Bad news for PostNL because soon Bol.com will be bringing packages to your home for the first time. The e-commerce company buys the Dutch parcel supplier Cycloon and its 500 bicycle couriers. According to From Tijd 500 couriers deliver Cyclone parcels in 40 Dutch cities. Cycloon is active in another 20 cities through collaborations with smaller sector peers. The couriers are not self-employed, but work with a permanent contract. Cycloon has companies such as H&M, Zara and Zalando as customers. Bol.com is taking over Cycloon because it wants all packages to be delivered CO2025-neutral by 2.
At this time of year, we find it normal that something goes wrong when sending millions of packages. But when the tracking system of companies like PostNL is unreliable, watch out. Parcels can no longer be traced and companies that use these services are attacked by telephone calls complaining of non-delivery. Packages are collected there, but deliveries are still pending. After all, after the package has been collected, the loot is received and the invoice can be sent to the supplier.
Yet PostNL is simply a commercial service with a contract commitment to its customers, the companies that offer the shipments. In addition, we see that reputable companies such as Coolblue who also have their shipments sent by PostNL lose 'credits'. Packages, regardless of value, are simply dropped at the front door or left in the apartment porch. It is often no longer possible to ring the bell, let alone sign for the package. Officially by corona. It is high time this sector reorganized itself and the quality of deliveries returned to normal as part of the commitment.
PostNL has already increased its capacity to such an extent that more than two million parcels can be delivered per day. The nearly four thousand parcel points, where parcels can be picked up and dropped off, may also remain open. Yet we hear that there is no extra capacity at all, the hired companies simply have to solve it all themselves. The delivery people are working hard. You should not address the deliverers about delays.
"It is outrageous how they work. With us, the shipment is as delivered and I have the customers on the line for days later that nothing was delivered"
'it's a mess'
"Unfortunately we can't find a package with the barcode“, not because the shipment, zip code or barcode is incorrect, but because it is often a 'mess' when registering or deregistering the packages. It is even so bad that suppliers see their shipments as delivered in their own systems while the customer has not seen a delivery person. Sometimes up to five days later than the registered delivery date, it can take until the delivery person shows up. With the holidays approaching and non-essential stores closed, many people will be ordering more packages online.
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pay, ho ho ho
We should not always blame the deliverers themselves for late deliveries or missing packages. “Due to corona, the crowds have increased enormously“. That becomes a little too easy to hide behind there. Certainly while companies such as PostNL delivered a record number of parcels in 2020 and it will not be much different for 2021. Last year PostNL also started to charge more for parcel delivery. At the same time, they have started paying the deliverers less per package.
Last week I even read an email from a supplier who, due to the large crowds, made the price for sending the packages more expensive. It shouldn't get much crazier. These seem like Uber practices of supply and demand. Delivery people don't even see it. On the contrary. The idea is that you can deliver more packages if you want to, and that way you could earn more money to compensate for the lower payment.
The company cannot indicate how many deliverers are among the entrepreneurs at PostNL. Everyone has a card and a scanner, including the delivery drivers who work for subcontractors. PostNL does not share how many people that is. The PvdA recently asked State Secretary Dennis Wiersma of Social Affairs and Employment about the situation in parcel delivery. According to Wiersma, it will be examined in the coming year whether other laws and regulations are needed.
Bol.com
Also read: PostNL, a wake-up call for spoiled consumers