(Photo provided to Xinhua Daily)

Jiangsu has seen a notable increase in parcel collection and delivery volumes during the Double 11 shopping festival. Fortunately, advancements in infrastructure and technology have streamlined logistics, reducing the manual workload on delivery workers and improving service quality.

This year, the shopping spree on major e-commerce platforms started earlier and extends for nearly a month. According to the Jiangsu Provincial Postal Administration, parcel collection and delivery volumes are expected to increase by 13.7% and 16.5% year-on-year, respectively. During the two peak periods, from October 22 to 24 and November 1 to 3, a total of 308 million parcels were delivered in six days, marking a 22.71% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

Unlike previous years, when delivery personnel operated makeshift stations on streets and worked late into the night, there has been minimal backlog this year. Industry insiders attribute this to the extended promotion period, which has helped flatten peak delivery volumes. More importantly, the adoption of digital technology, automated solutions like unmanned vehicles and drones, and self-service pickup stations has alleviated the burden on manual labor.

Qi Lin, manager of the J&T Express Confucian Temple station, said parcel volumes over the past two days increased by around 20% compared to usual, but the regular two daily deliveries were sufficient to handle the increase, with an additional shift added only during peak times.

She added that, in the past, it was exhausting for delivery workers who struggled to sort and send packages overnight, making it difficult to maintain service quality. She recalled delivering about 200 parcels a day back in 2008. The workers are now experiencing a less stressful shopping season, thanks to improved facilities, such as parcel stations and smart lockers, which have multiplied delivery capacity several times over.

In Wuxi City, a ZTO Express branch deployed three unmanned vehicles to connect 13 parcel stations, delivering 1,000 to 1,500 packages daily.

Similarly, at the China Post Suzhou Center, unmanned vehicles shuttle between different distribution stations. Each vehicle can carry up to 1,000 kilograms, making 47 trips daily and transporting over 7,000 items, thereby supporting the timely delivery within the Yangtze River Delta.

Thanks to the drone deliveries during this shopping festival, customers on Suzhou’s Shuangshan Islets and at the Taicang campus of Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University are able to receive packages much sooner. These drone routes, operating regularly since April, primarily serve for the delivery of letters, small packages, and local fresh produce.

The STO Express Nanjing Distribution Center is equipped with over 800 devices for automated sorting, intelligent scanning and infrared thermal imaging, achieving a maximum daily capacity of nearly 2.5 million parcels, about 1.8 times its usual capacity, according to the manager Yang Jihui.