Brazil Post trials parcel terminals in redesigned post offices

Brazil Post is testing a new concept of post office that includes use of automated parcel locker terminals as a way to add convenience to the process of sending and receiving packages. The state-owned company said the parcel terminals will allow customers to collect e-commerce purchases outside of normal post office opening hours.

The machines can be designated as a collection point when items are being purchased from Internet websites, with customers receiving passwords via email or text message allowing them to open the secure lockers holding their purchases.

The first “pack city” machine was installed at a 430 square metre new-concept post office in the Setor Hoteleiro Sul area of the nation’s capital, Brasilia, last week.

The new post office offers a more modern look, with dedicated service areas, for example for business customers — and feature environmentally-friendly technologies including water-saving taps and furniture made with certified sustainable wood.

The new post offices will also offer extended hours, with the outlet in Brasilia opening 7am to 9pm.

Plans are to install 22 of the new parcel terminals in cities including Curitiba, Rio de Janeiro, Brasilia and Sao Paulo, at post offices as well as other publicly accessible sites such as subway stations or shopping malls.

Brazil Post said the machines have closed-circuit TV cameras to provide security for users.

The new retail outlets being developed by Brazil Post also include wireless Internet access for customers and postal banking services along with conventional post office services.

Wagner Pinheiro de Oliveira, the Brazil Post president, said: “The self-service concept and the agency form part of a broader process of revitalization and repositioning for the Post in the national economy. We will use this first agency concept as a laboratory: it will be a centre of excellence in service, which will also test what kind of products can be offered to the population.”