EMS China Post Throws, Kicks Around Customer Packages

From Xinhuanet, “Internal footage, so this is how EMS unloads mail!” and QQ, “Netizen films postal service EMS recklessly unloading mail, postal service denies completely”:

Comments from QQ:

o爆米花oо:

I guarantee with a human head that this is how EMS unloads, all by throwing.

Mina:

Using “shameless” to describe this kind of behavior I feel would be praising them!

木子:

I believe this is real. I once used EMS and after one month, the package had not yet been received. Afterward, I went to the post office to investigate, and they said the recipients’ phone number had been torn off, so it became unclaimed. The post office workers eyes must all be blind, was not the sender’s telephone number also written on there? Will their arm break making an extra phone call? Always [telephone] line busy, might as well just pull out that phone line.

梦恋澄:

I was thinking of asking my family to mail a computer to me. Good thing I didn’t because if it was mailed, it would be a glass pieces by now.

游客:

EMS is in trouble now! Quickly apologize, and make an investigation/self-criticism.

唯一的阳光:

All post offices under the sky are the same [evil/black]! Who made China only have one company! They’re a monopoly!

游客:

Who would value/take care of things that are not their own? When will we be able to improve our own work quality/standards?

?小破孩?:

This should be an internet hoax/hyping. We should trust China’s postal service having that kind of automatic self-loading and unloading ability.

孤独者:

This is real, I know their service. This is “serving the people”! Two years ago, I mailed a piece of meat from my hometown, from Hubei to Inner Mongolia! But when the other party received it, it had become two pieces! You can imagine what happened!

秋天的枫叶:

I most dislike EMS. Both expensive and slow.

Comments from Xinhuanet:

游客 [Guest/visitor]:

These workers’ work methods should be criticized and their relevant manager/head should reflect upon his own work.

游客:

This is truly not how humans do things! This is no different from animals! Without a bit of standards and thought, [these workers] are just garbage existing amongst humans! Seeing this is disgusting.

游客:

Half a year ago, we had a business trip and had to ship several computers. Hearing others say that it is very easy for [the computers] to be break from shipping [by careless postal service], I carried the monitors with me crowding onto trains and cars, only shipping the computer towers. When the shipment arrived, indeed not a single computer tower was intact. Sigh, these bastards. It is time for someone to come out and do something about them.

游客:

This is reality. I once went to collect a package and happened to run into a postal service vehicle unloading. The scene was pretty much the same as in the video.

游客:

A bad postal service system trains bad postal service workers. That the postal service has not collapsed is because the country [government] maintains/supports it. I believe after watching this, would you still dare to mail things through the post office?

游客:

If the postal service operates this way, sooner or later it will collapse/go out of business! Looks like in the future I will not dare to let the postal service mail my things!

游客:

As a postal worker, I really must object/say something. When unloading, the postal service has conveyor belts, so I do not know where this [video] is from. Also, mail is always put inside mail bags, how could it be unloaded one by one?

游客:

100% fake! EMS workers have their own uniforms, mostly yellow, not like the dark colored clothes in the video; EMS vehicles also have a specific style, and this vehicle is not an EMS vehicle.

游客:

[If this is] not real, the postal service needs to file a report/complaint [with the authorities], clear things up, and improve their own image. [If] this kind of situation is real, then the postal service needs to publicly apologize. If the postal service does not do this, then it is admitting this is the truth.

游客:

Without competition, monopoly industries do not have a sense of risk. This is the market economy of China.

Have you used China Post’s EMS service before? What was your experience? Do you have any bad mail/shipping service stories?

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  1. If packaged right shouldnt cause to much damage. :P

  2. ah! second!!
    beaten on the second!
    ^^

  3. What’s the big deal, that’s probably how most mail are handled everywhere, unless stamped “fragile” on the side.

    • You’re joking, right? You’ve never worked for UPS or Fedex have you? Throwing boxes on the pavement is absolutely unacceptable regardless of whether or not it is labeled FRAGILE.

      • Totally agreed. Now I know why my EMS packages when received are always dirty with muds and sands

      • I have used both UPS and FedEx many times, and I’ve gotten packages from pristine to pulverized to “I don’t know happened to it, let me transfer you”. Sure it’s nice in principle to say everything ought to be handled with care but the shear volume of what these guys handle each day makes that pretty unrealistic.

