Q&A: Will Royal Mail 'click and collect'

[TrueBlueTerrier]

Q&A: Will Royal Mail 'click and collect' make internet shopping easier - or add to the queue chaos in Post Offices?

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The Royal Mail is set to launch a new ‘click and collect’ service aimed at customers wanting to shop online and then collect at their local Post Office branch.

The company said that Post Office branches will be opening later to give customers more control on how their items are delivered.
Will the new service help unlock the convenience and lower costs of internet shopping to more people - or simply add to the queue chaos at Post Offices?

This is Money’s Tara Evans explains…

How will it work?
Retailers that need to deliver their goods to customers will sign up to the service with Royal Mail and the Post Office.
When a customer orders an item online through these retailers they will be given the option of having it delivered to a local Post Office branch, as well as their home. They will be given five local branch options with opening times for each location to help them choose.
Once the item has arrived customers in branch customers will be sent a text or an email informing them that their delivery is ready for collection.

Have any retailers signed up?
Not yet. But the Royal Mail said it is talking to 'big' retailers first, for the initial launch, before rolling it out to other firms next year.

When will it launch?
There is no exact launch date as yet. A spokesman from Royal Mail said that it would be ‘later this year’.

How much will it cost?
A spokesman for Royal Mail said that it will not be adding any extra cost onto retailers as it already charges businesses a fee to deliver their items. So, in theory, it shouldn't be more expensive than any existing delivery method and could be cheaper to retailers on the grounds that deliveries need only be made to branches, rather than individual properties.

Will it cut delivery times?
There has been no indication whether retailers will be able to offer shorter delivery times if items are collected from branches, rather than homes. However, the service could potentially make life easier for customers who find items have to be held at a Post Office collection office because no one is home to take receipt of packages.
In these cases, customers will be able to specify a branch that is more convenient than their local pick-up point.

Will this cause Post Office queue chaos?
A spokesman for Royal Mail said that capacity and demand will be assessed on an individual branch basis. For example, different Post Office’s will have varying amounts of storage.
A spokesman from the Post Office said that it is 'modernising its branches and making it as easy as possible for customers to visit through longer opening hours, this is resulting in waiting time of less than a minute in its new style branches.'
However, to see if this statement is true in practice we will have to wait until the scheme has launched.

First class: There are concerns that the new service will mean longer waiting times.
Is my local Post Office branch/collection point included?
Fingers crossed. The service will be available at 10,500 branches, out of a possible 11,800. This will include 4,000 branches which operate with extended hours.

Is it similar to other ‘click and collect’ services?
In a way, yes. Argos, M&S, Next and John Lewis are just some of the big retailers who offer a ‘click and collect’ schemes – so customers can order and pay online to collect items in-store.

[hans solo]

i can really see all the small po,s that are left due to forced closures wanting to take that work on for rm
get paid peanuts for taking in and dealing with rm parcel service dont think so
and just wait till xmas fun fun fun

[subbie]

What dream world do these people live in, out of the 4000 so called longer hours PO's POL have only got 144 open so far, with most offices refusing to convert.

Anyway, why does RM have to involve POL in this service, why not just go direct to the Sub Offices, and cut out the greedy middle man, who will not be contributing one thing towards the running of this service once it starts.

Subbie

[britwrit]

Have any retailers signed up?
Not yet. But the Royal Mail said it is talking to 'big' retailers first, for the initial launch, before rolling it out to other firms next year.

When will it launch?
There is no exact launch date as yet. A spokesman from Royal Mail said that it would be ‘later this year’.

I don't know. If you're going to make a big announcement (or at least send out a press release,) maybe you want to have some of the details ironed out first?

[UnhappyGremlin]

Have any retailers signed up?
Not yet. But the Royal Mail said it is talking to 'big' retailers first, for the initial launch, before rolling it out to other firms next year.

When will it launch?
There is no exact launch date as yet. A spokesman from Royal Mail said that it would be ‘later this year’.

I don't know. If you're going to make a big announcement (or at least send out a press release,) maybe you want to have some of the details ironed out first?

Or all of them.
As Subbie said, there are very few offices that have changed their opening times so unless people can get to the PO during lunch, assuming it's open then, the parcels will still go 'undelivered', in that people will have to make a special trip on a Saturday as the earliest chance of getting it.
I wonder if the PO's will be getting a fee for this?
To announce something of this magnitude, with the vast majority of the details still up in the air, is nothing but stupidity on RM's part. And if it fails to get it up and running, no doubt PO's will get the blame for being 'uncooperative'.