Parcel points currently do not contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions. Only when consumers choose this option much more often will the number of kilometres that delivery drivers have to travel decrease.
This is according to research by TNO, commissioned by Thuiswinkel.org and the Topsector Logistiek. There are currently 9,584 collection points in the Netherlands. About 13 per cent of purchases are currently delivered to one of these points, which is insufficient to realise a reduction in the number of kilometres, TNO argues. Most pick-up points are currently still delivered as a home address, which means that the pick-up points are part of the delivery driver's round trip.
If half of parcels are taken to collection points, a 17 per cent CO2 reduction is expected to occur in the overall last mile network. Thuiswinkel.org therefore hopes that consumers will more often choose to have their parcels delivered to a collection point.
Then, however, more pick-up points will be needed. On the one hand because the existing points are overloaded, on the other because not every consumer currently has a parcel point within walking or cycling distance. This increases the step to choose a parcel point. According to the ACM Postal and Parcel Monitor 2019, 16 to 52 per cent of households have at least one collection point or parcel locker within walking distance - depending on the carrier.
The car or the bike?
Margreeth Pape, programme manager sustainability and logistics at Thuiswinkel.org: "Whether the environmental benefit achieved by the carrier will be maintained is also determined by how the consumer picks up a parcel and which means of transport is used to do so. If the consumer makes a trip by car especially to pick up the parcel, the carrier's environmental gain is completely negated. In that case, home delivery is a more sustainable choice."
According to Pape, the consumer and the industry can make the difference. The consumer by walking or cycling to collect the parcel, or at least combining collection with other shopping. The sector by offering (more) pick-up points at easily accessible locations. "This can be an important step towards making parcel delivery via collection points even more sustainable," Pape concludes.
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