        In the end, this guy will probably get fired, company might issue an apology, some internal memo that stresses care and nothing will change.

        Teach in China: Thanks, I wouldn’t ship a computer either :)

        Anyhow, in the category of “caught on camera” this probably falls somewhere between America’s funniest home video and a special report that exposes a restaurant that cooks steak rare even though people ordered medium.

        • Shear volume of deliveries aside, this kind of behavior by an employee would stop real fast. Do you see in the video how a lady just nonchalantly walks by as the worker throws the packages to the ground. This would not happen in the States regardless of whether you’re on Michigan Avenue or South Central. Somebody would stop and gawk, or say something to the guy doing this. I don’t really understand why you’re trying to play this off as some kind of reality of the express mail industry. This is purely something that virtually only exists in the developed world. In the West, people at least have the common sense to push a cart up to the back of the truck before unloading it. Typical Chinese solipsism.

          • “Typical Chinese solipsism.”

            Nice.

          • From a former dockworker/boxkicker. This happens to all your packages on a regular basis. They get kicked, shoved, jammed, crushed, stepped on, maybe even burned or pissed on depending on circumstances. If it doesn’t say handle with care, fragile, cost thousands of dollars (your job) to replace you don’t give a shit. Its normal. For most things next to bone china and tvs it doesnt matter. Simple fact chinese EMS aint got shit on UPS/Fedex/your local postal carrier.

          • “his would not happen in the States regardless of whether you’re on Michigan Avenue or South Central.”

            “Typical Chinese solipsism.”

            LOL nice racist comment, I’m sure this has “never” happened in the US before.

      • it is unacceptable but alot ups people do it and its caught on camera so many times.

      • yes, totally unacceptable especially when the UPS guy delivered shit to my door but didn’t want to walk on my 50ft driveway.

    • I’m tempted to agree with you somewhat whichone. It wouldn’t surprise me to see this go on anywhere in the world. You get a guy having a bad day, or last few days of work before he quits, or some younger punks who just want to cause shit – that could totally happen anywhere. Who knows, maybe that’s the case with this video?
      I have to say though, after reading the comments, sure seems like a lot of people have bad stories about using the post in China. I had to laugh about the one guy who said he’d think twice about getting his parents to mail a computer to him…don’t think I’d even try that in Canada…

  4. This video seems to reveal why the packages I have received in China from the US were so beaten up! Luckily nothing more valuable than a pack of M&Ms was ever destroyed.

  5. the great yellow master race

    realy what do you want? those brave workers just follow the great chinese tradtion. show your custom how hard and long the postman have to go to bring your post like in the past times. ok.. today they got better trasportation and gps systems. so kicking the post is only a away to make it look traditional.. hmmmmm..

    • Brave workers?

      Why are they brave?

      • the great yellow master race

        just earn 10-30 dollar per week and tell me they are not brave then..

        • I still wouldn’t call them “brave”….maybe desperate or exploited but not brave.

          • the great yellow master race

            you still not yearning 10-20 dollars a week and whining about others? fuck off!

          • “you still not yearning (sic) 10-20 dollars a week and whining about others? fuck off!”

            Uh….what? Is this an insult or something? I don’t get it….still not earning 10 – 20 dollars a week and whining about others?

            What does that even mean?

            Also, according to your “logic” would rich/wealthy people be considered cowardly?

            According to you:

            Working for low wages = Bravery

            So, can I assume that you believe

            Working for reasonable – high wages = Cowardly Behavior?

  6. Doesn’t really surprise me if you look at the similar effort they put into tossed-together creations such as QQ, xiaonei (its renren now right?), Xunlei, Edifier, etc.

  7. Many western businesses spend millions of dollars building a reliable customer base for their companies. Chinese companies get in and get out…

    or in this case, maintain a monopoly for as a long as possible and then get out.

  8. I see nothing wrong with this fellow’s behavior.

    This is the kind of service you would expect in Russia and other “worker’s paradise”.

    You would NOT get this kind of service in Japan.

    • the great yellow master race

      hahahahahahaha.. nice joke!

      • It’s not a joke….unlike China, some countries actually follow rules, have quality control, accept responsibility, etc.

        Chinese people can hate Japan all they want and say they are ‘better’ than Japanese people but at the end of the day Japanese technology and products are of superior quality, they have much better hygeine and manners, and their average standard of living is significantly higher.

