More flexibility when sending and receiving parcels: With this goal, DHL today announced the establishment of a new subsidiary. The OneStopBoxes should be usable for all parcel services.
When sending or collecting their parcels, German consumers will in future be able to rely more on machines that are available around the clock. To this end, DHL today announced the establishment of a new subsidiary that will provide additional offerings.
The new machines, of which there are only prototypes so far, are called OneStopBox. 100 of them are to be installed this year, 2,000 next year and several thousand in each of the following years. “Our focus is on larger cities; in Munich, for example, there is a great need,” said the head of the subsidiary, Lukas Beckedorff.
Can also be used by competitors
There are already more than 13,000 DHL packing stations across Germany and the goal is to increase this to 15,000 in the future. In contrast to these previous packing stations, in which only DHL can store parcels, OneStopBox should be open to providers and can therefore also be used by competitors.
This should make it easier for consumers: They can pick up packages from different parcel service providers at one location. And retailers should also be able to store their goods in the OneStopBox metal compartments so that customers can pick them up after the store closes.
White vending machines
Because of this provider freedom, in the parcel industry we speak of “white label” machines, which look inconspicuous and do not have a company’s brand color. The OneStopBoxes, of which only prototypes are currently available, are also white.
The idea of opening machines to different package providers is not new. The Salzburger Stadtwerke founded the company myflexbox in 2018, which now has 500 locations in Austria. The company entered the German market at the end of 2022, there are now almost 200 locations and there should be 600 to 700 by the end of the year.