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Deutsche Telekom is set to pilot a new temporary package container in which couriers will be able to leave packages securely when the recipient is away from home.
The company is working with delivery firm DHL and e-commerce company Zalando on the project, which will begin testing in Berlin in 2015.
The so-called PackageButler is a foldable container that a package recipient can leave outside their front door when they are expecting a delivery. The DHL courier can then open the container, leave the parcel inside, and then lock the parcel up securely.
The new delivery option is being developed specifically for flats and apartment buildings, where space is too limited for the kind of permanent parcel boxes DHL is making available for family homes with suitable yard space.
A DHL courier will be able to open the PackageButler, leave a parcel inside, and lock up the container for the recipient to access
Tests will be carried out with 200 of Zalando’s interested customers in Berlin to fine tune the PackageButler prior to a wider launch.
DHL Parcel Germany managing director Dr Thomas Ogilvie said: “The PackageButler offers tenants and apartment owners in multi-family buildings another way to get their packages directly, even if they are not at home.”
Deutsche Telekom said the PackageButler was devised together with design company Hyve Innovation Design, as part of the development of the “Internet of Things”.
The telecoms company said it would act as supplier and licensor of the PackageButler, although the product itself is set to be produced and marketed by another company, feldsechs.
“Cooperation is the key in this business,” said Deutsche Telekom’s head of marketing for business customers, Dirk Backofen. “By bringing together partners from different fields, we can realize new concepts together much more quickly.”