Express cabinets claim more than 10% of package deliveries

More than 10 percent of parcels in China are delivered to express cabinets, the State Post Bureau of China said.

The country has 400,000 such cabinets, said Bian Zuodong, deputy director of the bureau's Market Regulation Department, at a news conference last week.

In a survey, about 78 percent of respondents are happy with receiving parcels via "collection agents", such as express cabinets and stations to collect parcels in communities.

"Especially during the COVID-19 epidemic, more people prefer non-touch delivery services over door-to-door service, such as couriers placing parcels at express cabinets or appointed places and customers picking up their purchases accordingly," Bian said.

Couriers usually place parcels in express cabinets, followed by customers receiving messages and pin numbers. Customers can use the pin numbers to open the cabinets and pick up their purchases within a certain period of time. It is more flexible when recipients are not home. However, this method has been questioned for some cabinet companies charging unreasonably expensive fees. Some customers having difficulty picking up their items also complained that some couriers prefer placing the parcels at the cabinets over making the delivery to their home, even when they are requested to do so.

China has 114,000 neighborhood stations to collect packages and 400,000 express cabinets.

The bureau will carry out a trial regulation to better manage services provided by "collection agents". More such agents, including express cabinets and collection centers, will be established, Bian said.

China's courier sector has boomed in the past five years. Last year, the sector handled a record flow of more than 80 billion parcels.