The "Ice and Fire" of the Express Delivery Industry: Profits at the Top, Losses at the Bottom
Hello everyone, I'm your financial journalist. Recently, there's been a particularly interesting phenomenon in the express delivery industry – it's like a pot of water that's boiling on the surface, but the bottom might already be dry.
Today, we're going to discuss this in-depth analysis from "Yizhan." It reveals a harsh truth hidden behind all the impressive numbers: Express delivery companies are making huge profits at the corporate level, but at the grassroots level, where the deliveries are actually made, the money is being quietly taken away.
To make it easier for you to understand, I've broken down this long article into five key parts and explained the logic behind it in plain language.
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1. Surface Prosperity: A Carnival Driven by "Anti-Internal Competition" and AI
First of all, let's admit that, based on financial reports and news, the express delivery industry has indeed been doing well in the past couple of years.
What's happened?
- Policy Support: The State Postal Administration has called for "anti-internal competition," and newly revised laws have cracked down on vicious price wars. In the past, companies would earn only a few cents per delivery to compete for customers, but now they have agreed to raise prices. For example, in places like Yiwu and Guangdong, the price per delivery has increased significantly.
- Surging Profits: With the price increases and relatively stable costs, express delivery companies' profits have skyrocketed. Leading companies like Shentong, Jitou, Yunda, YTO, and Zhongtong have seen net profit growth rates ranging from 30% to 128%, which is quite impressive.
- Technology Boost: AI and driverless vehicles have become new selling points. YTO has saved 90 million yuan through intelligent routing, Zhongtong uses intelligent customer service for most after-sales tasks, and Yunda has invested in over 1,500 driverless vehicles. These technologies make the companies look more advanced and indeed help reduce costs in certain areas.
Plain Language: It's like a restaurant where, because the government has banned vicious competition and introduced automatic cooking machines (AI), the owner is making more money this year than before. At the press conference, the owner beamed with joy, saying they want to use high technology to improve service. If you only look at the owner's wallet, you might think the industry has a bright future.
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2. Hidden Turbulence: The "Silent Reduction of Delivery Fees" at the Grassroots Level
However, there's a dark side to this story. While the owner is celebrating on stage, the owners of the grassroots delivery stations, who do the actual work, are noticing less money in their pockets.
What's happening?
- Secret Price Cuts: Many express delivery companies, in August (a traditionally slow season), lowered the fees paid to the stations without notice, discussion, or public announcement, directly in their back-end systems.
- Discovery at the End of the Month: Only at the end of the month, when the stations reconcile their accounts and realize the decrease in fees, do they find out that the standards have changed. This is known as a "silent fee cut."
- Even More Subtle Tactics: In addition to lowering the fee per delivery, there are more subtle methods. For example, the "three same items" rule (multiple deliveries to the same address, phone number, or recipient) results in a fee deduction of 0.45-0.8 yuan, and the overweight subsidy for deliveries over 3-5 kilograms has been canceled.
Plain Language: It's like the restaurant owner raising the price of dishes but secretly telling the kitchen staff, "From now on, you'll get 0.5 yuan less per dish delivered. And if the customer orders a large portion, there's no longer a subsidy." The worst part is that the owner changes the paychecks without notifying the staff. When the staff find out at the end of the month, the owner says, "Oh, it was an automatic system optimization; there was no wage cut, just a change in the rules." This creates a core conflict: the benefits of the price increase stay with the company, not reaching the hardworking frontline workers.
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3. Why Can't the Money Make It Down? Three "Blockages"
You might ask why the company does this. Why does the money stop at the grassroots level? The article points out three key reasons, which we can think of as "blockages" in the distribution process.
Blockage 1: The Long Chain and Layered Exploitation
Most express delivery companies operate on a franchise model: Headquarters -> Provincial Offices -> Municipal Stations -> Delivery Workers.
- Logic: The headquarters doesn't directly control the delivery workers; it only manages the station owners. Many station owners are already struggling with rising costs (rent, labor, fuel).
- Result: To survive or make more money, station owners pass on the pressure to the delivery workers by lowering their fees. This creates a "cost-shifting chain" that ultimately hurts the lowest-tier employees.
