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Parcel Holders Brings About a Distribution Revolution

Parcel PickUp launches a new product dedicated to the field service market.

The new offering, Parcel Holders, launches on 17th September 2012 and provides the ability for field service management companies to take advantage of the Parcel PickUp network of collection points, located throughout the country, to arrange deliveries to their engineers.

Using existing retail businesses as collection points, the new service aims to save its customers fuel and man hours wasted on the road, whilst helping reduce repair times and vastly improve the logistics headache suffered by many field service management companies.

In our current uncertain future, business investors are reluctant to take chances with new ventures. Yet we are told that innovation and free enterprise must provide our salvation from the difficult economic future we face. After all, niche entrepreneurial businesses have been able to use integrated mobile technologies to increase administrative efficiency and provide flexible, mobile services to cater for their clients’ ever more demanding needs.

However, when these enterprises expand geographically to broaden their market reach, they soon encounter a stumbling block as increasing portions of their field service engineers’ time is absorbed by travelling back to base to collect and restock the necessary parts to do their job. Having skilled field service engineers spend man hours, fuel and time this way rather than working on jobs, adds costs to the business. In turn this can render them uncompetitive and can often impede their ability to meet time sensitive service level agreements.

Courier companies have cobbled together a bundle of solutions in an effort to resolve this issue. Examples include businesses entrusting delivery companies with keys for their field service engineers’ homes so that they can let themselves in and make deliveries when the employees are out on a job. Others involve having a master key for an especially adapted lock fitted to one door of every vehicle in the fleet. The delivery person must then attempt to locate the field service engineer’s vehicle and let themselves in before the service engineer starts work. Not only do these services create considerable security risks, they also fail to provide a secure audit trail for deliveries. Ultimately, customers have to put their faith in the hands of the delivery company driver’s honesty.

Other mainstream services offer networks of sophisticated locker boxes that field service engineers travel to, to collect their parts. Establishing and maintaining these sites requires considerable advanced planning and capital investment, all of which is reflected in the prices charged. Furthermore, the locations of these sites tend to be dictated by the availability of suitable sites rather than the needs of the field service engineers they serve. Often they are some distance from the field service engineer’s home, adding to wasted fuel and man hours.

Furthermore, the prices charged for using these services will often increase disproportionately with service level agreements meaning that those choosing to sign up for more affordable contracts often find there are no lockers available in the area when they need them.

That’s the current situation. But what if a network of collection points could be launched that required no capital investment and new collection points could be added in a matter of hours in locations to suit field service engineers? What if this service could take deliveries from any delivery company and was available on a pay-as-you-go basis with no tie in contracts? What if field service engineers were informed the instant a delivery arrived and parts were tracked using a secure audit trail? What if you could choose between delivering to a collection point close to the field service engineer’s home or a collection point near the job for which the part was actually intended, allowing the most appropriate field service engineers to be selected in ‘real time’? What if suppliers could send parts directly to the collection points simply by following straight forward addressing procedures, cutting out the delays and the added expense of sending extra deliveries to the company’s head office? What if these services could be accessed quickly and efficiently via the internet? And what if the solution was backed by a well established brand with years of experience providing collection points for internet shoppers?

Ed Fraser, founder and director of Parcel Holders and Parcel PickUp commented: “Our secure network of independent shops offers a perfect PUDO solution for field service engineers. The shop proprietors have already proven that they can run viable businesses which cater for their local communities’ needs. They’re conscientious people who take personal responsibility for everything that happens on their premises. And if they need it, they also get comprehensive training and support from the dedicated Parcel Holders team.

To offer the Parcel Holders service, all an independent shop needs is an internet connection. Shopkeepers are always looking for additional income streams, so if we don’t already have a collection point near a field service engineer’s home, with a couple of suggestions we can usually get one set up within a day or so, sometimes in a matter of hours. It feels great to offer local businesses an additional income stream in these hard economic times. It also feels great to know that CO2 emissions are being reduced every time a part is sent to our network. Furthermore, we can help our customers calculate their CO2 saving so they can look good in turn to their customers and feel good in themselves.”

You can find out more at www.parcelholders.com

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