Learn about the delivery service industry shortages in Japan
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| Hello, and welcome to the Culture Class: News and Current Events in Japan, Season 1 - Lesson 13, Delivery Service Industry Shortages |
| In the age of online shopping, courier services are struggling to meet the demand. |
| In this lesson, we'll learn about this news story. |
Lesson focus |
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| The logistics industry is screaming right now. |
| The labor union of the major home-delivery company, Yamato Transport, asked the company side to suppress the amount of parcel delivery receipts during the spring labor-management negotiations in 2017. |
| In other words, the industry is facing the serious situation of not being able to carry any more. |
| Several factors have contributed to this situation, but the most likely cause is probably the expansion of online shopping. |
| With the explosive growth of Amazon and various e-commerce sites, the competition of "fast" and "cheap" has been intensified. |
| If ordered by noon, it’s normal to get the goods delivered the next day. But now even deliveries by the evening of the same day have become common. |
| The rapid popularization of smartphones and tablets spurred the growth of online shopping, which facilitated comparison, and intensified sales competition. |
| In addition, compliance with consumers seeking free shipping pushed down courier profits and fell into a situation of imposing low wages and overworking employees. |
| While hands are limited, the amount of packages has increased dramatically. Additionally, the provision of services, such as redelivery, has strained employees physically and mentally. |
| It is not easy, of course, to replace employees who give up on harsh workplaces and quit. |
| It is inevitable that the delivery industry, which has reached criticality in this way, will re-examine their services and employee duties. |
| Yamato Transport and others are embarking on reforms, such as raising the price of courier fees and recognizing ways employees can work flexibly. |
| Meanwhile, there is also a need for common sense practices, such as setting up delivery boxes, so that users don’t have to request redelivery. |
| It is necessary for both the home delivery industry and consumers, who have become accustomed to excessive service competition, to work together to solve the problem. |
Outro |
| Those are the key facts about the delivery service industry shortages in Japan. |
| If you want to find the related Japanese keywords, make sure to check out the lesson notes. |
| Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening everyone, and keep listening for more of the most talked about news stories in Japan! |
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