19 December 2014
Carrier tops Money Saving Expert’s customer satisfaction poll for second year running
Unrivalled investment in people, technology and network keeps DPD
ahead of growing demand
Dwain McDonald, CEO of leading parcel company DPD says that an “unrivalled investment in people, technology and our network” has kept DPD ahead of growing demand and protected the company from the kinds of problems facing rivals such as Yodel, who were recently forced to suspend collections after being swamped by Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales.
McDonald confirmed that the company, which employs 9,000 people in the UK, is on track for a record breaking year, delivering 150 million parcels. While parcel volumes this Christmas are up over 20%, the company has been able to maintain an excellent service throughout December.
Dwain McDonald, CEO of DPD said; “DPD’s daily parcel volumes in December have been up 21-24% consistently above last year, but that is what we planned for. We plan for 48 weeks of the year for December because we know just how busy our retailers are going to be. There was a significant spike in volumes on Cyber Monday but we delivered everything to target and our performance so far has been ahead of expectation.
“We have invested heavily in the last two years, including opening 18 new depots around the country. Next September we will open a £100m automated sorting hub in Hinckley, the largest of its kind in Europe, which will dramatically increase our capacity for next Christmas and beyond. It is this unrivalled investment in people, technology and our network that keeps DPD ahead of the growing demand for parcel delivery services in the UK.
“We are a 7 day a week operation this year and that has made a huge difference. In July we started UK-wide Sunday deliveries, creating over 1,000 new jobs. Delivering on Saturday and Sunday has helped more people get their parcels even quicker this year. Also, our technology is the best in the business, so customers are told in advance of their one hour delivery slot and they can tell us at any time on the day of delivery if they aren’t going to be home. This means we are more efficient, as more of our parcels get delivered first time and we don’t have as many wasted stops or parcels going back to the depot.”
The news comes just as DPD has topped another major customer satisfaction poll. The poll, on Martin Lewis’ Money Saving Expert website, asked people to rate all the major UK delivery companies based on their own experiences with each firm over the past year. Over 9,000 people voted between 9th and 16th December, and in the end DPD was the clear winner with 66% of voters rating the service as ‘great’.
Other major carrier companies included Royal Mail (50% ‘great’), UPS (49%), Parcelforce (43%), Hermes (39%), Yodel (37%), TNT (28%), UK Mail (27%) and City Link (25%).
The result comes hot on the heels of a Which? customer satisfaction survey in the November 2014 edition of the magazine, where DPD was voted the top carrier company in a poll of over 2,500 Which? subscribers.
The full results for Money Saving Expert poll can be found by clicking here.
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For further information please contact:
Gordon or Liz at MAW Communications (www.mawcomms.co.uk) on 01603 505 845.
Notes to editors
DPD is a member of one of Europe’s leading parcels groups GeoPost, wholly owned by France’s La Poste, the second largest postal group in Europe.
The company employs 9,000 people in the UK, operating more than 3,000 vehicles from over 50 locations and delivering 1.6 million parcels per week.
Read more at dpd.co.uk