The competition of the National Post Company with the private sector for the transportation of goods in the field of electronic commerce is one of the criticisms raised by the activists of the electronic commerce ecosystem and they consider it one of the obstacles to the development of electronic commerce.
According to the Iran digital economy annotation, according to the statute of the National Post Company, which was extended for another two years, the transportation of goods is exclusively under the control of the Post Company, and other companies must obtain a license from this company to operate in this field. But the problem is that the process of obtaining permission and creating a private post is also a long process.
Although the minister of mining industry and trade asked the government to remove the monopoly of goods transportation from the law and the statutes of the Post Company and to assume the role of regulator in the field of goods transportation, but by extending the implementation of the statutes of the Post Company for another 2 years. This task remained the responsibility of the National Post Company.
Many ecosystem activists believe that Post, with its infrastructure and budget, can hinder the development of the private sector in the field of e-commerce logistics because it offers its services with subsidies.
Meanwhile, Post can lead to the development of the country’s logistics infrastructure by developing infrastructure in less developed sectors and investing in places where it is not economically viable for the private sector to invest.
Postal services are not suitable for e-commerce
Alishad Etezadi, the CEO of Digi Express, said: In all countries of the world, the government is obliged to facilitate the possibility of sending parcels and provide postal services to citizens. But the point is, with what quality?! Is this speed and quality suitable for e-commerce and what role does the post play in this? In fact, the private sector should be able to use the postal infrastructure. But we see that in some parts of the post itself, this work is a kind of indirect monopoly and may be considered a threat.
According to him: because the private sector cannot compete with the budget and infrastructure of the public sector anyway. However, clearly, in the recent legislations, especially in the law of the 7th Development Plan, by proposing to create a national platform for the distribution of goods and products, the National Post Company shows its intention that by creating governance rules, fair competition will be underpinned.
He questions and with the authority of the government, he sidesteps his competitors in the private sector. If the government institution should provide the platform for the growth of the private sector.
Regarding the way of issuing licenses to private sector logistics companies, he says: Such licenses are issued through the Regulatory and Radio Communications Organization, which is a subsidiary of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (ICT), and the post itself is a subsidiary of this ministry.
In principle, establishing the requirement to obtain licenses from governing bodies that have common interests for competing businesses will have a conflict of interest. Nevertheless, the regulations of the Regulatory Organization are strict in this regard, and the amount of government fees foreseen in the licenses is very high. In general, obtaining permission from upstream institutions is usually time-consuming in all sectors.
In his opinion, Post with its infrastructure and budget can prevent the development of the private sector in the field of e-commerce logistics because it offers its services with subsidies.
Post’s entry into competition with the private sector can be a threat to this field because the private sector does not have the financial ability of the governing body. It might be better for the Post to play the role of providing the appropriate infrastructure for the development of the logistics required by e-commerce in the country.
Pointing out that Post, as one of the governing bodies, has infrastructure in the logistics sector that can provide logistics services in some areas far from the reach of private companies, he says: We at Digikala also use these services. In fact, the private sector does not enter everywhere due to cost considerations, and if government infrastructure is available, it uses these infrastructures.
In the past, we mostly used postal services, but with the expansion of logistics services in DigiExpress, this percentage has decreased and most of the shipments are done by ourselves. Currently, we send about 5% of the parcels by mail.
Post, adequate coverage of low quality index
The managing director of Digi Express believes that according to the mission of the national post network, the coverage level of this company includes all regions of Iran, even the smallest villages. But in fact, the speed of delivery and the level of service provided are not in accordance with the expectations of e-commerce, and it is not considered a good performance for sending this type of consignment.
He says: On the one hand, the wide coverage of the post is an advantage, but on the other hand, when the goods are sent by post, the possibility of tracking the package, the time of arrival, and overall quality indicators decrease. In addition, it is not possible to pay on the spot when sending by post, and if for any reason the customer requests to return the shipment, this possibility will not be available easily.
Abdullah Taheri, the CEO of Bonny Fashion Group, that they use Tipax and Post services to send their goods said: One of the main problems of cooperation with Post is the low quality of providing postal services, although they offer their services at a very reasonable price. It offers basically poor postal service but it is economical and affordable.
He mentions cooperation with Tipax and other private sector companies such as Mahex, which operate in the logistics sector, and says: Although Tipax offers good services as a private post, its services are expensive, of course, because the cost of transporting goods is borne by the user and the customer. The customer prefers to receive better quality services at a higher price.
According to him, Tipax usually sends the parcel to its destination within 24 hours. The maximum delay of this private logistics company is 48 hours. In small cities that account for 10% of our shipping destinations, they deliver the goods to their destination within 72 hours.
He added: National Post Company takes 10 days to two weeks to send the parcel when the courier is shopping, such as Black Friday and Yalda night, events and advertising campaigns. Customers always complain about the delay in sending parcels. Finally, we received an apology letter from the National Post Company and consoled the customers, but the delay in sending the goods continues.
After the Black Friday auction, customers were calling us continuously for two weeks and complaining about the delay in delivery. At that time, the National Post Company delivered 7-8 thousand packages with a delay of one day to two weeks, which accounts for 30% of our orders.
According to Taheri, the postal service is suitable for normal courses. He says: If there is no shopping courier, special ceremony and advertising campaign, when the volume of sending parcels is not high, the post company will deliver the goods to the destination with the least delay.
No Comment! Be the first one.