You've Got Mail: How Different Countries Receives Parcels

Since the advent of online shopping, receiving parcels has become a commonplace experience and frequently also a headache as packages pile up on doorsteps, in apartment buildings, workplaces and post offices. Statista Consumer Insights asked respondents in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany how the have been receiving their parcels in the past 12 months and found out that being handed a package at the front door is still the most common scenario in these countries.

However, Brits and Germans are also likely to have picked up a parcel at their neighbors if they weren't home on delivery day. Americans on the other hand are more likely to have a mail room in their building where they can pick up parcels. In Germany, redirecting parcels to an automated station is already more common. 33 percent of respondents said they had used this option recently compared to only 11 percent in the United States and 17 percent in the United Kingdom. While China was not included, a 2021 survey showed that even then more than half of respondents in the country had used parcel stations in the past 12 months.

Having a shipment sent to a post office or parcel shop was also a common way to go in all three countries, with between 17 percent and 26 percent of respondents having done this in the past 12 months before the survey.