Royal Mail launches ‘Nominate a Neighbour’ scheme for deliveries
Royal Mail is rolling out a new scheme where customers can nominate a neighbour to receive their parcels.
The initiative, which has been developed with staff in Royal Mail’s Tonbridge delivery office and trialled in other offices across the UK, follows the successful ‘delivery to neighbour’ scheme.
Under the Nominate a Neighbour initiative, customers arriving to pick up a parcel at a delivery office will be asked to nominate their preferred neighbour to receive parcels on their behalf. They will then be asked to fill in a form so that identity and address information can be verified. When delivering parcels, the postman or woman will try the designated address first before trying other addresses nearby.
Royal Mail said the scheme will provide customers with further reassurance about the location of their parcel and will help postmen and women on their delivery rounds.
Sue Whalley, Royal Mail chief operations officer, said: “This new initiative is great news for 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 and letters first time rather than having to take items back to the office. First time delivery of parcels and signed for items is high in Royal Mail and in the trial delivery offices this improved further.”
The postal operator has agreed the initiative with the Communication Workers Union and ‘Nominate a Neighbour’ will be a new national guideline for postmen and women.
The initiative will roll out in all delivery offices from 30 March.
Special delivery items and international items requiring a signature are excluded from the scheme. In addition, customers will be able to opt out of the scheme if they wish.
