Those few times when a delivery driver rings my doorbell without success, he usually delivers the parcel to my neighbour's house. When I then ring her doorbell in the evening, it is one of the few times I have contact with her. Probably without knowing it himself, the deliverer thus promotes social cohesion in the neighbourhood. There now seem to be places in the Netherlands where an old lady accepts parcels for the whole street or flat. The local residents are grateful to her for this, while she enjoys having a chat with them. Parcels against loneliness.
Delivering parcels to neighbours is a concept that works. Why could we not expand that concept even further and engage neighbours in parcel collection, for instance? Within the library world, consideration is already being given to using volunteers to transport books. For someone leaving the local library with a stack of books under his arm, it is a small effort to also take the book that the neighbour two houses away has reserved via the internet.
The app Uberpop shows that such a thing could work well in the Netherlands. In major cities, thanks to this app, several people manage - if they are not fined - to earn an extra penny by acting as taxi drivers. It is a breeze to create an app that allows those same people to take a job to pick up and deliver a package somewhere. In New York, Uber is already experimenting with such an app, Uberrush.
'Social transport' initiatives
There are more initiatives in the field of 'social transport'. In Stockholm, DHL has launched a pilot called Myways. Anyone who has downloaded the accompanying app on their smartphone has two options: hire a delivery driver or act as a delivery driver themselves. Those who do not have time to pick up a parcel from DHL at a collection point can enter the parcel number, enter the delivery address and indicate how much they want to pay for delivery. Those who want to earn an extra penny can easily select the parcel they want to collect and deliver via this app. Anyone with room in their boot or an empty pannier can act as a delivery driver.
Social transport is a new shoot on the tree of the sharing economy. There are concrete plans in that area in the Netherlands too. Greencity Distribution is launching Greendropz in Breda. Anyone can download Greendropz' app and place a shipping order including the desired delivery time and delivery location. Both consumers and local retailers can thus have a parcel delivered the same day. Anyone with a bicycle, car or minibus can sign up as a courier. Difference with Myways is that with Greendropz, it is the sender who chooses the courier and not the courier who selects the parcel.
Liability
Whether these concepts really work, only time will tell. There are still issues that need attention, though. What about liability if the additional-earning courier falls off his bicycle and damages the parcel? And what if the courier does not deliver those new shoes to the consumer, but puts them on himself and is never heard from again? Greendropz tries to overcome this by screening couriers before they are allowed to start and asking shippers to give a rating. I wonder if consumers and retailers have enough confidence in this concept.
Author: Marcel te Lindert - journalist logistics and supply chain
