race to the bottom

[ihatedogs]

I see dpd have an offer on. £5.99 next day delivery up to 20 kilos. Surely these prices are unsubstainable. Will we see another citilink as dpd and their self employed couriers struggle to make money at these prices?

[Martin Walsh]

House of Fraser and Amazon currently charge £10 for a same day delivery which is basically if you order it on the next between 1800 and midnight than you can have it delivered between 1800 and 2200 the next evening.

Royal Mail has a same day separate business unit called same day which contracts the work out to courier firms just to keep in the market. We in London are now trailing the delivery of these items and this has massive growth opportunities as consumers want same day and a delivery window when they are in from work. The only problem is that the 18:00 to 22:00 delivery window is the worst time for Royal Mail's operation as collections normally finish around 20 00.

DpD is obviously trying to undercut. Amazon are even launching a 1 hour service. In the USA Amazon has launched something called Amazon Fresh where they delivery food to the door and is a growing product.

Consumers are demanding faster deliveries and they don't want to pay extra to do so and if they have to pay extra they want to pay very little.

The problem for delivery offices is same day will be removing items which deliveries use to deliver and of course Amazon have expanded their own delivery service.

The other thing which All big companies are demanding is that all parcels are tracked and there is a scan to confirm delivery. Hence the new PDAs and parcel barcodes etc.

Sadly the race to the bottom started many years ago , but in Royal Mail the CWU have got a commitment to the best terms and conditions and no outsourcing etc.

[SpacePhoenix]

It wouldn't surprise me to see the RM parcels side get split off and merged into PF, with the letters and flats staying with existing DOs, possibly with no recorded or specials. It also wouldn't surprise me to see part time duties that are purely prepping and delivering d2ds

[Martin Walsh]

I can't see parcels being moved from Royal Mail to Parcelforce as the simple fact is that Royal Mail delivery more parcels in one week than Parcelforce do in one year. Parcelforce could not cope.

The other reason is that Royal Mail combination of delivering letters and parcels together help Royal Mail save on costs as deliveries do both and therefore if the delivery post person goes to every address with letters it more efficient to also deliver parcels as well.

[wannabeek]

I'm surprised to see Parcelforce drivers still delivering in our area. We now deliver massive and heavy parcels every day which always used to be done by parcelforce. We often wonder what they do deliver round here, as we see them around and they have the same size and shape parcels as us.

[britwrit]

House of Fraser and Amazon currently charge £10 for a same day delivery which is basically if you order it on the next between 1800 and midnight than you can have it delivered between 1800 and 2200 the next evening.

Royal Mail has a same day separate business unit called same day which contracts the work out to courier firms just to keep in the market. We in London are now trailing the delivery of these items and this has massive growth opportunities as consumers want same day and a delivery window when they are in from work. The only problem is that the 18:00 to 22:00 delivery window is the worst time for Royal Mail's operation as collections normally finish around 20 00.

DpD is obviously trying to undercut. Amazon are even launching a 1 hour service. In the USA Amazon has launched something called Amazon Fresh where they delivery food to the door and is a growing product.

London seems like a perfect place for this market. So many upscale households with the cash on hand to pay for this service, all within a relatively contained area.

But in terms of the largest picture, what's going to happen come Christmas? Like other people have noted, the profit margins on these super-fast deliveries must be razor-thin.

[Darren Bent]

and this means lot of drivers and vans is needed and how will the companies be able to keep them busy enough to keep working. I can't see it working as it will be a lot of stress.