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July 22, 2011

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Courier companies face extra charges

COURIER companies may face extra fees because the State Post Bureau and the Ministry of Finance are considering imposing them to get revenue which will be used to subsidize the state-run postal service.

The two bodies are looking into setting up a fund to support the money-losing postal service by charging express companies, and an initial proposal may be issued in September, the China Business News quoted a source as saying yesterday.

The Postal Law, which was revised in 2009, said that a fund will be set up to subsidize the monopolistic China Post's postal service, but it didn't specify a timetable.

But an official at a domestic express delivery company told Shanghai Daily that it's impossible to implement the plan in the short term as it will increase pressure on such companies which are already facing fierce competition.

The state-owned China Post runs two types of delivery business - Express Mail Service and postal service. EMS is a market-oriented service which competes with express companies, but the latter is a monopoly that delivers letters not heavier than five kilograms and parcels not heavier than 10.

China Post claimed that it suffered a loss in the postal service because the group is required to set up infrastructure nationally at a heavy cost while postal fees are lower than the cost of providing it. However, the group ranked among the world's top 500 companies last year with a profit of US$1.31 billion backed by other businesses such as EMS and postal savings.

"It is inappropriate to collect money from burdened private express companies to support a profitable group. Private companies may transfer the rising costs to consumers," said Xu Yong, an express analyst.




 

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