Bpost resumes all home deliveries

Bpost has ended its short-lived policy of requiring customers in some neighbourhoods to pick up their own parcels. The Belgian postal service has resumed all home deliveries, public enterprise minister Petra De Sutter told a parliamentary committee on Tuesday.

Due to the significant spike in demand during the second coronavirus shutdown, Bpost had asked some customers to pick up their parcels themselves. A collaboration was organised with the sports chain Decathlon which provided makeshift collection areas in stores.

Some 70% of customers who were told that their post would not be delivered agreed to pick up the package themselves. The others who refused finally received their parcels at home a few days later than expected.

"This system is no longer needed at this time," Petra De Sutter told the committee. "However, while the stores are open again, the number of daily parcels has increased from 600,000 to 660,000 as of last Friday."

To meet this demand, Bpost is now using a fleet of additional vehicles. During the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic, an additional 850 vans had been rented. In the summer, that figure dropped to 300. Since the beginning of November, an additional 1,400 vans have been leased, bringing the number of vehicles added to the roads to 1,700.

In addition, Bpost has employed some 3,000 additional workers. In the first wave, there were 2,000 extra. Since then, 650 of them have been awarded a contract.