Promising results for parcel collection box system in Austria
Austrian Post has reported a good initial response to a new trial of residential parcel collection boxes in Vienna. The pilot has been running since the start of the month, with a total of 90 boxes deployed in the test area, which involves a residential population of about 10,000.
The initiative aims to make it easier for consumers to receive their parcels, since recipients can pick up their parcels from the communal lockers 24 hours a day, rather than having to visit a post office if they are not home during the initial delivery.
When an item cannot be delivered in person, it goes into a locker called a Post Empfangsbox (mail receiving box), and a special code card is given to the recipient. The code card – similar to modern hotel room keys – can then be used to open the specific locker in which the parcel has been left.
If a parcel is not picked up within seven days, it then goes to the nearest post office.
The initiative is being run with the municipal housing organisation Wiener Wohnen, and is due to run until the end of the year before a decision is made on a wider roll-out.
Austrian Post postmaster general Dr. Georg Pölzl (left) with Vienna city councillor Michael Ludwig and the new Post Empfangsbox system
For Austrian Post, the initiative should improve first-time delivery rates, particularly in the area of e-commerce, since online shoppers can have items delivered to their nearest Post Empfangsbox while they are at work or out of the house.
Satisfaction
Austria’s postmaster general Dr. Georg Pölzl said residents appeared to be finding the system easy to use.
He said: “So far about 200 packages have been stored in the boxes, with 85% of the packages withdrawn by their recipients on the day of delivery, and in 96% of cases packages were taken within three days.”
An initial survey of residents has found good levels of user satisfaction according to the municipal housing organisation.
Michael Ludwig, Vienna city councillor responsible for housing, said the parcel system has come as part of a broader programme of improvements in the municipal housing blocks in response to a survey of residents.
He said: “Therefore, it makes me even more excisted that this new service run in co-operation between the Post and Wiener Wohnen has been so well received by the residents.”
