• One in five (21%) shoppers have missed more than 5 parcels in the last 12 months alone, 10% have missed crucial Christmas deliveries
• Don’t trust thy neighbour: 47% of Brits barely know them; 23% don’t trust them…and more than third (35%) don’t even trust them to take in a parcel 
• Pilfered parcels: 11% have had parcels taken from outside their house or by a neighbour
• Wasted work: 31% have missed hours of work or called in sick to wait for a parcel
• Post Office problems: 2,640,000 hours spent in queues the week before Christmas  
• Click and Collect Christmas: A third (33%) will click and collect gifts in store while two-thirds (64%) of online shoppers are considering using convenient parcel lockers 

InPost today revealed research highlighting that almost half of Brits (47%) barely know their neighbours and almost a quarter (23%) would go as far as to say they don’t trust them. 

The independent study of 2,000 people from across the UK discovered that a majority would never ask their neighbours to look after the likes of keys (68%), pets (89%), relatives (94%) or homes (56%) while they were out and even taking in parcels is taking trust too far for more than a third of us (35%).  That’s a fact that’s hardly surprising when it turns out more than one in ten (11%) have had parcels taken by a neighbour or from right outside their house. 

When it comes to deliveries, almost a quarter (26%) have gone into work late or have left early to wait in for a parcel, while 6% have simply called in sick. Yet Brits have still missed an average of three parcels in the last twelve months alone – with 10% missing those crucial Christmas gift deliveries. 

This is a problem exacerbated by the fact that almost a third (30%) of people claim they’ve spent more than 20 minutes queuing in the Post Office the week before Christmas, effectively resulting in at least 2,640,000 hours[i] of time cumulatively wasted across the UK waiting to pick up or send a parcel.

As a result, shoppers are looking for more convenience this Christmas. While 83% will still get gifts sent to their home, one in five (19%) will have parcels delivered to their office and 33% will click and collect in store or from a nearby shop. In addition, almost two thirds of online shoppers (64%) are considering using parcel lockers because they provide a local 24/7 service.

Jonathan Smith, Chairman at InPost UK, said: “It’s surprising that people don’t trust those closest to them to help them out and to see that missed deliveries are still such an issue, especially as we head into the season of goodwill and the peak shopping period.

“However, there are fast solutions available as shopper needs are essentially simple; we all want to be able to get our gifts safely and with a minimum of disruption to our daily routine. Click and collect is already proving a success story and automated lockers are the next stage of the convenience journey. Presents can be sent to lockers up and down the country and collected 24/7 – even on Christmas morning – so now it’s easy to have shopping wait in for you rather than the other way round. This saves everyone time and eliminates the need to ask anyone to sign for deliveries on your behalf.”

InPost has a network of more than 1000 fully automated lockers across the UK which can be found at a variety of safe and secure locations including at Morrisons supermarkets, petrol stations, train stations and Transport for London sites, outside retailers such as Toys R Us and at local shops across the UK. They are all accessible 24/7/365, meaning no more queues or waiting in, enabling consumers to collect and deliver items at their earliest convenience.