(Yicai Global) Jan. 9 -- JD.com, Tmall and other Chinese e-commerce platforms plan to keep operating during the week-long Lunar New Year break at the end of the month, which is a peak period for online shopping. As a result, many courier firms are hiring and offering high wages, China Youth Daily reported today.

People can shop on JD.com on Chinese New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day, which fall on Jan. 21 and Jan. 22 this year, and will receive their goods in the usual delivery time, the report said.

Business is good over the holiday. Online turnover at JD.com surged 11-fold during the Spring Festival in the eight years from 2013 to 2021, thanks to ensuring normal delivery times, the Beijing-based firm said.

But in order to keep deliveries humming during this major holiday when many workers return to their hometowns to be with their families, express delivery companies are actively recruiting and are offering high salaries.

A courier can expect to earn over CNY10,000 (USD1,472) during the Spring Festival, the report said. The salary levels being offered are as high as during the Double 11 online shopping gala in November at CNY500 (USD73) a day. Many people are interested, a delivery man said.

The Spring Festival delivery fee is about five times the usual fee, another courier said. It is tempting but he is hesitating as he has not been home in two years.

Although the salary is high, there is a huge amount of work involved as there are a large number of parcels to be delivered and only a few delivery men. So some prefer to go home for the Lunar New Year.

SF Express is spending CNY400 million (USD59 million) on employee bonuses over the Lunar New Year period, the Shenzhen-based courier company said on Jan. 4. This includes CNY200 million in incentives and CNY200 million on special care, such as meals and thermal clothing, for the workers.

Local governments are also handing out subsidies. Wuxi in eastern Jiangsu province will offer grants of CNY20 million as well as supplies to deliverymen who work during Chinese New Year. Xiamen in southeastern Fujian province is providing courier firms with up to CNY500,000 (USD73,626) in incentives. And Shanghai is dishing out CNY150 (USD22) a day to each courier who works during the calendar New Year and Lunar New Year holidays.

By staying open over Chinese New Year, there was a 16 percent leap in orders at courier firms last year from the year before, and a three-and-a-half-fold jump in 2021, according to State Post Bureau data. And the volume of deliveries nearly quadrupled in early 2022 from previous years to 749 million parcels.

Editor: Kim Taylor