February 20th, Wednesday …
Shanghai, Shengyun Express Corporation's headquarters …
Several senior executives of Shengyun Corporation were having a meeting in the conference room.
Chairman Nie Yunsheng slammed the table and said firmly, "It's decided, then. We have to sever our ties with Upwind Logistics immediately!
"If we don't act decisively, we will suffer. Shengyun Express and Upwind Logistics are highly dependent on each other. If we continue like this, we will only become more dependent on each other. It will become more and more difficult in the future!
"Upwind Logistics has been operating their air transportation business for more than half a year. Their business volume is increasing every day. If we don't do something now, it will only be a matter of time before they overtake us with their terminals at the Upwind Courier Stations!"
"Furthermore, after nine months of planning, we have finally surpassed Upwind Logistics in terms of scale by setting up express delivery counters and relay stations in the second- and third-tier cities that Upwind Logistics has yet to conquer. The conditions are basically ripe."
"After today's meeting, we will issue an official notice. Apart from Jingzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and the surrounding regions, we will officially ban all express delivery brands under our subsidiary companies from working with Upwind Logistics. All express deliveries will be sent to our own express delivery counters and residential relay stations!
"As for these four regions where Upwind Logistics is strong … our ultimate goal is to completely replace the Upwind Courier stations. However, we can't rush this in the short term. We have to wait and see.
"If the customers don't object too much, we can start to sever our ties with the Upwind Courier stations in these four key regions."
The other Vice-Presidents did not raise any objections. After all, Shengyun Corporation had been planning this for a long time. Now, it was just a matter of time.
In May last year, Shengyun Corporation had already known that Upwind Logistics was planning its own air transportation business and had been on high alert.
However, at that time, Shengyun Corporation and Upwind Logistics were too dependent on each other. In many important cities, Upwind Logistics had already become Shengyun Corporation's last link.
To Shengyun Corporation, throwing all their express deliveries to the Upwind Courier stations would undoubtedly greatly reduce their manpower costs. Thus, they had laid off a portion of their couriers in many places.
However, after Upwind Logistics started to plan its own express delivery business, Shengyun Corporation realized the danger and was prepared to sever their ties with Upwind Logistics.
In the past few months, Shengyun Group had used various means, including financing, to invest a lot of money in the terminal layout. They had built a network that was even larger than Upwind Logistics.
Actually, Upwind Logistics was still pouring money into the Upwind Courier stations. However, it was not as fast as the Shengyun Corporation.
This was because, strictly speaking, the courier stations operated by the two companies were not the same.
Upwind Logistics' Upwind Courier Stations had to deliver goods to their customers' doorsteps. Hence, the courier stations had to be staffed with couriers and sorters. They were all official employees, and the process of recruitment, onboarding, and starting business was too slow.
From the establishment of each network to its official operation, every step was strictly controlled.
However, Shengyun Group was different. They used two methods: express delivery counters and community stations.
Express delivery cabinets were very simple. They just needed to discuss cooperation with various communities and set up a express delivery cabinet in the community. The courier would directly throw the package into the express delivery cabinet and leave. The customer would then scan the code to pick up the package.
Shengyun Group's community stations were also different from Upwind Courier Stations. Community stations were franchised, and anyone could open one as long as they bought a small shop.
Community stations were not responsible for delivering goods to their customers' doorsteps. Some stations were not even responsible for finding items for their customers. After the customers arrived, they had to do all the work on their own. They had to find items at the counter, take them out of the warehouse, and take them home. Sometimes, when there were too many packages, they had to tape the packages together or use the trolleys at the entrance of the station to push them home.
Upwind Courier Stations were a loss-making business. However, Shengyun Group's community stations were not loss-making. Instead, they were very profitable.
This was because the people who opened the community stations only needed to work at the stations. The couriers would deliver the packages, store them in the warehouse, and place them on the shelves according to the serial numbers. When the customers came to pick up the packages, the couriers would find the packages according to the serial numbers and take them out of the warehouse. It was a completely automated operation.
When the boss of the community station was in a good mood, he would help the customers find the packages. When he was in a bad mood, he would say that he was busy and let the customers do the work themselves.
Then, the boss of the community station would take a portion of the money from each package. With such a large volume of goods and some miscellaneous side businesses, the boss of the community station could earn thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan every month, even if it was a community station with a relatively small population.
Of course, this income was not stable. The exact amount of money would depend on the location of the community station and the flow of people. The more the number of deliveries, the more they would earn. Some of the community stations might not be able to continue operating and close down, while some might only earn 20,000 yuan a month.
But in general, this kind of courier station was obviously profitable, so Shengyun Group didn't need to work hard to set up these courier stations. As long as they opened up the franchise, there would naturally be many people who wanted to make money cooperating with them.
The Shengyun Group only needed to spend a very low cost to build a community station.
