in Paris, these individuals transformed their homes into parcel relays

We call them “Keepers”, “Welcoeurs” or more simply relay neighbors. In Paris and Île-de-France, many individuals have transformed their homes into delivery zones. For a modest income, they receive parcels from the neighborhood. The recipients come to pick them up on site, like a relay point traditional. In a context where online sales are booming, this way of making ends meet has found its audience among night workers, teleworkers or people staying at home.

“More than a hundred people come to my house every month”

Dealer in a casino, Salim Sabir is a night owl. “I start at 9 p.m. and finish very late. By the time I get home, it’s 4 a.m.,” he explains to us on the phone. But within the four walls of his apartment, his days off are monotonous. So since 2022, he has found a new activity. “Even if it means being at home, you might as well help the neighbors and meet new people,” explains this father, who manages to earn approximately between 40 and 60 euros per month to spoil her children. “It’s not financially fantastic, it’s just a little extra,” he believes.

To pool its income, the relay neighbor goes through the two main platforms, Welco et Pickme. Every day, the customers parade. “In a month, there are at least a hundred people who come to my house. It doesn't bother me, even if it's a bit like having two jobs. After a difficult night, it's harder, but my wife helps me, and I don't open until 10 in the morning. But my biggest time slot is 6 – 8 p.m. I often see the same faces. Some bring me chocolates, candies…” describes this resident of the 15th arrondissement.

Between 20 and 40 cents per package

Founded in Lyon in 2019, the start-up Welco is a pioneer in the sector. It currently has “around fifty” Welcoeurs “active at relay points” in Paris and the inner suburbs, i.e. a total of 1,600 packages received every month in the area, explains the company's communication at Paris news. “Private relays gain approximately 20 cents per package received,” we are told.

Its main competitor, Pickme, which appeared in 2019, exploded in the Paris region. The platform has 65,000 individuals registered in Île-de-France, including 12,000 in Paris. With a received package paid for 40 cents, the “Keepers” benefit from a more attractive return, observes Salim Sabir. “There are bonus systems, the more receptions you make, the better you get paid. We win 5 euros after 10 receptions,” explains the dealer.

“A monstrous success”

Each platform forms partnerships with specific carriers. “I work with Open, DHL, GLS, Colissimo, Relais Colis, Geodis… I also have UPS, I am the only one in the neighborhood to do that with them,” lists the relayer, who also handles parcel returns. “Once I received as much as 60 at the same time “, he confides. To avoid getting confused, he divided his corridor into two trenches: on the right, the packages waiting; on the left, those which have been requested and will be delivered during the day.

Like him, many Parisians or Ile-de-France residents have transformed their entrance or their cupboards into a storage area. To help its new “Keepers” visualize the space needed to find, Pickme compares a package to a water pack. A happy medium between significantly smaller packages, and those which sometimes turn out to be particularly bulky. “I had one once that was the size of a small fridge. There, I just received an armchair,” describes Sandra Soares in a cheerful voice.

Since December 2022, this building caretaker in the very center of Paris, very close to the Louvre, transformed his dressing room into a Pickme relay point. “As I already receive packages for my building all day long, I got started. It was immediately a huge success. In this area, there are not many relay points. This service suits a lot of people,” describes the concierge, who has more than doubled her daily parcel load, from around ten to 25 on average.

She collects around 150 euros, sometimes up to 200 euros during the big months, a budget that makes your food shopping more comfortable. “People are ordering more and more online, it never stops, even if there are peak periods, like during Black Friday or Christmas.” The guard helps out neighbors as well as local workers and even tourists in transit in Paris.

“Meet people while providing service”

A “complementary” solution to traditional relay points, boast the start-ups Pickme and Welco, which highlight time slots “more flexible” in individuals. Market players also defend an ecological solution, since it remedies failures at the first delivery and “solidarity”, by making it possible to strengthen human contact while ensuring activity for people at home.

A former wedding dress seamstress undergoing career change, Chloé Gérardie was seduced by this last argument. “I was looking for ideas to earn money while staying at home. Paid surveys weren't very fun. I like the parcel relay aspect: it allows me to save around 60 euros per month, to meet people while providing a service,” says a thirty-year-old Parisian, who describes herself as an easy-to-contact person.

If the work-study data scientist, teleworkerthree days a week, says she is delighted with daily human contact, she also has to deal, from time to time, with a complaining customer. “Some people had no choice but to collect their package from me. They sulk because it's a problem for them to have to make an appointment with me. » Nothing that really affects the young woman's good mood. “When someone asks me for a slot between 11 p.m. and midnight, I answer that I’m not the gas station next door,” she laughs. At the end of the month, she has the satisfaction of being able to afford, thanks to her little nest egg, “one or two restaurants”.

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