One of the worst things about online shopping is dealing with actual delivery getting to your doorstep — we’ve all dealt with couriers leaving little notes telling you to pick up your packages from the post office. From tomorrow, in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, Canberra and the Gold Coast, Fedex will let its customers decide exactly where they want their online purchases delivered, and adjust the timing of deliveries so they can be around to accept their parcels.
“My Fedex Delivery“, according to the Australian Financial Review, will let buyers using the service choose what date they want their parcel delivered, and exactly where they want it delivered to. A text message or email before the parcel arrives in Australia will let customers choose an address, and also opt for deliveries to be left at addresses when there is no-one around to sign for it.
In a trial using 400 home deliveries in Sydney, a massive 74 per cent of the trial’s participants opted to change the delivery address and date of delivery for their purchased items when it became available — letting them avoid the hassle of having a missed delivery while out of their homes at work, school or while shopping, and saving the annoyance of missed deliveries for drivers.
Australia Post has massively stepped up its online shopping game, too, opening dedicated parcel delivery centres and revising its approach to storing, re-delivering and handing out parcels to customers at post offices. AusPost will also let buyers transfer parcels to different post offices for a small fee.