LONDON BRIDGE FAST AND GREEN

Retail outlets that surround, or form part of, mainline rail stations have thousands of commuters passing their doors every day. The hope is, of course, that these commuters become customers.

But here's a thought. What if these commuters could also act as couriers?

For London Bridge Station the commuters would able to pop in and collect small to medium size packages that they could then take to locations throughout the whole of south east England, on their way home.

Now here is where it gets really interesting. This would mean that a customer living in (say) Hastings, Brighton or Tunbridge Wells could place an order online with one of the participating stores and have the order in their hands within hours!

But there is more. The delivery process has emitted zero carbon. No truck, van or motorcycle is used.

So this is an efficient, same day, zero carbon delivery event.

However we cannot expect the commuter to make his way to the customers address. He doesn't have to.

Pubs to the rescue.

I live in Tunbridge Wells and I have noticed how chaotic conventional courier deliveries can be, particularly at this time of year, and when the customer is not at home to receive the order. Tunbridge Wells does have parcel shops, but they are few and far between. However, Tunbridge Wells has over 75 pubs! I have approached the landlords of just three of them to ask if they would be prepared to receive parcels on behalf or nearby residents or customers.

All three were very keen on offering a community service that would increase their footfall.

One of the pubs is very close to a railway station.

So now we have our courier route. The commuter picks up the order from the mainline station retail outlet, travels and drops it off at a pub close to his destination station. The customer can then collect his order up to 11:00 pm.

I can anticipate the questions you may have. ..

This is too complicated. How can we find the right commuter/courier for each order?

That's easy.

Commuters who register as couriers would provide, in addition to full contact details, the start and end stations they use when they commute.

Just as Uber matches taxis to passengers, we can match parcels to commuters. Parcels are like passengers and commuters are providing the transport. So as soon as an order is placed with a participating store, a message goes out to all commuters whose journey matches the parcel journey and the first commuter to accept the job, wins.

Why would commuters bother to participate?

For starters, each parcel they transport will save around 0.4 kg of carbon emission, so helping to save the planet is one incentive. For some, that might be enough.

However any service that transports parcels over long distances within hours, is hugely expensive, typically £45 to £180 using a motorcycle courier, so there is an opportunity to reward the commuter financially, even if it's just a free pint at the destination pub.

Who would use the service to sell?

Vendors who sell through Amazon will pay between 7% and 15%. Those fees will be bypassed using this service which will help to cover the courier costs.

Let's look at the Whisky Exchange. They charge £6.95 for "express delivery"..but that is 2-3 days.

They could give that to the courier and have same day delivery.

Who would buy?

This will appeal to those who want something urgently, or simply do not want the parcel delivered to their home.

Also, the efficient and low cost of delivery may enable vendors to offer attractive deals, so customers might order on cost alone.

Can we trust the commuter?

Yes. Just like Uber drivers we can monitor and rate performance. Though the delivery app we can track their movements.

What next?

I would like to plan a simple trial with one retailer in the New Year while we work on the software

Barney Lodge

mr.barneylodge@gmail.com