Parcel Motel Thread (post all related questions here)

ED E

Interesting.

You may have heard the news that Parcel Motel and our parent company, Nightline, have been bought by UPS. It is a timely and positive move for our company - you can find out more here.

We want to contact you to let you know that the Parcel Motel service will continue as is and that parcels that are already in transit will be delivered as normal. It is business as usual here at Parcel Motel.

Should you have any questions about our service, your parcel or anything else, you can raise a ticket by emailing support@parcelmotel.com and a member of our Customer Service team will be in touch.

Thank you for choosing Parcel Motel.

Happy Shopping!

The Parcel Motel Team

Just received the above email myself. I wonder will UPS continue to provide the parcel motel service going forward now that they have taken over. They say business as usual in the email but time will tell.

coylemj

Deleted User wrote: »

Just received the above email myself. I wonder will UPS continue to provide the parcel motel service going forward now that they have taken over. They say business as usual in the email but time will tell.

The infrastructure (collection points all around the country) is in place, it would be madness to stop the PM service and let someone else move in on that turf.

Nightline wouldn't have set up the number of points they did if the demand wasn't there. It has to be profitable and very much viable, given that a large number of people are away working and there's nobody at home to accept deliveries.

.......

This post has been deleted.

whiterebel

Deleted User wrote: »

Just received the above email myself. I wonder will UPS continue to provide the parcel motel service going forward now that they have taken over. They say business as usual in the email but time will tell.

They operate a similar system in the US, I believe, so I'd say they will. They would probably try more and more to push this instead of deliveries for private houses.

Tom Mann Centuria

If it means UPS ending their deal with crappy I-parcel I'll be happy.

whiterebel

Tom Mann Centuria wrote: »

If it means UPS ending their deal with crappy I-parcel I'll be happy.

Hardly, it is owned by UPS, AFAIK.

OU812

I wonder in UPS taking over will mean that the parcel motel service will open up to American products. They could be delivered to a UPS depot in the US before being shipped here.

grogi

OU812 wrote: »

I wonder in UPS taking over will mean that the parcel motel service will open up to American products. They could be delivered to a UPS depot in the US before being shipped here.

No way. To much customs trouble.

OU812

grogi wrote: »

No way. To much customs trouble.

UPS already deliver from the US & handle customs, but this would mean that companies that don't ship internationally would be accessible.

ED E

Parcel Motel is subsidised by Royal Mail who are subsidised by the UK exchequer.

A transatlantic route would receive no such benefits and thus suffer much poorer margins.

grogi

ED E wrote: »

Parcel Motel is subsidised by Royal Mail who are subsidised by the UK exchequer.

A transatlantic route would receive no such benefits and thus suffer much poorer margins.

Not a single statement above is correct...

sniper_samurai

grogi wrote: »

Not a single statement above is correct...

Think he got it mixed up with Parcel Force.

PirateShampoo

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Just received the above email myself. I wonder will UPS continue to provide the parcel motel service going forward now that they have taken over. They say business as usual in the email but time will tell.

It's probably one of the main reasons why UPS bought them.

bk

Deleted User wrote: »

Just received the above email myself. I wonder will UPS continue to provide the parcel motel service going forward now that they have taken over. They say business as usual in the email but time will tell.

I suspect that UPC bought them to specifically get and use the PM lockers. I'd say they have little interest in the nightline depots and will likely streamline those across nightline and UPS.

The PM lockers solve two major problems UPS have:

1) How do you send parcels via UPS.

At the moment, you can arrange to send parcels via UPS, but they have to call to your home and pick it up which is very costly for them. I'm sure they will continue doing that, but they will also likely offer a cheaper option to inject packages into their network via PM lockers.

2) Delivering parcels to homes is expensive. The main cost is when people aren't home and you have to try again the next day and the day after, etc.

They might move to a system where they try and deliver to your home the first day, but if you are out they instead leave it at the closest PM locker for you to pick it up, similar to how it is done in Germany.

The only question is if they continue to operate the Northern Ireland virtual address service. I don't see why they wouldn't

grogi

bk wrote: »

I suspect that UPC bought them to specifically get and use the PM lockers. I'd say they have little interest in the nightline depots and will likely streamline those across nightline and UPS.

The PM lockers solve two major problems UPS have:

1) How do you send parcels via UPS.

At the moment, you can arrange to send parcels via UPS, but they have to call to your home and pick it up which is very costly for them. I'm sure they will continue doing that, but they will also likely offer a cheaper option to inject packages into their network via PM lockers.

2) Delivering parcels to homes is expensive. The main cost is when people aren't home and you have to try again the next day and the day after, etc.

They might move to a system where they try and deliver to your home the first day, but if you are out they instead leave it at the closest PM locker for you to pick it up, similar to how it is done in Germany.

