The express delivery industry has long been male-dominated because it requires physical stamina, but many women have also struggled their way to a firm foothold and handed in one "high-scoring answer sheet" after another. On the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8, reporters interviewed several female couriers to hear their stories with express delivery.

　　Finding a "life-saving parcel" among tens of thousands of deliveries

　　Pang Lihong from Huolin Gol, Inner Mongolia, has been working in express delivery for nearly four years since joining the J&T Express Huolin Gol outlet in July 2020. From nothing to something, from small to large, from knowing nothing to being proficient in everything, Pang Lihong went through countless sleepless nights.

　　In early November 2023, Tongliao City welcomed the first major snowstorm of winter, and the small town of Huolin Gol was also covered by thick white snow. During the busy morning work at the outlet, in the area Pang Lihong was responsible for, a message from Grandma Zhang's daughter broke the calm of the outlet: "The dialysis medication I bought for my mother is on the freight truck. What should I do?"

　　The road was blocked by heavy snow, and the expressway had not yet reopened... Faced with such a thorny problem, Pang Lihong quickly organized employees to clear the snow at the outlet, while urgently communicating the situation with the relevant person in charge of the Tongliao distribution center. With the cooperation of various departments, the freight truck that originally needed 24 hours to arrive smoothly reached the outlet five hours later.

　　Among nearly ten thousand parcels, the six people at the outlet took less than an hour to find Grandma Zhang's medicine parcel. The moment the medicine was taken out, Pang Lihong put on her helmet, picked up the parcel and set off, driving for a full half hour through the thick snow. When she knocked on Grandma Zhang's door, she saw the anxious yet grateful eyes of Grandma Zhang and her daughter...

　　Pang Lihong serves every customer with enthusiasm and dedication. Through more than 1,000 days and nights of effort, the outlet grew from more than 10 orders a day at its founding to more than 7,000 orders a day now. Pang Lihong and her colleagues have not only improved their own quality of life, but also made the outlet an important part of the lives of the town's residents.

　　Warm-hearted service, becoming family with customers

　　In Changtai District, Zhangzhou, Fujian, Xu Agui and her husband run a small J&T Express outlet. She arrives at the outlet punctually at 7 a.m. every day to begin her busy day, and after closing at 8 p.m., the exhausted her returns home and still has to track parcel data information until late at night. Xu Agui has kept up this diligent routine for four years.

　　Since Xu Agui became proficient in her work, her service reputation gradually spread throughout the area: for fragile express items, under Xu Agui's packing, every order can be delivered intact to the recipient. Every time she packs, she carefully checks the packaging inside and out, and also provides free cartons for customers with special needs, and she has never missed or mis-sent a single express item.

　　Over the years, she has been running the express delivery business in this area, and she knows customers' habits by heart, and has even become friends with many customers. The more than 7,000 friends on her two mobile phone WeChat accounts have been accumulated one customer at a time. Her service attitude of "available whenever sought, responsive whenever called" has won her high praise from customers in the area.

　　"We are friendly to customers, and customers treat us the same way." While taking care of others, Xu Agui also helped herself, and her warm-hearted service gradually "blossomed and bore fruit" in the area.

　　Twin sisters set off again after retirement

　　Song Hong and Song Xia are from Pingyin County, Jinan, Shandong. They went to work in the city when they were young. Later, the sisters came to work at SF Express one after another, and worked until retirement age this year.

　　Neat, bright, cheerful and enthusiastic is the first impression Song Xia gives people. Although she is the younger of the twins, she was the first to forge an indissoluble bond with express delivery, having joined in 2008 and worked for 16 years to date.

　　When she first arrived, Song Xia joined the Ganshiqiao branch. She recalled: "At that time, the area one person was responsible for was as large as two areas now." In order to get up to speed as quickly as possible, she memorized routing codes whenever she had time, observed veteran employees' methods of serving customers in her spare time, and practiced packaging operations for various items. Soon, Song Xia began working independently.

　　In 2010, two years after Song Xia started working at SF Express, her elder sister Song Hong also joined. The two not only look very similar, but also share the same meticulous attitude toward work. For Song Xia, her service secret is the word "sincerity."

　　"Steady and careful, down-to-earth and willing to work hard" is the evaluation customers give her most. In 2015, with her excellent service reputation, Song Hong became a part-time special service representative at the outlet. This is not only an affirmation of her work, but also a challenge and a test. While completing her tasks as entrusted, Song Hong also brought new business contracts to the outlet.

　　Time flies. On February 21, the sisters Song Hong and Song Xia turned 50. Colleagues from the Qinglongqiao business department in the Jinan area gathered together, not only to celebrate their birthdays, but also to congratulate them on setting off again after retirement and rejoining the express delivery industry.

　　"After learning that we could continue working, we were both very happy. The company not only offers some positions to choose from, but also lets us have something to do and money to earn after retirement, allowing me to continue running in the work I love most. We are very happy!" Song Xia said.