UK employees using workplace deliveries to collect online shopping purchases

Friday, September 20, 2013 - 10:48 by Mike Price

One of the biggest problems for many people in the UK when it comes to shopping online is that you have little choice over the time of day during which packages ordered from an e-commerce site are delivered to your home.

It is not reasonable for people to take day after day off work to make sure that they are in to receive their items, so plenty of consumers choose to get items sent to their place of employment.

Now a study from DPD has found that almost a third of British consumers have indulged in workplace deliveries, which could equate to around 200 million personal packages sent to offices each year.

A tenth of those questioned said that the practice had got so common that managers had been forced to ban it.

An average of two parcels a month can be delivered to individual consumers in this way, but 11 per cent of the people who regularly carry this out will get five or more packages in a single 30 day period.

The study also spoke to employers about their attitudes towards workplace deliveries of items purchased online, with 28 per cent confirming that this approach was accepted.

There are other ways to receive the items you buy online without having to get them sent in to your work address. A growing number of major retailers like Amazon have set up lock boxes in shopping centres and other public places, into which items are placed for collection by customers.

Many high street retailers with e-commerce sites will also let you choose an item online and then pick it up in-store on the same day. So make sure that you stick to your company's policy and only get appropriate packages sent to work.