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Amazon has parachuted in Evri to assist with deliveries as Royal Mail grapples with poor performance in the wake of a long-running industrial dispute.
The US tech giant has added Evri – formerly known as Hermes – alongside Royal Mail and DPD to deliver goods on behalf of businesses that sell on Amazon’s website.
“Seller fulfilled Prime” businesses offer Prime services such as next day delivery, but store stock themselves rather than Amazon doing it.
The move follows a trial where Evri met delivery targets on more than 97pc of occasions.
It means that Evri, which lays claim to be the UK’s biggest dedicated parcel delivery company, will deliver millions more next-day parcels. The company currently delivers more than 700 million parcels a year.
Previously, “seller fulfilled Prime” business would have had products delivered by Amazon’s own fleet of drivers, Royal Mail, or DPD.
Royal Mail is legally obliged to deliver letters to every UK address six-days-a-week and parcels five-days-a-week under its universal service obligation.
It is lobbying the Government to change the laws to scrap Saturday letter rounds so that it can focus on seven-days-a-week parcel deliveries.
Ofcom has opened a regulatory inquiry into Royal Mail’s failure to meet minimum letter delivery standards after the percentage of first class deliveries arriving on time hit record lows.
Just 74pc of first class deliveries were completed on time in the year to March 2023, in part as a result of a wave of strike action. Royal Mail is legally mandated to hit a target of 93pc.
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