Parcel delivery company Yodel to close 45 depots in UK

Parcel delivery company Yodel has confirmed plans to close 45 of its service centres across the UK. The company has been reviewing its 120 sites following its acquisition of DHL’s UK domestic business-to-business and business-to-consumer operations early last year.

It wants to integrate its operations into a single operating platform, that “will enable the company to operate profitably” while offering “faster, more flexible delivery options and higher standards of convenience”.

Redundancies will be made across the business, but the company is not yet revealing the extent of job losses as consultations are still being undertaken with affected staff.

Closures of the depots are expected to take place after the Christmas volume peak, at some point during the first quarter of 2012.

In a statement issued to the media, Yodel chief executive Jonathan Smith said today: “This is not a decision we have taken lightly. We have to make these changes to meet the needs of our customers and create a sustainable and profitable business model.

“We have been running two operational networks since early 2010 with limited flexibility. Having concluded the planning process we are now able to communicate how we will move to one operation.”

Single platform

Yodel staff have been told that the 45 closures include 15 depots from the DHL domestic network and 30 from the original Home Delivery Network that was rebranded as Yodel last year. About 57 depots are expected to remain in the network.

A spokesman for Yodel confirmed to Post&Parcel today that these numbers were in the right area, and that closures were due in Q1, 2012. He also confirmed that Yodel’s four remaining hubs – at Droitwich, Shaw, Hatfield and Wednesbury – would not be affected. The company has already closed four hubs this year.

The spokesman for Yodel could not comment on the number of possible job losses from the closures, stating that the issue was still up for discussion with employees.

In its statement today, the company insisted: “Yodel is working closely with colleagues across the business to ensure a smooth transition and to make sure that all of our colleagues are fully informed and presented with all the relevant options available to them.”