Courier express parcel service
CEP services ( courier, express and parcel services , sometimes courier, express and postal services ) are logistics and postal companies . The criteria to distinguish it from other markets include the weight and volume of the shipments, the speed at which goods are dispatched and the services offered.
Subdivision
Courier services
Courier services usually deliver items personally and directly, for example by bicycle couriers in cities or security couriers for transporting money and valuables.
Parcel services
Parcel services are system service providers who work with a high level of standardization . The delivery time of the shipments is usually a little longer than with express services and is not guaranteed due to the fixed mode of operation. There are also restrictions on the size and weight of the shipments accepted for transport (most parcel services limit the maximum weight of a shipment to 31.5 kg).
Express services
In contrast to (direct) couriers, express shipments are not transported to the recipient directly, but via a transshipment center. The essential feature of express transport is the guaranteed duration. The large express services are just as highly automated as parcel services, but rely on cargo planes, especially in the USA . In Europe, the terms parcel and express service are mixed up, as there is no legally binding definition.
Likewise, a guaranteed and shorter delivery time, not supra-regional but within metropolitan areas, is to be offered with same day delivery .
Night express
Special area of express services. In contrast to overnight service providers, the shipments in the overnight express are delivered before 8:00 a.m., optionally before 7:00 a.m. or 6:00 a.m. and are therefore available to recipients before work begins. The handover takes place without receipt at previously defined transfer points. To do this, the overnight express service providers manage the keys or access codes to company buildings, safes or the trunk of service vehicles.
Service offering
The CEP services distinguish themselves from the forwarding offers by a wide range of services. These additional services are remunerated by a higher transport fee and can usually be ordered additionally by the customer as required.
Physical service
Preferred delivery
Most CEP services offer delivery of the shipment at a specific time. Typical time periods are to 8 am , am to 10 am or until 12 noon .
Transport of critical shipments
Some CEP services are able to transport dangerous goods , works of art, sensitive devices, live animals, refrigerated shipments or even medical samples.
Same Day Delivery (SDD)
Same Day Delivery (SDD) is a form of a courier express parcel service that delivers parcels faster, ideally within a calendar day or within a scheduled time window.
Same hour delivery
The same hour delivery service is mainly offered in large cities and metropolitan areas. The ordered goods are delivered in the same hour in which the order was placed.
Information services
Parcel tracking
As part of a shipment tracking system , the customer can track when and where his parcel is while it is being transported via the Internet , voice assistants or telephone hotline.
Proof of delivery
Many KEPs offer extended delivery documentation for a fee :
- scanned signature of the recipient of the goods
- prepared reports
- photographed parcel with legible address (Swiss Post)
software
In contrast to forwarding agencies, which rely on standardized interfaces such as EDIFACT / EANCOM and NVE , but also respond to the individual wishes of customers, CEP service providers usually specify the form of data communication. The set of rules for this is proprietary and therefore also very different from CEP service provider to CEP service provider. Only the principle is the same for all. The CEP service provider regularly transmits the so-called routings to its customers (a table in which an identifier is named for each postcode - usually for the branch that is to forward a package for this postcode to the recipient - as well as sorting and delivery - nearest often hub ) called by the customer in his system must use to output the routing on the printed by him package label. This package label must also have a machine-readable bar or 2D code that usually contains all of the information that is important for the CEP service provider.
This is now out of date and most CEP services deliver the labels in their interfaces in ZPL format (for label printers) or as PDF in the response to the pick-up message. Exceptions (UPS cannot support PDF but GIF, TNT can only display labels in a browser XML + XSLT). Saving the routing data to generate the labels is only necessary for EDI-like interfaces (unidirectional).
One data transmission per package or the like is avoided if possible. CEP service providers often maintain sorting systems that automatically transport the parcels to the correct truck and forward the data relevant to billing to the financial accounting department . In this way, the higher throughput requirements in the CEP area are to be taken into account. Many CEP services offer their customers a ready-made software solution .
Most CEP services offer proprietary interfaces . ERP -Softwarepakete as SAP (XSI = e X press S hipper I nterface as part of LE = L ogistics E xecution) are prepared in principle to an electronic collaboration still need middleware to ensure that the systems can communicate with each other.
In March 2015, GS1 Germany initiated a CEP industry workshop on the subject of standardization. The aim is to find out to what extent the open GS1 industry standards based on the NVE and the associated EDI such as EDIFACT / EANCOM can also be transferred to the CEP market and to develop a user recommendation. The basis for this is the recommendations on the flow of information and consignment numbers in logistics that GS1 Germany developed in 2008.
Situation in Europe
According to a study by the AT Kearney management consultancy , the number of shipments in Europe rose by 6 percent to 5 billion in 2010. In 2010, sales in the industry rose by 4 percent to 42.1 billion euros. The Fraunhofer Working Group for Supply Chain Services even stated the market size in 2014 as 70 billion euros.
Situation in Germany
Employment figures
In 2016, a total of around 219,400 employees were directly employed by the companies in the CEP market. Indirectly, the wholesale companies have around 136,800 employees. Together with the employees in the CEP companies, around 356,200 employees are dependent on the CEP industry due to primary effects.
education
There are two apprenticeships in Germany: the two-year specialist for courier, express and postal services and the three-year merchant for courier, express and postal services .
Employers' associations
Some CEP services are available from the Bundesverband Paket und Expresslogistik e. V. (BIEK), including DPD Germany , General Logistics Systems Germany (GLS), GO! Express & Logistics , Hermes Germany and United Parcel Service (UPS).
Digitization and online trading
The digitization and the online trading alter the CEP industry. By setting up decentralized warehouses for online retailers in metropolitan areas, classic standard parcel services are being converted into local courier services. They will then no longer be provided almost exclusively by parcel services , as was previously the case , but often by regional courier services. These service offerings are often referred to as same day delivery . Characteristics of this service type are:
- Delivery within the time slot specified by the recipient (time slot delivery)
- Delivery on the day of the order (usually order by noon and delivery by evening)
- Delivery immediately after ordering in time frames between 30 and 120 minutes.
Individual evidence
- ↑ https://www.gs1-germany.de/service/presse/meldung/meldung/kurier-express-paketdienstleister-wollen-transportprozess-vernetzen-384/
- ↑ http://www.presseportal.de/pm/15196/2157107/paketmarkt-zurueck-auf-wachsenskurs-mit-bild
- ↑ http://www.scs.fraunhofer.de/content/dam/scs/de/dokumente/studien/Top%20100%20EU%202015%20Executive%20Summary.pdf
- ↑ KE-Consult Kurte & Esser GbR: Growth across borders: KEP study 2017 - Analysis of the market in Germany . Ed .: Bundesverband Paket und Expresslogistik e. V. Cologne 2017, p. 28 .
- ↑ https://www.heise.de/newsticker/meldung/Amazon-Same-Day-Amazon-startet-Lieferung-am-leichen-Tag-in-Deutschland-2919080.html