Customers in Austria will no longer have to worry about missed parcel deliveries thanks to the launch of a new in-home delivery service by Austrian Post.
The post first trialed the service in 2021 with technology partner Nuki and received enormous interest, with 2,000 customer registrations. Austrian Post will now roll out the in-home delivery service to 200 of those registered users, enabling parcel delivery even when the recipient is not at home. The service will be rolled out to more users over the next few months.
For in-home delivery, the front door or apartment door is fitted with a Nuki Smart Lock, which is provided by Austrian Post for a one-off fee of €289 (US$315) to customers who do not have the lock. The postal worker is then authorized to open the customer’s front door via the Nuki app and put the parcel on a doormat in the hallway that marks the place where the parcel is to be left. The delivery staff then leave the house or apartment again and lock the door.
“Anteroom delivery from Austrian Post and Nuki is an absolute market innovation that has never made it past the pilot phase in Europe. We are taking a chance on this innovation and are now offering front-desk delivery as a standard service for the first time. Austrian Post can now deliver parcels safely and reliably to the recipient’s own four walls,” explained Peter Umundum, chief parcel and logistics officer at Österreichische Post AG.
As part of the anteroom delivery service, Austrian Post is also expanding its pick-up service. Users can label their parcels with return labels or parcel stamps and instruct Austrian Post to collect them. Using the Nuki Smart Lock, Swiss Post employees can then open the front door and collect up to five pre-stamped parcels directly from the sender’s anteroom. The parcels must be placed on the special doormat so that the delivery staff know which items to collect. The 200 users will receive two vouchers to try out this service free of charge.
Further information and registration options are available at post.at/vorzimmer-zustellung.
UPDATE: Major interest
Just 24 hours after launching the service, Austrian Post announced today (May 29) that it has received more than 2,000 registrations for its new delivery service.
“We are completely overwhelmed! More than 2,000 registrations after just 24 hours show the importance of this Europe-wide innovation. Austrians want to receive their online orders directly in their own four walls and we as Austrian Post will deliver them,” Umundum enthused.