When he decided to give up his dream of Tsinghua, the security guard 1.85 meters tall Tan Chao felt that he was fragile for the first time.
It was in 2011. He applied for the fourth time to graduate student in international relations at Tsinghua University and failed the exam.
On the day he received the interview results, he made two decisions: First, transfer to his alma mater, , Yantai University, and then take the doctoral exam after completing his postgraduate degree. Second, while studying for a master's degree, rent a small express delivery point and make a living by doing odd jobs.
The second decision completely changed his life direction. In the past 8 years, Sitong Yida and SF Express have been launched one after another. He has also changed from an ordinary courier who delivers more than 10 items a day to an outlet boss and a webmaster of Cainiao Station . The daily delivery volume is more than 1,000 orders.
His dream of doctoral has also come true. In 2016, Tan Chao was admitted to a doctoral student in the major of world history at Yanbian University and became the most educated courier in China.
This doctoral courier has caught up with the explosive growth of the express delivery industry. Over the past decade, China has become the country with the fastest shopping and express delivery speed in the world.
Since 2014, China's express delivery business has been ranked first in the world for four consecutive years. In 2017, the national express delivery business volume reached 40.06 billion pieces, and the express delivery business revenue was nearly 500 billion yuan. There are 1,270 express delivery every second ready to be shipped.
packages are getting more and more, but they are being delivered faster and faster. On Tmall Double 11 last year, the number of express delivery issued by merchants across the country hit a huge record of 812 million parcels. But driven by an intelligent logistics backbone network, the package flows quickly like water.
The identity of a courier in Dr. Dr. once brought overwhelming doubts to Tan Chao. But he has never been as optimistic as he is today. Tmall Double 11 is bringing a global carnival. Standing on the most sensitive nerve endings of the business chain, he abstracted the express delivery into the parts that are connected to world history. "The world is sooner or later, and express delivery is to eliminate distance."
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Tan Chao's store is less than 200 meters away from the east gate of Yantai University. This is the university closest to the sea in China. In summer, students often wear bikini and walk between the dormitory and the beach in order to save trouble.
Tan Chao, who is studying at Yantai University, both undergraduate and graduate students rarely has the leisure to go to the beach. For a long time, his dream was to get into Tsinghua University and leave here. Since graduating from undergraduate studies in 2007, Tan Chaoli was determined to take the postgraduate entrance examination at Tsinghua University. He failed for three consecutive years. His parents, who lived in rural areas, could no longer bear it. The two of them didn't say anything and secretly bought two commercial pension insurances.
After accidentally seeing the insurance policy, Tan Chao, who was obsessed with his studies, began to really worry about his livelihood. He worked as a real estate agent for two months, but he didn't sell a house, so he lost a lot of reviews. So he changed to being a security guard, relatively leisurely and able to review. He guarded the mailing room at the north gate of Yantai University, and Tan Chao began to help the teachers and classmates collect one or two express delivery on their behalf.
Tan Chao himself.
That was 2011, and Tmall Double 11 has ushered in its third year, but for more Yantai people, it was just a Singles' Day that was not very cold. The teachers and students love to visit the Yanda market opposite the north gate. Online shopping? It takes nearly a week to buy a piece of clothing from Shenzhen, and it can’t wait at all.
Taking advantage of the opportunity of collecting express delivery, Tan Chao also came into contact with this fresh shopping method for the first time. He had never bought anything online and decided to "test" and ordered a box of black oily pens, which cost a few dollars. The second order is a little bolder, and then the price is increased, and a "big item" worth hundreds of dollars is here.
These couriers have destroyed uncertainty and distrust of online shopping. The same thing is much cheaper to buy online, and Tan Chao has also made a new life for himself by collecting couriers - he has become a courier guy in ZTO.
At that time, Sitong Yida had just started. In Laishan District, where Yantai University is located, Tan Chao worked for a total of 10 couriers.
Tan Chao can only give away more than a dozen pieces a day. A courier earns one or fifty cents. If you don’t recognize the way, you can even deliver three pieces a day, and your income is not enough for food. However, he found that the clothes he bought online were much lower than those in the tobacco market and the quality was also good. Some students even placed an order on Tmall Double 11 to buy enough laundry detergent for one year.
Later, during the recording of a speech program on Liaoning Satellite TV, the guest asked Tan Chao why he didn't study full-time. "I have to reassure my parents and wives first." Tan Chao said. More importantly, Tan Chao, who had studied international relations for three years at that time, saw the development prospects of the express delivery industry. He insists that the world will be connected into a whole in the future, and e-commerce is an important part of the economic connectivity. Then just stick to it, "It's it."
After becoming a doctor of world history, Tan Chao often thought about the similarities between the express delivery industry and the major he studied.