Blockage 2: Unequal Benefits, Leading to Disruption
- Logic: Delivery fees are a sensitive issue. If the headquarters raise fees in one area, stations in another might protest; if they lower them, the workers in that area might strike or leave.
- Result: To maintain surface stability, the headquarters often choose to make small adjustments to the rules rather than changing the overall standards, thus quietly reducing overall costs without causing widespread protests.
**Blockage 3: The Headquarters Views Fees as "Costs," Not "Investment"
- Logic: This is the most fundamental issue. In the headquarters' books, buying driverless vehicles, investing in AI, and building data centers are considered "strategic investments" that can boost profits and the stock price. In contrast, increasing workers' fees is seen as a "grassroots operating cost" that doesn't make a good story or provide a clear technological advantage.
- Result: When the headquarters has extra money, it prefers to spend it on things that can create a positive image (like AI) rather than on invisible aspects like delivery worker fees.
Plain Language: It's like a company that uses its profits to buy luxury cars and build fancy offices because it makes it look stronger. However, raising workers' salaries is seen as a routine expense. The boss believes luxury cars enhance the brand, while raising workers' salaries is just a cold number in the books.
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4. Regulation and Corporate "Self-Saving": Positive Changes Are Emerging
Although the situation is bad, the article also mentions some positive developments. It shows that the problem has been recognized and is being addressed.
What's happening?
- Government Intervention: The Jiangsu Provincial Postal Administration held a meeting to criticize the reduction of delivery fees and unnecessary assessments. They have set a rule that provincial and municipal branches cannot arbitrarily add new assessment criteria to avoid unfair deductions to the grassroots level.
- Corporate Actions:
- YTO: Implemented "direct fee payment" to reduce intermediaries' cuts.
- Zhongtong: Allocate 200 million yuan for service quality rewards and strictly control fee differences within the same region to prevent internal competition.
- Jitou: Started negotiating with labor unions to distribute profits more fairly through algorithms.
Plain Language: It's like the regulatory authorities noticing that the restaurant owner is deducting workers' wages and saying, "From now on, don't change the paychecks arbitrarily; the assessment criteria must be transparent." Meanwhile, companies like YTO and Zhongtong are adjusting their strategies, such as giving bonuses to workers or setting up special reward funds, to improve relations with their staff. Although it's just the beginning, the direction is correct.
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5. The Core Message: The Grassroots Are Not a "Cost Pool," but a "Water Level"
Finally, the article makes a profound point that's crucial for understanding the health of the entire industry:
Traditional Misunderstanding: Many people (including the headquarters) view the grassroots as a "cost pool," thinking that the more money can be saved there, the more profit the company can make. Thus, they try to cut expenses there.
Correct Understanding: The grassroots are actually the "water level." Imagine the express delivery network as a boat: the profits, technology, and brand at the top are like the sails and engine that make the boat fast. However, the income and stability of the delivery workers (the grassroots) determine whether the boat will sink. If the water level (fees) is too low (low fees, worker turnover, station closures), the boat will run aground. No matter how advanced the engine (AI) is, if the boat sinks, everything is lost.
- Vicious Cycle: Any money saved at the grassroots will eventually come back in the form of poor service, slower delivery times, and customer loss.
Plain Language: The express delivery industry is not a separate entity. Every penny the headquarters earns comes from the delivery workers. If you treat the grassroots as a cost pool to squeeze, the financial reports may look good in the short term, but in the long run, the company's reputation will suffer. Once the "water level" (grassroots income) drops, the entire industry will be in trouble.
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Conclusion
This news tells us that if the "anti-internal competition" in the express delivery industry only focuses on price increases and technology without addressing the fair distribution of profits to the grassroots, it's a half-hearted reform.
- For Consumers: You pay more for deliveries, but the low income and poor service may not improve your experience.
- For the Industry: Only when the grassroots can make a profit and the workers are compensated will the industry's stability be ensured, and the industry can thrive.
The future competition won't just be about AI and driverless vehicles; it will also be about how profits are distributed fairly. Those who can manage the relationship with the grassroots will be the ones who truly succeed.