The Diary of a Group—The Second of the Shanghai Epidemic Diary Series

Y wants to eat potato chips.

Two months ago, that meant opening the phone - clicking buy - waiting at home; or opening the door - getting on the bike - and eating right away. In Shanghai on April 15, 2022, potato chips, together with a series of other snacks, became a luxury, a non-necessity of life, and "hypocritical".

Y felt that he had to act to eliminate the pervasive sense of powerlessness with active exploration. The first question, how to find suppliers? After thinking for a while, she opened Taobao, searched for "Pringles", and locked the delivery point in Shanghai. Shipping from Shanghai means that the operators of these online stores should be operators with warehouses in Shanghai. The details of some stores and items immediately appeared in front of her, and she began to contact customer service one by one to ask if group buying was possible in Shanghai. Although most stores sent automatic replies: Shanghai epidemic situation, temporarily unable to deliver goods; but soon, a customer service of a store sent a contact number, and Y successfully connected with supplier S successfully.

S informed that the current delivery starts at 4,000 yuan, and the delivery fee is 800.

This means that the second step of Y group purchase customs clearance is to organize subscriptions in the community, and the delivery line starts from 4,000 yuan. This is really a brand new organizational task. Y, who lacks any experience, can only think hard about every step in the operation process of the group buying these days. While thinking about it, she first asked her intentions among the neighbors in the building. Soon, two more active neighbors, B&C, contacted her and immediately offered several invitations to community group buying groups. Then, Y sent out the information of group purchase of potato chips in different group purchase groups in turn, but the effect was not significant due to the lack of effective drainage links.

Y remembered the "Group Solitaire" applet he saw not long ago. He launched Solitaire in the applet, added product details, and could also buy directly to avoid direct money transactions. While she added product information one by one, an A appeared in countless group buying groups. She asked Y, is there a group buying potato chips? As a result, the third method of organizing subscriptions emerged: building groups.

Y, A, and B became the original three of the potato chip group. Soon, another neighbor J who came across information about potato chips added Y, probably seeing Y's very unskilled advertising and performance, and she began to help Y eagerly. She reminded Y that, first of all, you can send the QR code of the "potato chip group" in different group buying groups, because it is difficult to win the trust of neighbors by directly sending group solitaire information and advertisements; secondly, while sending the QR code of the potato chip group , you can add a product map to make it more attractive. J more actively forwarded this information, and soon, the number of people in the "potato chip group" gradually increased.

J and neighbor C knew each other, and they became the central figure in the growing stage of the "potato chip group", which was widely advertised. After perfecting all the product details of the group solitaire, the group purchase was quickly carried out in full swing. Group announcements have become a fast way to disclose information, communicate information, and answer questions to everyone in the group. Y shuttles back and forth between Solitaire's group friends and supplier S. As the neighbors are proficient in group buying life, there are not too many disputes and doubts. Everyone just joined the group silently and placed orders silently, trying not to bring extra burden to the group leader as much as possible.

The number of participants quickly exceeded Y's estimate. The order was closed at 11:00pm on the last 15th, and there were 70 orders, reaching an amount of more than 7,000. The inexperienced Y also added links to all the snacks provided by Supplier S, laying the groundwork for the assignment on the second day; Y sorted out the total amount of the order and sent it to Supplier S, and she assured that 17 Will deliver on Sunday.

Soon, on the night of the 15th, S reminded Y that on Saturday, the 16th, dry snacks such as potato chips will be delivered. Because the Shanghai government's policy is changing rapidly, it is very likely that the delivery will not be available on Sunday. At night, Y woke up from the sense of accomplishment of forming a group, and began to worry about the quality of the goods, the next distribution problems and possible after-sales problems. It was only then that Y realized that he had undertaken all the work from suppliers to customers—one person had become a whole supermarket.

Early on the 16th, S told Y that the road to Shanghai was not very smooth at present, and the goods she transported from the Baoshan warehouse to Minhang would be checked almost every street. Y also quickly received news from the neighbor group that the neighborhood committee required all courier and logistics personnel to hold a nucleic acid test certificate within 48 hours before placing the goods.

At 1:15 p.m., Y received a call from courier M and rushed to the gate of the community. During the whole process of contacting the courier to unload the goods, Y insisted on a set of "fishing in troubled waters". The essence of this method is to avoid "make a scene" as much as possible, but to make yourself as invisible as possible and not be noticed by the security guards.

Y first went to the neighborhood committee to borrow a set of white protective clothing. In the chaos, Y went straight to the neighborhood committee and asked for protective clothing. When the other party asked, he immediately said that he had explained to XX to go out to get group shopping funds. . As for whether this so-and-so knows, the neighborhood committee and logistics face too many people every day and they can't remember them. They only need a name to shift the responsibility on their shoulders. As for the facts behind this name, they have little chance of being patient. Check with you.

After putting on the protective clothing and going out, the second level of Y came again. The requirement received by the security guard at the door has become that express logistics personnel must hold a nucleic acid test certificate report within 24 hours before unloading. And at 2 o'clock in the morning, M who did the nucleic acid, the report has not yet come out. This also means that the 24-hour nucleic acid test report is basically equivalent to Mission Impossible for the courier guys. At this time, Y once again used the trick of fooling Dafa. During the confrontation with the security guard and the property, don't make a scene and let them remember you; instead, fool around and walk away immediately if it doesn't work. The express logistics at the door is endless, you just need to go to a dead corner that they are not easy to notice, and then start unloading. After unloading, Y started the frantic finishing process; another security guard who came over asked, have you scanned the code (verified that the nucleic acid report is within 24 hours)? Y replied, swept it. The security went away.

