You will get an SMS message: „We will deliver a parcel to you tomorrow." You will be able to redirect the parcel to another post office, choose another day for its delivery, or use any other service from a wide range of services you may need. As the outcome of a trial run - showing more than a 98% delivery success rate - has indicated, the paper notice asking the addressee to pick up the parcel will virtually disappear from the world. 

Czech Post's parcel portfolio will undergo an essential change starting from the beginning of the forthcoming year. The new parcel types, Parcel Delivery To Post Office and Parcel Delivery To Hand, will offer the customers a range of delivery options. Those who will want to change the set delivery instructions can visit Czech Post's website and select the required options using a simple form. It will be possible to pick up Parcel Delivery To Post Office consignments at any of the 2,600 Czech Post's locations across the country. Just select one of them, and your Parcel Delivery To Post Office consignment will be ready for pickup at the selected location the next day after posting. On the other hand, the Parcel Delivery To Hand scheme will suit those customers who know that they will be able to receive the parcel at a given time either at home or at work.

„After a long time we are essentially changing our product range in response to our customers' wishes. The new product range brings a completely unique type of services, which has generated a considerable amount of interest among our customers during the pilot projects. In other words, the standard Commercial Parcel scheme is replaced by the substantially better Parcel Delivery To Hand scheme, and the Parcel Delivery To Post Office scheme is a really unique product on the market thanks to the extensive network of our locations. The situation with the Express Parcel Delivery scheme is very much similar - the other big players on the market do not offer such service. This service is provided by, e.g. operators of courier services, but for higher-order prices compared to ours,"  said Petr Zatloukal, Czech Post's Director General. 

Alerts of delivery is a clear benefit of the newly introduced products. The customer will receive information via an SMS or email message. Alerts are currently not sent before the actual delivery attempt. With the new portfolio, the customer will receive information about next-day delivery already when the parcel is being sent. The customer can therefore get ready to receive the parcel, use the web form to select another day for its delivery, or have it directly deposited at the delivering post office or at any other post office in the country. Alerts sent at the time of posting proved to be useful; the evidence is the almost one hundred percent success rate achieved during the trial run - first delivery attempts were successful with more than 98 percent of Parcel Delivery To Hand consignments, and an equal number of customers picked up their Parcel Delivery To Hand consignments at post office. 

Overall, 102,172 Parcel Delivery To Hand and Parcel Delivery To Post Office consignments were sent during the trial run between August and mid-November 2011. More than 73% of customers chose the Parcel Delivery To Hand scheme. 94 consignors have signed a contract with the Czech Post to use this product during the trial run. The Parcel Delivery To Post Office scheme has so far been available to customers of eight contractual consignors. The largest consignors using both products are, e.g. HP Tronic, Profizoo, Alza.cz, Pemic Books, and Famico, s.r.o. Almost all customers of Avon Cosmetics chose the Parcel Delivery To Post Office scheme. 

The new Czech Post's services will be available to all customers starting from early 2012. At the same time the Mail Order Parcel scheme will end while the Commercial Parcel scheme will continue to be available to contractual partners for some more time. However, ordinary customers arriving with their parcels at a post office will have a clear choice - either Parcel Delivery To Hand or Parcel Delivery To Post Office.

Parcel Delivery To Post Office

Parcel Delivery To Post Office allows the customer to select one of the 2,600 locations where the consignment will be ready for pickup already the next working day after posting. This means that customers can select a location close to their workplace or at a shopping centre where they usually shop. Another novel feature of the product is a system of alerts sent using exclusively SMS or email messages. The sender must therefore provide the Post with the addressee's contact details (email address or mobile phone number). Electronic alerts provided with Parcel Delivery To Post Office consignments fully replace paper notices and information. The addressee receives information about arrival of the consignment to or its depositing at the selected post office already on the day of posting. The information also includes the time after which the consignment will be ready for pickup the next day. The only thing that remains to be done by the customer is to come to the post office, produce identity card, and identify the consignment by its posting number, email address or phone number to which the alert was sent. The customer must sign for the consignment.

