At the admonition meeting, the Zhejiang Consumer Rights Protection Committee also stated that the next step would be to organize consumer rights volunteers and third-party investigation agencies to conduct consumer inspections on the service quality of the Zhejiang express delivery industry. If the problems are still found in the physical examination, the consumer reflects the problem is more intense, the provincial consumer protection committee will conduct an interview with the relevant express delivery enterprises, requiring them to come up with thorough rectification opinions within the prescribed time.

It is understood that Yuantong Express and Shentong Express representatives made statements at the meeting, saying that they will strictly abide by the requirements of relevant laws and regulations and strengthen self-discipline and standardize operations in accordance with the principles of fairness, legality, honesty and trustworthiness.

Allegedly colluding with price increases, many express companies are being supervised, why is the price increase always

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Collaborative price increases are a monopolistic behavior

In fact, on the eve of the “Double 11”, some express delivery companies have adjusted the service price, which is already the “convention” in the past three years. Before the arrival of the “Double 11” in 2017 and 2018, many express delivery companies based on Zhongtong Express issued an announcement to raise the express price.

On October 11 and October 15, this year, Zhongtong and Yuantong successively indicated that they will start to adjust the express delivery fee from November 11. The reason for the price adjustments of the two companies is to ensure the quality of the express delivery service during the peak season, and to cope with the increase in operating costs such as express passengers, vehicles, and venue expansion during the peak season.

At that time, some netizens said that during the “Double 11” period, the cost of express delivery increased, and the courier had to work overtime, and the courier fee was raised. Therefore, after the admonition meeting of the above-mentioned Zhejiang Provincial Municipal Bureau of Supervision, many netizens did not ask questions, and the price increase of express delivery is not a market behavior. Why not?

Allegedly colluding with price increases, many express companies are being supervised, why is the price increase always Allegedly colluding with price increases, many express companies are being supervised, why is the price increase always   Collusion price increases, many express delivery companies are being supervised, why is the price increase always

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China Consumers Association expert committee expert Qiu Baochang pointed out that when companies set prices, they have independent pricing rights, but there must be rules There should be any rules in accordance with the “Price Law”, one is the government pricing; the second is the guiding price; the third is the liberalized market pricing.

Zhao Zhan, deputy director of Beijing Zhilin Law Firm In an interview with Zhongxin Jingwei, the express delivery company provided express service to the customer service. The cost of this service belongs to the scope of market regulation. In principle, the enterprise can be self-priced. However, if many express companies collude with each other and cooperate with each other. The price is a monopolistic agreement that violates the provisions of the Monopoly Law.

Zhao Zhan pointed out that there are mainly three types of monopolistic behaviors stipulated by law, one is monopoly agreements, the other is abuse of market dominance, and the other is concentration of operators with or may have the effect of eliminating or restricting competition. In addition to the synergistic price increase, the courier companies mentioned in this report abuse the dominant market position and refuse to trade, which is an act of abuse of market dominance.

How to identify the price increase? Qiu Baochang, an expert of the Expert Committee of the China Consumers Association, pointed out that conscious contact (between enterprises), in the same or similar time, the same or similar price increase is the coordinated behavior.

“It is important to note that synergistic price increases are only one manifestation of monopolistic agreements. In addition, there are many common behaviors in monopolistic agreements in the market, such as two or more corporate agreements that collectively limit production. , or the agreement to divide the market range, etc..” Zhao Occupation said.

The pricing of the courier company “difficulties”

It is worth mentioning that although some express delivery companies will raise the express price before the peak season, in recent years, the average unit price of express delivery has continued to decline.

The National Post Bureau announced on November 5 that the postal industry economic operation data for the first three quarters of 2019 showed that the average unit price of express delivery continued to decline in the first three quarters of this year. In the first three quarters, the average unit price of the express delivery business was 12.0 yuan, down by 0.2 yuan from the first half. From the first half of 2010 to the first half of 2019, the overall average unit price of the national express mail has dropped from 25.6 yuan to 12.2 yuan, a cumulative decline of more than 50%.

Introspectives pointed out that in the past, franchise express companies often competed for market share by means of “price-for-money”, and now this phenomenon is getting worse and stronger, and the price of the service industry is transforming into a trend. “Exposure that China’s express delivery industry still does not get rid of the cruel reality of product homogenization and low-cost competition, but also has a certain hindrance to the long-term healthy development of the express delivery industry.

Yang Daqing, a special researcher at the China Logistics Society, pointed out that Zhongxin Jingwei pointed out that due to the express delivery companies that used e-commerce express delivery in the past,Born in the market of e-commerce giants, their services are often donated to consumers by e-commerce in the form of freight subsidies, rather than an independent service product. To a certain extent, this has caused consumers to form a wrong view of consumption – it is difficult to accept the price increase of express delivery. Therefore, today, due to scale competition and fear of customer loss, express delivery companies still dare not raise prices.

When the investment in the peak season increases, it is necessary to raise the price appropriately, and vice versa. This is the market law. Now the express company is headquartered before the peak season of ‘Double 11’, most of them give price quotations to the franchisees, and the franchisees from all over the world However, for the franchisees in the first line, they are faced with the difficulty of reasonable pricing of the service. The price increase is worried about the loss of customers, and the price is not profitable. Businesses often reach a certain price tacit agreement.” Yang Daqing said.

In Yang Daqing’s view, the fundamental reason behind the reasonable pricing dilemma in the express delivery market is the current intensive status of the express delivery industry, which makes it difficult for express delivery companies to build pricing mechanisms based on service quality and market conditions. “For the express delivery industry, it is a big trend from large-scale development to high-quality development. Therefore, in the future, express delivery companies should pay more attention to providing quality services to obtain profits, and for consumers, they must also accept differentiated express delivery. Service, know how to pay for higher service quality.”