Royal Mail announces Sunday delivery trials
Later this year, Royal Mail will open some 100 offices on Sunday afternoons to enable customers to pick up packages. The first offices to participate will be those with the highest parcel volumes.
As well as Sunday openings Royal Mail, which was privatized last year, will also trial Sunday deliveries to addresses within the M25 motorway.
Parcel deliveries now make up almost half of the Royal Mail’s £9.15 billion (US$15.4 billion) annual revenues as letter volumes decline due to email and messaging use.
Parcelforce Worldwide, the Royal Mail’s express parcel arm, is due to start Sunday deliveries in June via Internet retailers that opt in to the scheme. Online retailers’ customers will be able to select Sunday delivery via those retailers.
According to Moya Greene, chief executive of Royal Mail, the new Sunday deliveries are part and parcel of the company’s move to improve flexibility and provide customers with more options to receive items ordered online. This is particularly important for those customers who are at work during the rest of the week and can not be available to receive goods.
Earlier this year, Amazon began Sunday deliveries in key areas of the UK, using their own delivery solution.