BYBOX offers businesses a lifeline as postal strikes take hold

Anxious businesses worried about the potential impact of ongoing postal strikes are having their fears eased by a ground breaking distribution solution.

With the tagline ‘distribution revolution’, ByBox, the in-night parts distribution specialists said that they can meet the needs of thousands of businesses whose deliveries of important and sensitive items between sites and in the field could be thrown into disarray during the strike.

Their comments have come after Royal Mail postal workers have once again gone on strike over job security and working conditions.

ByBox already holds 75 per cent of the field service market which it services through its national network of dropboxes at 1,400 locations. It has over 100 customers including Coca Cola, Fujitsu, KonicaMinolta, Computacenter, GlaxosSmithKline and Siemens. It makes 20 million deliveries a year with more than 99.8 per cent delivered pre-8am.

In total the company has an established network of more than 24,000 secure dropboxes and manned handover sites in the UK to ensure that companies ordering vital machinery parts and equipment receive them quickly and efficiently.

Leading the way in innovation, the ByBox operation is supported by its unique technology platform, ThinventoryTM, which sets new standards for efficiency, reliability and stock transparency. ThinventoryTM is the award winning stock management system introduced by ByBox two years ago to help track parcels distributed to its dropbox delivery network across the country. The software, integrated seamlessly with ByBox’s network of 1,400 dropbox locations, offers cohesive end-to-end reporting software to maximise stock visibility and allows real-time call-off for items held at the company’s 100,000 sq ft warehouse.

Inderveer Tatla, Head of ByBox’ consumer service: myByBox, said: "Thousands of businesses rely on efficient field service deliveries and any disruption to that offering is potentially disastrous for many in a range of industry sectors. Our innovative approach at ByBox has helped us built an enviable reputation in the field service sector and is the ideal solution for businesses looking for cost-effective efficient deliveries.

"Ever continuing to push the barriers, ByBox is continually re-evaluating its service offering. Only recently the company has introduced three additional services to its product portfolio – Pre-10, Technical Courier and a service to the Republic Of Ireland. A new repair centre is also in the pipeline which will enable them to introduce a "swap and fix" service.

"Additionally, earlier this year, ByBox entered the consumer market for the first time with the launch of myByBox – a standalone service designed to eliminate the frustration of customers waiting for products to be delivered to their home address."

Customers have complete control of deliveries by placing orders on any online delivery site and inputting the ByBox hub details along with their own unique reference code rather than their home address for delivery.

Their goods will subsequently be delivered to directly to the high-tech ByBox dropbox which is located nearest to them. A collection code is sent via SMS and email to say their products have been delivered which ensures total security. Customers can then go to their box at their convenience, enter the code and retrieve their goods.

The business model incorporates a unique Box2Box solution which could become a highly attractive proposition for postal customers concerned about disruption caused by strikes.

"ByBox is a truly innovative service, putting the customers’ convenience first," said Miss Tatla.

"It gives customers total flexibility, convenience and ownership of the whole delivery and collection of goods process and with peoples’ thoughts already turning to Christmas there’s no reason whatsoever why our services couldn’t be applied to post and mail.

"The Box2Box service for example would enable will enable a person in Truro to get their package or gift to a relative or friend in Aberdeen delivered overnight and arrive by 8.00 am. They would simply drop the item at their nearest box and it would be delivered to the recipient’s nearest one. The peace of mind that gives to our customers is second to none and puts ByBox in a strong position to make inroads in the post and packages market."