Post Office Ltd, Royal Mail’s retail network division, has signed a contract with private mailcompany DX Group to enable DX’s customers to collect items from Post Office branches that could not
be delivered.With the deal, the Post Office aims to ensure a sustainable branch network under itscommitment to seeking new business opportunities, Royal Mail said in a statement.
With the Post Office Collect service, mail and parcels that could not be delivered the firsttime, either because the item was too big to go through the letterbox or required a signature, cannow be taken to a local Post Office branch for the item to be collected at the customer’sconvenience.
The service builds on Royal Mail’s Local Collect service launched in 2001 that allowedcustomers to choose re-delivery of an item to a local Post Office, if more convenient for them – orParcelforce Worldwide’s Convenient Delivery service, where items that require a signature are takento a branch to avoid the need for redelivery.
In addition to a fixed contract charge, the Post Office will also receive a fee from DX forevery item delivered to one of its branches.
DX Group is the first private company to reach an agreement for using the Post Office Collectservice. It will initially be launched in Greater London branches in May before being rolled outnationwide later in the summer, Royal Mail said.
Alan Cook, Managing Director of Post Office Ltd, said: “We want to retain and win as muchbusiness as we can in order to ensure a sustainable Post Office branch network. We have expandedour range of services in recent years to include a variety of financial products as well as traveland telecoms services, including broadband. With more than 11,500 Post Office branches providingthe Collect service, we are ideally placed to provide alternative delivery solutions that areconvenient and easily accessible to customers and we will continue to assess new opportunities.”
