Omniva sends nearly 2,000 parcels a day to the wrong location due to overfilled lockers
Overcrowded parcel lockers in Estonia force Omniva couriers to redirect thousands of packages daily to other lockers or post offices, sometimes sending customers to a different town. The company says the practice prevents delivery delays.
In Estonia, a portion of parcels ordered for delivery to specific lockers end up somewhere else entirely — a different locker or a post office — because the intended locker was full. Although the redirected share is small, in absolute numbers it means thousands of people each day must search for their parcel elsewhere, sometimes in another town or village.
One example: a resident of Paldiski ordered books online for pickup at the town-center Omniva locker, but it was full, so the courier rerouted the parcel to the Omniva post office in Keila, 24 kilometers away. Other customers report similar experiences, including in Tallinn, where parcels ended up far from closer available pickup points.
Why it happens
Omniva's sorting line processes about 200,000 parcels daily, and the process is automated. According to company representative Lilian Peek, a parcel often gets redirected because the target locker lacks a free compartment of the right size, or because a courier arrives at a locker and only then discovers it is full — for instance, if customers haven't yet collected their parcels or have just dropped off new ones. In such cases, couriers make decisions within their service areas based on the specific situation.
According to company data, redirected orders make up just under 1% of the total, but a simple calculation shows that almost 2,000 people daily fail to receive their parcel at the ordered location — and that's only among Omniva customers. Delivery company DPD reports a similar figure, around 1% of parcels sent to another locker, though it limits redirection to the nearest available point, no more than 1.5 kilometers away.
Delivery companies explain that redirection helps avoid delaying deliveries, since customers now expect fast and cheap service. Technical glitches or human error can also play a role. Companies say customers whose parcel ends up in an inconvenient spot should contact them to find a solution.
