A new mobile parcel box labelled ‘PakSafe’ is being tested in a pilot project with DHL Parcel Germany in southern Germany as another solution to the ‘last mile problem’ of deliveries to apartment blocks and flats.
Developed by the Göde Group, the box is being tested in the town of Aschaffenburg where Göde is headquartered – and where DHL rival DPD is also based. PakSafe will be tested for three months by selected DHL Parcel customers, and the official market launch is planned for October.
As a mobile solution, PakSafe can be fixed within a few seconds at the door of an apartment or a house without screws and drilling. After the parcel has been delivered, the space-saving box can be removed again and stored, Göde Group said.
For the deliverer itself, it is also easy to use PakSafe. An electronic safety lock, a combination of cut-resistant metal attachment and very robust materials as well as a shiftable alarm system ensure that consigments are kept safely in the PakSafe until the recipient come, it emphasised.
With the fast and easy set-up, PakSafe is an ideal solution for any location where no permanent parcel box can be installed, Göde said. “PakSafe is thus particularly interesting for the approximately 23 million German households (around 60% of all households) living in apartment blocks, whether rented or owned.”
“With PakSafe, online shoppers are free in their daily organisation despite expecting a parcel as they know it will arrive safely. This way, they gain independence and time which perfectly fits into a highly flexible and mobile life style of the ‘online-generation’. No need to wait for the postman, time-consuming parcel pick-up in-store or at the parcel terminal or going to the neighbour,” Göde added.
Dr. Michael Göde, owner of the Göde Group and initiator of the PakSafe project, aims to improve online shopping for customers, shippers and deliverers. “With more than 35 years of experience in the mail-order business and as one of the pioneers in online trade, we know the demands and wishes of postal customers and online shoppers as well as the requirements on the part of shippers and parcel services. Our goal when developing PakSafe was to make parcel deliveries as simple as letter deliveries.”
PakSafe recalls the mobile parcel box ‘PaketButler’ that Deutsche Telekom launched in cooperation with DHL Parcel Germany, online retailer Zalando and Hamburg-based service company ‘feldsechs’ a year ago. The PaketButler is a foldable box that takes up very little space so customers can simply store it in their flats when it is not used. It can be fixed on the day of delivery at the apartment door via a flexible, cut-resistant metal attachment which makes it safe. It weighs 5 kg and can accommodate parcels measuring up to 70x50x30 cm.
Last year, DHL also launched parcel delivery boxes (Paketkästen) for installation outside residential homes in the same style as traditional letterboxes. Earlier this year, the company announced that it will also set up self-service parcel machines inside large apartment blocks in Germany, in cooperation with Vonovia (formerly Deutsche Annington), Germany’s largest housing company. The first boxes have been successfully installed in Berlin and Dortmund in a pilot project. Meanwhile, around 500 tenants in the buildings of Vonovia use the parcel machines which could be officially marketed for larger buildings early next year, the German newspaper FAZ reported.
In response to the exclusive DHL parcel boxes which no other parcel carrier can use, DPD, GLS and Hermes have set up a joint firm under the name ‘ParcelLock’ to launch a network of carrier-neutral ‘parcel boxes’ for residential delivery in Germany in competition to DHL’s exclusive network. The three parcel operators decided to team up to create a joint alternative system after market leader DHL Parcel refused to open up its exclusive ‘Paketkasten’ system to access by competitors.
The ‘ParcelLock’ solution, which will be open to all parcel operators, is currently being tested and will be publicly presented in October before being rolled out. The ‘final-mile’ solution will help all three companies to raise their residential delivery success rates significantly, thus reducing costs for repeat delivery attempts or alternative delivery solutions, according to experts.
