A new agreement between the Post Office and DPD will see parcels delivered directly to its branches providing a quick and convenient location for people to collect their purchases.

The ‘Click and Collect’ service will initially be available at around 250 Post Offices this month before rolling-out to approximately 1,500 branches across the UK ahead of the peak Christmas period.

Customers making a purchase online will have the option to choose their local Post Office as the collection point for their parcels. DPD will deliver parcels directly to the Post Office and the Postmaster will process customer collections at the counter.

The Post Office, the UK’s largest retail network with 11,500 branches, previously only had an agreement with Royal Mail Group for parcel collections directly at its branches but has now opened up its network to external carriers for the first time in its 360-year history. The partnership with DPD is further demonstration of the Post Office’s strategy to ensure the future sustainability of the network, provide an innovative offering to consumers in the fast-growing parcel market and drive footfall for Postmasters and to the High Street more broadly.

Nick Read, Chief Executive at the Post Office, said:

Combining the biggest physical retail network with one of the Europe’s best-known logistical carriers provides greater customer convenience, footfall for Postmasters and helps people back to the High Street as Covid-19 restrictions ease. I’m delighted that through our partnership with DPD, customers can select their local Post Office to collect their parcels and know that they are often open longer hours, staffed by a knowledgeable Postmaster and located moments from where they live.

Elaine Kerr, DPD CEO, said:

This is a significant, long-term partnership between two brand leaders in the parcel industry and comes at a time when the convenience of online shopping and delivery is more valued than ever. It is great news for DPD parcel customers and for Post Office branches too. Our aim is always to get parcels delivered safely, on time and provide recipients with as much choice as possible. This partnership enables us to offer more options at the point of purchase, while the parcel is in-flight and on those occasions when we can’t leave a parcel safely.

The partnership between Post Office and DPD will play an important role in cities and towns across the UK in reducing the environmental impact of having vans making multiple stops to drop off parcels, whilst at the same time encouraging people to return to their local high street on foot. Most Post Offices are open for long hours throughout the day and many are open at weekends.

DPDgroup have conducted their own review of the last mile delivery and the impact of Click and Collect on the environment. Their studies have established that there is a reduction of, on average, 63% of Greenhouse Gases (GHG) in the last mile delivery when using the DPD Pickup network.

Nick Read continued:

As a society, we are increasingly considering the environmental impact of our activities. This will mean ensuring the last mile of delivery is ‘carbon free’. Our physical network of branches helps make this a reality, encouraging people to walk or cycle to their local Post Office to collect their parcels.

In recent months DPD has announced a string of green initiatives including the roll-out of a major new air quality monitoring programme across six of the biggest cities in the UK and the pledge to deliver by only all-electric vehicles in 25 of the largest towns and cities in the UK by 2025. DPD currently has over 1,000 electric vehicles on the road, expected to rise to over 1,700 by the end of the year.

Elaine Kerr commented:

Our sustainability strategy is based on looking at every single aspect or our operation and challenging ourselves to make it more efficient by reducing emissions and miles, while improving the service for customers at the same time. Having the option to deliver to Post Offices helps us achieve that. DPD will provide all-electric delivery to 10 major towns and cities by the end of this year and 25 locations by 2025. With that and recipients having the option to walk to their local Post Office to collect a missed parcel, the vision of a carbon-free ‘last mile’ is becoming a reality.

About the Post Office

With over 11,500 branches, Post Office has the biggest retail network in the UK, with more branches than all the banks and building societies combined.

Post Office is helping anyone who wants cash to get it whichever way is most convenient. Partnership with over 30 banks, building societies and credit unions means that 99% of UK bank customers can access their accounts at their Post Office.

Cash withdrawals, deposits and balance enquiries can be made securely and conveniently over the counter at any Post Office; and the biggest investment by any organisation or company in the last decade is being made to safeguard 1,400 free-to-use ATMs across the UK.

Research has found that visits to the Post Office help drive another 400 million visitors to other shops, restaurants and local businesses equating to an estimated £1.1 billion in additional revenue for High Street businesses.
99.7% of the population live within three miles of a Post Office; and 4,000 branches are open seven days a week.

About DPD

The UK’s favourite parcel delivery group: DPD has been voted top in MoneySavingExpert’s consumer satisfaction poll for parcel delivery companies eight years running.

In April 2015, DPD was awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise 2015 in the Innovation category, for its unique one-hour delivery service, Predict.

In 2018, DPD opened the UK’s first all-electric parcel delivery depot in Westminster. DPD currently has over 1,000 EVs on the road in the UK and in October 2020, announced plans to deliver to 25 of the largest towns and cities in the UK with zero and low-emission delivery means by 2025.

DPD is a member of DPD group, one of Europe's leading parcels groups, wholly owned by France's La Poste, the second largest postal group in Europe.

The company operates more than 10,000 vehicles from 84 locations and delivers over 300 million parcels a year.