Deutsche Post starts experiment with drop-off boxes

Deutsche Post is starting an experiment with boxes installed at people’s homes. This way the German mail service could drop the parcels in the secured boxes when a customer isn’t home. It’s all part of a greater plan, as Europe’s largest mail service wants to deliver more parcels, especially with the expected boost of food and consumer goods deliveries.

Deutsche Post is in any way not resting on its laurels. The Bonn based company is also upgrading its handling hubs to speed deliveries and is looking for partnerships with major retailers to expand the business, as Bloomberg quotes from the mouth of Chief Financial Officer Lawrence Rosen.

As is the case with basically all mail services, Deutsche Post started with delivering traditional letters and packages. Now with ecommerce gaining ground with each click, Deutsche Post tries hard to get a fair share in that market. It sees itself as the carrier for online ordered parcels and wants to continue playing that role. Deutsche Posts now has a 40 percent share of the German parcels market and handled over 970 million items in the past four quarters. The company estimates a demand growing by 7 percent a year, powered by online shopping.

The growth could well be coming from web-based supermarkets and convenience stores. The online sale of, lets say, clothes and consumer electronics already matured over the last couple years, but with food and medicines there’s still a lot of room for growth. Something Deutsche Post understands, as it is spending almost a billion dollars (750 million euros) on automation, because it’s preparing for handling more food and medicine and to move toward one-day deliveries.