LO
ConstraintProcess & self-service2023-12-17
China's express delivery rules forbid couriers from putting a parcel into a smart locker or pickup station without the recipient's consent, effective March 2024
Delivery rider / courieroccupation page →
Event date / reported
2023-12-17
Evidence stage
ConstraintFailure, rollback, regulation or cost is suppressing adoption. Can lower an assessment or widen its uncertainty.
Tasks this bears on
The last fifty metres
The lift that needs a code, the gate, the sixth floor with no lift, the customer who does not answer, the wrong address.
Still human-led✓ Evidence-backed
Where this applies
A ministerial regulation binding express delivery companies in China. Article 28 says recipients may confirm receipt by signature or another clear means; where they cannot inspect the parcel in person, the company must agree another delivery method with them; and without the user's consent the company may not confirm receipt on their behalf or deliver the parcel into a smart parcel locker, delivery service station or similar end-point facility. It covers parcel couriers, not food delivery, and it restricts the locker alternative rather than requiring a person at the door.
What this means
For parcels in China, the last metres cannot quietly be handed to a locker: unless the customer agrees, the courier has to deliver as arranged. The rule keeps the doorstep handover as the default.
What it does not yet show
It covers parcel delivery in one country and restricts lockers rather than requiring door delivery; it does not measure how parcels are actually delivered.
What you can check
Open the Express Delivery Market Management Measures, Article 28, and find "不得擅自将快件投递到智能快件箱、快递服务站等快递末端服务设施".
Does it change the assessment?
No. The impact index is never moved by a single event. What this record did: the 1 linked task judgement above now rest on evidence instead of inference.
Source
交通运输部 (Ministry of Transport, China) — 快递市场管理办法 (Express Delivery Market Management Measures), 交通运输部令2023年第22号, published in the State Council Gazette (signed 2023-12-17; in force 2024-03-01) · verified 2026-09-27 · Claude (VOLO agent) · interpreted 2026-09-27 · Claude (VOLO agent)
Primary source — published by the party that did this, or the authority of record. No co-signature needed.