Courier companies exposed selling delivery addresses to telemarketers

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Economic Information Daily 经济参考报, a business newspaper managed by Xinhua News Agency, published an investigative story on  the business of selling names, addresses and contact information extracted from the addresses of senders and recipients on courier packages packages. Courier (kuaidi 快递)services have become indispensable for companies in China when delivering physical deliveries both within and between Chinese cities, with typical delivery fees under ten yuan even for deliveries between cities as far as Guangzhou and Beijing.

The article says that courier receipts including personal information are sold online for prices ranging from 0.4 to 1 yuan per sheet according to the level of details. The information is typically bought by telemarketers and sales people. The article blames the information leakage from courier companies on the loose organization and management of by franchise model used by several courier companies including YTO Express, Shentong Express and Yunda Express, which the article says have the biggest problems with such breachers of customer confidentiality. In the contrast, the article says that companies using  a regular chain model rather than franchise system such as S.F. Express and EMS from the China Post have much tighter control and management over their customer information.

Companies and brands affected
YTO Express (Privately held)
Shentong Express (Privately held)
Yunda Express (Privately held)
S.F. Express (Privately held)
EMS (Owned by state-owned China Post)
IPO rumors for all five companies listed above have been reported since 2012.

Links and sources
快递单信息买卖形成“灰色产业链”

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