His judgment is not wrong. After 7 years of working in the express delivery industry, in March this year, Tan Chao took over many express delivery companies such as Shentong , ZTO, Tiantian, and Debang at Yantai University express delivery point, with a maximum delivery volume of 3,000 pieces per day.
Over the past ten years, even the rent at express delivery points has risen, from 5,000 yuan a year to 50,000 yuan. This does not constitute a burden for Tan Chao, his income has exceeded that of his university teacher.
In fact, the express delivery industry has become a dark horse in the national economy. In the past five years, the express delivery industry has grown by more than 50% continuously. In September this year, the business volume of express delivery service companies nationwide reached 4.48 billion pieces. On average, Chinese people have to send 150 million pieces of express delivery every day. According to the population size of 1.39 billion at the end of 2017, an average of every 9 people will receive one express delivery every day.
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The development of the express delivery industry far exceeded Tan Chao's expectations that he would "can achieve success" back then. In fact, he, who once dreamed of becoming a university professor, has increasingly gained another kind of satisfaction from his identity as a courier.
In 2011, in the fourth year of the postgraduate entrance examination, Tan Chao, who was delivering express delivery while reviewing, finally passed the score line of Tsinghua University, but still failed the re-examination. He decided to transfer back to his alma mater, Yantai University, to study for a graduate degree. The express delivery business that was originally used to make a living during the review period did not terminate it, but instead made a scale.
Tan Chao visited all locations near the school and got a suitable rental position. In the comprehensive store on the back of the student dormitory building No. 4, the owner gave him a corner of about ten square meters. It is close to the student dormitory building and the teacher's apartment, not far from the east gate and the north gate. There are restaurants, supermarkets and water rooms on both sides, and the flow of people is very large.
This 10 square meters became Tan Chao's first station. After coding and delivering the coupon every day, he would use his mobile phone to write text messages to notify his classmates to pick up the pieces. Tan Chao established the closest express delivery outlet to Yantai University teachers and students.
Delivery express during the postgraduate entrance examination is far from so convenient. There are 10 couriers, and each person has a package of non-fixed areas. I just sent a community to acquaintance today, and I will go to several other places tomorrow. When you arrive at the place, you have to turn the express delivery from beginning to end. The speed of delivery basically depends on your luck.
Tan Chao had only one motorcycle, and later the package increased to dozens, and the motorcycle could not be put down, so he replaced it with an electric three-wheeled one. Every time the goods were delivered to the door, Tan Chao stepped up his pace, worried that the package in the tricycle downstairs would be taken away. If the express delivery is upstairs, he would look at the express delivery downstairs every time he went upstairs, like a mother walking her kids to buy clothes in a shopping mall.
It was a rainy day, and the road surface was covered with water and slippery, catching a big downhill. Tan Chao, who was too fast, did not hold the gate. Seeing that the truck in front was getting closer and closer, he had to try to turn to the side of the road and rush into the demolition house on the side of the road. Tan Chao's leg broke into a bone crack, and the tricycle was almost killed.
Around 2011, three-wheeled electric vehicles were the means of transportation for Tan Chao to send pieces. Photo / The interviewee himself provided
Tan Chao began to send text messages to notify his classmates to pick up the items. Each text message had to enter the phone number according to the page form. He typed one number one until the evening, and used hundreds of phone cards in a row.
In 2012, the delivery of 100 pieces per day was still available. In 2013, the overall business volume doubled, reaching an average of 200 pieces. This is an era when the express delivery business is growing wildly, and the changes in the number of express delivery are most intuitively reflected in Tan Chao's workload. After Tmall Double 11 in 2013, more than 400 pieces were sent a day. Tan Chao and his wife went on the battlefield together and hired 5 people to help send text messages.
Tan Chao has long grown from a scholar-in-law to the most professional courier. He has a blue jacket, sports shoes, and packs it. His thick hands fly up and down. He can fold a cardboard box in three seconds.
Despite this, the "transportation capacity" of his express delivery point often cannot meet the needs of customers. Customers often call to inquire about the progress of the express delivery, but Tan Chao found that the text messages had not been sent at all. The phone cards they bought were randomly sent and the arrival rate of the text messages that were sent continuously was only 50% or 60%. He could only work overtime and send it again, and the phone card could no longer be used.
Sometimes, anxious classmates come to the door in person and run to the station to ask about the progress of the express delivery. Gu Li, a Xinjiang girl who was a sophomore at Yantai University, came to study in the coastal city and was very uncomfortable with the diet. My father felt sorry for his daughter and would send food to him every month. Dried fruit, ripe mutton and naan, a heavy bag.
At that time, if everything goes well, it would take about 6 days to send a express delivery from Xinjiang to Yantai. In order to keep the mutton for more time, Guli's father tried hard to add salt. Despite this, in summer, even if it was left outdoors for one more day, the meat could be damaged. As soon as the package was sent, Gu Li came to the site every day to ask: "Have my naan arrived today?"