        Hating Japan does not make China a better place in any way…it just makes Chinese people look petty, angry, jealous, insecure, etc.

  9. Meh. Not too surprising. Probably not the norm though. At worst at least your EMS package is trackable, and insured, and they’re accountable for it. But for regular China Post, I stopped touching it long ago. Even for letters, sometimes. I mean what do you expect? The norm in China is to skimp on details, and just get it done no matter what the cost, so with that in mind, how is this any surprising?

  10. I cringe every time i have to mail stuff to america. EMS has “lost” my packages. China’s post office is no better.

    I told my family that I would not send them christmas or birthday presents anymore because they kept getting “lost” or damaged. Now I just bring them home when I return to america in the summer and give the to my family late. christmas in july!!!

    Is there a reliable chinese anything? honestly, i would really like to know. has anyone in this country ever had anything reliable?

  11. Sure thing:
    I once got a package from Europe, damn – it looked like some sat or danced on it :/
    anyway: sent one package back – was fine.
    But they clearly have to improve their standards

    • Brother, what would you do instead from the same salary they will be getting?

      • They should do the job they are supposed to do. They sign up for that job, knowing the duties and the salary. Farms get paid nothing, I don’t expect them to poison my food, fast food workers get paid little, I don’t expect them to crap in my food. Besides, if they put as much energy into doing their work as they do into playing ems rugby, they’d be finished early.

        • Tell ‘em Mike…I love the excuse “what do you expect for the wages they’re paid”…after you’ve been here a while things like this just aren’t surprising at all, with proper management things could be 200% more reliable and more efficient here, unfortunately the Chinese idea of “business management” involves hiring 3X more workers than you need and then trying keep them in line by tying their bonuses to production output (not quality)…it’s a joke…and the scary thing is this “system” hasn’t yet imploded…boggles the mind…two of my favorite examples of chinese “efficiency” are my local bubble tea joint where a shop maybe 5 square meters in size nonetheless has 4 employees, 2 to make the drinks, and two to stand there, look dumb and make the space more crowded than it needs to be, the other is the supermarket where the small aisles are only further cramped by the addition of 5 sales people per aisle whose job is to “sell” me fucking toothpaste…today I was actually about to purchase fabric softener until some “sales lady” butted in to try and influence my decision…sometime too much “service” is a bad thing…it’s nutz, but unsurprising in an economy where job creation is the only priority…rant over, don’t get me wrong, there are things I like about this country, but things like this drive me crazy…I miss my personal space…

          • Also, for China newbies, best not to trust China post at all…Fedex is expensive but usually worth it in terms of the worry saved…

          • Great points Andy, I feel exactly the same way.

            I think part of the problem here is the size of the population…there just don’t seem to be enough jobs for everyone so for a job that should only require one person 3-5 are hired…..just a thought, not necessarily a fact.

  12. This doesn’t surprise me. Every single package I’ve had delivered to me via EMS always look like someone took a bat and beat it a couple of times.

  13. The company executives may be very stressed.

  14. And the lesson learned is never send anything easily breakable by EMS. But then given how baggage handlers have damaged numerous suitcases in China, can one expect the postal service to be much better? But at least in China your post/baggage gets to where it is going, albeit damaged, if you fly with BA you may never see your stuff again:-(

  15. Seriously… UPS is not that much better… I’ve had packages that looked like they were run over by one of their trucks.

    What can brown do for you?

  16. Postmail in China is shit. When I was living there, my family and my girl friend sent me 4 packages over one year, I’ve never received a single one.
    Hope the guy who stole them is enjoying my birthday gift and my love letters.
    (and don’t tell me it’s an international shipment problem, I live in Hong-Kong now and it’s perfectly fine).

    • I’ve lived in China for more than 3 years. I’ve never received a package sent from the States. Letters, but never a package. I’m curious about what an overweight, chain smoking China Mail employee is doing with my supplements…

      • Weird…I’ve never really had any problems with the Chinese postal system in my 3 years. I’ve sent packages to and received packages from the U.S. without any problems.

        But I don’t use UPS or EMS.

    • me also ever lived in Hubei, China for 2 years…I often received packages for people I dont recognized…anyway, no problem & thanks for the packages…

  17. There are exceptions. I’ve had packages delivered to me by EMS 2 times in China, and sent a few back to Europe aswell, never had any problems or damages.

