Reading bank

Unit 5
1 Before you read, look at the words in bold in the article. Match them with their
definitions (1–4). Use a dictionary if necessary.
1 follow the movement or development of something track
2 the things you buy purchases
3 machines with a long, flat, moving band of rubber, often used in factories and airports
to move things from one place to another conveyor belts
4 the way from one place to another route

2 Read the article and choose the best subtitle for it.
1 Postal operators invest in small e-commerce and technology companies
2 Parcel companies fail to meet online shoppers’ expectations
3 From drones to tracking software, the aims are speed and convenience
4 Modernisation no longer a priority for parcel companies
5 Delivery apps disappoint consumers

3 Complete the gaps in the article (1–4) with the phrases (a–f). There are two extra
phrases you do not need.
a within 90 seconds of entering the centre 2
b how the vans should be packed 4
c for consumers to cancel orders
d and the robots are controlled using a mobile app
e and displays the van’s location on a map in real time 3
f for a next-day delivery 1

4 Decide if the statements are right (R), wrong (W) or if the text doesn’t say (DS).
1 Speed of delivery is the only thing that matters for online shoppers in the UK. R
2 DPD is the leader in innovation in the market. W
3 DPD has an app that lets customers contact the driver. DS
4 Some companies use software that enables drivers to find the best route for delivery. R
5 Couriers working for Hermes will soon work Saturdays and Sundays as well. R

5 Put the letters in brackets in the correct order to complete the sentences.
1 Our new software helps our workers pack (acpk) the vans in the most
efficient way.
2 A lot of companies invest (netsiv) large sums of money in innovation
and technology.
3 An increasing number of people now choose to order (dorre) things
online, but many still prefer to go to a shopping centre.
4 More and more customers now expect parcel companies to deliver
(redveil) their goods within a few hours of ordering.
5 We plan to develop (vledpoe) new software that will enable our
customers to track their order in real time.

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 Reading bank

Parcel services plan to deliver any time,

any place
A Online shoppers in the UK increasingly expect that they can click on ‘Place order’ late into the
night and still take delivery of their purchases the next day. Shoppers demand speed and they
also want to get the goods they have ordered at a convenient time and place. ‘You can buy online
later and later in the day 1 ,’ says Mark McVicar, Transport Analyst at Barclays Bank.
5 ‘Because a lot of retailers can take orders up to midnight, there is now a much shorter time to get
products from an online retailer to a local distribution centre and then on to a particular parcel
route,’ McVicar explains.
B The response by parcel companies is to invest tens of millions of pounds in technology, from
machinery to software.
10 DPD, part of French state-owned group La Poste, is among the companies leading the
innovations. Last year the express delivery group opened one of Europe’s biggest parcel centres,
a £100 million facility in England, with the latest technology. Inside the 470-metre-long building,
parcels are loaded onto conveyor belts. As soon as the parcels are on the belts, they are directed
by electronic scanners to one of 172 exits 2 .
15 A lot of changes are happening in Britain’s £9 billion parcel market. For example, Amazon
is experimenting with flying drones to drop off purchases. The U.S. technology company’s
programme is still in development, but it hopes the small, pilotless air vehicles will eventually
deliver packages up to ten miles from its warehouses within half an hour.
C Companies have also started to develop more and more innovative software. One of their goals is to
20 try to shorten delivery times. Another goal is to develop ways for consumers to track orders, select
a specific time period for delivery or choose a collection point other than home.
DPD now has an app that gives customers until 1 a.m. on the day of delivery to select a one-
hour period. Later, customers can change the collection point to a neighbour or ‘pick-up shop’,
or change the date. The app sends information when a driver is 30 minutes away 3 .
25 D Giving consumers flexibility on timing sometimes makes it difficult to plan routes for drivers.
Larger companies use special software to find the most efficient routes and 4 . Hermes,
one of the UK’s biggest parcel companies after Royal Mail, is investing £18 million in 21,000
handheld devices for couriers and parcel shops. The devices will include route-planning software
to help the company deliver within two hours. In the past, its couriers worked weekdays using
30 paper documents, and tracking information became available 48 hours later, says Hermes UK.
Soon, it adds, its couriers will work any day of the week, ‘have the latest technology to do their job
and real-time tracking will be available.’

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