Ukrposhta, known for vivid cases of situational marketing (what a well-known brand with a Russian ship is worth!) is once again experimenting with services, relying on the experience of Western postal operators.
On site Ihor Smilyanskyi, the company’s general director, announced that Ukrposhta will sell parcels at auctions that have not been claimed for six months. And here you cannot deny him rationality. “Previously, such postal items were simply destroyed. From now on, according to the law, we can sell these parcels and compensate for the costs of their logistics and storage, as is done in most countries of the world.” – noted the head of the postal operator.
Unclaimed parcels – 100 pieces each – will be randomly combined into pallets. They will be auctioned as separate lots. Until the results are announced, neither the company nor the buyers will know what they contain. It is planned that the price of one such parcel will start from 10 hryvnias.
Amazon, USPS, FedEx, Royal Mail and many other postal and logistics companies have long used auctions. In 2021, TikTok was literally obsessed with buying unsolicited packages that never reached their intended recipients. TikTokers have been posting videos of warehouses filled with mysterious items that are up for sale and waiting to be unpacked. The flash mob unfolded like a real treasure hunt, with the excitement of not knowing exactly what you’re going to find until you open the package. After all, there were things of different value – from cheap socks to branded clothes, gift vouchers and expensive electronics.
The practice of selling unsolicited items developed by global postal operators is certainly profitable. The United States Postal Service has been known to auction millions of dollars worth of undelivered mail. This amount could be much higher if the post office had any idea what it was selling. At the same time, the “cat in a bag” principle causes risks for customers, both those who buy shipments at an auction and those who for certain reasons have lost control over postal shipments. It is primarily a matter of privacy: unsolicited parcels may contain personal or confidential information belonging to specific customers. It may be disclosed during the auction process. In addition, precious things can be accidentally lost – family heirlooms, or handmade products that have special significance for the sender and the addressee. There is also the possibility that items in unclaimed parcels may be damaged or spoiled over time because they have been in storage for a long period of time. So the buyer at the auction may end up with spoiled food or household goods with an expired expiration date.
Serhiy Kasyan, candidate of economic sciences, head of the marketing department of NTU “Dniprovska Polytechnic”, shared his expert opinion about the initiative of “Ukrposhta” with us:
“Ukrposhta is the oldest operator on the market of postal services of Ukraine, which is in direct competition with the operator “Nova poshta”. In this context, it is worth considering the initiative to cancel a postal item that has not been requested for six months. This can lead to quite different views on such practices from the customers. I believe that it is necessary to conduct a market research, organize a focus group with the involvement of lawyers, survey users of postal services about their attitude to the establishment of a six-month deadline. And only after that, taking into account the identified target preferences of consumers, make a more thorough decision. Market processes are associated with many risks, the loss of confidential information is one of them.”
