Geopost's strategy is to develop its business in several lines: • International market, through external growth operations, stakes in companies or commercial partnerships • BtoC market, support
e-commerce and develop innovative last-mile services: interactive delivery (Predict service), delivery on Saturday (Germany) and Sunday (United Kingdom, Spain and France), delivery by appointment, delivery in parcel shops and lockers with more than 58,000 Pickup points worldwide, or delivery by drone. To do so, DPDgroup set up in April 2019 a hub in Eindhoven (Netherlands), the largest sorting centre in Europe. • New market segments such as e-commerce food delivery (e.g. Chronopost's Chronofresh service or “Seur Frio” in Spain) or same-day delivery (
Spain,
Portugal,
France,
United Kingdom,
Hungary,
Poland,
Estonia,
Lithuania,
Latvia,
Belgium and
Luxembourg) or even delivery within two hours (
Germany, Spain). In 2017, DPDgroup increased its investment in the urgent courier delivery market with the 100% acquisition of Stuart, a French company that developed a last-mile delivery technology platform for merchants and e-merchants willing to deliver their end-consignees more quickly and accurately. Finally, DPDgroup has started to position itself in the controlled temperature delivery market (transport of sensitive products in the healthcare, pharmaceutical and environmental sectors). The company acquired stakes in Biocair in 2012, BioLogistic (specialised in express delivery for laboratories) in 2016, acquired the Groupe ALP companies in France in 2017 via Chronopost, and finally acquired in 2019 Tipsa in Spain, specialised in the express transport of parcels.
Corporate social responsibility In 2012, the company committed itself to
carbon-neutral deliveries. emissions are gradually being reduced and offset, through support for renewable energy projects in India and Brazil. In 2019, DPDgroup reduced its emissions generated by road transport by 14% per parcel compared to 2013. Offset of the remaining transport emissions is done by purchasing carbon credits. DPDgroup's investment represents more than 1% of the global voluntary
carbon offset market in 2019. For inner-city deliveries, DPDgroup has implemented smart urban delivery initiatives. Since October 2019, Chronopost France has been operating 100% green deliveries in Paris, thanks to low-emission vehicles and urban depots. In autumn 2018, DPD UK's first urban depot opened in London and now 700 electric vehicles are deployed in the United Kingdom, to form the largest UK green livery. The company's green fleet and urban depots are in line with London's Ultra Low Emission Zone standards. Deliveries by alternative vehicles are also operated in Dublin,
Hamburg,
Madrid,
Tallinn and
Warsaw. In February 2018, DPD faced widespread criticism in the UK due to the treatment of Don Lane, one of its couriers. Lane had previously been fined £150 by DPD UK for attending a medical appointment to treat his
diabetes and ultimately collapsed and died of the condition. According to Lane's widow, he had missed appointments with specialists because he felt under pressure to cover his route.
Frank Field MP, Chairman of the
House of Commons'
Work and Pensions Select Committee, said "DPD have been told time and again that their punitive regime is totally unjust, particularly as their workers are labelled ‘self-employed’. Such mistreatment of workers smacks of sweated labour from the Victorian era." In March 2018, DPD UK announced that they would be offering all of their UK workers the opportunity to be classed as employees, and that they would abolish the fines for missing work. Plans were announced in March 2018 to create a DPD Driver Code later in the year, and to introduce a "self-employed worker" contract, which will offer drivers an alternative to working as a direct employee of DPD UK or working with the company on a self-employed basis. In November 2019, DPDgroup launched a Group-wide air quality monitoring programme measuring air quality with sensors on vans and Pickup points. Data are provided for free to cities & citizens. In October 2020, DPDgroup announced its commitment to deliver 225 of the largest European cities with zero- and low-emission delivery means. ==References==