Polish Post woos business clients with free insurance on courier parcels
Polish Post said today that its courier division, Pocztex, is now offering free insurance for all parcels. The company, which last month said it was slashing its courier prices as it seeks a significant chunk of the ecommerce home delivery market, announced today that it will be offering indemnity up to a value of PLN 1,000 as standard on all Pocztex parcel deliveries.
Effective as of 1st December, the insurance will cover destruction, damage or loss of a parcel.
Polish Post said the main target for this offer was business customers, but it said the offer was in line with service features offered by other courier companies in Poland.
Agnieszka Piaskowska, the managing director for Postal Service Development at Polish Post (Poczta Polska), said the insurance was being provided with the postal mutual insurance company, Pocztowe Towarzystwo Ubezpieczeń Wzajemnych.
“We are seeking to increase our competitiveness in the courier market to the maximum,” she said.
Existing Pocztex customers looking to make use of the free insurance feature are required to sign an additional form supplementing their contract, but new customers will find the insurance offering included within their agreements.
Customers can also still purchase additional coverage, of around PLN 0.05 for each PLN 10 of declared value of the shipment, up to a maximum of PLN 20,000.
Polish Post said its insurance coverage was valid from the moment a parcel is mailed until its delivery to the addressee.
“Natural choice”
Piaskowska said the new offering was part of an overall strategy of Polish Post to grow its courier division.
“Changes in Pocztex are part of Polish Post’s strategy, which seeks a material increase in its presence in the courier services market,” she said. “Soon, Pocztex will become a natural choice for customers who often do online shopping.”
Along with the new insurance offer and the reduction in prices announced last month, Polish Post said it has added new features to its Pocztex services including delivery notification via text message or email, and has worked to simplify its courier services.
Sławomir Żurawski, Polish Post’s head of courier, express and parcel delivery service development, said the courier business was differentiating itself compared to rivals by offering the only parcel delivery services in city areas providing a delivery by 8am.
He added: “An important advantage is of Pocztex is fast payment of the charge-on-delivery amount – which takes a maximum of three days for delivered goods. This is an obvious benefit for online merchants. The average in the market is about six days.”
