Three more postal operators are set to join IPC’s integrated parcel delivery network, the E-Parcel Group, this summer. Austria Post will be joining the EPG in August, while Latvia Post and MaltaPost will follow in September. These additions will take the E-Parcel Group (EPG) to 29 members from Europe and North America as of 01 September 2012.

EPG participating operators are committed to delivering their priority parcel products through EPG's integrated delivery network. This network uses a track-and-trace system and an automated customer service system linking each postal operator’s call centres to ensure stable and reliable quality of service for their customers.

IPC provides project management for the group, monitoring services to measure adherence to formally agreed standards, and support to set up and implement improvement action plans when needed.

Created as the Enhanced-Parcel Group in 1996, EPG began with nine European postal operators that required a two-day parcel service for their business-to-business customers. The service, which used a European road network, was competitively priced, provided tracking based on barcodes, and defined targets for responsiveness to customer service enquiries. In 2000 the group became the ‘E-Parcel Group’ and expanded geographically and to increase its traffic volume.

Although the project began as a business-to-business service, the proportion of the volume consisting of parcels to consumers has been continuously increasing. As of September 2012 29 postal parcel operators will deliver their priority parcel products through this integrated transport network.

EPG provides stable and reliable quality of service, meeting high performance standards. It is based on a track-and-trace system, on-going monitoring and reporting, a payment system based on performance and an automated customer service system linking call centres.

The IPC Customer Service System (CSS), launched in 1999 to link customer service call centres of nine EPG operators, is now used for all bar-coded items (parcels, EMS and PRIME letters) on a daily basis by over 1,000 customer service agents around the world working in 262 call centres belonging to the 175 operators that are connected through the system. CSS is designed around a fixed set of formalised workflow procedures with agreed response targets per supported product or module, allowing agents to quickly handle customers’ inquiries on all types of international cross-border items.

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