Our role and responsibility - Navigating through COVID-19 (Coronavirus)
18 March 2020
On behalf of the Castle Parcels team, our thoughts are with the communities impacted by the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak.
As the situation continues to develop, one thing will remain the same: We will make our decisions with the wellbeing of our people, customers and community as our utmost priority.
By now, almost everyone is aware of the rapidly evolving situation concerning COVID-19 or Coronavirus. Every person arriving into New Zealand must self-isolate for 14 days. All of our people are following this process and of course will abide by any future Ministry of Health requirements or guidelines.
We see our business as vital in ensuring delivery of essential services – and we take our role in assisting our country to move past this pandemic extremely seriously. We are closely monitoring the situation and are being guided by public health experts, we will implement changes to standard operations where necessary.
Contact-less deliveries
From 17 March, all Castle Parcels deliveries will be 'Contact-less' and receivers will not be expected to touch courier scanners to 'sign on glass'.
There are valid concerns over courier deliveries and pickups that involve some level of human contact e.g. handling of the scanner when signing for a parcel. We are determined to minimise potential risk to your customers and our team.
For residential deliveries that are 'signature required':
- Our couriers will knock on the door as usual and step back two metres (or as far back as possible).
- They will ask for the recipient's name (to record proof of delivery) and leave the parcel on the ground in front of the receiver. The person receiving the parcel will not sign for the delivery directly.
- The tracking information on our website will display a clearly typed recipient's name as well as the signature image reading CV-19 (all entered by the courier).
- If no one comes to the door and there is no Authority to Leave service in place, the courier will follow the standard process which is to leave a card to call and return the parcel to our depot.
For business deliveries
For business deliveries that are 'signature required', our courier will ask for the recipient's name, the process will be followed 'as above' and the parcel/s will be left in a practical location (as instructed by the receiver).
Castle Parcels are looking to adapt our processes in the mid-term to streamline deliveries to your customers.
What we ask of you:
- For businesses – please have easily accessible delivery and pick-up points that minimise person-to-person proximity
- Consider sending parcels 'non-signature required' – this will expedite the delivery process and help further limit human contact. You will still have a time stamped 'proof of delivery' (POD) for all deliveries
- Understand that essential service deliveries may need to be processed with priority in our delivery network
- Work with your courier – there is a need for social distancing (that we insist they observe), many are facing unusual pressures with changes in delivery processes (that are designed to keep you and them safe)
How else can we help you
We strongly recommend having an 'Authority to Leave' barcode installed at your premises (to allow your deliveries to be left in a safe place when you are not available). Find out more about our Authority to Leave service.
If your business has changing courier requirements, talk to us about the best way we can assist. We are a flexible business and have access to all modes of domestic and international transport, be it dedicated point-to-point, road and air services.
For many businesses these are challenging times – you have chosen to partner with Castle Parcels for your transport requirements, we will do our utmost to support you. Let us know how we can help.
What we are doing
Castle Parcels has disaster preparedness and business continuity plans in place, these are designed to reduce impact and disruption to our day-to-day operations (thus minimising impact on our customers and receivers). We aim to minimise key business operational risks:
- Health risk to our people, customers and community
- The risk of premises becoming a node of transmission
- Ensure plans are in place should employees or contractors be quarantined or infected
- Alternative arrangements so that business operations can continue
In addition:
- All unnecessary business-related travel will cease
- Cancellation of any events where teams are in close proximity to each other
- We are asking our people to minimise physical contact (social distancing)
- We have robust communications in place to keep our people, customers and suppliers updated, as well as reminding them of best practices around hygiene and self-care
- Increasing cleaning in high use areas and are distributing cleaning and sanitising products across our sites
While there is a great deal of uncertainly currently, we pledge to continue making our decisions with the health, safety and wellbeing of our customers, receivers, team members and communities as our highest priority.