Brits spend 370 million hours a month on parcel admin

Global automation platform Quadient has revealed new research showing that Brits are spending an estimated 370 million hours every month managing deliveries and returns.

The research of 2000 consumers shows that parcel admin is becoming a recurring part of everyday life. The average consumer now spends 5.5 hours a month managing parcels, which is the equivalent of 66 hours a year per person. Across the UK population, that adds up to a shocking 4.44 billion hours a year.  

The single biggest parcel admin time drain for Brits is waiting at home for a delivery, which accounts for 1.5 hours a month per person or 18 hours every year.  

While parcels were once mainly associated with receiving goods bought online or an occasional present, they now play a much broader role in modern life. On average, Brits now receive six parcels a month and send seven. Of the parcels received, four come from general online shopping, while one comes from regular subscriptions and one is work related. 

Sending behaviour is even more varied. On average, Brits send one work related parcel a month, one returned item, two items sold through resale platforms, one parcel to friends or family, and one item they are lending to someone else. 

The findings also highlight how resale has become a mainstream part of the parcel economy. More than three quarters (77%) of UK consumers have sold goods online:

• 30% do so occasionally when decluttering. 
• 16% sell items regularly but casually, equivalent to around 10.8 million people. 
• 6% (around 4 million people) describe it as a side hustle. 
• 2% (around 1.35 million) say it is a significant source of income.

As parcel use has become broader, more frequent and increasingly two way, managing deliveries and returns is also taking up more time in people’s lives. What was once an occasional task is now a regular monthly parcel admin burden for many consumers. 

Katia Bourgeais-Crémel, director of Lockers Automation Europe at Quadient, said: ‘Parcels are no longer just something people receive from time to time. They now support work, returns, resale, subscriptions and everyday exchanges between people, meaning parcel management has become a constant part of modern life.

‘But while parcel behaviour has changed, the systems supporting it have not kept up. The experience of managing deliveries and returns has become time consuming and inconvenient, with consumers spending hours every month tracking deliveries, waiting in for parcels and managing returns.

‘As the parcel economy continues to evolve, the industry needs to rethink the delivery and returns experience, so it better reflects how people live today. The first step is making parcel management simpler, more flexible and far less time consuming.’

Click here to read the full findings in Quadient’s report, The New Parcel Economy.