According to UK courier service comparison site ParcelHero, there has been a huge rise in items families and SMEs are sending via couriers – and they are quite surprising.
Hygiene products, bread-makers and romantic mix tapes have been found to be among the most sent items, with more than 500% more of staple hygiene items such as face masks, hand sanitisers and pasta being shipped in March.
However, there are some surprises. The company also found that it was carrying 200% more cassette tapes – featuring romantic mash-ups – than last month as people find novel new (or rather old) ways to keep long distance love alive. Much more romantic than a Spotify playlist, I think you’ll agree.
“As many employees got to grips with working from home, the next highest increase in mailings were of headsets and laptops, both up by exactly 150% year-on-year,” says ParcelHero’s Head of Consumer Research, David Jinks MILT.
“Tellingly, ParcelHero shipped back to the UK 89% more ‘personal effects’ during March than we did in 2019. That means there was a huge increase in people scrambling home to the UK with all their belongings, to beat many countries’ border closures,” he adds.
As shortages took hold, relates Jinks, “we also sent 60% more nappies and 56% more bread-making machines as supermarket shelves emptied of many staples.”
People are obviously finding many ways to wile away the hours of furlough. Car parts were up 55% as many turned to tinkering, while DIY tools increased in volume by 54%, as a lot of those long put-off jobs finally started to get done, says Jinks.
“Finally, as you might expect, hobbies have also seen a big increase as well,” he concludes. “There was a 47% increase in the number of musical instruments, such as guitars and keyboards, shipped, which suggests many of us are spending our time very creatively (while the rest of the family are listening bravely). Games and crafts kits were also winners as families make the most of being indoors.”
