Enabling Finns to pick up their packages at the most convenient time and place.

The Finnish postal service provider Posti has rapidly expanded its parcel locker network by increasing use of new smart technology in its SmartPost services and by introducing Connected Finland’s new IoT locks.

The locks are used on SmartPost services parcel lockers and they were customized for Posti. After a successful pilot phase in 2018, tens of thousands of locks were deployed across Finland in 2019.

SmartPost brings Posti’s delivery services closer to customers: packages can be picked up at the most convenient time and place for the customer. SmartPost services are expanding to individual shops and shopping malls as well as into office and residential buildings. The services are moving closer to people and not the other way around.

The new smart lock was developed in an 18-month project by Posti and Connected Inventions, a subsidiary of Connected Finland, the Sigfox operator in Finland. The lock connects SmartPost parcel lockers to the Internet cost-effectively, without the need for any other device, fixed data connection, or external power supply. The battery-powered locks use Sigfox’s 0G network for data transfer.

During the product development phase, Posti was confident about Connected Finland’s abilities to implement this challenging and extensive turnkey project. Internal processes become more efficient, quality control easier, and supplier services improve even further. The lock enables, for example, Posti to gather data when its customers are collecting their deliveries which helps the company to increase capacity rates.

Connected Finland and Posti have been able to develop and fully utilize the new IoT technology powered by a 0G network. For consumers, the service becomes easier and safer to use, so the connected locks benefit both Posti and also its customers.

With this partnership, Sigfox continues to deliver benefits to postal organizations following successful work with DHL in Germany and An Post in Ireland. The company’s unique capabilities in enabling extremely cost and energy efficient solutions together with inbuilt security and reliability are key factors in unlocking these types of use cases.

Posti is aiming to increase the amount of lockers to 4,000 by the end of year 2022. The future intention is to have a six-digit number of these smart lockers in Finland – and maybe take the idea international.