation cost of delivery services has risen after the nationwide highway tolls resumed on May 6.

However, these courier firms later either withdrew or updated their announcement after the raise sparked controversy online with some netizens questioning the justification for the price adjustment, xinhuanet.com reported on Tuesday.

"They didn't lower the delivery fee even when the toll was canceled during the pandemic," a Sina Weibo user commented.

"Raising the price is acceptable, but the reason is not; please improve the service first," another one wrote.

An employee from an STO Express branch company in Shanghai confirmed with the Global Times that the company did raise the proposed price recently, but it is a capping number and just for reference for different delivery sites, which are mainly contractors.

For instance, the proposed price for packages sent in the Yangtze River Region, including Shanghai, Zhejiang Province and Jiangsu Province, has been raised from 8 yuan ($1.13) for the first kilogram to 10 yuan.

"It depends on different delivery sites. Some may still ask for a lower charge from old patrons or to win customers. But they cannot go beyond the proposed capping standard that the company sets," she noted.

Fang Zhongjun, a deliveryman from a branch company of YTO Express in Jingan district of Shanghai told the Global Times that they have not yet received any notice to raise the price.

Liu Dingding, a Beijing-based independent analyst, told the Global Times that the reason behind the price adjustment is the rising cost of logistics and personnel salaries.

However, the courier companies should upgrade their logistics, warehousing and management with technical measures in a long-term way to improve efficiency and save costs, Liu noted. 

The revenue and net profit of STO, YTO and Yunda have suffered a double-digit decrease in the first quarter amid the COVID-19 pandemic. YTO, for instance, saw a 14.12 percent year-on-year drop in revenue to 5.53 billion, according to a report by cnr.cn.

The total revenue from delivery services by express companies across the country totaled 153.4 billion yuan in the first quarter, a year-on-year decrease of 0.6 percent, according to a report released by China's postal service regulator the State Post Bureau (SPB).

However, the industry saw a rebound in April, with revenue for the month expected to reach 71.2 billion, an increase of 20.2 percent year-on-year, according to data released by the SPB. The index measuring the country's courier development also saw a rise of 25.2 percent year-on-year to 221.4 in April.