Chinese courier refuses to transport body even for extra fee, sparks complaints and debate

Recently, one of the company’s couriers in eastern China’s Shandong province received a strange order through its app.

After contacting the customer, the courier discovered that the “item” he wanted to transport was a corpse.

He posted a recording of his conversation with a client on social media.

“Although I accepted the order, I didn’t know it was for the transport of a corpse,” the courier told the customer. To which he replied, “I can give you more money.”

“No matter how much more you offer, I cannot transport the body,” the courier replied firmly.

The visibly frustrated customer said he would file a complaint against the courier.

On August 3, a Lalamove employee told mainland media that the company’s vehicles were not equipped to transport bodies and that customers should choose a professional company that provides such services.

“If the customer insists on filing a complaint, the courier can appeal. If the review shows that the courier was not at fault, the liability will be withdrawn,” the Lalamove employee said.

The incident attracted widespread attention on social media across the continent.

“The courier should report this to the police. Transporting a body without following proper procedures raises suspicions about the client’s motivation and the body’s origin,” one online observer wrote on Weibo.

“This also highlights the problem of the high cost of professional body transport, which may lead people to look for cheaper alternatives,” another person concluded.

“Some funeral homes charge more than 10,000 yuan ($1,400) to transport a body between provinces,” said a third person.

In China, the transportation of bodies must be carried out using special funeral vehicles that meet national technical standards.

They typically have facilities for storing and cooling bodies, as well as disinfection and protective equipment to prevent contamination with pathogens that may be present on the body.

Chinese law also states that no entity or person may provide corpse transport services without official permission.

Similar cases have been reported across the country.

Last April, an order for intercity transportation worth more than 10,000 yuan appeared on the app of a trucking company in Suzhou, a city in eastern China’s Jiangsu Province.

A client asked about using a minivan to transport an elderly woman who had died.

After investigating, the app operator discovered that the order was not a real request, but probably someone’s idea of ​​a joke. The account that made the order was blocked from the app.