Omniva to begin rollout of community parcel lockers across Estonia this fall

TALLINN - Estonia's state-owned postal service and logistics company Omniva has signed a five-year partnership agreement with Jetbeep, which will begin serial production of wireless community parcel lockers designed for smaller communities, creating a new nationwide network in Estonia.

While the first community parcel lockers for pilot projects were produced one by one, Jetbeep is now starting serial production for Omniva.

"The first order -- 150 machines, of which 100 will serve as public service points -- has already been placed. The machines should be completed by the end of November or early December, and installation will start immediately after," Martti Kuldma, chairman of the management board of Omniva, said.

Most of the initial machines will be installed in Estonia, with some also launched as pilot projects in Latvia and Lithuania.

"While Jetbeep is producing the machines, Omniva is completing all the necessary preparations -- selecting and finalising agreements for specific locations," Kuldma added.

The public community parcel lockers will be installed in village centers, residential areas, bus stops, petrol stations, and similar locations, including places where low-usage post offices have recently been closed.

In the first phase of the project, Omniva will order more than 500 community parcel machines, which are expected to be ready and installed by mid-next year. For comparison -- there are currently fewer than 400 conventional Omniva parcel machines in Estonia.

The long-term vision for the project is even more ambitious.

"Within five years, we want to reach around 2,000 community parcel machines across Estonia, and within ten years ensure that almost every household in Estonia has a machine within 300 meters," Kuldma said.

According to consumer surveys, 83 percent of people in Estonia prefer to send and receive parcels via machines, and more than 60 percent use a parcel machine at least once a month.

"We are moving closer to people with the services they value most. I believe Omniva is responding very well to the needs of our customers with this," Kuldma said.

Community parcel machines are smaller-scale units that do not require a wired internet or electricity connection. They are battery-powered and therefore independent of power outages.

"A conventional parcel machine is usually located in a larger center, such as next to a shop, because it requires electricity and internet. Each installation therefore involves lengthy negotiations. A community parcel machine, however, can be placed in just 15 minutes by two people in agreement with a landowner. We call them community parcel machines because they are perfectly suited for serving smaller communities and more sparsely populated areas," Kuldma said.

Otherwise, the community parcel machine works the same way as a traditional parcel machine -- when a parcel arrives, the recipient receives a notification on their phone with a code to open the locker. A single locker can hold one or several parcels for the same recipient. Parcels registered in Omniva’s self-service can also be sent from these machines.

In the future, once the community parcel machine network is established across Estonia and amendments to the Postal Act allow machines to be used for providing universal postal services, these units could also serve as local postal access points -- enabling the delivery of letters and periodicals.

"This provides a smart solution to the key challenge in the postal sector -- how to ensure that all people continue to have access to letter and newspaper delivery in an era of very low volumes. At the same time, it solves a practical everyday issue we often see at Omniva -- since people receive letters so rarely, mailboxes are not checked regularly, and items accumulate and become damaged before reaching the recipient. With a community parcel machine, you always receive a notification on your phone that an item is waiting for you in a dry, secure place -- whether it’s a parcel, a letter, or a newspaper," Kuldma said.