Whistl Stop: ParcelHero says it’s no surprise that Whistl has suspended door-to-door services
International courier reveals why Whistl has blown time on letterbox deliveries
International courier ParcelHero says it is unsurprising that Whistl - formerly TNT Post – has sounded the Last Post for its door-to-door delivery service in London, Liverpool and Manchester.
ParcelHero spokesman David Jinks MILT says: ‘It’s sad news that Whistl has blown time on its door-step letter service and is consulting 2,000 workers on redundancy. The traditional door-to-door letter service is a labour intensive low-margin market in which it’s hard to make money.’
David adds: ‘Even though Whistl cherry-picked the market, choosing to deliver only in areas such as London, Liverpool and Manchester, it has still found the going tough. Very recently Whistl was forced to pull out of plans to extend its daily postal delivery services to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Birmingham, after potential investors LDC (an arm of Lloyds Bank) decided against investment in the company.’ LDC say they pulled out because of ‘Ongoing changes in UK postal market dynamics and the complexity of the regulatory landscape.’
Whistl will continue to provide a service, but will revert back to using the Royal Mail for the ‘final mile’.
Says David: ‘On the face of it this seems good news for the Royal Mail, who have been complaining loudly about having to deliver letters to the Highlands and islands for the price of a stamp while Whistl supposedly creamed the profits from the most profitable areas. However, it does highlight the problems underlying the entire door-to-door postal services industry in the era of emails and the internet. Very low margins and an increasingly creaky infrastructure mean that the traditional postal market faces an uncertain future.’
Concludes David: ‘It’s ironic that the parcels market ParcelHero operates in is booming as a result of the growth of internet based e-commerce, but the same technology has effectively sounded the death knell for the traditional door-to-door postie service.’
For more information on UK delivery services see: https://www.parcelhero.com/en-gb/uk-courier-services
Leading international online courier ParcelHero® strategically partners with the world's leading, logistics companies, including DHL, UPS and DPD to provide a flexible, cost-effective range of parcel delivery services to over 220 countries worldwide. Huge bulk purchasing power allows ParcelHero® to offer highly competitive pricing with no compromise in service quality.
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