[photopress:courierbike.jpg,full,alignright]The eighth amendment to the Postal Law is soon to be submitted to the Executive Meeting of the State Council. It has caused a stir among domestic private express and logistics companies which are facing the threat of being phased out of the market by the expansion of government postal services.
A letter (it was sent by express delivery) was received recently by the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce. The letter, signed by about 50 private express and logistics companies in Shanghai, called for more openness in the drafting of legislation, and engaging industry representatives in consultation and negotiation.
Feng Yuhui, general manager of Ponyex, an express delivery and logistics company based in Beijing, said, ‘Seven years ago, I gave up a comfortable life as an executive to establish Ponyex. It is like my own child. But if the amendment is approved, this seven-year-old child will die.’
The new amendment redefines the scope of government postal services to include any small mail item with a unit weight of up to 150 grams. For bigger parcels or packages, government postal services have been expanded in two categories; one for deliveries weighing less than five kilograms, and the other for packages weighing less than 10 kilograms.
Feng Yuhui, general manager of Ponyex, said, ‘The weight of 99 percent of the letters delivered by Ponyex in the North China region is less than 150 grams. Soaring oil prices have resulted in a shrinking market for large goods transportation. If this amendment goes through, the small and medium sized players will have no choice but to close down.’
In Shanghai, more than 95 percent of in-city, 80 percent of domestic and 95 percent of international express services have been undertaken by the private sector. Nationwide, the figures are 80 percent for international and 90 percent for in-city services. The express industry employs three million people across the country.
Source: China Business Times
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