With all non-critical services starting to close across Ireland and more expected to follow suit - many are wondering if they can continue to get goods delivered.
An Post, DPD and other delivery services are seen as critical by many and all the main couriers have released statements as to what they plan to do.
All will, at the moment at least, continue to operate although they will have a number of changes.
Here's all you need to know from each of the main postal and courier services in Ireland;
An Post
An Post will endeavour to deliver all items. Where a business or home is not accessible, An Post will hold the item free-of-charge in the local Delivery Service Unit for collection by the customer. New Mailminder and Redirection applications have been suspended with immediate effect.
The following measures will be implemented to stop the spread of the virus;
- To mitigate against the risk of Covid-19, An Post postal delivery staff will not hand their scanner to the customer for signature.
- The delivery post person can sign on behalf of the customer, in their presence, for all mails and parcel items that require signature.
- Mail services to several countries have been suspended until further notice.
- An Post will keep all customers up-to-date through this website and via our Social Media channels.
Amazon
In response to questions Amazon has announced that it intends to keep operating during the lockdown.
In a statement the company said: “We believe our role serving customers and the community during this time is a critical one, and we want to make sure our customers can get the items they need, when they need them.
“As COVID-19 has spread, we've recently seen an increase in people shopping online which has had an impact on how we serve our customers, but we are working around the clock with our selling partners to ensure availability of essential products, and to continue to bring on additional capacity to deliver customer orders.”
DPD
DPD will continue to operate and deliver as many packages as they can but will implement the following;
- To mitigate risk of spread of Covid-19 to team members, customers and members of the public, DPD is now operating a contactless delivery service.
- Where the parcel recipient is present to receive delivery, the driver will retain possession of the scanner, will request the name of the signatory which he/she will key into the name field and will capture the words C19 in the signature field.
- Driver will not capture the signature of the recipient. Where "Safe Place" or "Letterbox" options are in place for the delivery, these instructions will be followed.
- GPS coordinates are captured at the point where the parcel is scanned as delivered.
- This process applies to all deliveries within the DPD Network for the next 14 days and may be extended depending on the status of the Covid-19 pandemic.
- To mitigate the risk of spread of the Covid-19 virus, DPD has ceased to allow collections from our depots for now.
Fastway
This service will continue to run for the time being with the delivery service changing to the following;
Delivery procedure
- Courier knocks on the customer’s door and sets the parcel down on the doorstep
- They will then step away, maintaining distance (approximately 6 feet or 2 meters)
- The courier will not hand over their scanner to the customer for their signature, instead
- The courier will explain the contactless delivery process, and
- Ask for consent to select the ‘Contactless Signature’ option in lieu of the cusomter’s signature
If there is no answer:
- The parcel will be returned to the depot that evening, and
- Another delivery attempt will be made on the next working day
