Customers throughout the UK will now be able to nominate a neighbour close to their address toreceive their parcels through a new initiative developed by Royal Mail employees.
The initiative, developed by Royal Mail’s front line employees, trade union representativesand managers in a number of delivery offices, will further help to increase customer satisfactionand help further improve first time delivery, according to the postal operator.
The new initiative, which has been trialled at Tonbridge in Kent, follows Royal Mail’ssuccessful ‘delivery to neighbour’ scheme. It will roll out in all delivery offices from March 30.
When customers arrive to pick up a parcel at a delivery office, they will be asked tonominate their preferred neighbour to receive parcels on their behalf. A simple form is completedat delivery offices so that identity and address information can be verified.
Under the Nominate a Neighbour initiative, the postman or woman will try the designatedaddress first before trying other addresses nearby. This provides customers with furtherreassurance about the location of their parcel and helps postmen and women on their deliveryrounds.
Sue Whalley, Royal Mail Chief Operations Officer, said: “This new initiative is great newsfor our customers as it offers further choice and convenience if there is no-one at home.
“For our postmen and women it means that they are even more likely to deliver parcels andletters first time rather than having to take items back to the office. First time delivery ofparcels and signed for items is high in Royal Mail and in the trial delivery offices this improvedfurther.”
The initiative was developed with staff in Tonbridge delivery office and was trialled inother offices across the UK.
The universal postal operator has agreed the initiative with the Communication Workers Unionand ‘Nominate a Neighbour’ will be a new national guideline for postmen and women.
Bob Gibson, CWU National Official, said: “Postal workers frequently have to visit severaladdresses to find a neighbour who is in and able to accept a parcel. This can become frustratingfor our members and can lead to problems on some deliveries. CWU helped develop the new ‘nominatedneighbour’ initiative to improve the delivery service and reduce the associated problems andconfusion for both customers and postal workers. We are confident it’ll be a success.”
Special delivery items and international items requiring a signature are excluded from thedelivery to neighbour scheme. Customers can opt out of the delivery to neighbour scheme if theywish.
