05-09-2017
DHL Parcel and Volkswagen are launching a joint pilot project in Berlin in which Volkswagen will deploy 50 VW Polos that selected customers can use as mobile addresses for the delivery of their DHL parcels. The project partners have worked in recent months to develop and test a solution for in-car delivery.
The selected participants will receive a VW Polo that they can use to test the service for four weeks. The vehicles are already fitted with the required equipment for in-car delivery, called "We Deliver." at Volkswagen. To use the new service, customers merely need to register with DHL Parcel - this takes place during the application process for "We Deliver." - and enter their trunk as the delivery location in their customer profile www.paket.de.
"Since we've already tested car drop delivery successfully in other projects in Germany and continue to offer it for Smart drivers, we're pleased to win Volkswagen as another partner - our partnership allows us to offer this attractive service to an even broader target group," says Achim Dünnwald, CEO of DHL Parcel. "As an innovation leader in the parcel sector, our objective at DHL Parcel is to be able to offer in-car delivery as an option to as many recipients as possible in Germany, offering personalized processes to make the sending and receiving parcels even easier for our customers."
The driver of a VW Polo is notified via e-mail about the delivery process and receives a delivery notice when a parcel has been delivered to the vehicle's trunk. During the ordering process in an online shop, the driver can specify a two-hour time slot between 10 am and 9 pm during which DHL will deliver the parcel. For delivery, the vehicle needs to be parked in a place accessible to the parcel courier. Possible delivery sites include the office parking lot, a park-and-ride facility, or any other address at which the vehicle is located during the time slot specified during the order.
The DHL parcel courier receives the delivery location information from the DHL Delivery app, which provides vehicle's exact position via GPS. The app also issues a single-use, time-limited code to access the vehicle. In combination with the customer-specific car ID, which the recipient receives from Volkswagen and provides as part of the delivery address, the courier can open the vehicle's trunk. Once the courier closes the trunk, the access code is canceled. Not only can the VW Polo drivers receive parcels, they can also leave returns in the trunk to be picked up. This approach safeguards the security of both the parcel and the vehicle.
By enabling customers to use their cars as mobile delivery addresses, DHL Parcel is adding yet another attractive option to its unique range of automated parcel receipt services in Germany. In addition to this current pilot project with Volkswagen in Berlin, DHL Parcel continues to offer in-car delivery with Smart in Stuttgart, Cologne, Bonn and also Berlin. With the DHL Packstation, parcel boxes for single-family homes and apartment buildings, and delivery to predefined, preferred locations, DHL Parcel is serving growing consumer demands for more mobility and flexibility in meeting their everyday needs.
Source: Deutsche Post DHL