Parcel lockers can make shopping more environmentally friendly

Aug 22, 2023

During the pandemic,we shopped online like never before.

After thereopening, online shopping reduced slightly, but our habits had alreadychanged.

A reportfrom the Institute of Transport Economics (TØI) shows that online grocerysales in Norway are now significantly higher than before the pandemic.

Home deliverysaw significant growth, where packages were delivered directly to our homes ormailboxes.

However,recently, package lockers have appeared in many places across the country.These self-service lockers allow us to pick up packages 24/7 using an app toautomatically open the locker.

Researchersat TØI examined the usage of PostNord’s parcel lockers since their introductionin 2021.

Compared to2021, the number of packages delivered through lockers increased more thantenfold in 2022, according to the study.

By spring 2023,this parcel locker network consisted of nearly 2,150 lockers located at over940 locations in Norway.

Most lockersare located near stores and residential areas, aiming to be within easy reachfor customers when the network is fully expanded.

Today, the networkis particularly well-developed around Oslo, where a significant portion of thepopulation lives near such lockers. But in areas like Viken and Rogaland aswell, many people now live near a locker, as statedin an article by TØI (link in Norwegian).

Parcellockers primarily serve as an alternative to home delivery, which became muchmore common during the pandemic.

Researchersbelieve that increased use of such lockers can potentially reduce traffic andenvironmental emissions.

Homedelivery is resource-intensive, and parcel lockers offer a more efficient,flexible, and cost-effective delivery option.

Almost all packagesare delivered to the same locker once a day.

Especiallywhen centrally located, allowing customers to combine picking up packages withother errands, parcel lockers can be particularly effective from a societalperspective, the researchers argue.

Their analysisshows that if parcel lockers replace home delivery and their numbers increase,it can significantly reduce fuel consumption, CO2 emissions, andlocal emissions from the distributor to the customer’s home.

Theysuggest a reduction of up to 32 per cent.

At the sametime, the package is to be picked up by the customer. How environmentallyfriendly this pickup process is will determine the extent of the emissionsreduction.

While shoppingfrom the couch may not in itself be environmentally friendly, the chances ofreturning items like clothing that doesn’t fit are higher with online shopping,resulting in return shipments.

Offeringfree returns is a competitive advantage for retailers. Therefore, it is oftenfree to return unwanted items.

But thishas both environmental and economic costs.

The highproportion of returns leads to a much more complex logistics process thantraditional commerce, resulting in increased emissions from transportation.

Another significantproblem is that many returned items are not resold and end up being discarded,as Swedish researchers have found.

It is oftenmore profitable for retailers to dispose of these items rather than dealingwith the hassle of processing returns. This was reportedby forskning.no earlier this year (link in Norwegian).

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Translated by Alette Bjordal Gjellesvik.

Readthe Norwegian version of this article on forskning.no

Reference:

Hovi et al. Parcel lockers as delivery solution - Usage patterns, experiences and effects of network expansions, TØI Report 1959/2023, 2023.