Spring 2007

Just over half of those companies that could use dedicated software to manage parcel despatch (55 per cent) actually do so; and two thirds of those that have it rely on free software supplied by parcels carriers.

Yet 70 per cent of companies actually spending money on multi-carrier despatch management software recoup their investment within a year. These are among findings of what is said to be the largest-ever survey of the take-up and use of intelligent shipping solutions. It was carried out by Pitney Bowes, which of course has an interest since it supplies multi-carrier solutions; but its scope is wide-ranging and its findings seem genuinely revealing.

Six thousand businesses in the UK, Germany and Benelux were contacted for the survey, which considered that any company despatching ten or more parcels a day would be an 'eligible' user of the solutions under review. Four hundred were then examined in more detail. Of these companies, 86 per cent were considered to be in the low-end range (shipping between 10 and 85 parcels a day), 10 per cent mid-market (86 to 200 a day) and 4 per cent large-user market (over 200).

The survey found that 45 per cent used no specialist software, and only half had any track and trace capability. The UK came out as the most enthusiastic user of free software, while Germany and the Netherlands showed higher use of specialist software.

Pitney Bowes cites various objections to free software, which it says limits users to the carrier supplying it, ignores new pricing offered by rivals, and is unlikely to integrate with corporate systems. It says there were some instances of users running up to 15 different carrier systems.

The company says bespoke multi-carrier software was rated higher on every count than free software, and its most popular feature was the ability to reduce costs, followed by the ability to handle parcel variety.