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High-tech courier service ‘sabotaged’
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CITY post officials suspect that competitors may be sabotaging their new high-tech courier service after QR codes were ripped from postboxes.
The Shanghai Post Co fitted QR code plates to 2,805 city postboxes for the service, which was launched last Thursday.
Customers scan these with their smartphones to receive confirmation when they deposit a prepaid envelope for delivery anywhere in the city within 24 hours.
But within three days, staff reported that the codes had been removed from some 175 postboxes.
This has led to speculation about who is responsible.
“It would be strange if they were taken by ordinary members of the public as the plastic plates are worthless,” a Shanghai Post Co official told Shanghai Daily.
“So we haven’t ruled out the possibility that they have been destroyed by competitors in the courier industry,” added the official, who declined to be named.
“We’ve reported the thefts to police and will have to wait for them to discover the truth,” said the official.
The official said the missing QR code plates are currently being replaced and that the company plans to cover the QR codes on all 2,805 postboxes with transparent plastic to protect them.
The Shanghai Post Co’s new service poses a challenge to courier companies as its cheapest envelop costs 6 yuan (98 US cents), relatively cheap for a delivery service within 24 hours.
Scan codes
Under the service, envelopes for documents and packages for other items are available at post offices and Oriental Newsstand outlets.
Envelopes cost 6 yuan for economy class and 7 yuan for business class.
Packages cost 12 yuan, 15 yuan and 20 yuan, depending on size, but with no limit on the weight of the contents.
Instead of taking a package to a post office or waiting for a courier, customer post it in a postbox.
After adding an account for the service to their WeChat messaging app, customers can scan the codes on the prepaid envelope and postbox for confirmation.
Once a transaction is approved, the envelope is posted in the postbox.
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