Background
Life always tends to get a little hectic around the holidays. Perhaps nobody can relate more to this than postal service and shipping providers. Without enough personnel to process and handle the seasonal influx of business, shipments can be delayed, frustrating customers with uncertain delivery times. This is why PickPoint developed automated terminals that help post offices in Russia minimize their operating costs and improve customer convenience.
The Challenge
Today, many recipients get frustrated at the inconvenience of having to be present at home when a delivery is made. To help, some post offices now offer an alternative solution – namely, self-service postal lockers that allow people to pick up their parcels at their own convenience. The lockers are accompanied by self-operating kiosk where they can make payments for postal services as well. The self-serve postal lockers are sometimes installed inside the post office, next to the full-service counter where the personnel can save time and handle other mail activities.
Operators are most challenged by security, as these self-operating locker kiosks and lockers can be more susceptible to counterfeit cash and theft. Technical problems can cause further headaches if staff members aren’t present to immediately fix them.
“While self-service postal kiosks provide multiple benefits, they can be a nightmare for retailers and consumers if they’re not equipped with the right payment solutions,” stated Rapava Malina, Chief Business Development Officer and Information Officer at PickPoint.
The Solution
Rather than hire more seasonal workers or attempt to allocate more labor hours for attended transactions, PickPoint in Russia decided to build a better breed of self-service postal kiosks. The biggest difference? They are equipped with GX™ note validators from CPI. CPI developed GX, the most recent version of the SM series, to provide enhanced security and reliability in vulnerable environments and high-traffic areas. It’s for this reason that PickPoint switched from using SM note validators to the more specialized GX.
“We invested in the GX note validators because we trust the reliability of CPI products and already had a great experience with the SM validator series,” said Ms. Rapava. “We had no doubt that this most recent series of validators would be the best fit for public locations because, for us, the added counterfeit protection they provide is key.”
The GX note validator is a state-of-the-art banknote validator specifically designed for use in payment and banking self-service machines. With its established best-in-class protection against counterfeits, superior validation rate, and low jam rate, the GX validator from CPI enables safe and reliable automatic transactions.
The Result
Many kiosk and self-service machine manufacturers have stepped forward into self-service locker markets in recent years. Currently, there are more than 1,100 self-service postal lockers in Russia – a number that is expected to double over the next twenty-four months. By using these convenient applications, recipients are no longer required to rely on in-person courier delivery. And, at retail establishments and shopping malls and post offices where these lockers are located, operator can operate new customers attract new customers. attract new customers.
About PickPoint: PickPoint provides a complete solution of self-service locker for online order collection through its specialized network of automatic terminals. CPI and PickPoint's partnership dates back to 2014, when they collaborated on the self-service postal kiosk project.