Royal Mail has lost its monopoly on parcels at Post Office branches after more than three centuries.
In the run-up to Christmas, people will be able to send parcels via private delivery firms DPD and Evri from selected Post Office branches, breaking a monopoly that has run for 360 years.
Without specifying a reason, reports suggested that it was a disastrous Christmas last year, when Royal Mail was hit by an extended strike and huge backlogs, that tipped the balance.
Customers will be offered DPD and Evri as options to send their parcels from counters later this month, the Post Office said.
Nick Read, chief executive, said: “We are fundamentally transforming the Post Office by introducing new mail carriers for over-the-counter sales for the first time in our 360-year history.
“This expanded partnership with DPD and Evri shows how we are disrupting the mail market to offer greater choice for customers and more opportunities for postmasters as we build a Post Office fit for the future.”
Royal Mail and the Post Office had been part of the same group until 2012 when they were privatised by the then business secretary, Vince Cable.
In an interview with the BBC, Evri's chief executive Martijn De Lange said that initially 2,000 of the UK’s 11,500 post offices would offer the service, including "the bigger ones, the ones that people send a load of parcels in".
That number might double next year, he added.
For the past two years, Evri, formerly called Hermes, has been ranked the worst courier in the UK in a survey carried out by Citizens Advice.
Now a part of International Distributions Services PLC, Royal Mail, meanwhile, is facing an inquiry by regulator Ofcom for missing delivery targets in 2022-23, which as well as strikes it blames on absences due to sickness and Covid.