Gongbei Port
Since Macau is separated from the mainland by customs, it is not always convenient for Macau people to send parcels and letters to the mainland. It is expensive and takes a long time. Therefore, many Macau residents go directly to the neighboring port Zhuhai to send parcels. In the past, only the post office could provide such services, so you had to go to the post office. Now that there are express companies, it is much more convenient. But regardless of the post office or express delivery company, I believe that anyone who has experienced this will have some feelings.
About ten years ago, there were two post offices on Lianhua Road and Qiaoguang Road near the Gongbei Customs Compound. The one on Lianhua Road is mainly for collecting and retailing newspapers and periodicals, while the one on Qiaoguang Road is mainly for money exchange and parcel collection and delivery. Later, soon after Lianhua Road became a pedestrian street, the post office became a private shoe store. As for the one on Qiaoguang Road, I don’t know if it still exists, because after the larger Guihua South Road post office opened, I have never been to the post office on Qiaoguang Road.
Because the post office is owned by the state, the prices are fair and there will be no fraud, but the service attitude may sometimes be unsatisfactory. After the emergence of express delivery companies, the business of the post office has deteriorated a lot. In addition to being fast, express delivery companies also have few requirements. They do not require inspections and respond to requests. However, with the increase in the number of express delivery companies, things have become a mixed bag. In particular, the business personnel of some express delivery companies have low quality, and conflicts with customers often occur.
Due to the emergence of e-commerce, the number of parcels sent and received between Macau people and the mainland has increased significantly. In addition, some tourists find it inconvenient to carry their goods after shopping in Macau, so they simply send their purchases away after passing customs. Collecting and delivering parcels in the underground shopping mall at the port has become a popular business, and express delivery companies have opened outlets there one after another. But generally express delivery companies have fixed business hours, so there are some shops that act as agents to collect and deliver packages. The agency itself has other businesses, and receiving and sending packages is an additional business, which means it only earns some handling fees, and it is a relatively fixed agency express company. For example, we only act as agents for YTO Express, for example, we only act as agents for Yunda Express . Any express company will do, but there are some exceptions.
The author once helped a friend in Beijing send a picture album published by Macau Art Museum , and came across a shop that specializes in express delivery. When I arrived at the Gongbei Port underground shopping mall after get off work that day, it was almost ten o'clock in the evening. The courier companies had already finished get off work. I saw a lot of people sending packages gathered in front of a store, so I walked in. The store was originally a convenience store. There were three big characters "convenience store" on the top of the store door, but behind the store name there was a line of small characters - "Professional Taobao Collection Agency." This line of small characters is still in traditional Chinese. In addition, there are several large characters of "Send Express" written horizontally and vertically on the glass door, and they are all in traditional Chinese. It can be seen that its customers mainly come from Macau. When I entered the store, I saw six or seven staff members busy. There was a pile of cardboard boxes in the corner, and receipts from many express delivery companies were lined up on the table for customers to choose from. My friend wanted to send and by express delivery every day, and because he was going on a business trip in a few days, he asked me to choose the fast one. After
was packed and put on the scale, the staff said that the courier fee would be RMB 132. I felt it was a bit expensive and asked if it could be cheaper. The staff said that they only earn some handling fees and cannot make it cheap. Of course I can only pay the full amount and tell my friends in Beijing how much the shipping cost is. But three days later, my friend in Beijing said that after he received the goods, the shipping fee was stated on the receipt as 98 yuan, and he also said that I might have been scammed.
A few dozen yuan is a trivial matter. If a friend thinks that I took advantage of him for a few dozen yuan, it will involve a moral issue. So during my break, I took the receipt and ran to the port underground shopping mall to question them about what was going on. After a staff member listened to what I said, without even looking at my receipt, he asked a middle-aged man next to him what to do. The middle-aged man said he would refund me 30 yuan. After I got the money, I didn't say much and left. In hindsight, it is normal for them to deceive customers. There is one price for handing it over to the courier company, and another price for collecting it from the customer. It is not just as simple as earning some handling fees in between.Perhaps in their view, customers in Macau are easy to deceive, and tourists from other places will not cause trouble for them if they are deceived. If someone comes to visit them, they will refund the money, so they don't even pretend to look at the receipts.
Every experience brings wisdom. Later, when I went to Gongbei Port Shopping Mall to send express delivery, I no longer looked for those stores that specialized in express delivery.
