To meet the demand linked to the huge growth in e-commerce, parcel delivery companies are increasingly seeking solutions for what is known as the 'last mile'. DPD Belgium found a solution to this issue in the ViaTim Points network. The network is made up of private residents who receive parcels and serve as pickup points for the people who live in their street or neighbourhood. They either deliver the parcels daily to recipients' homes, or operate as a neighbourhood parcel-pickup-service point with extended opening hours (from 4pm to 9pm), which is ideal for people who need to pick up or send parcels after office hours. In this way, the parcels arrive on the day they are supposed to, even if there may be three times as many parcels to be delivered on that day. Indeed, potential peaks of activity at the parcel delivery company are spread across dozens of additional helping hands, who then make their delivery rounds within a limited radius around their own home.
Building neighbourhood relations and protecting the environment
The ViaTim Points are often run by people who are retired or who work from home, house-wives or house-husbands and students. In the Netherlands, 600 ViaTim Points are already operating. Together, they handle more than 250,000 parcels a month. They form a dense distribution network, providing an alternative to all those delivery vans in the street. ViaTim encourages people to collect or deliver parcels on foot or by bike. This also contributes to reducing traffic. The Erasmus University of Rotterdam[1] calculated that this initiative could cut neighbourhood CO2 emissions by 74%.
Michiel Nieuwkerk, founder of ViaTim:
"It is quite magical to realise that a parcel is picked up or delivered at a ViaTim Point in the Netherlands every 2 seconds. Each parcel represents a moment of contact between people, creating links in the neighbourhood. At ViaTim, we truly believe that life becomes easier and more enjoyable by promoting contacts within a neighbourhood. We have had an excellent partnership with DPD in the Netherlands for several years, and this has enabled us to extend the initiative to Belgium, as a parcel-service point and for home delivery. This means there are fewer vans on the street, which is better in terms of safety and for the climate. We are really delighted to be starting out in Belgium with DPD Belgium as a launch partner!"
Aiming for 750 neighbourhood points in Belgium
ViaTim launched its service in our country just last year. In that time, almost 120 neighbourhood residents have joined the network and the aim is to reach at least 750 ViaTim Points in Belgium. To achieve this goal, we established a partnership with DPD Belgium, which is the first to operator use the ViaTim network to deliver parcels close to consumers' homes. What if the recipient is not home? In this case, the parcel is dropped off at the nearest ViaTim Point, where consumers can pick up their parcels from 4pm to 9pm, Monday to Friday.
Frank Jahn, Director of Operations at DPD Belgium:
"As a Group, we are constantly seeking to further improve our quality and provide the best customer experience in the market, while also meeting our corporate commitment to sustainable development. This particularly includes developing innovative services that offer greater transparency and flexibility to end-users. Thanks to ViaTim, we can offer recipients an additional delivery option, which allows them to receive parcels without any hassle. At the same time, the pickup points provided by ViaTim and the DPD Pickup network also underline our 'green' policy. With these alternative delivery methods, we can actually deliver several parcels at once and increase the rate of deliveries that are successful at the first delivery attempt."
Kenneth Van Damme from Deinze was one of the first ViaTim Points in Flanders:
"We moved here in 2019. Since we didn't know the neighbourhood at all, it seemed like a great way to break the ice. There are quite a few young people who live in the neighbourhood who, like me, all work during the day. Thanks to ViaTim, I've already got to know a lot of my neighbours, both in this street and neighbouring streets, despite the Covid crisis."
Petra De Sutter, Belgian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Public Administration, Public Enterprises, Telecommunication and Post:
“Innovations are important. Community-oriented pickup points are beneficial for everyone. You have direct contact with people in your neighbourhood and you don't necessarily have to rush to pick up a parcel before the shop closes. Equally, delivery people don't need to make several delivery attempts if someone is absent, which means there is less traffic on local streets. So, the collaborative economy can also help reduce the environmental impact of the parcel-delivery sector."
Would you like to become a neighbourhood ViaTim Point?
In the meantime, ViaTim is continuing to deploy ViaTim Points, initially in Flanders and then throughout Belgium, as of next autumn. People who spend most their time at home and who would like to have more contact with their neighbours, or to be of service to the neighbourhood, can register on viatim.be/aanmelden. ViaTim Points receive a small fee for receiving and returning parcels. However, most people do not do it for the money, but rather for the social contact in the neighbourhood.
About ViaTim
Founded in 2016 by Michiel Nieuwkerk, ViaTim is a parcel delivery start-up that draws on a network of local neighbourhood residents. For ViaTim, building neighbourhood relations makes life more pleasant. Thanks to the network of ViaTim Points, local people – who are at home during the day and want to do something useful for their neighbourhood – receive, deliver and ship hundreds of thousands of parcels at times that are convenient for consumers. With nationwide coverage, the network of ViaTim Points provides a neighbourhood-based service that makes life easier for busy consumers. In this way, ViaTim aims to bridge the gap between local neighbourhood life and the online world in order to create contact between neighbours while promoting convenience and efficiency. More information at viatim.be. Register as a ViaTim Point: viatim.be/aanmelden.
About DPD Belgium
DPD in Belgium is part of DPDgroup, the largest international parcel delivery network in Europe. Thanks to innovative technology and local knowledge, DPD offers the best possible experience to its customers, whether they are sending or receiving parcels. DPD's cutting-edge Predict service is setting new standards in parcel delivery, by enabling its customers to closely tracks their parcels or change their delivery options. As part of DPDgroup, DPD Belgium has access to over 58,000 local Pickup points worldwide, of which 1,800 in the Benelux. DPD delivers to over 230 countries worldwide. DPDgroup employs over 97,000 experts, who work hand in hand to deliver over 7.5 million parcels every day. DPDgroup is the parcel delivery network of GeoPost, which posted sales of €11 billion in 2020. GeoPost is a holding company owned by Le Groupe La Poste. More information at: www.dpd.be.
[1] ‘The efficiency impact of ViaTim on the last mile of e-logistics’, Master Thesis - MSc Supply Chain Management,
Rotterdam School of Management, Fabian Reehuis, June 2020
