Deutsche Post UK centre delivers 200 new jobs

It’s a red letter day for Croydon with the arrival of almost 200 new postal jobs and the prospect of many more to come.

Deutsche Post Global Mail (UK) Ltd, part of the German post office, looked at a number of sites before deciding that Croydon was the best place to concentrate its international operations in the United Kingdom.

It has created a purpose-built headquarters in Queensway, off Purley Way, where it now houses 160 staff in a state-of-the-art sorting and distribution facility that can handle up to 7.5 million items a month.

The firm’s arrival is welcome news after industry heavyweights Philips and Vodafone announced recently their intention to leave the town, taking hundreds of jobs.

Andy Barrett, the company’s public relations officer, said: “We set some demanding criteria for our new base, bearing in mind that we are in an expanding market, and Croydon met all of them.

“Most of our mail is carried by truck, either to the coast, for distribution by road across the European mainland, or to Heathrow, for inter-continental transmission.

“And we are happy with Croydon’s proximity to the M25 and our ability to access the motorway network quickly at the times we use it.

“Croydon is also convenient for our staff, all of whom have moved with us from our previous depots in Mitcham and Morden, where we have been since we first set up an operation in Britain in 1997.”

At present the company only deals with international business post, which it collects from customers all over the country and transfers to Croydon for sorting.

Now it has signed a long-term contract with Royal Mail that will allow it to distribute business post to any address in the United Kingdom from August this year onwards.

Mr Barrett said: “It would be too expensive to set up our own network and I doubt people would want to see a profusion of post-boxes on the streets.

“So we will take on much of the initial collection and sorting work now done by Royal Mail and pay it a wholesale price to do the rest – a rate that reflects the considerable saving it will make.

“Hence the need for a purpose-built headquarters that can sustain the likely expansion over the next decade, with almost certain increases in staff, most of whom will come from the Croydon area.”

At the same time the company has appointed Michael Proffitt as managing director for Europe.

He said: “This is a very exciting time for us. Our new facility in Croydon allows us to realise our goal of becoming the most auto-mated postal service outside of Royal Mail.

“This year promises to be challenging for the domestic mail market.

“With our relocation now complete, we have made a serious commitment to growth here.”