By outdoor-nature-child.com In an interview with the National Post Bureau, it was revealed that in the first three quarters of this year, China’s postal industry handled an impressive 137.67 billion deliveries, marking a year-over-year increase of 19.6%. Within this, the express delivery sector saw a cumulative total of 123.77 billion packages, reflecting a remarkable growth of 22%.
This year has seen a notable expansion in service networks across towns and villages. Various partnerships, such as those in rural delivery and logistics, have significantly contributed to the growth of the rural express delivery market.
Take Yao Yuehui, a large-scale crab farmer from Xiangyin County in Hunan Province, for example. Every day, he goes out to catch fresh crabs, leveraging the internet to sell them nationwide.
Yao Yuehui, a member of the Crab Farming Cooperative in Xiangyin County, shared, “With logistics in place, I can sell over a thousand pounds in a single day. By the afternoon, we usually have nothing left.”
To ensure the timely delivery of fresh agricultural products, express companies have established collaborative mechanisms in towns and villages. They’ve set up multiple service points in administrative villages with high volumes of packages to minimize transit delays and enhance delivery speed.
Chen Hao, in charge of a delivery point in Helong Lake Town, commented, “We’ve extended service hours to meet various customer needs, and we’ve added collection points in each area. This way, we achieve same-day delivery to nearby cities and 24-hour delivery within the province.”
In the first three quarters of this year, public satisfaction with express delivery services reached 83.7 points, an increase of 0.8 points compared to the same period last year. The on-time delivery rate in key regions within 72 hours was 84.39%, up by 0.64 percentage points from last year.
Express companies are actively exploring the use of artificial intelligence, significantly improving their digital capabilities. In a sorting center in New Dudu District, Chengdu, an operator sends a command, causing a drone loaded with packages to start its engines and take off, navigating over 17 kilometers of farmland and forest.
Twenty minutes later, the drone gently lands in Water Pear Village, where local resident Zhang plans to pick up her package after receiving a text notification.
Zhang Ruyi, a villager in Qingliu Town, expressed her excitement, “I ordered some urgent medication for my elderly family member. I never expected my package would be delivered by a drone! It’s such a novelty, and online shopping is getting so much easier.”
The drone used for this delivery has a one-hour flight time and can carry packages weighing up to 20 kilograms. The sorting center is currently testing flight routes, and by the end of the year, they expect to deploy 100-kilogram capacity drones.
Han Huiqiang, a manager at Zhongtong Express in Chengdu, noted, “Our drones travel at a steady speed of 45 kilometers per hour, which reduces delivery times by over 50% compared to traditional ground methods.”