Cainiao Station is being held hostage

"I started to transfer the Cainiao Express Station in early April, but now more than a month has passed and no one has taken it over." Zhang Lin is the owner of a Cainiao Express Station in downtown Guiyang.

He had taken over this Cainiao Post Station from someone else less than a year ago. Now, in order to "lose less", he had to quickly find the next buyer. At that time, Zhang Lin took over this post station for 50,000 yuan, and the former boss guaranteed him a monthly profit of at least 8,000 to 9,000 yuan, and he could get his money back in about half a year.

"The former boss of this post station told me that they receive about 600 parcels and send out about 20 parcels every day. The profit for receiving parcels is about 0.5 yuan per parcel, and the profit for sending parcels is about 1.5 to 3 yuan. Excluding the monthly rent of 2,000 yuan, they can make about 8,000 yuan a month."

But the reality was not as smooth as imagined, and the initial estimate of the number of orders was also exaggerated to a certain extent. Zhang Lin said that the actual profit was not that much, and it was very labor-intensive, working all year round. One person was often too busy to handle it, and if he was not careful, he would be complained. "The fine for the first month was more than 2,000 yuan."

"It's been almost a year now, and I've almost made back my investment, but it's too tiring. I might as well go out and work." Zhang Lin usually runs the post station by himself, working from morning till night every day. When the number of orders is large, he has to ask his family to help. "When I first took over, I was mainly doing storage, which I could handle alone, but later Cainiao allowed users to choose whether to have the service delivered to their doorstep. Many people have this demand, and I don't have time to deliver, so there are more and more complaints."

In addition, the profit was limited and not enough to pay the salary of another person, so Zhang Lin decided to transfer it again.

For a period of time, opening a Cainiao Post Station became a low-cost entrepreneurship option for many people, just like opening a milk tea shop or a nail salon. Many people flocked to the Cainiao Post Station because of its "high income, no franchise fee, free time, and no basic knowledge", but the fact is that it is not easy to make money from the Cainiao Post Station.

"Cainiao Post Station may not be unprofitable, but it is definitely not profitable to take over from others, because most of the transfers are due to unprofitability," Zhang Lin lamented. It is precisely because many people entered the market due to its low threshold and took over easily without knowing much about its specific model, and the actual situation after taking over was not ideal, that a wave of transfers began.

In recent months, news about the transfer of Cainiao Express Station has begun to become more frequent again.

It’s “difficult” for Cainiao Station to make money

Most people started Cainiao Station with the mentality of "low-cost investment" and had the idea of ​​making a fortune. However, most of them failed to achieve their goals.

"It's called investment, but in the final analysis we are still working for those big companies. We are just a group of front-line staff who do the hardest work and get the lowest wages." Wei Zhen, a Cainiao Express Station owner in Nanjing, complained.

Wei Zhen has run this post station for more than three years. He is planning to transfer it recently, but he wants to make the last profit before the transfer. Around February, Pinduoduo laid out the express delivery terminal system, upgraded "Duoduo Maicai" to "Duoduo Post Station" and launched a series of subsidy policies to attract qualified post stations to settle in.

Although Pinduoduo has not indicated that it will directly compete with Cainiao Station, the model of Duoduo Station is almost identical to that of Cainiao Station.

"The highest subsidy policy of Duoduo system is to reward 500 yuan for every 800 packages shipped out every day, for three consecutive months. Now I have switched to Duoduo system, and my daily shipping volume is guaranteed. I can earn 45,000 yuan in three months, which is equivalent to two or three months of honest work before." When the subsidy ends, if someone is willing to take over, he plans to quit.

Wei Zhen said that nearly half of the Cainiao Express Stations on their side have switched to the Duoduo system in the past two months. However, most people are here to get the benefits. Some people, like me, quit after getting the benefits, and the rest basically switch back to Cainiao after receiving the subsidies. "Because the Duoduo system is not very good when there are a lot of express deliveries, the warehousing is too slow and the efficiency is very low. And Cainiao's Taobao system returns and deliveries are also open, so it doesn't affect us. Cainiao also knows this situation, so it doesn't care about us."

Because of the subsidies from Duoduo Station, many people at Cainiao Station took the money and ran away. This is just an opportunity. The most fundamental reason still lies in its work and profit model.

The main reason why Wei Zhen plans to transfer his business is that he is too tired. He said that he has not had a day off in more than three years. Although he earns over 10,000 yuan a month, which is a considerable income, he is too tired and can no longer bear it.

Wei Zhen's post station is also a husband-and-wife shop model, he and his wife look after it together. The main sources of income include delivery fees, postage fees, and Taobao returns. Because the community is very large, the monthly income is more than 20,000 yuan, the rent is 2,000 yuan per month, and there is no labor cost. In total, he and his wife each earn about 12,000 yuan per month.

Now, because they have to pick up two cooperating couriers themselves, and some couriers need to deliver to the door, he spends most of his time running around, while his wife manages the inventory in the store. "There are so many trivial things, and the two of us are too busy to handle them. We are constantly running around every day."

"I originally planned to hire someone, but according to fixed working hours, one person can only deliver about 250 orders a day at most. Each order earns one yuan, which is 7,500 yuan a month. But the salary must be at least 6,000 yuan, which would leave me with only 1,500 yuan. It doesn't make much sense in the end." Since each person's workload is limited and the number of orders at each station is relatively fixed, there is no scale effect by hiring people, and one more employee will only spread the profits thinner.

Whether Cainiao Post Station can make money depends on the location. For example, schools and some large residential areas are very popular. But the money is hard-earned. People like Wei Zhen who have good income are mainly unable to bear the hardship for many years. Therefore, Cainiao Post Station does not seem to be suitable as a long-term job. In addition, many people fail to continue because the income cannot cover the cost.

