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| Coupang employees are about to load parcels onto a delivery truck at a company warehouse outside Seoul. Korea's leading e-commerce firm has been operating its own delivery system, Rocket Delivery, to get products more quickly and safely to customers. / Courtesy of Coupang |
By Lee Hyo-sik
Coupang, Korea's leading e-commerce site, has been cleared of suspicions that it violated the country's Transport Service Act by operating its own delivery system.
Coupang said Wednesday that the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office has dismissed charges filed by logistics companies that have been complaining about the company's own delivery system, Rocket Delivery.
The Korea Interland Logistics Association (KILA), which represents the interests of logistics firms, filed a complaint with law enforcement early this year, arguing that Coupang violated the law by operating the parcel delivery service without a license.
However, the prosecution concluded that Coupang did not break the Transport Service Act because it delivers parcels for free.
"We began running Rocket Delivery in March 2014, which has expedited our parcel delivery," a Coupang spokesman said. "We used to charge an additional 2,500 won to customers who purchased goods worth less than 9,500 won. But after we were warned by the government in May that this could constitute a breach of the Transport Act, we stopped delivering parcels worth less than 9,500 won with our own personnel."
KILA has also filed complaints with district offices in Seoul, asking them to bar Coupang from delivering parcels through its own logistics system. But the district offices are widely expected to disregard the complaints, following the prosecution's latest decision, Coupang said.
"We introduced Rocket Delivery to send goods to customers in a faster and safer manner across the country. This revolutionary service has greatly boosted customer satisfaction," the spokesman said. "Within legal boundaries, we will continue to expand our delivery services."
The company currently operates eight warehouses across the nation, employing about 1,000 delivery people. It plans to open a large-scale warehouse on a 99,173 square-meter site in Incheon in 2016. It also plans to invest tens of billions of won in the coming years to build an advanced logistics infrastructure to boost delivery efficiency.
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