For six full hours from 1:30 to 7:30, Y experienced the work of the logistics warehouse staff of a series of companies such as Amazon and Walmart. Check the total order, check every order; unpack, sort by order, and try to stay awake. The lower back soon began to sore, and the work was completed slowly. Y brought a pen, a sticky note with all the orders, scissors and a garbage bag provided by neighbor C. This is a very mechanical and time-consuming job.

In the process, Y witnessed the ecology at the door of the community and thought it was a very interesting small world. The harsh street regulations of the 24-hour nucleic acid report have directly intensified the contradiction between the security guard at the door and the courier who came to deliver the goods. In the solution of such contradictions, it is difficult for the courier brother to use the method of fishing in troubled waters, because they usually have one order per person, and it is difficult not to attract the attention and drive of the security guard. In this case, two types of practices have been born: one is the tenderness method; the other is "make a scene".

The first category mainly belongs to the young buddies who deliver couriers in the community all year round; they have 24-hour nucleic acid certificates in their hands, but such certificates often expire at night. The security guard will warmly remind this group of people to take a screenshot when they come to deliver the first order, and show the screenshot later. This is represented by JD’s little brother D. He seems to be very experienced. When he encounters riders who are stopped and scolded, he will comfortably tell them to do nucleic acid at about 4 or 5 in the afternoon, and they will be able to do it the next day. Get a report within 24 hours. JD.com stayed from 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. to do nucleic acid testing. During this time, even if the courier and the security guard had a conflict, he would always communicate and coordinate between them to comfort both parties; it can be seen that D is a very gentle people. He said to the courier, these security guards are only doing things according to the government's orders, why are you arguing with them? Even with such strenuous physical labor, he can maintain his geniality and patience, which is a rare quality.

The second type of courier brother is the type with a hot personality and a big temper. The reason why they are angry is actually quite understandable. For them, as long as the nucleic acid test is a little late the day before—considering that they are always on the way to deliver the goods, the next day they are faced with the fact that the nucleic acid is clearly made but the other party cannot see the nucleic acid result. situation. And for a person, 48 hours and 24 hours, there is no difference at all. However, after a few kilometers of hard work, I couldn't send it. This kind of "running for nothing" feeling is really bad. In addition, the security guards often have a bad tone, and they are straight. do not come! do not come! So much so that a little brother who called the police bluntly said that they regarded me as a virus!

This kind of little brother often chooses to call the police. During the 6 hours I was there, two people called the police one after another. The previous one was unlucky, the police came, and the head of the property also came. The street regulations were there. The police went out to understand the situation according to the regulations. Instead, the security of the property was in charge, and the little brother finally had to give up.

The latter was very strategic from the caller to the police, and finally managed to get the thing in. The successful little brother started to go online when he called the police, "I'm here to deliver medicines, life-saving medicines, don't allow them to be delivered, what if the old man has three long and two shortcomings"; later he said, "Comrade police, these people are too disrespectful to people. , treat me like a virus, how can I be like this." The security guards kept pretending not to care, cheering each other up in twos and threes. Not long after that, the police came. This police officer was not as formal as the previous police officer. Instead, he took the little brother's medicine and went straight to the security guard and handed it to the security guard for them to take it. The security guard was still muttering, "But the 24-hour nucleic acid stipulated by the government..." The policeman just left the sentence "take it in", turned around and left. When the police were far away, a few security guards got together and scolded a few times, "Okay! Are you listening to the police or the government! Just leave it alone!"

The confrontation between formal rules and informal rules in China has proved that only informal can get things done. In the long run, exploiting loopholes and finding relationships have naturally become the rules on the surface.

And more little brothers are neither warm nor thorny; they often find that they are not in conformity with the rules, and leave after a short stay. When the security guards treat these people, the phrase "24-hour nucleic acid stipulated by the government" speaks in a confident and even domineering tone; it contrasts with the submissiveness when speaking to the police. Sometimes the security guards say a few more words, which directly pierce the government's intention: "It's too late for 24 hours, the government just wants you to send you a day off for a day, can't you see it?"

First divide potato chips, Starbucks, cakes, biscuits, and instant noodles according to taste, and then use cardboard boxes and garbage bags to pack the ingredients; then use a marker to write the building number; finally, use a small cart to divide it a dozen times and drag it to the owner. Shelves. After six full hours, it was finally over.

As a result, human behavior is always unavoidable from making mistakes, giving more here, less there, and endless trivialities. I bought three boxes of potato chips by myself, but at the end of the package, there was only one box left. Chaos didn't know where to send my potato chips. Finally, on the 17th, I was busy carrying each other for a day and a half, and was on the way to deal with the after-sales service. The three-day career as the head of the regiment ended in victory. After finishing it, I immediately wanted to apply for retirement, and I never wanted to start all over again.

It is necessary to state that:

With the exception of couriers M and D, all the other neighbors and suppliers in this article who have helped me in the process are them.