Newsletter 44

It’s business as usual for BearBox, the drop-box network for parts and engineering spares, following its acquisition by ByBox last month. BearBox is said to operate the only carrier-independent drop-box network in the UK.

ByBox chief executive Stuart Miller told On Track and On Target that generally the company will be run as before, complete with its established identity. "Same brand, same customers, same processes," he says.

It has been moved from its old base in Farringdon to ByBox’s Sunbury depot, but existing staff are understood to have transferred there. Miller says there may be some “optimisation” of drop-off points where there is conspicuous overlap with ByBox points, but otherwise the network will be kept intact.

However, BearBox chief executive John Hale, who focused latterly on the self-storage side of the business, has not transferred to ByBox.

 

The two companies both started life around 2000, working originally in the consumer delivery market. In their early days BearBox focused on individual electronic drop-boxes outside consumer premises, while ByBox concentrated on box banks in public places. Both quickly shifted their focus to the commercial market.

There has been no mention so far of whether the BearBox network will contribute significantly to ByBox’s emerging consumer delivery solution, but the extra locations are bound to add some granularity to the enlarged group’s coverage.