Royal Mail is to trial the use of drones to deliver health and safety equipment, Covid testing kits and other items to the Isles of Scilly.
The company said it will be first time an out-of-sight, autonomous scheduled drone flight has been used between the UK mainland and an island.
Part of the trial will also include inter-island parcel deliveries across the Scillies.
The Government-funded project, which has been developed in partnership with DronePrep, Skyports, Consortiq Limited, the University of Southampton, Excalibur Healthcare Services and Windracers Limited, will initially focus on delivering personal protective equipment (PPE) and testing kits to the islands’ most vulnerable and remote communities.
It s postmen and women have been a familiar sight on Britain’s doorsteps for centuries.
But Royal Mail now admits it is less trusted than US internet giant Amazon when it comes to delivering mail safely to our homes.
Internal postal service data, seen by The Mail on Sunday, shows that 38 per cent of mail recipients would recommend Amazon, while 35 per cent would back Royal Mail. DPD and Parcelforce, owned by Royal Mail, came next in the trust list.
Royal Mail chief commercial officer Nick Landon described losing top spot to Amazon as ‘very worrying’. In an internal message to its 140,000 staff, Mr Landon said: ‘All of our pride should be dented by Amazon Logistics taking top spot
Royal Mail launches new parcel collect initiative - but it won t be around for long From now until 30 May 2021, Royal Mail will collect up to five parcels a day for free, on top of postage, from consumers across the UK with Parcel Collect . In order to use the service, which normally includes a pick-up charge of 72p for a parcel or 60p for a return item, customers simply need to ensure they have already paid the correct postage to send their item. If an item does not have pre-paid postage, customers are able to pay for their postage online using Click & Drop available by visiting send.royalmail.com or via the Royal Mail App.
Royal Mail offers free parcel pick-up in the UK thenorthernecho.co.uk - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from thenorthernecho.co.uk Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The company is hoping to generate more business by picking up more parcels. Three billion parcels are sent across the UK every year. The company normally charges 72p to pick up a parcel, which is on top of the postage fee.
Royal Mail is offering free parcel pick-ups from customers home in an attempt to boost its delivery business It will waive the pick-up charge until the end of May to get people using the service. Rivals say Royal Mail is playing catch up with its Parcels Collect service which was launched last October. Delivery firm Hermes UK said it has been offering a courier collection service for a similar price for more than 10 years.