The evidence so far has indicated that online shoppers prefer Parcel Delivery To Post Office mainly when buying cheaper products such as books, clothes, or cosmetics. 

Benefits of Parcel Delivery To Post Office:

• Nationwide parcel service for mailing parcels weighing up to 30 kg,
• Guaranteed pickup time already the next working day at the receiving post office,
• The sender or the addressee can select a receiving post office where the parcel will be ready for pickup,
• You can use any post office to post your parcel,
• The addressee will receive an alert about the consignment,
• The basic price covers compensation up to the declared value (max. CZK 50,000). 

Parcel Delivery To Hand

This product basically fully replaces the existing Commercial Parcel scheme – Parcel Delivery To Hand took over all its proven functions and added some new ones. For instance, unlike Commercial Parcel consignments that could be sent from only 1,100 locations Parcel Delivery To Hand consignments can be sent from any post office starting from 1 January 2012.

Benefits of Parcel Delivery To Hand:

• Nationwide parcel service for mailing parcels weighing up to 30 kg,
• Guaranteed delivery to the addressee already the next working day,
• Agreed upon time or manner of delivery to suit the addressee,
• SMS or email alert for the addressee already on the day of posting,
• The basic price covers compensation up to the declared value (max. CZK 50,000),
• The addressee can select a nearby post office where the consignment will be deposited and ready for pickup.

In addition to the Parcel Delivery To Post Office and Parcel Delivery To Hand schemes the new parcel portfolio also includes further two products, which were in a trial run from the beginning of 2011 and are currently already fully operational, i.e. Oversize and Express Parcel Delivery schemes. 

Express Parcel Delivery

The novel scheme Express Parcel Delivery guarantees delivery on the day of posting. Parcels can be posted at any of the 42 selected post offices in Prague or regional capitals before 10 a.m. They can be sent from Prague to regional capitals or vice versa, or only within Prague or the same regional capital, and will be delivered before 7 p.m. the same day by afternoon delivery.

Benefits of Express Parcel Delivery:

• Express delivery of documents and goods weighing up to 15 kg,
• Same-day delivery of parcels posted before 10 a.m.,
• The basic price covers compensation up to the declared value (max. CZK 50,000),
• Unrivalled uniform price of CZK 250 for parcels between Prague and regional capitals regardless of the distance or weight, or CZK 150 within the same city.

Oversize Parcel Delivery

Oversize Parcel Delivery meets the needs of mailers of non-standard parcels both in terms of size and weight. Parcels are delivered and picked up by outlets equipped with appropriate technical facilities, such as large lorries, suitable handling technology, i.e. in most cases directly by logistic hubs. The Oversize Parcel Delivery scheme can be used to mail parcels with a minimum actual weight of 30 kg and a maximum actual weight of up to 1,000 kg or dimensional weight of up to 3,000 kg. The maximum length is 300 cm and the maximum height is 200 cm. A successful trial run to test oversize consignments has been under way since the beginning of 2011. While only dozens of oversize parcels per month were sent in the early months of the year, the number of oversize parcels sent in October already exceeded three thousand. And our sales representatives make further contracts with new consignors every month. About 50 contractual consignors - the service is available only under a contract made with the Czech Post - used this way of transportation by the end of September. 

Benefits of Oversize Parcel Delivery:

• Nationwide parcel service for mailing goods weighing up to 1,000 kg,
• Standard next-day delivery to the addressee's door,
• Convenient price thanks to cost-efficient logistic solutions within our unique logistic network,
• Your parcel will be picked up directly from your premises,
• The addressee will be contacted by phone one day before attempted delivery to arrange for the most convenient delivery time,
• The basic price covers compensation up to the declared value (max. CZK 50,000).  

You can find more information about the new parcel portfolio on our website or at www.postovnibaliky.cz.

 

Marta Selicharová
Spokeswoman
Czech Post
selicharova.marta@cpost.cz