關注社會:貨物配送 取貨服務要火了

PARCEL deliveries are often thwarted by menacing dogs, doorstep thieves, unanswered doorbells or a host of other impediments that keep goods from their intended destination. Even deMography plays a role: young consumers are less willing than older folk to stay at home waiting for a delivery. Businesses suffer as a result. Two-fifths of online shoppers said they stopped buying products from a website following a troublesome delivery, according to the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG), a British industry association.

包裹配送經常會遇到麻煩：狗兇得要咬人，有人冒領，按門鈴卻沒人迴應，或是許多其他障礙，導致貨物無法送到收件人手中。甚至連年齡架構都會對貨物配送產生影響：和老年人比，年輕的消費者不太情願在家裏等貨物上門。結果，蒙受損失的卻是企業。據英國行業協會“互動媒體零售集團（IMRG）”所說，2/5的網上購物者表示，如果一家網站的貨物配送服務很糟糕，他們就不會在這兒購買產品了。

Customers and sellers should welcome the growth of a new way to ensure that goods are delivered quickly and safely. Parcels are increasingly shipped not to home addresses but to local businesses, where they are held for pick-up. This summer Amazon, an American online-retail giant, is expanding a network of delivery lockers in local shops in some of America's biggest cities as well as in London. A locker pops open when a customer enters an access code received by e-mail or text message. Other companies are building even bigger locker networks, especially in Europe.

爲確保貨物快速、安全地配送，一種新方法出現了。對此，顧客和商家應該非常歡迎。越來越多的包裹被送往當地商店，等人來取，而不是送到家庭住址處。今年夏天，美國的在線零售巨頭亞馬遜，正在擴大美國一些大城市以及倫敦的當地商店寄存櫃網點數目。顧客收到郵件或短信，得到一個取件代碼。只要輸入該代碼，寄存櫃就打開了。其他公司甚至在建設更大的寄存櫃網絡系統，尤其是在歐洲。

Some shoppers are willing to pay to avoid home deliveries. ByBox, a British firm, charges shoppers about £2 ($3.15) to retrieve a parcel from one of its 1,350 locations around the country. Other locker networks are free. Delivery firms can save lots of money by sending a batch of parcels to a single place, where delivery is guaranteed, so they are naturally keen to provide the service. Nine out of ten Germans live or work within about ten minutes of free lockers operated by Deutsche Post DHL. The French and Turkish post offices also provide free locker services.

爲避免送貨上門，有的購物者願意支付一定費用。ByBox是一家英國公司，在境內有1,350個網點。在其中任意一處寄存一個包裹，顧客需支付約2英鎊（3.15美元）的費用。別的寄存櫃網點是免費的。在快遞能到的區域，如果把一批包裹送到一個地方，快遞公司會省一大筆錢，因此，他們特別樂意提供這項服務。敦豪速遞公司（DHL）擁有很多免費寄存櫃，10個德國人中，就有9個人在其網點附近居住、或工作，不超過10分鐘就可以拿到包裹。法國和土耳其的郵局也提供免費的寄存櫃服務。

There are other advantages too. More efficient deliveries can take the strain off lorries and other shipping infrastructure. In Britain this is running close to capacity at peak periods, says Andrew Starkey of IMRG. Merchants, then, welcome the deployment of more and better infrastructure. Add-on innovations should make buying and selling online even easier. For example, Cleveron, an Estonian firm, has introduced lockers with credit-card readers across northern Europe. These cubby holes can collect payment for the goods being collected.

寄存櫃服務也有其他優勢。這種配送方式更有效率，可以減輕卡車等交通工具的運輸壓力。IMRG的安德魯•斯達克（Andrew Starkey）說，在英國的高峯時期，車輛幾乎都是滿載貨物。其次，配置更多、更好的基礎設施，商人也是很樂意的。額外加入一些創新元素會使網上交易更方便。比如，愛沙尼亞的一家公司Cleveron，在整個北歐地區的寄存櫃上加了信用卡讀刷卡器。這些“扁扁的插口”可以爲櫃子裏面的商品收費。

A lower-tech delivery system also shows great promise. Growing numbers of shops and other businesses are holding packages behind the counter for later collection. One delivery network has signed up over 1,050 local shops in America and Canada and is adding about two dozen outlets a week. Gareth Sudul, head of Kinek, the firm behind the scheme, says that businesses like the simplicity of providing a "KinekPoint" service. No special kit is required. All shops have to do is log deliveries and pick-ups through a website that automatically sends e-mail and text-message alerts to addressees.

技術含量較低的配送系統也是大有前途的。在越來越多的商店和其他公司，櫃檯背後都存放着大量包裹，等人領取。有一個配送網絡系統已和美國、加拿大的1,050家當地商店簽約，還以每週二十幾家商店的速度在增長。Kinek是該計劃的策劃公司，公司老闆加雷斯•蘇杜（Gareth Sudul）說，商家喜歡這種簡單的“Kinek網點”服務。它不需要任何特殊設備。商店只需在一個網站上錄入配送和取貨狀態，然後網站就自動發郵件、信息，提醒收件人。

Pick-up locations typically charge from about $3 to release a package, passing on $1 to Kinek. People fetching a parcel also often buy a few items. The lure of extra sales has led some shops to hand over the packages for nothing, coughing up $1 just to have someone walk through the door.

一般來說，在取貨點領走一個包裹，需要支付3美元左右的費用，其中1美元歸Kinek所有。而取包裹的人也經常會買一些東西。在這種額外銷售的誘惑下，一些商店願意負責無償寄存包裹。多付1美元，只爲多一個客戶光臨。

Not everyone will join in. Questions over insurance liability might hamper the growth of pick-up services. And in America online merchants avoid charging sales tax in some states by neither having a physical presence nor hiring staff there. So they may be wary of putting lockers in these parts of the country. Some consumers, having paid for door-to-door delivery, will not want to traipse to a nearby shop or petrol station to collect their parcels. But the growth of online sales means that exasperation levels with home deliveries and the attraction of a rapid pick-up are sure to rise.

但並不是每個人都會加入這個行列。保險責任上的糾紛也許會阻礙取貨服務的發展。在美國，一些在線商家爲了不支付某些州的營業稅，既不在那兒開實體店，也不招聘員工。所以，要在美國這些地區安放寄存櫃，他們也許會非常謹慎。而已經爲送貨上門支付過費用的顧客，是不願意晃到附近的商店或加油站取包裹的。但網上銷售業務在不斷髮展，送貨上門肯定會越來越令人頭疼，而這種快速取貨服務也必然會更引人注目。