The State Postal Bureau (China Post) will expand its share in the
modern logistics market to become the most comprehensive and
far-reaching goods delivery provider, China Daily was told Tuesday.
China Post kicks off a new service nationwide Wednesday called
priority package delivery, which is faster than the common package
delivery service but much cheaper than the Express Mail Service
(EMS)
The aim is to target customers of commercial enterprises,
electronic business companies and mail-order providers, said Xu
Kui, director of the Public Service Department with the China
Post.
He
said the priority packages will be delivered three times a day
while the common package will be sent out once a day.
The packages will be delivered by trains and post office vehicles
to reduce costs. The charge of EMS, which is mainly delivered by
planes, is three times of the priority package services, said the
official.
The delivery times of priority packages between major cities will
be limited to four to six days which is faster than the usual one
week period of common package delivery.
China Post has signed agreements with dozens of leading domestic
and international companies to be their delivery service agent.
Haier, China's biggest home appliances maker, delivers 270,000 sets
of refrigerators a month via the logistic network of China
Post.
Computer makers Dell, Hewlett Packard, IBM and pharmaceutics vendor
Xi'an Janssen have all become customers of China Post.
China Post is changing from a government bureau to an independent
commercial organization, said Xu.
Starting from next year, it would receive no subsidy from the
government and will have to make its own money.
To
compete with overseas and domestic delivery companies, China Post
has speeded up its delivery three times over the last two
years.
The speeding up has received encouraging feedback from customers.
The revenue that come from mail and package delivery reported
double digit growth in past months, said Zhao Zhongxin, director of
China Post's general management office.
China Post has more than 60,000 postal outlets nationwide, its
coverage is the most comprehensive, compared with any other
logistics providers.
It
would further utilize the huge volume of goods flow, information
flow and capital flow to provide more customer oriented and price
diversified services, Zhao said.
(China
Daily 08/01/2001)