At Packfleet, we bring the tech that you’d expect from the likes of Deliveroo and Uber to the world of logistics. We provide live tracking for every package (with an ETA that’s actually correct) and offer the option for you to change everything about your delivery: the time it arrives, the address it arrives at, whether we ring your doorbell or not. Everything we offer at Packfleet is about customer choice, something that until now, has been overlooked by delivery companies.
We’re also bringing driver standards in line with the rest of the working world. Whilst the majority of the big courier companies franchise out their vans, or pay drivers per parcel they deliver, we employ drivers like any other member of staff. We offer drivers all the benefits of full time work, and they aren’t forced to drive recklessly to deliver their parcels – we want this to become the industry standard.
We’re delighted to be working with over 130 brilliant merchants across London, delivering everything from wine to chilli sauce. Word of mouth is the biggest factor in getting new merchants on board, and we’re proud that’s the case – it’s a real testament to our service.
How did you come up with the idea for the company? What do you think makes this company unique?
Receiving a parcel is always a mediocre experience. You’re never sure when it’ll turn up, and even if you wait around all day, the parcel often ends up left on your doorstep in the rain.
The catalyst for Packfleet came when I realised how broken the customer experience with couriers really is. The frustration and apathy we feel for delivery brands has become the norm, and there was a clear gap in the market for a courier service that customers could love.
But it’s not just consumers that suffer with couriers – merchants do too, and Packfleet is overhauling the business experience as well. During lockdown, I started a wine delivery service to stave off boredom with my newfound freetime after work. As a result, I was exposed to delivery from a seller’s point of view, and was surprised at how obtuse and inefficient it was.
There were issues with every major courier service. Either the sign up process was far too long, or parcels were frequently turning up to customers broken – which with wine isn’t ideal. I knew there was a better way to do deliveries, and that’s when the idea for Packfleet came about. I wanted to make sending parcels as easy as ordering a takeaway.
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How has the company evolved over the last couple of years?
When I first launched Packfleet back in June 2021, I was operating solely out of my living room. I’d roped my brother-in-law into delivering parcels for me, and I was managing everything from my sofa. Eventually, my partner and I were struggling to get into our living room to watch TV because of the amount of parcels in there.
That’s when I realised Packfleet was getting serious. We moved Packfleet out of my living room and into Surrey Quays when we were a team of four. Now we’ve grown to have a team of over 30 people.
What can we hope to see from Packfleet in the future?
To be successful, we need to be in a place where any time someone wants to move something physical, anywhere in the world, they open the Packfleet app. Whether that is a business shipping bottles of beer across the continent, or an individual sending house keys across the city because their partner has locked themselves out, we’re on a mission to become go-to courier.
We want customers to be able to load up the app, and with two taps of their screen they’ve got a courier on the way. Of course, we need to perfect this in the UK first, and that’s our short term goal. But in 10 years time, there’s no reason that we can’t have our operations across the entire world, facilitating both international and local deliveries.
The post Meet Tristan Thomas, CEO and Co-Founder at Delivery Start-Up: Packfleet appeared first on TechRound.