You can even self-collect your parcels at your neighbour’s!
For us working adults, time is not always on our side – which is why most of us rely on online shopping. Shopping from the comforts of your own home (or office!) is probably one phenomenon that has become a norm by now, seeing as to how we are always time-strapped.
But when it comes to deliveries, that is a whole other ordeal. Especially since the deliveries happen mostly in the afternoon on weekdays. I’m sure we have all had that anxiety-inducing moment when you receive notification of your incoming parcel, but there’s no one home to receive it for you. The horror of having to head to the post office just to collect it.
Thankfully, logistic companies in Singapore have noticed these pain points for consumers, and are simplifying the delivery process for us. Here are 4 of them, saving us from the need to coordinate our busy schedules with SingPost’s.
Park N Parcel
Park n Parcel is a startup that is looking to be the most promising. Their concept is simple yet ingenious. By “parking” your parcels right at your neighbour’s houses, They are straying away from the usual self-collection lockers and already has more than 10 merchant partners. Launched in January, they now have about 500 “parkers” and a 100 collection points.
These “parkers” are those who spends most of their time at home, for instance, retirees, home business owners or even students. The best part of it is the passive income these residential parkers earn – $1 for each parcel.
For us consumers, we’ll incur a $2.50 charge for Park N Parcel’s service. If you don’t fancy knocking on a stranger’s door for your parcel, they also have alternative collection points such as retail stores, minimarts and cafes.
bluPort
Another startup in the same scene is Blu. They mainly provide end-to-end services for retailers but just last year, they launched 41 of their bluPort parcel terminals. Imagine Singpost’s POPStations, but with more convenient locations such as Esso petrol stations and heartland shopping malls.
Blu has partnerships with both SME retailers and logistic partners such as DHL and FedEx. They are the first in Singapore to offer same-day collection of orders as they use integrated solutions to enhance their businesses.
POPStation
This SingPost brainchild allows shoppers to pick up parcels whenever they like. Currently they offer a self-collection locker pick up, but are also looking to offer more delivery options. It’s essentially a one-stop locker where you can do returns, exchanges and also make payments, for those of you uncomfortable with leaving your card details online.
SingPost boasts about 143 POPStations at public places such as department stores and even at their post office. Consumers will receive a notification and PIN for their secured locker via a text.
How this works is that, only retailers with a SingPost partnership can deliver to these lockers. Zalora for example is one of them, but even home businesses or blogshops in Singapore uses this platform. Cost-wise, POPStations are the one to go for since they do not charge you any extra for using their services.
Ninja Collect
It’s another self-collection concept, with a choice of ‘Ninja Point’ or ‘Ninja Box’. They partner with majority of the local blogshops as well as Kinokuniya and Airfrov.
‘Ninja Box’ basically holds your parcel for you, until you’re ready to collect – simply scan the verification code sent to you via email/sms. Likewise for ‘Ninja Point’, which are their partnering retail shops, which are located at areas with high footfall for your convenience. Guardian, Home Fix and Wine Connection are amongst the few retail partners that Ninja Box works with.
As compared to the other 4, Ninja Collect is the most user-friendly although its brand partnerships are not varied.
With these self-collection concepts available, it’s not only our lives that are made easier but it also is an avenue for e-commerce companies to save on their manpower. Sure, some may look to outsourcing but why waste resources when self-collection is a concept that is already well-received – so much so that the Infocomm Media Development Authority is looking to adopt a suitable model for these companies to ensure higher reliability.