Parcelforce Worldwide, part of Royal Mail Group Ltd, is one of the top five express parcel carriers in the UK.citation needed
Its international partner network allows it to extend its delivery reach worldwide. Its European delivery partner, also part of Royal Mail Group Ltd, is called GLS, (General Logistics Systems) and delivers more than 1 million parcels a day across 34 countries in Europe.[1]
Parcelforce Worldwide is a direct competitor of other worldwide delivery brands such as DHL, FedEx and UPS.
Parcelforce Worldwide operates a "hub and spoke" collection and delivery system with 2 hubs based in Coventry, adjacent to the airport. One hub is for UK parcels and the other for International parcels. The UK hub is a highly automated tracking and sorting centre covering 43 acres which can handle up to 40,000 parcels an hour.[2]
Parcelforce Worldwide was the first express carrier in the UK to give its customers the option of sending their parcels carbon-free.[3]
Depot Network
Parcelforce Iveco delivery vehicle
Parcelforce Worldwide operates its collection and delivery services via a network of 53 local depots. These have been strategically located around the UK from Inverness in the north west of Scotland to Exeter in the south west of England. There are two depots in Wales, one central depot in Northern Ireland (serving Belfast) and two smaller satellite depots.citation needed
The largest posters also have the option of a direct feed collection. In other words, rather than a local depot collecting parcels for sorting, a trailer is left on site, filled up during the course of the working day and then taken directly to Coventry for processing.citation needed
Customer Service
The company has come under extensive criticism[4] from disgruntled customers, dubbing it "Parcelfarce" in colloquial terms for its reliance on automated call handling[5] and perceived failure to meet acceptable service levels for the safe delivery of parcels and all their contents.[6][7]. In February 2006 Royal Mail was fined £11.4m after more than 14 million letters and parcels were lost, stolen, damaged or tampered with in the previous year.[8]
In recent years the company has won industry awards for Information Technology[9] and Health and Safety.[10]
Handling fee for incoming international parcels
Parcelforce charges the recipient of incoming international parcels a "handling fee" of £8 or £13.50 if it has paid customs duty on behalf of the recipient, even though the cost of delivery has already been fully paid by the sender.[11] In 2003 Postwatch said it would investigate, stating "This smacks of profiteering. Customers should be confident when placing orders that the price is the price, with no hidden charges - which in this case appear to be exorbitant. We will be taking this up with Parcelforce immediately."[11] As of 2008 this fee is still in place. The fee is regarded by some customers as a potentially illegal scam.[12] Commenting on the legality aspect, Postwatch stated in 2008 "there appears to be a case for saying that a postal operator may be acting illegally if it retains an item in order to claim its clearance fee."[13]
Information Technology
Parcelforce Worldwide currently uses a combination of Information Technology systems that have either been inherited from Royal Mail Parcels, are shared with Royal Mail Letters and Post Office Counters or have been designed from scratch in recent years.citation needed 2007 sees the roll out of a single IT platform to replace the existing disparate collection of systems.citation needed Not only will this allow every single event of a parcel's journey (from dispatch to hub, hub to depot, depot to customer as well as commercial events such as billing, claims for damage etc) but this information will be available to authorised users via an internet front end.
Larger posters are able to integrate their existing dispatch systems directly into Parcelforce Worldwide platforms. Small to medium sized posters have the option to book ad hoc collections or small batches of collections into the company's multi-award winningcitation needed WDM Online system via the internet. Parcelforce have no seamless integration in to WDM, however a CSV file can be uploaded to the system as a means to mass import orders.
History
The Parcel Post service of Royal Mail was started in 1883 [14], though parcel services operated by the railway companies, later Red Star Parcels and British Road Services, were also heavily used for many decades.
Royal Mail's business was separated into three divisions in 1986 [15], and in 1990 Royal Mail Parcels was rebranded as Parcelforce.
At the time of its inception the Post Office reform (regarding future privatisation) was being debated in Parliament[16] leading to Michael Heseltine amongst others debating all aspects of the dissolution of the national postal service including the proposed livery of the Parcelforce operation and the loss of the Royal crest.
Branding
The Parcelforce Worldwide logo depicts a stylised globe with the brand name speeding across the top. There was some debate in the late 1990s around the use of colours.citation needed Customer research was carried out as to whether vehicles should be painted white (seen as clean) or red.citation needed Red came out on top as people associated the colour red as important and urgent. The colour red is also strongly associated with the Royal Mail and Post Offices and lends more trust to the brand.citation needed
In 2002, a blue band was added to the corporate marque and as new vehicles are commissioned, red, white and blue liveries are being introduced.citation needed
In 2005, all staff were instructed to use the full brand name “Parcelforce Worldwide” rather than the abbreviated “Parcelforce” to emphasise the company’s global reach via Royal Mail Groups GLS subsidiary.citation needed
References
- ^ Royal Mail Group website - Our brands
- ^ Parcelforce Worldwide website - Our business
- ^ Parcelforce Worldwide website - Send my parcel carbon free
- ^ Reviews On Parcel Force from DooYoo
- ^ Parcel Force call answering system - SUCKS! June 2006
- ^ 'Parcel Farce' by Guardian
- ^ Lost in the post from BBC News Working Lunch Tuesday, 8 April, 2003, 14:14 GMT 15:14
- ^ Royal Mail fined for missing post 10 February 2006
- ^ Award for Technology IFW Freighting Industry Awards 2006
- ^ Healthy Workplaces Business in The Community Awards 2006
- ^ a b The Guardian's consumer champion fights your corner
- ^ http://www.volkszone.com/VZi/archive/index.php/t-351900 Don't Let Parcelforce Steal Your Cash!]]
- ^ http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread?p=10054717 MoneySavingExpert: Parcelforce 'Clearance fee'
- ^ The British Postal Museum & Archive - Key Dates
- ^ The British Postal Museum & Archive - Key Dates
- ^ Hansard debate 15 Jul 1992
External links
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