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Md Majba Alam, who runs a small IT and mobile accessories business, fell into disarray when he realised that he forgot to bring an important business document with him when he left for Dhaka from his village home in Feni.
Fearing substantial loss to his business for failing to submit the document to a client on time, Majba was looking into every option available that might help him get the document in hand before the deadline.
“There was no apparent way to get the document from Feni to Dhaka in such a short period of time as there is no one in my village home except my mother,” he told The Business Post.
However, Mejba managed to avoid the disaster after contacting a digital courier service which assured him of getting the document delivered within a day.
“The courier service picked up my document from my village home in the morning and surprisingly I received it in Dhaka in the afternoon on the same day,” he added.
“It is a good sign for the country’s business community that these digital courier services have started offering such emergency services. If they can maintain quality service, I believe the future of this sector is very bright,” Mejba opined.
With a boom in e-commerce and f-commerce-based business activities in the country over the last few years, numerous digital courier services, also known as e-courier services, have taken the opportunity to provide businesses with door-to-door delivery service for their clients.
Aided by the digitalisation drive in the country, these e-courier companies now meet the huge demand for transporting goods among buyers and sellers in the country.
Business insider said they had to develop software to tracking products’ movement. Such software is typically developed through the companies’ own IT supports.
This process is an ongoing and important development in the local technology perspective. There remains also the issue of security. As a result, organizations have to spend a significant amount of money for developing the tool, they added.
The sector also found an additional boost after people became stuck inside their home during intermittent lockdown imposed to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Apart from documents and letters, these service providers are delivering clothes, fish, meat and even cooked food on a daily basis.
The courier companies said available technologies now enable both the buyers and the sellers to track the exact location of their products and how far they are from destination.
Tracking technologies also enable quick delivery and reduce the chances of a package getting lost.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for home delivery increased many folds and thousands of youths were employed by these courier companies.
Business owners said apart from having a profound knowledge on the entire courier service process, a company needs to invest at least Tk 10 crore to 15 crore to survive in the market in the long run.
The charge for a delivery depends on time, weight and distance. Depending on the type of product, the delivery service charge generally ranges between Tk 50 and Tk 4,000, they said.
Rahat Ahmed, chief marketing officer of Paperfly Ltd, which is one of the big doorstep delivery services companies, told The Business Post that e-commerce and f-commerce owners are their main customers.
However, they also work with different courier services. Apart from delivering goods, they also provide various types of logistical support, including product packaging and storage.
They also collect money by delivering the goods to their customers and pay the money to their clients through MFS (mobile financial services) and banking channels.
With the expansion of the sector, many educated youths also become interested in this profession bringing in more professionalism and accuracy in their services.
Hussain M Elius, chief executive officer of Pathao, a ride-sharing company, which also has an e-courier delivery service, told The Business Post that many college and university students were employed under their courier or delivery service.
He also said the income that these students make from delivering products enables them to fund their own expenses.
Mohammad Sabbir, a university student who works as a part-time delivery boy, said he gets an average of Tk 28- Tk 30 per delivery. In some cases, he also receives commission for his performance. Moreover, sometimes he receives tips from clients after delivering their product.
On average, he earns around Tk 8,000 to Tk 9,000 per month. It helps to maintain his monthly expenses, he said.
Siam Uddin, another delivery man, who works for an online shopping platform, said he received Tk 10,000 to Tk 12,000 as a monthly salary.
Biplob Ghosh Rahul, founder and CEO of E-Courier Limited, one of the biggest delivery service providers, told The Business Post although courier service is not a new sector, digitalisation and modern technologies have enabled many newcomers to enter the market.
He also said the e-logistics delivery system entails around Tk 500-crore market and is getting bigger day by day.
“But the policy of the government regarding the sector should be stronger. Many courier services are now operating without licence from the government. Their activities should be shut,” he added.
Courier Service Association of Bangladesh (CSAB) president Hafizur Rahman Pulok, told The Business Post the association has around 175 to 180 members currently.
“Our courier business has a lot of potential. But sometimes our credibility is questioned due to the activities of some unscrupulous people. At different times, we find that some people run illegal business in courier service without any kind of authorisation,” he added.
“Therefore the monitoring activities of the licensing authority have to be increased. We have repeatedly informed the authorities concerned of the issue at different times,” said Pulok, also the chairman of Sundarban Courier Service.
However, only 75 to 80 members of CSAB have licences.
