Consumers prefer to see their online ordered parcel delivered to the front door.Walther Ploos van Amstel, lecturer in City Logistics at the VU in Amsterdam expects in the short term that this will cause problems in the market. Delivery drivers now often don't meet anyone when they want to deliver their order and this costs unnecessary money. Thus, according to Ploos van Amstel, free parcel delivery will soon come to an end, he told the Telegraaf.
To the newspaper, the lector informs: "A quarter of the delivery people are at the doorstep for nothing because the resident is not at home. That is unsustainable." Therefore, to curb costs, parcel delivery companies are coming up with parcel delivery charges in the near future. Six years ago, in 2010, 90 million parcels were delivered on a yearbasis. That number grew to 190 million in 2014. If the trend of 8 per cent annual growth continues, the bubble will burst.
End of free delivery
The lector argues that the costs are currently still mainly borne by the carrier. Because the market is growing, carriers are forced to cooperate in order to deliver the large amount of parcels. Especially if the delivery becomes more difficult and needs to be delivered in an outlying area. The trend in recent months has been evening and weekend deliveries. This increases the workload of carriers.
Ten delivery vans an hour
Earlier, Ploos van Amstel told NOS he was concerned about the number of delivery vans in Dutch city centres. In some streets, ten to 15 vans per hour drive around because it is not only consumers who have parcels delivered, but also shops and catering establishments that are popular. "Some people get someone at the door as many as five times a day. All those different delivery vans, that costs a lot of money," Ploos van Amstel explains.
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