GeoPost

Geopost bought the UK-based Parceline (now DPD UK) and Ireland's Interlink (now DPD Ireland) parcel service in November 2000, for around $277 million.

In 2001, Geopost became the main shareholder of DPD, a company created in 1977 in Aschaffenburg, West Germany (Deutscher Paketdienst until January 2008, then Dynamic Parcel Distribution). In the same year, Geopost rebranded Parceline as DPD, completing the transition in March 2008.

Geopost then made successive acquisitions:

In 2004, 40% of SEUR Internacional, the number 1 private operator in Spain

In 2006, Exapaq (now DPD France).

In 2007, Yurtiçi Kargo (Turkish) sold a 25% share to Geopost as part of a partnership agreement.

In 2015, Geopost combined its DPD, Chronopost and Seur brands under one umbrella: DPDgroup. On this occasion, Exapaq became DPD France and the logo of Chronopost was modified to show it was part of DPDgroup.

In 2018, the stake in the SEUR network was increased to 94% and DPDgroup acquired a minority stake in Ninja Van, a specialist in last-mile services in Southeast Asia.

Types of services

Geopost operates in the light-weight parcel delivery market (less than 31.5 kg), which is typically referred to as the “CEP” market (courier, express and parcel).

The CEP market differs from courier services (that do not require a sorting centre) and from freight (that requires several people or equipment to handle the parcels).

Geopost operates in the different sub-segments of the CEP market, which are defined according to the following criteria:

delivery time: Geopost operates in the standard or deferred parcel segment (without guaranteed delivery times, which ranges from 24 to 72 hours depending on the destination) and in the express parcel segment (guaranteed next-day delivery in the domestic market, and next-day to two-day delivery for international)

Controversy

Don Lane affair

In February 2018, DPD faced widespread criticism in the UK due to the treatment of Don Lane, one of its couriers. Lane had previously been fined £150 by DPD UK for attending a medical appointment to treat his diabetes and ultimately collapsed and died of the condition. According to Lane's widow, he had missed appointments with specialists because he felt under pressure to cover his route. Frank Field MP, Chairman of the House of Commons' Work and Pensions Select Committee, said "DPD have been told time and again that their punitive regime is totally unjust, particularly as their workers are labelled ‘self-employed’. Such mistreatment of workers smacks of sweated labour from the Victorian era." In March 2018, DPD UK announced that they would be offering all of their UK workers the opportunity to be classed as employees, and that they would abolish the fines for missing work. Plans were announced in March 2018 to create a DPD Driver Code later in the year, and to introduce a "self-employed worker" contract, which will offer drivers an alternative to working as a direct employee of DPD UK or working with the company on a self-employed basis.