News

GLS is further improving the availability of its services in the Czech Republic ahead of the Christmas season and is adding 85 parcel machines, the so-called GLS Parcel Boxes, to the 1,200 drop-off points in pilot operation for receiving and sending parcels. Customers will find them in a variety of locations across the country - from housing estates, around public institutions such as schools, town halls and hospitals, to the historic centre of Prague. More self-service boxes in new locations will gradually be added. In the past year, GLS has invested in the development of a completely new software that will allow easy integration of any parcel machine from any manufacturer or shared network operator into the standard GLS shipping process, while providing easy control not only for GLS operations, but most importantly for customers. They can easily set which type of dispensing points or boxes they wish to use for their shipments in the new widget.

One in five Czechs uses parcel boxes

By introducing its own self-service boxes, the parcel carrier is responding to the increased demand associated with the Black Friday discount event and their growing popularity. Seven years ago, only 3% of people actively used parcel machines, today it is already a fifth (20%). They appreciate especially the possibility of picking up the parcel at any time of the day (85%), faster delivery without waiting in line (46%), lower price (26%) and faster delivery (20%). The data is based on a GLS survey conducted by Ipsos using Instant Research in March 2022 on a sample of 1000 respondents.

As the popularity of parcel delivery to drop-off points grows overall, GLS has launched its "Everywhere You Need" campaign in the Czech Republic this year to expand its drop-off point network according to customer needs. This has not only significantly increased the number of GLS Parcel Shops, but also the quality of the locations from the perspective of GLS service users. In addition, thanks to GLS' international network, shoppers are increasingly able to choose their favourite domestic drop-off point even when shopping directly in a foreign e-shop. In addition, Czech e-shops can use one of more than 40,000 GLS drop-off points, including thousands of parcel boxes, to send parcels abroad.

Dear business partners,

As of 1 July 2022, an amendment to Act No. 18/1996 Coll. on prices, as amended, will come into force in the Slovak Republic. The aim of the amendment is to introduce rounding of the value of purchases so as to significantly reduce the circulation of 1 and 2 cent coins.

Rounding for cash on delivery

The obligation to round off to 0 and 5 cents will also affect cash on delivery. As it is not possible to determine in advance which payment method the recipient of the parcel will choose (cash or non-cash payment), our company will deliver parcels with the COD service to Slovakia rounded to 0 and 5 cents from 1 July 2022, regardless of the payment method used.

Functioning in practice

Our aim is to avoid differences in processing and accounting on both sides. We therefore recommend that you place your orders with the COD amount rounded to 0 or 5 cents.

If you enter a COD amount without rounding, our system will round the COD amount to an amount ending in 0 or 5 cents according to the applicable rounding rules published by the Ministry of Finance of the Slovak Republic. This amount will be collected by the courier and then we will transfer the rounded amount to you.

We would like to inform you about the update of the General Terms and Conditions for Businesses, the Terms and Conditions for Consumers and the Complaints Procedure. All documents will come into force from 1.7.2022.

Main changes:

• Reaction to the current interpretation of the Postal Act
• Clear division of commercial terms and conditions according to the contracting party (consumer/business)
• Unification of terms and conditions for entrepreneurs regardless of the system used for handling shipments
• Extension of the deadline for notification of changes to the terms and conditions to 30 days
• Change of the reference for dispute resolution in the framework of consumer protection
• Clarification of claims for damages and deadlines for filing a claim in the Complaints Procedure

Documents valid from 1.7.2022:

• General terms and conditions for companies
• Terms and conditions for private persons
• Claims handling rules

GLS was awarded in the private sector category in 2017 when it participated in the first ever edition. The intention was not only to showcase GLS' activities in this area, but also to motivate other companies to follow suit. Since then, 5 years have passed and GLS has continued to work within its CSR project ThinkResponsible. As part of the ThinkGreen initiative, GLS has been working to reduce the negative environmental impact of parcel transport, reducing CO2 emissions through regular fleet renewal with an emphasis on the environmental aspects of newly acquired vehicles and deploying electric vans and electric bicycles. It compensates for the emissions generated by parcel transport by planting trees in the Czech landscape. As part of its ThinkSocial initiative, the company supports not only its employees in their development, but also selected charitable and environmental projects, such as the Na kole dětem (Bike for Children) foundation, the Donate a Toy Christmas project or the Go to Work by Bike project.
For this reason, GLS has re-applied to benchmark our progress in this area against others and to show that we have lived up to our commitments from the first award after five years.