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It comes as it looks to meet growing demand from online shoppers and marketplace sellers
Royal Mail is set to double the number of parcel pick-up and drop-off points to 45,000 locations nationwide by the end of the decade.
It comes as it looks to meet growing demand from online shoppers and marketplace sellers. The group is ramping up the roll-out of parcel lockers as part of aims to rapidly increase out-of-home parcel points within five years, up from 24,000 currently.
Under the plans, it wants every customer living in an urban area to be no more than five minutes’ walk away from a locker, shop or parcel postbox. Those in suburban and rural areas will be within a five and 15-minute drive away respectively.
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Alistair Cochrane, interim chief executive at Royal Mail, said: “Royal Mail is committed to being the UK’s most convenient delivery company.
“This ambitious new target strengthens our leading position, with the largest parcel point network in Britain, giving customers even more convenience and choice.
“For many, nothing beats the ease of home delivery or collection but we’re seeing a clear shift towards more people choosing lockers and shops.”
It comes as the Royal Mail is introducing 3,500 solar-powered postboxes across the UK, altering the iconic look of the red pillar boxes that have punctuated Britain’s streets for nearly two centuries.
In the new design, solar panels on the top of the postboxes power a digitally-activated drawer, allowing customers to deposit small parcels.
Items as large as a shoebox can be posted in the pillar boxes, in what Royal Mail says is the “biggest redesign in its 175-year history”.
The change comes as Royal Mail is struggling in the face of competition from other delivery companies.
The new design that is being rolled out is topped with a grid of dark solar panels on a white rectangle, which will be orientated “due south for optimal sunlight”, the firm said.
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