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22.02.2021
To ensure the fastest possible delivery of postal items, Latvijas Pasts will install a total of 18 new parcel lockers at the busiest post offices in Riga and the region: the first parcel locker is already operating next to Riga post office No. 83 at 1a Dzirciema Street and is available to customers 24/7. In the coming weeks parcel lockers will be gradually placed near other post offices or in their premises, depending on the technical capabilities of each particular post office. Given the COVID-19 crisis, the uneven flow of inbound items and the security requirements that reduce the number of customers served on the spot, the 18 new parcel lockers will initially be intended for the pick-up of items only.
As COVID-19 continues to spread, the negative effects of the virus have a significant impact on both the flow of inbound items and the provision of services at post offices. The flow of international items is very uneven, with a large volume of items from abroad often incoming at the same time, which arrive at the post offices after processing in the sorting centre of Latvijas Pasts and which have to be delivered to a large number of customers simultaneously. At the same time the possibilities for serving customers at post offices are decreasing: the number of people allowed to be served on site and, consequently, the number of cash register systems has been reduced at several dozens of post offices due to the security requirements.
To address this issue and ensure the fastest possible delivery of postal items, Latvijas Pasts has started placing new parcel lockers at the busiest post offices in Riga and the region: in the coming weeks they will be gradually available at 18 post offices. The first parcel locker is already operating next to Riga post office No. 83 at 1a Dzirciema Street. This post office’s parcel locker for collecting items is available to customers 24/7 due to the technical parameters and accessibility of the post office. Depending on these criteria, the new parcel lockers will be placed either inside or next to the post offices, and their accessibility time will also vary, which will be communicated to customers when sending invitations for the pick-up of items in the form of mobile text messages.
“The tough situation with COVID-19 and the security requirements in this case have accelerated the implementation of the company’s development projects. We understand that the existing network of post offices, which has formed historically, must be transformed immediately and the possibilities of its use must be expeditiously expanded in line with the new situation caused by external conditions,” Mārcis Vilcāns, Chairman of the Board of Latvijas Pasts, points out.
Each of the new parcel terminals can hold about 100 items at a time, and the customer will receive a text message regarding the pick-up of the item on the mobile phone if this number is indicated on the item – therefore it is important to include a correct and functioning mobile number in addition to the recipient’s address when preparing the item for sending.
The customers of the post offices where the parcel lockers will be located are asked to carefully read the text of the received invitation messages in order to understand whether the item can be received at the post office or should be collected from the parcel locker of the post office. Also when receiving a repeated text message invitation, please make sure that the place of receipt of the item has not been changed to the parcel locker – this will be done if a compartment in the parcel locker has become vacant. In order to ensure the smoothest possible circulation of items at the post offices, we encourage customers to collect items from parcel lockers as soon as possible so that other customers can receive their items too.
Taking into account the need to deliver as many items as possible, the parcels lockers located at post offices will initially be intended only for the pick-up of items – the item dispatch function will be activated as soon as the item delivery flow at the post offices becomes more homogeneous.
The new parcel lockers are manufactured in Latvia – in the company Post Service Kurzeme – and are technologically adapted to the existing Latvijas Pasts parcel locker network; therefore they can be used immediately and without the need to carry out additional system synchronisation operations. The acquisition cost of the parcel lockers is EUR 113.5 thousand.
The total number of Latvijas Pasts parcel lockers after the installation of the new lockers will amount to 80, and additional procurement has been announced for another 120 new parcel lockers.
About SJSC Latvijas Pasts
Latvijas Pasts ensures the widest availability of postal services throughout Latvia by maintaining more than 600 post offices. The primary function of the company is provision of the universal postal service; Latvijas Pasts also provides commercial transport, express mail, payment, press subscription, retail and philatelic services. Latvijas Pasts is a wholly State-owned company with about 3,200 employees. The quality measurements of Latvijas Pasts domestic mail deliveries are regularly conducted by Kantar TNS, one of the leading market, social and media research agencies in Latvia. In turn, the quality measurements of the cross-border deliveries are provided within the framework of the International Post Corporation through the intermediary of the research companies Kantar TNS, Ipsos and Quotas.
Additional information:
Gundega Vārpa | Head of External Communications
E-mail: pr@pasts.lv; gundega.varpa@pasts.lv
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