How your Shopee parcels get to you in 24 hours
Most of us are fast asleep and tucked in bed at 3am — but for a group of workers handling parcels at SPX Express, their day is just getting started.
They work efficiently alongside fast-moving conveyor belts and giant ‘slides’ that send down an avalanche of packages meant for delivery the very next day.
If you’re a last-minute online shopper, you wouldn’t think twice about clicking the express delivery option provided by many e-commerce platforms.
For Shopee, its ‘next-day delivery’ (NDD) promises that you’ll get your order in just a night’s sleep.
Here’s an inside look at how your parcel gets to you in 24 hours.
The life cycle of a parcel
At 10pm, the sorting centre is already bustling with life. Most of the activity, however, is near the loading bay where first-mile drivers drop off their ‘haul’ for the day.
These drivers arrive with their vehicles full of parcels collected from online sellers along their route.
Workers then transfer these parcels to the main floor of the loading dock, which quickly fills up as the hour passes.
According to Kai Ming, who works as an Assistant Manager of Operations at SPX Express, during peak shopping campaigns such as ‘11.11’ and ‘12.12,’ the volume can skyrocket, with stacks of packages reaching a grown man’s height.
However, dealing with the heavy load of parcels — while daunting to the casual observer — is just a regular day at work for those at the sorting centre.
They handle the mountains of packages with practiced movements, manually setting aside bulky, fragile, or irregular items while transferring the rest onto a conveyor belt for the next step.
These items then get processed into the Automated Sorting Machine (ASM) where they are scanned and sorted.
The machine takes over from this point, mechanically categorising parcels into different chutes by postal code and directing those destined for high-volume locations.
These are then delivered to a range of places including neighbourhood collection points, lockers or doorstep deliveries.
While parcels marked for NDD — which make up 20 to 30% of the day’s packages — go through a similar process, the sorting of these items only start at 3am, after the standard delivery items have been cleared.
Last-mile drivers will collect NDD packages at the crack of dawn, before plying their designated route.
Behind the scenes of delivering Shopee parcels
Kai Ming, who oversees much of the daily processes at SPX Express, shares with MS News what it takes to ensure swift parcel deliveries.
As part of the operations team, he sees the macro side of things — identifying potential bottlenecks and coming up with solutions to these problems.
Efficiency is paramount — every step of the sorting and delivery process is carefully optimised to save time.
“If there’s something that can be done in 30 minutes instead of an hour, we’ll do it,” said the 34-year-old.
Kai Ming says that hiccups do happen, recalling an instance when a technical fault caused the conveyor belts to stall, delaying operations.
That said, these delays are usually brief as they are quickly attended to by an on-site technician.
Shopping campaigns are the most challenging
The 34-year-old adds that the most stressful part of his job, however, is anticipating the issues that might arise during larger campaigns.
“It was really hectic,” said Kai Ming, when asked about the recent ‘11.11’ campaign.
Preparations for the “tsunami of parcels” start months before, with meetings he likens to “war-gaming” sessions.
During these sessions, the team discusses worst-case scenarios and how they can tackle problems should they arise.
“On the day itself, there’s no time to feel the anxiety anymore,” said Kai Ming.
“You just have to act upon the situation, [and] knowing what’s going to happen next.”
In such high-pressure situations requiring quick decisions, Kai Ming finds reassurance in his experienced team members, who provide solutions informed by past campaigns.
The people behind your Shopee parcels
On the ground, sorters and drivers are given the support they need.
Senior sorters will provide on-the-job training to juniors, and drivers can provide feedback on their routes.
And even though the job is far from easy, it seems equally fulfilling.
“The moment you deliver parcels to the buyers, that’s the most satisfying thing ever,” said Kai Ming, who occasionally delivers packages himself to test out certain routes.
He recalls receiving positive remarks on the quickness of the delivery and shares that other drivers have experienced the same.
This little bit of interaction brings meaning to the hard work of those at SPX Express — especially to the drivers who often deliver parcels to the same homes.
His advice for customers? A simple “hello” to your delivery driver can go a long way in brightening their day.
“Just have a chat with your delivery driver,” urged Kai Ming. “You’ll be surprised that many of them are willing to just talk to you.”
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Featured image by MS News.
