经济学人精选文章：取貨服務要火了

迷鹿

    网购越来越流行，货物配送服务自然更加重要。但快递公司也会遇到不少麻烦，比PARCELdeliveriesareoftenthwartedbyme



网購越来越流行，货物配送服務自然更加重要。但快递公司也会遇到不少麻烦，比如：送货上门时，主人不在家。Kinek公司策划了一个方案，在各个商店、加油站设立寄存柜，将货物送到收件地址就近处，店主只需在它的網站上录入配送、取货情况，由网站自动发信息提醒收件人来取。这样做，逛商店的人多了，还可以增加消费。不过，有利有弊……
Delivery lockers
货物寄存柜
Delivering the goods
货物配送
Package pick-up services are set to prosper
取货服务要火了



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.包裹配送经常会受到阻挠：狗兇得要咬人，家门口出现小偷，按门铃却没人回应，或是许多其他障礙，导致货物无法到达預期目的地。甚至连人口统计学都参与其中：和老年人比，年轻的消费者不太情愿呆在家里，等货物上门。結果，蒙受损失的卻是企業。據英国行业协会“互动媒体零售集团（IMRG）”所說，2/5的网上购物者表示，如果一家网站的货物配送服務很糟糕，他們就不會在这兒购買产品了。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.为確保货物快速、安全地配送，一種新方法出现了。对此，顾客和商家應该非常欢迎。越来越多的包裹被送往当地商店，等人来取，而不是送到家庭住址处。今年夏天，美國的在线零售巨頭亞马逊，正在擴大美国一些大城市以及伦敦的當地商店寄存柜网点数目，范围是美国的一些大城市，同时也有伦敦。顾客收到邮件或短信，得到一個访問代碼。只要输入该代碼，寄存柜就打开了。其他公司甚至在建设更大的寄存柜网絡系统，尤其是在欧洲領域。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.为避免送货到门，有的购物者愿意支付一定费用。ByBox是一家英国公司，在本国有1,350個网点。从任意一处为顾客取回一個包裹，它要收大約2英镑（3.15美元）的費用。别的寄存柜网络系统是免费的。在快遞能到的區域，如果把一批包裹送到一个地方，快递公司会省一大笔钱，因此，他们特别乐意提供这项服务时。敦豪速递公司（DHL）拥有很多免费寄存柜，10個德国人中，就有9个人在其網點附近居住、或工作，不超過10分钟就可以拿到包裹。法国和土耳其的邮局也提供免费的寄存柜服务。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.寄存柜服务也有其他優势。這種配送方式更有效率，可以为卡车等运输工具減壓。IMRG的安德鲁?斯达克（Andrew Starkey）说，在英國的高峰時期，车辆几乎都是满载货物。其次，配置更多、更好的基础设施，商人也是很乐意的。加入创意，應该会使网上交易變得更容易。比如，爱沙尼亚的一家公司Cleveron，在整个北欧地區的寄存柜上加了信用卡讀刷卡器。这些“矮胖的洞口”可以为柜子里面的商品收費。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.技术含量较低的配送系统也是大有前途的。在越来越多的商店和其他公司，柜台背后都存放着大量包裹，等着人取。有一个配送网絡系统已和美国、加拿大的1,050家当地商店签約，每周还在增加二十幾家商店。Kinek是该計划的策划公司，公司老板加雷斯?苏杜（Gareth Sudul）说，商家喜欢這种簡单的“Kinek网点”服务。它不需要任何特殊设备。商店只需在一个網站上录入配送和取货状态，然后網站就自動发邮件、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.一般来說，在取货点领走一個包裹，需要支付3美元左右的費用，其中1美元归Kinek所有。而取包裹的人也經常会买一些东西。在这种额外消費的诱惑下，一些商店愿意负責无偿递送包裹。多付出花1美元，只为多一個客户光临。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.但并不是每个人都加入了。保险责任上的纠纷也许會阻碍取货服务的发展。在美国，一些在线商家为了不支付某些州的营業稅，既不在那儿开實体店，也不招聘员工。所以，要在美国这些地區安放寄存柜，他们也许會非常謹慎。而已经为送货上门支付过费用的顧客，是不愿意晃到附近的商店或加油站取包裹的。但网上销售业务日益漸增，送貨上门肯定会越來越令人頭疼，而這種快速取货服务也必然会更引人瞩目。