the anger of traders in the face of the development of self-service lockers

Mondial Relay puts an end to the parcel deposit activity in many partner shops. A strategic choice in favor of automatic lockers which worries the merchants and the inhabitants of these rural communes as in Arbonne-la-Forêt, in Seine-et-Marne.

Blow for the small businesses concerned. Mondial Relay, heavy goods vehicle delivery, will stop the deposit activity in 2025 in 3,500 partner shops (1,000 by decision by Mondial Relay, 2,500 at the request of businesses). This represents a third of its 11,000 relay points. The group now favors lockers, these automatic lockers managed without staff.

For affected stores, this constitutes a significant shortfall when they are often one of the rare places of life in rural areas as in Arbonne-la-Forêt, in Seine-et-Marne, where the La Grange relay point, has just had to close.

Behind her counter, Angélique is forced to repress a client who came to drop a package: “We no longer have Mondial Relay. We have to go to a locker in Milly-la-Forêt or Fontainebleau.” It has already been an hour that Christine is riding in search of a Relay world point. “I go through there because at the Chapelle-La Reine, they told me that it was here. Then in fact, I just noticed that this is not the case. It is really the galley”deplore the client. Difficult to find a relay point in the area since Angelique and Lionel can no longer provide this service. “We received the letter on April 1, we thought it was an April Fool and in fact not at alltells the shopkeeper. We received the letter which announced the closure of our Relay Relay relay point. “

From there, everything accelerates. The same day, their business is no longer referenced on the site. “We felt used, used for a very long time and overnight, we are thrown away. We are thrown like dogs. It’s really very hard”deplores Angélique.

The couple is both a caterer, second -hand dealer, and relay parcel. They need Mondial Relay to stay afloat. “These are several small activities that bring merchants to life like usexplains Angelique. In rural villages, we have nothing. We give us a negative turnover of 800 euros per month on average. “

Angelique is also concerned about the life of Arbonne-la-Forêt. In this village of a thousand inhabitants, shops have trouble staying open. “There is a problem, it is that the shops do not last longexplains Pierre, a customer. This is a real problem because it forces people to take the car to go right to the left. ” Result, the inhabitants mobilize to maintain this place of life. Pierre even launched a petition with nearly 530 signatures.

According to Pierre, the lockers do not please because they are not practical and not adapted to the elderly, those who do not have computers cannot print parcel labels. “It is minimum 15 kilometers to the east to go to a locker, to the west in Milly-la-Forêt where it is also 15 kmexplains the resident of Arbonne-la-Forêt. Especially since each time, there are special hours and parking problems. It’s about 1 000 people from the region who come here. So it’s a real service beyond the village. “

For its part, Mondial Relay assumes that it wants to focus its strategy on lockers. The company considers them “adapted to new uses of French “. It already has 7000 spread across the territory.