Behind your Shanghai kuaidi (messenger) service
You’ve walked by men handling piles of boxes in the subways, but have you stopped to consider whether one of those boxes might be the package you just sent out?
In other cities, a squadron of men loitering in a subway station might be more likely viewed as a pickpocketing hazard. But in Shanghai, if those men are hanging around with stacks of packages, chances are they're cogs in an intricate local delivery system.
In his recent blog on All Roads lead to China, Richard Brubaker breakdown the kuaidi system in Shanghai: “You have runners who move the packages from the originating office to the metro, to dedicated metro runner who do nothing more than run packages from the turnstiles to the train carriages, and then the person who rides the metro all day long making the hand off. It is a hive of activity that is low costs, and has the potential to move packages across the country!” [sic]
Going where few bloggers have gone before (granted most don't have staff at their disposal), Brubaker assigned two of his local staff to examine how the system works and report back.
Interesting things we learned:
- There are three to five major kuaidi companies, but independent operators also exist
- Metro Line 2 is the lifeline of the Shanghai kuaidi service (okay, no real surprise)
- Geography dictates just about everything
- There is order to the madness. Many companies scan packages into tracking systems before moving them so that your package is accounted for
Such a minor part of life here but pretty interesting. After reading this you, might just appreciate those guys hanging out in the metro a bit more. We wonder how Shanghai kuaidi services are going to change now that Metro Line 7 is open.
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