The only question is if they continue to operate the Northern Ireland virtual address service. I don't see why they wouldn't

I think UPS is playing smart around the Brexit here. There is a huge risks that trade with UK will be much more difficult.

By combining UPS presence in the mainland Europe and lockers in Ireland, they might offer retailers from France, Germany etc. a convenient, fast and affordable way to send parcels to Ireland, with ability to handle reverse logistics as well.

Nightline alone could not do it.

ED E

grogi wrote: »

Not a single statement above is correct...

How do your packages get from mainland UK to Antrim? RM. Do RM charge real market costs for these postcodes?

whiterebel

ED E wrote: »

How do your packages get from mainland UK to Antrim? RM. Do RM charge real market costs for these postcodes?

Any courier, such as UPS, Asendia, DHL deliver into Parcel Motel. Its not only Royal mail.

osnola ibax

Hi folks, I live in Wexford and had a parcel send to me through PM on Thursday last. It was received in the Waterford Depot on Friday and was then sent on to the Dublin depot and timestamped up there in the early hours of Saturday morning.

If I am living in Wexford, could someone please shed some light on why PM would send parcel on to Dublin from Waterford and not straight to the motel in Wexford, only 40 minutes away?

ED E

whiterebel wrote: »

Any courier, such as UPS, Asendia, DHL deliver into Parcel Motel. Its not only Royal mail.

True, but the bulk volume comes from mail carriers not couriers. If we take Amazon UK as the primary source (I suspect it is) then its Royal Mail or Amazon inhouse.

Atomic Pineapple

osnola ibax wrote: »

Hi folks, I live in Wexford and had a parcel send to me through PM on Thursday last. It was received in the Waterford Depot on Friday and was then sent on to the Dublin depot and timestamped up there in the early hours of Saturday morning.

If I am living in Wexford, could someone please shed some light on why PM would send parcel on to Dublin from Waterford and not straight to the motel in Wexford, only 40 minutes away?

I presume you mean the parcel was put into a Motel to be sent to you in Waterford? If so then it has to be picked up and then brought to the distribution center to be sorted and delivered.

rubadub

grogi wrote: »

No way. To much customs trouble.

Addresspal (an post) were going on about a US service before, seemed to be well into plans for it, heard nothing since.

ED E wrote: »

True, but the bulk volume comes from mail carriers not couriers. If we take Amazon UK as the primary source (I suspect it is) then its Royal Mail or Amazon inhouse.

I would think most amazon buyers use the £25 limit and get free delivery. I do agree that its likely that most post to PM is going via RM, and that parcelmotel would/could not exist at its current price and availability if it was not for RM's heavily subsidisded postal costs to NI. Not sure if that poster was just being pedantic and saying RM do not directly subsidise them, which of course is obvious.

Most couriers will not subsidise costs to NI and so I guess will charge around the same as posting to the republic, and so there is not much saving to be had. Some might use it for convenience though, or you still get the odd place who just have a blanket "UK only" policy, so you could not select to get it delivered here.

JP Liz V1

Can we expect price increases?

grogi

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Can we expect price increases?

That's inevitable

bk

grogi wrote: »

That's inevitable

I wouldn't be so sure. They will need to be careful with competition from ParcelWizard, AddressPal, etc. They certainly don't have the market to themselves.

ED E

If AP would do lockers thered be great competition, current PO model can't compete for a large segment of society. My DU is open to 7PM yet AddPal uses the PO that closes at 5.30...

bk

ED E wrote: »

If AP would do lockers thered be great competition, current PO model can't compete for a large segment of society. My DU is open to 7PM yet AddPal uses the PO that closes at 5.30...

Yes, AP's services are simply not fit for purpose for modern society.

deezell

bk wrote: »

Yes, AP's services are simply not fit for purpose for modern society.

Nightline and their offshoot PM we're such a success because they went after a market that other providers covered badly and expensively. I sold a good few heavyish bits years ago to the UK and it was only possible because of their affordable rates. Similarly their low cost rate for oversize on PM is a winner. If the new owners mess up they become a target for a start-up who are not looking to fleece customers. With a turnover of 50 million the sale price must have been many multiples of this. Always the problem with big takeovers is they take out the competition and can monopolise the service. Expect price rises disguised as new improved service offerings.

cros13

Unusual delays with parcel motel this week, I've had checked in parcels and no deliveries to the motel since the middle of last week.

There are five parcels stacked up for delivery now.

Has similar issues with my work parcel motel account in the same timeframe.

rubadub

JP Liz V1 wrote: »

Can we expect price increases?

I think they will stay the same short term, if there is any change straight off I would think there is more chance of it being a price decrease. AP are 3.75 and they might want to get publicity (not a lot less, thought they were still 3.50, but the increase did annoy some).

Down the line of course there would be increases eventually.