subject: Parcel delivery services at risk for communities with struggling ‘new' post offices [print this page] Parcel delivery services at risk for communities with struggling new' post offices
Many communities which thought their post offices had been saved when arrangements were put in place for services to be provided by other retailers or mobile facilities could find that their revival was a false dawn. That is according to a new report by watchdog Consumer Focus.
It says that, while two-thirds of people are happy with the service they get from their local branch, the other third have stopped using them either because they are not in convenient locations, their opening hours are limited, or they simply did not know that such a service existed.
Consumer Focus says the Post Office is not listening to the people running the new facilities, with the result that they are unable to offer valuable services such as parcel collection and delivery. This means that more people are turning to other parcel delivery companies to send their packages. These suppliers bring clear advantages over the service offered by the state-owned provider.
They include the ability to conduct the whole process of having a parcel collected and then delivered online. It is even possible for a collection of a parcel to be arranged for a time and a place convenient to the sender at the time of ordering. Online parcel delivery companies are not tied to any single supplier, so they can negotiate their own deals for carriage of customers' parcels with the major delivery companies.
They buy spare capacity on the vehicles operated by these companies, such as DHL, Parcelforce, FedEx and UPS, and then sell this on directly. Once a delivery has been arranged, the courier company takes charge of the job, so the customer has the reassurance of knowing that their delivery is being handled by a business with long experience in the field.
The courier companies also have massive resources, in the shape of staff, vehicles and the latest technology to help make them work as efficiently as possible. Customers can take advantage of this, too, as they can track the progress of their parcel through the delivery company's website, by using the unique code attached to every parcel by the deliverer.
That service continues right to the recipient's door, with the possibility also available of receiving an email confirming in real time that a delivery has been completed. With services having developed to this degree, it is not surprising that courier companies are gaining ground.
There is no need to have to struggle to a local collection point to take an express delivery. Many companies which now offer the facility for a parcel to be collected from a home or business address, and use air or international freight to transport it around the world, can be found online.