The work is too tiring and the profit is too meager, it is not easy to make money from Cainiao Express Station.

Cainiao Express’s Squeezed Voice

"The express delivery industry itself is a hard-earned business, and Cainiao Express Station is at the bottom of the food chain and has no say," said an express delivery industry practitioner.

The express delivery industry is a labor-intensive industry with a low entry threshold. It is also extremely easy to be swept up. The entry of Jitu last year is a typical case. For a long time, my country's express delivery companies have been strongly tied to e-commerce, and their voice has always been low. Price wars have become one of the main means for express delivery companies to seize the market.

The industry itself has low added value, and the result of the price war is the continuous compression of profits in all links of express delivery. The couriers and stations at the very end also have no say in the express delivery companies, and their profits are often squeezed the most.

First of all, from the perspective of the express delivery company, if Cainiao Station wants the express to be deposited at the station, it is usually the station itself that negotiates with the contractors of local express delivery companies. Therefore, the right to decide how much delivery fee to give to the express delivery station is basically in the hands of the express delivery company.

"The delivery fees given to Cainiao Express Stations by the industry are basically concentrated between 0.3 and 0.5 yuan. During the price war last year, the delivery fees on my side were once reduced to 0.3 cents. Later, the express delivery prices rebounded, but the delivery fees allocated to us did not all increase, because if you don't do it, there will naturally be other stations to take it over." Wang Yang is the owner of a Cainiao Express Station in Guangzhou.

He said that there are already Mama Stations and Fengchao Express Lockers in the same community, and now various express delivery companies are also gradually building their own terminal storage points, such as the express supermarkets of ZTO and STO, and the competition is getting more and more intense. "In some places, all express delivery companies are monopolized by a contractor, so in this case, whatever the contractor says is the way it goes.

“My business was pretty good at the beginning, but later on the express delivery companies thought I was making money, so they started to lower the price,” complained a post office owner.

It can be seen that there is no unified standard in the industry for the delivery fees given to Cainiao Stations, and there is no exclusive agreement on the number of stations in a certain area.

Various variables, such as the industry's overall express delivery prices, the relationship between the station owner and local express delivery contractors, and even the relationship with community property management, will affect the volume and price of express delivery sent and received by the station.

Second, from the perspective of Cainiao Post Station and e-commerce platforms, various fines will also affect the operation of the post station. For example, if the summary quota is not met, or if there are complaints from consumers, they will be fined.

Since the second half of last year, Cainiao Express Station has gradually launched door-to-door delivery services in various places, and users can choose to pick up the goods in person or have them delivered to their door.

Since Cainiao Post Station started its collection service, Tongda Express basically stopped delivering packages to customers’ homes, and Cainiao Post Station has been criticized by many consumers. Now that Cainiao Post Station has started its home delivery service, it will undoubtedly help improve the reputation and consumer satisfaction of the platform, but the cost has been passed on to the post station.

Most of the Cainiao Express Stations are run as husband-and-wife shops and originally only undertook consignment storage business. But now that they have started providing door-to-door delivery services, many stations are unable to cope with the cost and energy constraints.

"The couriers of express delivery companies in Nanjing earn about 7,000 yuan a month, including food and accommodation. If the post station hires people to deliver packages to the door, it is almost the same work but the salary is not as high as other couriers. Who would be willing to do it? If the salary is too high, we will not make any money, and if the salary is too low, no one will be willing to do it." said Wei Zhen.

Finally, from the consumer's perspective, when the delivery and collection services do not meet expectations, consumers will generally transfer their dissatisfaction to the post office, and various complaints will follow.

In the pursuit of improving service quality, both platforms and consumers will put pressure on the post stations. "The various deductions from express franchise brands and the various indicators of the platform are very complicated. It is not as simple as lying down and making money," said the owner of the Guangzhou Cainiao Post Station.

Under the pressure from all parties, transfers and closures followed, and many people chose to exit quietly.

Some people leave, some people come in

The reason why the Cainiao Station model emerged is, on the one hand, due to user demand, because some users do have inflexible time for sending and receiving express deliveries. Users can arrange their deliveries freely by placing them at collection points, which also prevents the express deliveries from being lost.

However, users have always had mixed opinions about Cainiao Post Station. As couriers generally stop delivering goods to the door, user rights are also being compressed. For a while, there were voices such as "Cainiao Post Station divides up the couriers' profits" and "the emergence of Cainiao has lowered the service quality of the express delivery industry."

Cainiao Station connects express delivery companies, users, and platforms, but it is difficult to achieve a relative balance among all parties, which will inevitably attract various comments.

Without getting involved in the logistics business, Alibaba has brought together various third-party express delivery companies to form the Cainiao network. Through Cainiao, express delivery companies have become somewhat dependent on it, and through the asset-light model, they have gained a share of the logistics industry, which seems to be a passive profit.

Of course, Alibaba's endless stream of e-commerce parcels is also a bargaining chip for Cainiao to lure Alibaba into the trap. Alibaba has always been good at integrating light assets. Its entry into the logistics industry through Cainiao Network is different from the heavy asset model of SF Express and JD Logistics. Alibaba has firmly grasped the right to speak in its own hands.

It is precisely because of Cainiao's light asset integration model that it is difficult to balance the interests of all parties, and therefore it is difficult to satisfy everyone. Cainiao Station, which is at the bottom, is bound to be restricted by all parties, and actual work cannot be won easily.

In recent years, the saying that "Cainiao Express Station has kidnapped express delivery companies" has been rampant. Express delivery companies are also stepping up the construction of terminal depots to minimize their dependence on Cainiao.

However, in the e-commerce era, the demand for terminal storage will always exist, it’s just that one group of people at the station will leave and the next group will come in.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.