Amazon’s Christmas queuing bonanza!

Amazon is giving the Royal Mail a leg up this Christmas by agreeing to allow folks to pick up parcels at their local post office.

Just a few weeks ago, the Royal Mail said that its parcel business was being hit hard by rivals such as Amazon, and it expected more of the same over the holiday season.

Now the mega-etailer has added over 10,000 post office branches to its PickUp Location Programme, which also includes Collect+ stores, Amazon Lockers, and Pass My Parcel shops.

“Customers can collect their Amazon orders from over 16,000 Pickup Locations across the UK,” said Christopher North, MD of Amazon.co.uk.

“Pickup Locations have become the delivery method of choice for many shoppers. Offering the collection of packages from Post Offices is another great way of providing our customers with the highest levels of convenience," North said.

The partnership is good news for the Royal Mail in theory, but as anyone who’s ever had to try to get a parcel out of the recently privatised service knows, it’s not as easy as it sounds. Post Offices frequently have business hour-only opening times, making them useless for anyone who works, the main customers for a collection service.

Many Collect+ points are in places such as 24-hour and weekend-opening shops, making them a bit more of an attractive prospect for Amazon parcel collection.

However, there is evidence that the Royal Mail is starting to change its traditional ways, with Parcelforce, its express parcel business, starting seven day delivery this summer and the company trialling Sunday delivery of everything to addresses within the M25. The firm said it was all part of the “modernisation” of its services. ®