Omniva and Bolt launched a pilot project to test parcel delivery using the ride-hailing platform as couriers. The pilot project will run for two weeks, during which Bolt will deliver parcels from Nurmenuku and Majaka parcel dispatch points in Tallinn.   
 
According to Omniva management board member and head of parcel business Andre Veskimeister, the company is actively looking for possibilities to deliver parcels to clients under the state of emergency conditions. “We are testing a solution with Bolt where a client can use Bolt to order home delivery of their parcel that has arrived at the parcel dispatch point,” Veskimeister said. “We also hope that the pilot project lets us experience how traditional parcel delivery could function in collaboration with a modern ride-hailing platform.”
 
“In the current difficult situation, we see that the postal service is overloaded,” Bolt CEO in Estonia Aleksei Kolesnikov added. “We can help here using our wide network of drivers and experience in providing transport services. We hope that the new solution shortens queues and we also encourage everyone to give feedback so we could improve the service even more.”
 
If the client’s parcel can be delivered using Bolt, Omniva will send an additional SMS. The link in the SMS leads to a special Bolt website where the client can order home delivery of the parcel; it is possible to include several parcels from the post office in one order. After order confirmation, Bolt sends the client a link via which they can track the parcel and its estimated delivery time using a map application.
 
Due to the state of emergency decision of the Government Committee, 19 post offices located in shopping centres were closed in Estonia, more than half of these in Tallinn. All the parcels in these post offices were divided between the four open post offices (Nurmenuku, Nõmme, Pallasti, Lasnamäe) and two parcel dispatch points (Majaka, Pirita). If possible, parcels are directed to the nearest open post office; however, since the open post offices are under excessive burden and all parcels in one area might not fit into one post office, the parcels of some areas may end up in post offices further away.
 
Cooperation with Bolt lets the client have a parcel delivered to their doorstep from the further than usual post office. In the pilot phase, the home delivery option is offered by the post offices with the heaviest workloads – Nurmenuku post office and Majaka parcel dispatch point.
 
Bolt service is offered to the client in the parcel SMS if the issuing of the parcel does not require additional activities such as payment of import or other taxes or filling or returning a document, etc.