The Austrian postal service is testing in-home delivery, where parcels are placed inside the recipient’s front door if they are out, on hundreds of volunteers.
With the help of an app, the cohort can give postal workers permission to open an electronic lock on their doors place their item in an agreed location.
Christoph Heimel is one of the volunteers taking part in the scheme. “Since I order quite a lot of parcels such a smooth delivery where I don’t have to be at home is extremely cool for me and I was immediately willing to participate and signed up straight away,” he said.
But not everyone in Austria was as keen as Christoph to give the service a go, with surveys showing that a majority of people asked would not let the postman into their home, partly because of the fear of theft.
The Austrian postal service wants to put people’s minds at ease by ensuring each volunteer gets to meet the one and only delivery person who has been granted permission to enter their home.
Peter Umundum from the management board of Österreichische Post (Austrian Post), the company responsible for postal service in Austria, said it’s up to each customer if they want to sign up for the in-home delivery service.
“The customer will decide whether to participate,” he said. “There must also be security measures, such as this surveillance camera.”
Due to COVID-related lockdowns, parcel delivery has increased dramatically worldwide. Last year, Austrian postal workers had to handle one-third more parcels than in 2019.
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