Royal Mail announces ‘one of most important’ changes for UK households

Royal Mail is introducing a significant change to parcel services throughout the UK. The postal service is launching a six-month trial aimed at providing greater convenience for households across the nation.

The trial will involve installing round-the-clock parcel lockers outside selected Post Office locations, allowing customers to access services outside normal opening hours. Anna Malley, Director of Partnerships and Acquisitions at Royal Mail, said: “Post Office is one of Royal Mail’s most important partners, and this is an exciting step forward in how we work together. The trial reflects our commitment to meeting a wide range of customer needs whilst also maintaining existing options.”

Neill O’Sullivan, Mails and Parcels Director at Post Office, said: “We are delighted that after a 370-year partnership with Royal Mail, we continue to innovate and ensure parcel services meet the needs of customers who want the flexibility of using a locker for their parcel collection and delivery.”

“We will evaluate this trial, and in particular the benefits it has brought to our postmasters and look forward to working with Royal Mail over the next few months on this trial.”

The development follows nine months after Royal Mail and Sainsbury’s unveiled a long-term collaboration introducing parcel lockers at Sainsbury’s locations nationwide, reports Birmingham Live. 

Sainsbury’s became the first supermarket retailer to join forces with Royal Mail on its rapidly growing network of parcel drop-off and collection facilities. Royal Mail unveiled its parcel locker network in December 2024 in response to soaring demand for accessible parcel drop-off and collection facilities, as well as to accommodate the expanding number of second-hand marketplace vendors.

At the time of launch, Jack Clarkson, Group Strategy and Transformation Director at Royal Mail, commented: “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.

“Due to the relentless growth in online shopping and secondhand marketplaces, there is increased demand from our customers for more parcel drop off and collection points.

“To meet our goal of making sending and receiving parcels as easy as possible, we must considerably expand our network. This is the start of an exciting partnership with Sainsbury’s that will help us to meet that goal at pace.”