The Post Office, which has been helping to deliver Britain’s mail since the 17th century, is set to handle packages for Amazon, stated reports on Sunday (12), owing to a historic deal that will enable customers to pick-up and drop-off orders at over 1,000 locations across the country.
Amazon is Post Office’s first official third-party delivery partner after its historic exclusivity deal with Royal Mail came to an end in March this year. The new alliance is expected to tempt even more UK consumers to shop at the American group’s vast online marketplace, reports said.
By Christmas, 1,500 of the Post Office’s 11,500 outlets will offer pick-up and drop-off services in which customers can either take delivery of or send parcels with Amazon. The arrangement, which will be launched nationally next year, comes after six months of successful trial at select branches earlier this year.
Locations will receive smartphones, specifically programmed to scan the Amazon parcels once they are delivered by a courier. The customer will then present a code to collect the parcel.
“The world’s leading ecommerce company appreciates the value of working with the Post Office and the high level of customer service you provide day-in and day-out,” Post Office chief executive Nick Read told Postmasters in a video announcing the partnership, The Times stated in a report.
It comes just weeks after the Post Office announced a similar partnership with delivery giant DPD, allowing customers to choose to have their DPD deliveries sent to 1,500 Post Offices by the end of the year.
The Post Office, which has over 11,000 locations across the UK, was bound by an exclusivity deal that ended in March.
While the end of the exclusivity deal means the Post Office is now allowed to partner with third-party delivery firms for the first time in its 360-year history, it still handles parcels for Royal Mail.