In addition to the express delivery cabinets, Shengyun Group had expanded rapidly during this period and finally established its own express delivery terminal network.
At the very least, Shengyun Group did not have to worry about running out of deliveries in some second- and third-tier cities.
In the process of setting up this network, Shengyun Group had been experimenting and observing.
These experiments and observations were mainly carried out in second- and third-tier cities and counties.
This was because Handong Province and some more developed first-tier cities had the advantage of Upwind Courier Stations. These places had a high coverage of Upwind Courier Stations, and most consumers were already used to them. If they abruptly cut off all cooperation with Upwind Courier Stations, it would easily lead to a fierce backlash.
In contrast, second- and third-tier cities and counties were much more suitable.
Although these places also had Upwind Courier Stations, they did not cover all of these places. Furthermore, many customers did not completely rely on the Upwind Courier Stations.
The result of the pilot was that, although there were indeed some complaints, the promotion of express delivery cabinets and community stations was not bad.
Hence, Shengyun Group felt that the time was almost ripe. They had to cut ties with Upwind Courier Stations as soon as possible. Otherwise, it would only be more difficult to cut ties with them in the future.
Seeing that none of the executives had any objections, Nie Yunsheng immediately made the decision, "Okay, then let's issue the notice immediately. This time, it involves the life and death of the entire Shengyun Group. We must not take it lightly. We must act quickly!"
…
In the afternoon, at the Upwind Courier Station headquarters …
"Boss Lu, Shengyun Group is making a move! According to reliable sources, Shengyun Group's head office has already sent out an internal notice to all second- and third-tier cities and counties to stop working with Upwind Courier Stations. Instead, they will send their deliveries to express delivery cabinets and Shengyun Group's own community stations. "
A staff member came to Lu Mingliang's office and briefly explained the situation.
However, he did not sound panicky or nervous. Instead, he sounded very excited and expectant.
Lu Mingliang immediately slammed the table. "They're finally here. F * ck, I've tolerated these people for too long!
"No matter what, I'm the second-generation leader of Tengda Games. I've been sulking in Upwind Logistics for so long without finding a breakthrough. I've been waiting for them to make their move. In the end, they've wasted too much time. They've been setting up their courier network for more than eight months. Their efficiency is as slow as a graveyard.
"Follow the plan that we've set. We'll show them why the flowers are so red!"
At Lu Mingliang's command, the entire Upwind Logistics headquarters immediately became busy. The employees began to methodically execute the plan that they had set.
Since Shengyun Corporation had made preparations, so had Upwind Logistics.
In fact, Lu Mingliang knew that Upwind Logistics would have to part ways with Shengyun Corporation and other courier companies sooner or later when Shengyun Corporation had started setting up courier terminals and courier stations in the residential area.
This was exactly what Lu Mingliang wanted.
Why should Upwind Logistics only be able to eat the leftovers from the last kilometer? What's more, this business was a loss-making business. Upwind Logistics had been burning money like crazy to set up courier stations all over the country. In the end, the more they set up, the more money they had to burn.
Although Lu Mingliang had thought of many ways to expand the business scope of the Upwind Courier station and to reduce the cost of running the Upwind Courier station to a lower level, he was still incurring losses!
If they wanted to earn money, they had to snatch the business from Shengyun Corporation and other courier companies.
However, this was not that easy. Other courier companies built their business from the top to the bottom. They could use the franchise system to expand quickly. However, Upwind Logistics built their business from the bottom to the top. They had to first set up courier stations to ensure that the entire region received and delivered parcels. Only then could they build a complete logistics system.
As a result, Upwind Logistics' every step was very stable, but it was moving very slowly.
They could not deliver parcels to certain places. This was Upwind Logistics' biggest disadvantage and shortcoming.
After more than half a year of rapid development, Upwind Logistics' air transportation business had gained a firm foothold. With Jingzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou as the center, Upwind Logistics had achieved full logistics coverage. What's more, the speed and efficiency of Upwind Logistics were significantly better than Shengyun Corporation and other express delivery companies.
Upwind Courier stations in other regions were also opening up quickly.
In fact, Lu Mingliang had been holding back. In terms of experience, he was the second chief designer of Tengda Games after Huang Sibo. Although he was in charge of Upwind Logistics, which was one of the most important departments in Tengda Corporation, it had not been able to turn losses into profits. It had only been quietly setting up a courier network. Lu Mingliang was very upset about this.
Lu Mingliang felt uncomfortable watching the heads of the other departments show off their skills.
However, he could not leave Upwind Logistics. If he left now, wouldn't he be admitting his failure?
Thus, after making all the preparations, Lu Mingliang waited.
He waited for the other party to attack first.
Whoever made the first move would be in the wrong in such matters.
Now that the other party had finally made a move, it would not be too much for Lu Mingliang to defend himself!
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