The Post Office has opened up its parcel collection network to external carriers for the first time in its 360-year history.
Reportedly the UK’s largest retail network with 11,500 branches, the Post Office previously only had an agreement with Royal Mail Group for parcel collections directly at its branches.
However, in a move designed to ensure the future sustainability of the network, from next week DPD will deliver parcels directly to Post Offices, resulting in environmentally sustainable benefits as multiple parcels get delivered to one single location for collection.
The new click-and-collect service will initially be available at around 250 Post Offices this month before rolling-out to approximately 1,500 branches across the UK ahead of the peak Christmas period.
Customers making a purchase online will have the option to choose their local Post Office as the collection point for their parcels.
DPD will deliver parcels directly to the Post Office and the Postmaster will process customer collections at the counter.
According to the Post Office, its partnership with DPD will play an important role in cities and towns across the UK in reducing the environmental impact of having vans making multiple stops to drop off parcels, whilst also encouraging people to return to their local high street on foot.
DPD conducted its own review of last-mile delivery and the impact of click-and-collect on the environment. Its studies showed that there is a reduction of, on average, 63% of greenhouse gases in the last-mile delivery when using the DPD Pickup network.
Nick Read, chief executive at the Post Office, said: “As a society, we are increasingly considering the environmental impact of our activities. This will mean ensuring the last mile of delivery is ‘carbon free’.
“Our physical network of branches helps make this a reality, encouraging people to walk or cycle to their local Post Office to collect their parcels.”
In recent months DPD has announced several green initiatives including the roll-out of a major new air quality monitoring programme across six of the biggest cities in the UK and the pledge to deliver by only all-electric vehicles in 25 of the largest towns and cities in the UK by 2025.
DPD currently has over 1,000 EVs on the road, which is expected to rise to over 1,700 by the end of the year.
Elaine Kerr, DPD CEO, said: “Our sustainability strategy is based on looking at every single aspect or our operation and challenging ourselves to make it more efficient by reducing emissions and miles, while improving the service for customers at the same time. Having the option to deliver to Post Offices helps us achieve that.
“DPD will provide all-electric delivery to 10 major towns and cities by the end of this year and 25 locations by 2025. With that and recipients having the option to walk to their local Post Office to collect a missed parcel, the vision of a carbon-free ‘last mile’ is becoming a reality.”
