People who buy items from PChome Online’s 24-hour shopping service can now have their purchases delivered to Chunghwa Post’s iPostbox service, the postal company said on Tuesday.
The postal company developed the iPostbox service to meet the goal of “smart government,” Chunghwa Post associate manager Kuo Chun-yang (郭純陽) said, adding that the company aims to grow the number of iPostboxes from a little more than 1,000 to 2,000 by the end of this year.
The iPostboxes are available for use nationwide, including outlying islands and rural townships, Kuo said, adding that the system allows people to send and retrieve mail and packages around the clock without privacy concerns.
Photo: CNA
“We are being very aggressive and ambitious in promoting the use of iPostbox. We have signed a contract with DHL on placing its delivered items in the iPostboxes and are in negotiations for a similar deal with FedEx. All logistics companies, domestic or overseas, are welcome to use this service,” Kuo said.
“We hope that the gradual increase in the number of iPostboxes would transform the nation’s logistics industry,” he said.
The partnership with PChome — the nation’s No. 1 online shopping platform — began on July 2, giving buyers the option of having their purchases delivered to an iPostbox near them, he added.
The usage rate of the iPostbox system is 100 percent, Kuo said, adding that about 800,000 letters and packages have been sent or retrieved through the service.
The number of packages and letters delivered to or picked up at iPostboxes is expected to exceed 1 million this year, he said.
PChome Online chief logistics officer Aaron Cheng (鄭超倫) said that the iPostbox service is a new way for its members to receive their purchases.
Buyers could previously only have them delivered to their residence or a convenience store, but people rarely have the time to wait at home for a delivery, he said.
The number of buyers using the iPostbox service has risen gradually since last month, Cheng said, adding that the number would continue to increase as more iPostboxes are made available.
“We have found that the peak hours for people picking up their deliveries at iPostboxes are from 5pm to 10pm, after they get off of work,” Cheng said. “This shows that there is a demand to pick up deliveries through ‘smart boxes.’”
One of the iPostbox system’s strengths is that it has been deployed in important transportation hubs, such as stations in Taipei’s MRT (metropolitan rail line), he said, adding that it gives buyers the ability to pick up their deliveries on their way to work and when they return home.
To encourage use of the iPostbox system, PChome said that it is waiving shipping fees on orders of at least NT$290.
Previously, purchases had to exceed NT$490 to be eligible for free shipping.
People who buy items from the online shopping platform until Saturday would receive a NT$68 rebate on their next purchase, it said, adding that purchases made between Sunday and Oct. 15 would include a NT$24 discount on the next purchase.
Starlux Airlines, Taiwan’s newest international carrier, has announced it would apply to join the Oneworld global airline alliance before the end of next year. In an investor conference on Monday, Starlux Airlines chief executive officer Glenn Chai (翟健華) said joining the alliance would help it access Taiwan. Chai said that if accepted, Starlux would work with other airlines in the alliance on flight schedules, passenger transits and frequent flyer programs. The Oneworld alliance has 13 members, including American Airlines, British Airways, Cathay Pacific and Qantas, and serves more than 900 destinations in 170 territories. Joining Oneworld would also help boost
A new tropical storm formed late yesterday near Guam and is to approach closest to Taiwan on Thursday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Tropical Storm Pulasan became the 14th named storm of the year at 9:25pm yesterday, the agency said. As of 8am today, it was near Guam traveling northwest at 21kph, it said. The storm’s structure is relatively loose and conditions for strengthening are limited, WeatherRisk analyst Wu Sheng-yu (吳聖宇) said on Facebook. Its path is likely to be similar to Typhoon Bebinca, which passed north of Taiwan over Japan’s Ryukyu Islands and made landfall in Shanghai this morning, he said. However, it
Taiwan's Gold Apollo Co (金阿波羅通信) said today that the pagers used in detonations in Lebanon the day before were not made by it, but by a company called BAC which has a license to use its brand. At least nine people were killed and nearly 3,000 wounded when pagers used by Hezbollah members detonated simultaneously across Lebanon yesterday. Images of destroyed pagers analyzed by Reuters showed a format and stickers on the back that were consistent with pagers made by Gold Apollo. A senior Lebanese security source told Reuters that Hezbollah had ordered 5,000 pagers from Taiwan-based Gold Apollo. "The product was not
COLD FACTS: ‘Snow skin’ mooncakes, made with a glutinous rice skin and kept at a low temperature, have relatively few calories compared with other mooncakes Traditional mooncakes are a typical treat for many Taiwanese in the lead-up to the Mid-Autumn Festival, but a Taipei-based dietitian has urged people not to eat more than one per day and not to have them every day due to their high fat and calorie content. As mooncakes contain a lot of oil and sugar, they can have negative health effects on older people and those with diabetes, said Lai Yu-han (賴俞含), a dietitian at Taipei Hospital of the Ministry of Health and Welfare. “The maximum you can have is one mooncake a day, and do not eat them every day,” Lai