"Express delivery is the most sensitive nerve ending in the business chain." Tan Chao sighed that small items, because the express delivery was delayed for one day, may turn from a happy encounter into a bad quarrel. A customer once came to Tan Chao with the mooncakes he had opened home and threw a whole box of mooncakes into the trash can in front of him. Several days have passed since the Mid-Autumn Festival, and the mooncakes are a little moldy.
Tan Chao will feel a pity when he thinks about it now. But it was already noon when many express delivery was delivered to the site. It might have been night after sending the text message. Come and pick it up the next day. Fresh foods may not be guaranteed to be fresh.
Coolie delivers a copy of the letter, handwritten text messages, and waiting for a long time. This is a memory that he cannot erase when he first started his career. Despite this, Tan Chao's shopping habits are quietly changing, like many netizens. Tan Chao will buy everything he can buy online. As small as a screwdriver, or a drill bit with diamonds—two dollars free shipping. The once most popular school supermarket even saw sales of instant noodles drop significantly.
In 2016, Tan Chao became the site of Cainiao Station Yantai University, realizing the intelligent and electronic delivery of parts.
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A majority of instant noodles cartons are stacked in Tan Chao's express delivery site.
In the era of paper-based bills, express companies require express information to be retained for more than half a year to facilitate search. Thick handwritten noodle sheets were piled in the corner, piled up in supermarket discarded instant noodle cartons, one by one by the wall.
In 2009, Tmall Double 11 logistics orders were only 260,000. By 2015, the number on this day had changed to 467 million. Exponential growth continues. On Double 11 in 2016, the number of parcels was 657 million, and by 2017, this number had become 812 million orders. In 10 years, the logistics orders on Tmall Double 11 have increased by more than 3,100 times.
Tan Chao once clearly felt that the more he saved the page orders, he had also developed a coding system on his own to facilitate the search of express delivery from the shelves.
However, since 2013, just as he never bought instant noodles in physical stores again, instant noodle cartons filled with handwritten noodle sheets have also disappeared from Tan Chao's express station.
paper blank list has become history with the layout of Cainiao’s intelligent logistics network and only exists in Tan Chao’s memory.
On May 28, 2013, Jack Ma announced the establishment of Cainiao Network and layout logistics, hoping to make this traditional industry an Internet and technological industry. A year later, Cainiao launched a standardized public electronic nomination platform, matching with various express companies and merchant systems, and opening free application access to the entire industry.
relies on Cainiao's electronic nomination list, and the automatic assembly line replaces the sorting personnel to remember hundreds of routing directions and automatically match the express delivery path. An naan must be sent from Xinjiang to Yantai, Shandong. Through the automatic assembly line, you can immediately go to the next stop and accurately match the express delivery outlets. The courier will make it easier for the last 1 kilometer of service.
This is the history of logistics upgrades, and Tan Chao fully witnessed the entire process.At Tan Chao's site, express delivery in Shandong Province and Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Shanghai will basically arrive the next day and be taken away on the same day. Even the naan bread from Xinjiang can only be delivered to the campus in two or three days.
Double 11 every year is the ultimate test of the express delivery industry. With the establishment of Cainiao’s intelligent logistics backbone network, the time required to sign 100 million packages on Double 11 has been shortened from 9 days in 2013 to 2.8 days in 2017.
"The industry is in an unprecedented technological process." Dr. Tan Chao, who is keen on summarizing and summarizing, believes that the role of couriers in the industry is changing. Once heavy labor is replaced by technology, and couriers will be committed to personalized services in the segmented market, such as accurate to minute delivery, or solving the problem of the last mile.
This year, Tan Chao's paper has not yet been started, but he is not worried about the loss of the position. As usual, Tan Chao is confident about how many packages he will face this year. If there is not enough staff, other Cainiao Stations can also be transferred to help.
Like the students who work and study, he has already conducted training and assessment in advance. Before a large wave of packages arrived, the entire system was ready. Just arrange a temporary duty schedule, and you don’t even have to be busy until 11 pm like in previous years.
"On Double 11, all the shopping players want to see the most is us." The doctoral courier firmly believes that what he is doing now is as important as the opening of the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge. This industry is no different from the foundation and essence of the operation of the world. "The world is sooner or later connected to a whole, and express delivery is to eliminate distance."
In this matter, Jack Ma and his ideas are consistent. Just in May this year, Jack Ma announced that Alibaba and Cainiao would invest another 100 billion yuan to build an intelligent logistics backbone network, with the goal of "72 hours in the world and 24 hours in the country". As he mentioned before, "In the past, your potatoes could only be sold to neighbors, but now you can only sell them to the whole world with just one mobile phone."
