I’ve been using Parcel Motel since shortly after they started operating and am a big fan. If you’ve been wondering what the story is with their big green lockers – typically located at petrol stations or shopping centres, so they’re handy enough to pull in beside – here’s a quick overview.
How does it work?
- When you register, you get an ID and 2 delivery addresses: one north of the border and one south.
- You nominate the motel that’s most convenient for you as where you’ll ultimately collect your parcels.
- When you get a delivery, it’s dropped to a locker at your nominated motel, and you’re charged for the use of the locker. If your delivery comes in multiple parcels, they’ll go in multiple lockers and you’ll be charged for each one.
Notes:- At the moment, the basic delivery charge is €3.95, but you can buy 10 delivery credits for €35 before the end of this month (August 2014), making it just €3.50 per delivery.
- There are extra charges for outsized/heavy items, and items not collected within 48 hours of delivery.
- Parcels are delivered to motels 24-7, so no need to worry about “business hours”.
- You get a text and an email to tell you when there’s a parcel waiting for you. The message includes a PIN (specific to that delivery), and you use a combination of your mobile number and the PIN to open the locker.
Why would you use it?
- If you want to buy from a provider who won’t mail to the republic, you can use your northern delivery address, and vice versa.
- If there’s a significant price difference in product/shipping costs depending on whether your delivery address is in Ireland or the UK, you can use the address that makes your purchase cheaper.
- If you won’t be home to accept a delivery and can’t conveniently make it to your post sorting office to collect, you can collect from a locker 24-7.
- If you want to get a parcel delivered without your housemates knowing (e.g. a birthday present), noone will call to your door or leave a missed delivery note.
- You can also use Parcel Motel to send parcels, either to another Parcel Motel user or to a standard delivery address, instead of dragging parcels to a post office or arranging a courier collection.
- Some retailers (such as Littlewoods and Viking) offer the option to use Parcel Motel to accept delivery of your purchases and to avail of a free returns services.
Parcel Motel has saved me literally hundreds of euros on both products and delivery costs since I started using it, and I love the convenience of being able to collect whenever I like.
A couple of things to watch out for:
- Opt out of any marketing by suppliers you buy from so that you don’t wind up paying for delivery of unwanted brochures and the like. (Happened to me!) If you don’t trust them to respect your opt-out, change your delivery address once you’ve received your parcel.
- Make sure the delivery name matches the name used on your Parcel Motel account. Dave once tried to get something delivered to my address but it arrived with his name, which resulted in a support call from the guys in Antrim querying whether to refuse the package. If I’d missed the call, things could’ve gotten complicated!
