Austrian Post will install parcel terminals at selected Hofer supermarkets, is trialling cool-boxes for home deliveries of refrigerated groceries, and will launch parcel re-direction options across the country from September onwards.
“The pilot project in cooperation with Hofer supermarkets starts at the end of September. The parcel stations are accessible 24 hours a day and can be used to pick up, send and return parcels, as well as bigger letters,” Austrian Post spokesman Michael Homola told CEP-Research today.
The exact number of lockers will be announced in September, CEO Georg Pölzl said at the company’s half-year press conference last week. Hofer is the Austrian subsidiary of German discount supermarket giant Aldi Süd.
As another innovation, the postal operator is currently trialling a cool box “Temprify” for home deliveries of refrigerated products, which guarantees temperatures of as low as -18° over 24 hours and does not require batteries or similar power. “The pilot tests are currently being conducted with 13 customers in Austria,” Homola said.
He added that Austrian Post already offers deliveries of fresh products via food boxes in the temperature range 2-8° in cooperation with the Austrian supermarket chain Unimarkt.
From next month onwards, Austrian Post is also offering customers five different nationwide options to re-direct their parcels across Austria while they are still on their way. The options include delivery to a safe place or a neighbour, changing delivery to another day, to a nearby post office or a pick-up station, Homola confirmed.
Austrian Post currently operates around 1,800 post offices and 320 pick-up stations. Parcels can also be re-directed to 1,600 Hermes parcel shops, with the related logistics handled by Austrian Post.
In its half-year presentation for investors, Austrian Post highlighted its medium-term goal to double the number of self-service solutions it currently offers. According to the presentation, over 1.1 million items were delivered to 28,159 Austrian Post pick-up boxes in the first half of this year, over 1.4 million items to 318 pick-up stations and over 2.4 million parcels were sent via 391 drop-off boxes.
The number of Austrian Post branches will remain constant, Pölzl reportedly said during the press conference. The network currently comprises around 450 own branches and 1,350 partner offices. “There will be a slight decline in (our) own branches,” he said. According to the Postal Market Act, Austrian Post is obliged to make at least 1,650 post offices available throughout Austria for nationwide coverage.
Homola confirmed the demands by Austrian trade unions to introduce a four-day work week. He said that Austrian Post is open for negations on that topic, but no talks are taking place for now. “The four-day week will definitely not be implemented for all of the 20,000 employees. It has to be seen which employees and segments it can be applied to,” he said.
