A courier from a delivery company in China has prompted a customer complaint after he refused to transport a corpse even for extra money.
Lalamove, which was founded in Hong Kong in 2013, is a logistics and delivery company with a customer base that is rapidly growing in southern China.
The firm has a number of different vehicles, such as vans and box lorries, which provide a range of services covering short and long distances.
Recently, one of its couriers in Shandong province, eastern China, received a strange order via its app.
After communicating with the customer, the courier discovered that the “item” they wanted transporting was a dead body.
He posted a recording of his conversation with the customer on social media.
“Although I accepted the order, I did not know it was to transport a corpse,” the courier said to the customer. To which they responded: “I can give you more money.”
“No matter how much more you offer, I cannot transport a corpse,” the courier firmly replied.
The evidently frustrated customer said they would complain about the courier.
On August 3, a Lalamove employee told mainland media that the company’s vehicles are not equipped with the conditions for transporting corpses, and customers should choose a professional service specifically for that purpose.
“If this customer insists on complaining, the courier can appeal. If the review finds the courier not at fault, the responsibility will be revoked,” the Lalamove employee said.
The incident attracted widespread attention on mainland social media.
“The courier should report this to the police. Transporting a corpse without following proper procedures raises suspicions about the customer’s motivation and the origin of the body,” one online observer wrote on Weibo.
“This also highlights the issue of the high cost of professional corpse transport, which may lead people to seek cheaper alternatives,” another person surmised.
“Some funeral homes charge more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) for interprovincial corpse transport,” said a third person.
In China, corpses must be transported using dedicated funeral vehicles that meet national technical standards.
They usually have facilities for storing and refrigerating corpses as well as disinfection and protective equipment to prevent contamination from pathogens the dead bodies may carry.
Chinese law also stipulates that no unit or individual can provide corpse transport services without official approval.
There have been other reports of similar cases around the country.
In April last year, a cross-city transport order priced at more than 10,000 yuan appeared on a freight company’s app in Suzhou, a city in eastern China’s Jiangsu province.
The customer requested the use of a minivan to transport a deceased elderly woman.
After investigating, the app operator discovered that the order was not a genuine request, but probably somebody’s idea of a joke. The account that placed the order has been banned from the app.
