Perhaps unsurprisingly in a world of social distancing, InPost have seen usage of their contactless parcel locker service triple in March compared to February. They have also announced the launch of an Inpost Next Day Send service giving fast contactless delivery services.
InPost’s lockers help keep communities connected and provide an essential service allowing small businesses to continue to operate online and ensure customers can receive their products safely and conveniently, without the need of visiting a parcel shop.
There has also been an uplift in demand from people sending parcels to their loved ones, with key workers also able to take advantage of the 24/7 service to send parcels and maintain essential social distancing.
In order to help support the significant demand and keep communities connected, an InPost Next Day Send service has launched in conjunction with the major parcel broker websites including Parcel2Go, Interparcel and the company’s direct service InPost Direct. The faster service will mean that during this challenging time, InPost can ensure customers can send their parcels to the destination quicker. Prices start from £4.00.
InPost continues to expand its nationwide network of lockers and over the next four months intends to increase its presence and deploy 35,000 lockers in 500 new locations across the country. The lockers are opened by customers by scanning a QR code on a mobile phone so they can just pick up, send, or return items from the convenient locations including a number of major supermarkets such as Morrisons as well as rail stations and petrol stations.
“During these unprecedented times, we want to help both personal and business customers to continue to stay connected to their communities. The surge in demand demonstrates how InPost lockers are offering a 24/7, contact-free way for people to send and receive the items they need to, safely and at a time that works for them.
Our Next Day Send service now means customers can get their products and packages to their customers or loved ones as quickly as possibly at a time of need.”
– Jason Tavaria, CEO, InPost
22 Responses
It’s worth noting that while businesses can make a trip to a locker, to deposit parcels, customers cannot pick up from a locker unless the items sent are essential supplies.
There may be discussions about selling non-essential items, but the rules about leaving the house are crystal clear, and nipping out to pick up a non-essential item from a locker could result in a prosecution.
@Inpost,
Sorry, but that’s not correct, and your encouraging of people use lockers while “shopping for essentials” concerns me. This will mean more people spending more time, more frequently, away from home, and there’s no guarantee that people would resist the temptation to visit a locker until their next “essential item” shop. You could have someone desperate for their non essential locker item and then nipping into Morrisons for a pint of milk, just in case they’re being videoed by the police.
But whatever the debate, the government has specifically told us to restrict our shopping to essential items only. Therefore, as it stands, lockers cannot currently be used to receive non essential items. The only delivery method right now, during this lock-down, is home delivery. And that advice, from the the government, must surely be crystal clear.
Chris got there before me.
I use Inpost; obviously those commenting don’t.
You only drop your parcels off at inpost lockers.
They are delivered to the recipients address, NOT to an inpost locker.
It is simply so couriers do not have to call at dozens of addresses to pick parcels up.
@ Gav,
You say, “let them have that small thing, ffs”, but what if that apparently small breaking of the rules results in a death? What if one of those those keyworkers, to whom you refer, ends up infected because they broke the rules to pick up a non-essential item, and then infected others within an essential worker environment. Would you still regard it as a small thing (ffs)?
These lockers are located in potentially busy locations – shops, petrol stations, railways stations; places probably chosen for their high footfall. Which, for our essential workers, means potentially much higher risk than a home delivery. Would I risk it, breathing vapour exhaled or inadvertently coughed in my direction by others? Not on your nelly mate!
@Carl.
You need to read the article properly.
“lockers are opened by customers by scanning a QR code”
“they can just pick up, send, or return items”
“send and receive the items they need to”
These lockers are used to both send and receive.
@Chris,
I’m actually a big fan of these lockers, particularly because they can be used to both send and receive.
But, right now, and particularly because these lockers are located in high footfall locations, we should not be encouraging people to make trips to pick up potentially non-essential items, because this conflicts with the specific list of allowable reasons to leave home. Such journeys are clearly not allowed, and the government is clearly continuing to urge people not to leave the house to procure non-essential items, but shop for “essentials” only. No-one can dispute this message, and it’s simply not open to interpretation for the benefit of buyers.
The argument over use by sellers is less clear because, as you say, the government wants on-line business to continue as far as possible. But I would suggest that, to use your example, a seller shipping ten items would be much safer to arrange a courier or RM collection, rather than attempt to stuff them in a locker in a location that might be teeming with passers by. In my opinion, I would rate an arranged collection as safest, and drop-offs at post offices, RM distribution centres, and indeed lockers in potentially busy public areas, as all having some element of elevated risk, both to the seller, those nearby and, inevitably, those nearby the people who were nearby.
I appreciate that I’m perhaps one of the few on an on-line trade forum who is predominantly looking at things from a safety perspective, but safety, at such a crucial time, should, I suggest, be uppermost in both sellers’ and buyers’ minds.
We dont think the government intention
For post offices to operate as normal.
online to operations to be encouraged
As an excuse to flaunt or circumvent the clear message to stay at home
wow, some people just can’t wait to start goose-stepping eh?
introduce a little fear and suddenly half the world wants to be a fascist.
@ Gav,
Trying to legitimise your actions by comparing one risk against another, on the basis that the risks are so small that we should be disobeying the official rules, is not a philosophy to which I subscribe. I do hope there aren’t too many people like you; otherwise this whole covid19 thing will be difficult to eradicate.