Fresh & Proper in Fordham, Cambridgeshire, has become the first convenience store in the UK to host one of Royal Mail’s new parcel lockers.
The locker is now available 24/7 for customers to drop off parcels and will soon be expanded to offer collection. Label printing is available, meaning customers simply need to pay for postage online and print the label by scanning a QR code at the locker, or request a QR code if they are returning a purchase.
Royal Mail launched its own parcel locker network in December to meet growing demand for convenient parcel drop-off and collection options from online shoppers and growing numbers of people selling on secondhand marketplaces.
Royal Mail’s prices start from as little as £1.55 online for a small parcel that fits through the letterbox, which is the cheapest on the market.
Royal Mail customers can also drop off parcels at the store’s Collect+ point during opening hours.
“We are delighted to have a locker for the use of our customers and community and we are honoured to be the first convenience store in the UK to be able to offer this service. We know our customers do lots of online shopping so we hope this will make it easier for them to do their returns,” Joshua James, MD of Fresh & Proper, said.
Anna Malley, Director of Partnerships and Acquisitions at Royal Mail, said: “We want to make it as easy as possible for our customers to send and collect their parcels, and rolling out our locker network is key to that. Fresh & Proper is exactly the kind of location we are looking for, it’s popular and at the heart of the community, and people can drop off their parcels whilst doing their shopping.”
Royal Mail now has more than 22,000 locations where customers can drop off and collect parcels, including 1,500 lockers, 7,000 Collect+ stores, 11,500 Post Office branches, 1,200 Royal Mail Customer Service Points and 1,200 parcel postboxes.
Customers can also drop off parcels at any of the 115,000 postboxes in the UK and use the app to request proof of posting.
