Parcel delivery goes digital: end of the line for letterbox notifications
From this October across Belgium, bpost will no longer leave paper missed delivery notifications in letterboxes. By default customers now get a notification in the My bpost app or by email. This new step towards full digitisation of parcel delivery will cut carbon emissions by a further 394 tonnes per year.
Monday 30 September 2024The switch from paper to digital missed delivery notifications is due to the great success of the My bpost app, which is used by 4.3 million Belgians. This February bpost announced the nationwide rollout by region of the new default system of app or email notifications when parcels cannot be delivered. The new system will be operational in all Belgian municipalities in October 2024.
My bpost app: the key to a better experience
Digitising parcel flows is just one of the many improvements bpost is currently working hard to deliver. That’s because, as a major logistics provider, it is incumbent on bpost to offer state-of-the-art solutions and smart digital tools. Increasingly, the experience of bpost customers is shaped by the My bpost app, which functions as a digital hub for their parcels, registered mail and other mail products. They can easily check the status of their shipment, update their delivery preferences, authorize others to take receipt of their mail and see any missed delivery notifications.
Chris Peeters, CEO of bpost: “We want to offer our customers a better, faster and above all easier service, in which their lifestyle and preferences determine the place and the pace of their deliveries. That is why all our products are being improved and, where necessary, even reinvented. The My bpost app is central to this. Digital notifications are just one small step in a whole series of improvements. We also previously integrated Itsme into our app to simplify identification for registered mail. Further improvements will be made very soon so that customers have even more control over time and place of their delivery.”
Benefits for the environment
As well as delivering a more efficient digital customer experience the new system also takes sustainability to the next level, which is also good for our planet. Calculations show that this enables bpost to realize the following reductions:
- 302 tonnes of paper per year;
- that corresponds to a 97% reduction in paper consumption;
- or 604 fewer trees that need to be felled per year;
- 60,000 of litres of ink per year;
- 52 tonnes of glue per year;
- 394 tonnes of carbon emissions per year.
The only exemptions to the new rule are parcels shipped by households and when the addressee’s email is unknown. In those cases, a missed delivery notification made from recycled paper will be left at the delivery address. An exception is also made for registered mail. But innovations are also being introduced for registered mail. Since last month, users have been able to save their delivery preferences for registered mail and authorize others to take receipt of their registered mail in the My bpost app after a digital ID check using itsme. This way, bpost keeps the share of paper notifications as low as possible.
