For couriers, China’s ‘double 11’ shopping day means double the work
Spraining his ankle is not a good enough reason for courier Zhou Jianfei to take sick leave right now as his employer – like many other delivery companies on the Chinese mainland – is pulling out all the stops to embrace Wednesday’s ‘double 11’ shopping festival.
The festival for November 11 – the eleventh day of the eleventh month – celebrates single people and causes a huge spike in orders at online stores that mark it by offering discounts.
“The annual shopping day will bring 40-50 per cent more packages for us,” said Zhou, who works at Shanghai YTO Express and is in charge of picks ups and deliveries for West Yanan Road and Panyu Road.
“Our express station doesn’t have many people. If I am off, my colleagues will have to cope with far more packages and that’s too hard for them,” said Zhou, 32. “So I have to stick to my post, running more slowly than usual.”
The day poses the toughest test of the year for domestic express companies, said the State Post Bureau’s vice-director Liu Jun.