This is the key, most rapidly growing trend in logistics. PUDO is increasingly becoming the delivery method of choice in Poland as well as in Germany, France or Finland. What is PUDO and why is it gaining popularity right now?
PUDO is an abbreviation for Pick-Up and Drop-Off. This form of delivery is all about the possibility of sending and receiving parcels at designated points. The idea originated from the concept of click&collect - a service for picking up online orders at a retailer's stationary shops.
The pandemic has activated online sales on an unprecedented scale, which is closely linked to logistics services. We are ordering more and more products online and have increasingly high delivery requirements. We want the package to arrive not only cheaply, but also in an express time. We also want to be able to collect it at our convenience. The courier's knocking on the door may not always come at a convenient time - for example, we may be in a Zoom meeting or doing something equally absorbing while working remotely. Courier visits also require our presence at home, at the address indicated. Even the designated time window for delivery can prove problematic, as we cannot spontaneously change our plans. In addition, we don't always want people at home to see what we have ordered, because it could be a surprise gift. The wonderful remedy for these complications is actually PUDO. We value this method of delivery the most, especially in recent times - because it is flexible, we can adapt it to our needs - decide when and where we will meet our package.
How much we like the freedom of choice is shown by the numbers - from mid-2019 to now, the number of pick-up spots in Poland has increased by more than 70 per cent. In the European Union and the UK, there has been a 40 per cent increase in this service over the same period. The country with the highest number of PUDO points in Europe is Germany, i.e. 57,000. This is due to the fact that as much as 85 per cent of its population of more than 80 million are daily Internet users. France is also high on the list of PUDO spots, i.e. 45,000. The UK (38,000) and Italy (36,000) are in the lead.
Global brands, such as DPD, UPS or DHL, among others, are constantly responding to new demands and requirements of their customers, resulting in an increasing number of pick-up spots being established all over the world. In our country, too, parcel lockers are springing up on housing estates and next to supermarkets at a rapid pace.
We can also pick up our ordered products in small shops or service outlets, which are open until late hours and sometimes even at weekends. In the case of automatic spots, they can even be used in the middle of the night. It turns out that Poles like this way of collecting parcels, because it is in our country that the largest number of parcel lockers in Europe is located - there are 11 thousand of them. In January last year, In-post delivered 70 thousand parcels to parcel lockers, and in January this year as many as 180 thousand. We are followed by Spain (10,000) and Germany (7,000) in terms of the number of parcel lockers. However, the densest parcel locker network can be found in Finland. In this Scandinavian country, the majority of parcels are delivered this way, and this is where most employees work from home.
The biggest advantage of PUDO is that it provides us with the convenience of going to pick up a parcel at a convenient time to a place that we are close to and is on our way. Therefore, nowadays, being able to choose a pick-up spot may prove to be the deciding factor when purchasing a particular product from a particular retailer. PUDO is also an equally advantageous option for logistics companies, because since we started ordering more online, it has become apparent that delivering a parcel directly to your home is the most expensive delivery method. With PUDO solutions, one person can deliver a hundred parcels to one place at almost the same time as one parcel to someone's home. PUDO therefore satisfies two parties - the supplier and the recipient. This is why this hot logistics trend will continue to grow in importance.
