SAINSBURY’S has made a big change at stores to help make it easier for shoppers to send and receive parcels.
The supermarket giant has partnered with Royal Mail, which is now in the process of installing parcel lockers across Sainsbury’s sites.
Six parcel lockers have already been installed and are available for shoppers to use in Clapham, Desborough, Kempshott, Low Hall, Kidderminster, and Chislehurst.
Royal Mail is set to accelerate the rollout of the service in the coming months.
The postal service launched its parcel locker network back in December to meet surging demand for convenient parcel drop-off and collection points.
The lockers offer a hassle-free parcel drop-off service, and soon they will include convenient collection options.
The smart lockers also provide on-site label printing through QR codes.
This can be helpful for those without access to a printer at home.
Sending small parcels through the service starts at just £3.55, while items that fit through a letterbox are priced from as little as £1.55.
Royal Mail says there are now more than 1,500 lockers and 7,000 Collect+ stores that Royal customers can use.
Jack Clarkson, group strategy and transformation director at Royal Mail, said: “Partnering with a retailer with the scale and popularity of Sainsbury’s is great news for our customers and the UK public, who will now have even more ways to drop off and collect their parcels in convenient locations.”
Patrick Dunne, chief property and procurement officer, Sainsbury’s, added: “The lockers will be available seven days a week, giving customers an easy, convenient way to drop off and collect parcels via Royal Mail as they shop.”
Full list of operational lockers
THE lockers, which can already be found in six Sainsbury’s stores:
- Clapham
- Desborough
- Kempshott
- Low Hall
- Kidderminster
- Chislehurst
How do Royal Mail lockers and prices compare?
InPost, which bills itself as Europe‘s leading locker provider, already operates services in and around numerous Sainsbury’s supermarkets.
Meanwhile, the courier Evri operates nearly 450 parcel lockers strategically situated across towns and cities throughout the UK.
Although Royal Mail remains one of the most cost-effective options for sending letters, with prices starting at just 87p, other couriers may offer cheaper rates when it comes to sending parcels.
For instance, sending small parcels up to 2kg with Royal Mail costs £3.35 for second-class delivery within the UK.
In comparison, InPost offers locker-to-locker delivery for the same parcel from as little as £1.99, or £2.89 if delivering directly to a home address.
Similarly, Evri provides standard delivery for small parcels at £2.62 when sent to a local ParcelShop, or £3.16 for direct delivery to a home address.
Convenience often comes at a price, but by comparing the three firms mentioned above, you could save more by going with the cheapest option.
Sainsbury’s is not the first supermarket to partner with a courier service to introduce lockers on its forecourts.
The German discounter Aldi has already introduced InPost lockers at over 260 of its stores, following an initial trial at 22 locations across the country in December 2023.
This service has proven popular among online shoppers, particularly those using platforms like Vinted, as it offers a convenient way to collect items without waiting for a delivery driver.
Sellers can easily drop off their parcels in a locker by accessing it with a personalised QR code on their mobile phone.
The parcels are then collected by couriers and delivered to a local locker, which buyers can unlock using their own QR code.
Stamp price increase
ROYAL Mail has hiked the price of stamps again this morning.
Today, the price of a first-class stamp increased by 5p, bringing the cost to £1.70, while second-class stamps rose by 2p, moving from 85p to 87p.
Larger items also faced sharper price hikes, with the cost of a first-class large letter up to 100g rising from £2.60 to £3.15.
Additionally, postage costs for small parcels weighing up to 2kg increased, with first-class rates rising from £4.79 to £4.99 and second-class rates climbing from £3.75 to £3.90.
The postal service also raised fees for signed-for deliveries.
Starting today, the cost of a first-class signed-for stamp went up by 25p, from £3.35 to £3.60, while the price of a second-class signed-for stamp increased by 22p, rising from £2.55 to £2.77.
Royal Mail attributed these increases to the ongoing decline in letter-sending volumes.
What else is happening at Royal Mail?
Royal Mail’s £3.6billion takeover by Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky is set to be delayed until the second quarter amid a political crisis in Romania.
Mr Kretinsky’s deal to buy Royal Mail owner International Distribution Services was cleared by the UK Government in December last year.
It paved the way for the more than 500-year-old postal service to pass into foreign ownership for the first time.
Mr Kretinsky’s EP Group said the only regulatory bar still to be cleared relates to its foreign direct investment in Romania.
Mr Kretinsky made a number of pledges to soothe concerns over his takeover, including a vow to keep the brand name and retain Royal Mail’s HQ and tax residency in the UK for the next five years, as well as commitments to protect the company’s universal service obligations.
Since the deal was agreed, regulator Ofcom has said it is set to allow Royal Mail to ditch Saturday deliveries for second class letters and cut wider postal delivery targets in view of declining demand for letter mailings.
Ofcom said in January it had provisionally concluded that reducing the second class letter service to alternate weekdays, while keeping first class deliveries six days a week, would continue to meet postal users’ needs.
This would save Royal Mail between £250million and £425million a year, according to the regulator.
