Five tips for consumers to support the reduction of the environmental impact of deliveries in these days of mass consumerism
We are ready to have our inboxes full of discounts and endless advertisements. Black Friday and Cyber Monday are here, and millions of people will be ordering extra online these days.
Behind the scenes, the infrastructure that makes all this online shopping possible is enormous. Logistics services will face challenges in meeting this peak demand and, of course, transporting all the goods to the various points selected by users will have an impact on the environment: travel distances, fuel burn, increased CO2 emissions, congestion and stress for drivers will increase.
At SENATOR we are committed to sustainable urban logistics and, as consumers, we are part of the process. In this post, we want to share with you 5 easy tips that we can take to help reduce the environmental impact of parcel deliveries these days:
1. Don’t be swayed by the marketing experts
Before you buy, analyse what you already have, to avoid impulse buying. If you can, make a list of your needs before Black Friday to try to stick to it.
2. Prevent your package from going sightseeing
If you shop online, make sure you are at home when your order is due to arrive. Sometimes it’s not easy to be sure of this, so when considering delivery options, choose to pick it up from courier offices (Citypaq at Correos in Spain). This ensures that the package doesn’t make several trips, and we can also pick it up by bike or on foot.
3. “Divide and rule” is not always the best option
Try to place a single order and make as few frequencies of purchases as possible while shopping online. Adding all your items to the shopping cart and consolidating your order will help in reducing the shipping costs of delivery.
4. Choose responsible shipping
Avoid express delivery as much as possible, the real urgency is to take care of the planet. To arrive earlier, the delivery vehicle has to carry fewer packages, which increases the number of journeys and therefore emissions. In Spain, Correos has created “Envíos Responsables”, an option that optimises delivery routes, so that until a delivery vehicle is full, it doesn’t start working.
5. Commit to “Green Friday”
Green Friday is the alternative to the compulsive shopping of Black Friday. It is about replacing it with a more responsible way of shopping. This day is about thinking before we buy, being aware of how and where what we buy is produced and supporting more environmentally conscious and environmentally friendly brands. It is up to us to make Green Friday the trend that never goes out of fashion.
