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Royal Mail is to roll out its own parcel lockers in the new year as the postal service steps up its battle against Amazon.
The first 250 lockers will be opened in early 2025, making it easier for customers to drop off parcels. The first site is already open outside the company’s Mount Pleasant mail centre in Clerkenwell, central London.
The lockers, which will be located outside delivery offices and third-party retailers, will give round-the-clock access for customers sending parcels. The service will include label-printing, aimed at supporting the growing number of people selling clothes and other items on second-hand online marketplaces.
Royal Mail said the locker service will be expanded to allow parcel collection in the near future, meaning customers can pick up packages at their convenience, rather than having to wait at home for a delivery.
It comes as Royal Mail steps up its focus on parcels amid a continued decline in letter sending. Over the last two decades, annual letter volumes have declined from 20bn to 7bn and are expected to fall further to just 4bn in five years’ time.
Around 70pc of Royal Mail’s revenues now come from parcels. However, the postal service has been losing market share to Amazon, as well as rival couriers such as DPD, Evri and InPost.
Royal Mail began expanding its network of parcel points earlier this year. Customers can drop off parcels at 1,000 shared lockers and more than 5,000 Collect+ points in convenience stores across the country.
However, the launch is the first time the company has provided access to dedicated lockers only for its customers, which it said will improve capacity and service.
Jack Clarkson, at Royal Mail, said: “With continued growth in online shopping, we are expanding our range of services for customers to make sending and receiving parcels more convenient than ever.
“Parcel lockers are just one of the ways that we will achieve this, and with their growth in popularity, it is important that we have our own lockers to offer a modern, quick and convenient option for our customers.
“The rollout of Royal Mail lockers is good news for online shoppers, small businesses sending their orders and the UK public in general.”
It comes as Czech billionaire Daniel Křetínský closes in on a £3.6bn takeover of Royal Mail.
The tycoon, known as the “Czech sphinx”, is planning to spend £800m rolling out parcel lockers and undercutting rivals. He is aiming to roll out 20,000 lockers across the country, eclipsing the 5,000 currently operated by Amazon’s own proprietary delivery network.
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