Royal Mail offers more flexibility to parcel customers

Royal Mail has launched new Inflight delivery options to offer greater convenience and flexibility for receiving customers. When retailers and other customers send items via Royal Mail Tracked, prior to delivery the recipient will receive a notification including an estimated delivery window and the Inflight delivery options.

If the receiving customer knows that they may not be at home at that time, the new Inflight delivery options will enable them to request their item is delivered to a safe place or a preferred neighbour instead. The initiative is designed to offer greater convenience for recipients while increasing the number of first-time deliveries.

Following delivery, Royal Mail will also notify the customer when and where the parcel has been left in line with their selected Inflight delivery option. If left in a safe place, Royal Mail will provide a photograph of the parcel in the requested location. This follows a successful pilot of the service in the South East of England.

Later this year, Royal Mail will be adding further Inflight delivery options and expanding the range of parcel services it will be available on. Options in the pipeline include arranging for the parcel to be delivered for collection at the customer’s convenience at a Royal Mail Customer Service Point, a local Post Office® branch or arranging for the parcels to be delivered on a different day.

Nick Landon, Chief Commercial Officer at Royal Mail, said: “At Royal Mail we are proud to help our UK customers stay connected during these challenging times. Inflight delivery options have been the number one ask from our sending customers in e-commerce. Giving customers the option to specify where their parcels are delivered – in the event they are not at home to receive them – is just one of the ways we are helping to bring greater convenience to the lives of our customers.”