Over the years many of us has adopted the route of using virtual shipping addresses for online shopping which is a great ecommerce solution to get products cheaper and get products that normally would not ship direct to Ireland and with big players like parcel motel and parcel wizard this made life easier most of the time but come this time of year it does turn out to be a bit of a disaster, but time may be running out for other players going forward with Brexit.
DPD are the first to step up and tell us they will cease the option for its customers to use a UK virtual address to get their packages delivered and recently Parcel Motel decided to up their prices which is shooting themselves in the foot, however it may mean a good percentage of parcel wizard customers might migrate to the service just to tide them over the xmas period which could be a risky move..
With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up this is typically a very busy period for the companies and to add to it Christmas does not help either and also recently DPD and UPS formerly Nightline have advertisements screaming for extra delivery drivers to cope with the demand over the next few weeks and this often runs into late Jan and sometimes later, Having worked in the industry some years ago it is a stressful time for drivers and become such a cut throat business with not so great pay and change is needed, staff turnover is huge and this is seen by the constant advertising looking for drivers throughout the year and in short needs to be addressed, I had a delivery last Saturday night in fact at 7pm which was a first and this shows the strain these companies are under.
From January 1st 2021 deliveries from the UK are changing due to customs.
When shopping online use your Home Delivery AddressPal virtual address (see below for address examples).
From this date, your Post Office/Collection Point AddressPal virtual address can no longer be used when importing items.
However, once the parcel has been processed we will let you know by email or text and you will then have the option to redirect your parcel to any of the following:
- A Post Office/Collection Point
- A Parcel Locker
- A neighbour
- A safe place
- Or select an alternative date for delivery
This will apply for UK and USA AddressPal items.
Payment details:
From January 1st 2021 payment for all AddressPal items must be taken from a Credit/Debit card that is saved on your AddressPal account. Without a valid card your parcel cannot be delivered. You will only be charged once we process your AddressPal deliveries.
Note: All UK items will be subject to Revenue customs rules from January 1st 2021.
If there are customs fees related to your item, you will be contacted with more information.
For now however you can use the alternatives such as An Post( Address Pal/ Delivery box at your house) , Parcel Motel, and there is some drop off point/collect points, there is some other smaller operators around but this is not a service for ecommerce etc but more so intra company services and special sectors in some areas of business. There is also word of alternatives that might be arriving soon but more on that as it becomes more transparent and solid. But I would be looking at Amazon going forward. With Amazon being a key player and recently opened a warehouse here in Ireland it makes sense going forward and they are also seeking new premises from what I have heard and this is most likely to hold stock which would be a real win and the right route for Amazon to take with its customer base.
Looking ahead there will be another issue for consumers with Brexit and that is returns, With the option to return packages it was a great business move over the years giving people a quick option to return packages via virtual addresses easily and the main problems here was wrong size, wrong item and wrong colour, when it comes to colour everyone’s screen is different and the brightness settings differ and was one of the most problems for consumers buying online. This may all be about to change in the coming weeks but stay tuned for more..
Parcel Motel – Suspended..
Parcel Motel has been the most prominent player in the locker business and have also issued notices to its customers however things could be weighing up different here as they claim their service is suspended with a new Virtual Dublin address just a stones throw away from their main office, UPS bought the business if you remember and have now in the EU more channels to work with there has been talk of amazon lockers due to the infrastructure already here but also setting up new bases in the EU which makes sense, Whilst many people shop on Amazon UK they have other stores like de and fr you can shop from and is often cheaper and this again makes sense for setup in such countries particularly for the likes of Amazon and also Amazon now have a base here in Ireland but this is not a fulfilment centre but does now open the doors for them to set up such warehouses and there is rumour they have been. Many in the logistics industry do know more and did know they where looking for units here in Ireland and that today still is the case. Amazon is here for the long haul..
