Why Did the 'Anti-Involution' Dividend for China's Big Four Couriers Last Only One Quarter?

A typical scenario: This March, Old Zhang, a franchisee of a certain courier company, received an "anti-involution" subsidy from headquarters, cutting costs by 0.2 yuan per parcel. He thought spring had arrived. But by May, he found that the neighboring outlet was cutting prices again to steal customers, and headquarters started demanding he upgrade to an automated sorting line or face fines. Old Zhang's books show: net profit in Q1 rose slightly by 2% year-over-year, but costs climbed back up in Q2—because "anti-involution" merely paused the price war; it didn't change the underlying reality of overcapacity.