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Royal Mail has announced a new service which could benefit Britons who prefer to shop online.
The postal service and courier company will roll out lockers in hundreds of locations, allowing customers to drop off and send packages to these sites around the UK.
The change will come into effect in April, with the first locker available in Coventry.
Further locations are set to open up in the following months with more than 1,500 lockers expected by the end of the year.
Royal Mail aims to offer these lockers in more than 21,000 areas across the UK in the future.
Martin Seidenberg, group chief executive of Royal Mail, said: “Our expansion into lockers with 24/7 access will give our customers an even greater choice of more than 21,000 locations to drop off parcels.
Royal Mail will start by offering the ability to drop off returns or send parcels in branded and dedicated Drop Box units
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“We want to make it as convenient as possible for customers to send and return parcels, fitting it in around their daily routines with a range of options for different lifestyles.
“We are continually finding new ways to improve our services, including more online postage options through our website and app, 24/7 drop off at locations like our parcel postboxes, use of Collect+ stores and Post Offices, and collection from home through Royal Mail Parcel Collect.
“Royal Mail is partnering with global parcel locker operator Quadient to provide this service, which it claims will make sending and receiving parcels as convenient as possible.
This partnership will allow Royal Mail to access Quadient’s vast open locker network.
Customers will be able to drop off returns or send parcels in branded and dedicated Drop Box units.
Eventually, customers will also be able to collect items sent directly to lockers and arrange redelivery to a locker.
Geoffrey Godet, Chief Executive Officer of Quadient, said: “We are honored by Royal Mail’s trust in our solution and our business model.
“We take pride in seeing how quickly our open locker network has grown since we first announced it in the summer of 2022, a testament to the success of our agnostic approach, addressing the needs of UK carriers and consumers as we serve one of the largest e-commerce markets in the world.
The firm said the expansion follows the increasing demand from customers for convenient ways to drop off parcels, with around 50 per cent of all Royal Mail non-account sales now online.
Locations such as convenience stores and lockers have become some of the most common places people choose to have parcels delivered outside their home.
After the launch of the Coventry location, the lockers will be rolled out nationwide – with 1,500 expected by the end of the year and further plans for 3,000 across the UK.
The news comes after Royal Mail announced a hike in their stamp prices.
The cost of a first-class stamp will increase by 10 pence to £1.35 from April 2.
A second-class stamp will cost 85p under the changes, up from the current 75 pence.
Royal Mail has blamed the increase in costs on a “dramatic” reduction in letter volumes.
The volume of letters sent has fallen from 20 billion in 2004/05 to seven billion a year in 2022/23 but the number of addresses has increased by four million in the same period, Royal Mail said.
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