SingPost in talks to develop “personal” parcel locker terminals

Singapore Post is working to develop “personal” parcel locker terminals geared to the needs of small businesses and individuals. The national postal operator in Singapore has already installed a network of more than 60 parcel locked terminals, called POPStations, over the past year, with plans to expand this to 100 by the end of 2014.

The terminals provide alternative delivery points for customers who cannot be at home to receive parcels during the working day. Offering 24-hour access, the POPStations are particularly useful for working people shopping online.

SingPost, which picked up a World Mail Award for its efforts in the e-commerce field this summer, said yesterday that it is now talking with its technology provider in the hope of developing smaller versions of the POPStation.

Called P-POPS or Personal POPStations, the new concept would involve a parcel terminal comprising four lockers.

Hopes are that a pilot for the P-POPS project will begin early next year.

Wolfgang Baier, the SingPost chief executive, said: “POPStations have been immensely popular with Singaporeans who shop online as they provide 24/7 convenience. Our customers also tell us they fully appreciate the security measures while using POPStations. Major online businesses who have leveraged our POPStations as a key parcel delivery option are also getting very positive feedback from their customers. We will continue to build a scalable technology solution that can deliver state-of-art
service offerings to meet the lifestyle changes and demands of our customers.”

SingPost said it is also developing a new cooler box that can be added to POPStations — and potentially the P-POPS — to refrigerate items.

Baier said the concept was designed to serve the growing trend in online grocery shopping.

“The cooler box is the perfect solution to the busy individuals who are not home to receive their grocery deliveries,” he said.