An employee works at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. On China's giant Singles Day internet shopping festival, the country's delivery firms are stretched so thin that they are looking for tie-ups, listings and new investors to husband their resources. E-commerce has been a huge boon to the logistics industry, but the ever-bigger Singles Day, run by leading online market company Alibaba Group Holding Ltd on Nov. 11 every year, exacerbates the industry's twin dilemmas of cut-throat competition and rising labor costs. With low barriers to entry, express couriers proliferated rapidly over the past decade to more than 8,000 firms, squeezing profit margins to about 5 percent, down from 30 percent 10 years ago, according to analysts. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a Tmall logistic centre in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, China, October 28, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





An employee works at a JD.com logistic centre in Langfang, Hebei province, November 10, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Workers listen to their line manager as he prepares them for the upcoming Singles Day shopping festival, at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Workers listen to their line manager as he prepares them for the upcoming Singles Day shopping festival, at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Workers listen to their line manager as he prepares them for the upcoming Singles Day shopping festival, at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Workers listen to their line manager as he prepares them for the upcoming Singles Day shopping festival, at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Workers listen to their line manager as he prepares them for the upcoming Singles Day shopping festival, at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express ahead of the Singles Day shopping festival, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express ahead of the Singles Day shopping festival, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express ahead of the Singles Day shopping festival, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express ahead of the Singles Day shopping festival, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express ahead of the Singles Day shopping festival, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express ahead of the Singles Day shopping festival, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)





Employees work at a sorting centre of Zhongtong (ZTO) Express ahead of the Singles Day shopping festival, Chaoyang District, Beijing, November 8, 2015. (Photo by Jason Lee/Reuters)