  18. My in laws and chinese suppliers send (huge 15kg) packages from shanghai several times a year, so far in all those years I have never missed a package and damage was at most a few cracked corners of the box. Standard China Post service!!
    I’ve had more trouble sending stuff from Netherlands to France or Germany.

  19. It doesn’t belong to him so why should he care.

    • Dude, that is the Chinese mentality in a nutshell.

      “If it’s not mine, why should I care?”

      No respect for public property or other people.

      Such a selfish culture.

      • “We are going to liberate the shit of your country!”

        Great respect and empathy for people living near oil field.

        Such a selfless culture

        …okay okay I know that’s not the same thing, just couldn’t help myself

  20. they have pretty poor customer service, u ask them what happens if they can’t get it delivered – they replied that they wont call the party but will return the package. So why is there a requirement to leave the contact number of the person i’m sending to?

  21. …in other news – fast food is not healthy and smoking can make you cough in the morning.

  22. Wait….Chinese people are actually surprised by this?

    The only times I’m surprised in China these days are when people follow rules, show respect to others, do things efficiently, etc.

  23. Sure hope they have Fed-Ex over there.

  24. fedex http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qw-zxJI1YOo
    ups: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcIOy6XcM3s

    Any company can have idiots, though more likely than not it’s worse in China

  25. Just another example, among thousands, of why China needs a concept of the public good. The wanton avarice of people who care nothing about the impact of their personal actions on society at large is a disease that is eating China from the inside, from corruption, to charging at pedestrians from behind the wheel of a car. All these attributes eventually make their way to the outside world, where the global public is trying to decide whether they can trust China or not…

  26. See how nobody interferes with the guy recreationally destroying stuff belonging to people who never did anything to him? That’s because Chinese are morally degenerate, stupid fucks. You go to any place/industry/office in China you’ll get the same thing, Chinese doing things not in the most lazy way possible (even though, paradoxically, they’re willing to spend 20 hours a day doing just that) but just the dumbest way possible, ensuring that whatever the end goal, it is fucked from the outset. Why not do business here!

  27. China’s postal workers are definately not reliable…

  28. China’s postal workers are definately not reliable…

    • I could not agree with you more!
      still waiting to see if my recorded letter will ever make it there.
      one can understand why more and more people are reluctant to post to China. things often go missing, I did have one large parcel that came back recently, it had been opened and return to me with a simple message. ADDRESS NOT CORRECT, very strange, when al other items have made it there.
      it came back to me, perhaps because it was not of any real value or there was no money inside.

  29. nothing surpises me anymore!

  30. Haha, it’s still better than Royal Mail

  31. no laws, culture of dishonesty, no manners, spit here there n everywhere, no respect for anything, and total selfishness. “welcome to china” HAHAHAHHAA

  32. I fear I have to come to EMS defense: I have dealt with them about a dozen times so far and always received the item in A+ condition within 20 days (more than once it was a 3 days from Honk Kong to Montreal Canada). I will not even start comparing it with UPS or FEDEX who charged me TRIPLE the fees and don’t do a better job.
    Beside, it is true, these are not EMS trucks, I have been living in China for 3 months now and NEVER saw one of these…

  33. I still waiting for my parcel arrive,i hope will no problem with that.SUCKS OFF$%!!

  34. Sorry to say it, but the postal sevice in China in not good, in fact it is very poor at times.
    I have sent parcels and gifts a number of times and they have never arrived there.
    recently I sent a recorded delivery to China. it means it has to be signed for during each part of it’s journey and also by the person it is intended for.
    well, I have tracked my special recorded letter on the internet via a bar code number issued by my post office in the UK.
    it says my letter was handed over to the Chinese postal over seas servive about 8 days ago now.
    looks like this will be another letter that will go missing, just like a few before and also gifts,
    also sending money via Western union or money gram is a nightmare.
    often the person cannot get the money from the bank in China because of some stupid reason.
    I wish to point out, I have nothing against the Chinese, in fact, my wife is Chinese.

  35. Well i could not see the video but i’m sure of its acuracy. EMS packages are often broken if its breackable. I’ve order a katana and it was even bend in 2…Folded Steel that gets bended, don’t see that at every postal office! Only EMS!

  36. Really?

    And what color is the sky?

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