the essential
La Dépêche du Midi was able to visit, Thursday, December 19, the bowels of the Machine, the Toulouse Urban Logistics platform, created in 2022 by La Poste, avenue de la Fondeyre in Toulouse. Hundreds of thousands of packages are distributed during the confectioners' break and rates increase for postmen.
Will Toulouse residents have their presents at Christmas? This is what La Poste is tackling with the help of its Toulouse Logistique Urbaine platform, created in 2022, avenue de la Fondeyre in Toulouse, opposite the MIN, a 19,500 square meter building, made up of two blocks and a heavy goods vehicle parking lot with 144 spaces. Thursday, December 19, 6 a.m. It is in this hive, “La Machine”, according to the team manager of the platform “Carole Fernandes, that an average of 26,000 packages are sorted per day. With peaks during this period of truce for confectioners, up to 32,000 packages per day. Nearly 150 people are busy all day, making three large delivery rounds.
Packages are scanned
“It’s a sorting machine with electric belts that enter the trucks to collect the packages that arrive,” she explains. The Machine is computerized, the packages circulate on electric belts, are scanned and directed in the direction of the correct route for the postmen. Eco-friendly postmen who only deliver cargo bikes (12 in total) to downtown Toulouse.
An ecological argument put forward by La Poste: “316 grams of CO2 is the most low-carbon proposition on the market,” assures Olivier Marçais from the communications department. In the center of Toulouse, our fleet is 100% electric. We have worked a lot on that.” During the holidays, tours increase.
“We go from 150 tours to more than 200”
“We usually go from 150 tours to more than 200 at the moment, confirms Carole Fernandes. This represents fourteen postal codes to deliver, all of Toulouse, from 31,000 to 31,500 and part of the north of the city.” For the Toulouse Urban Logistics platform, the peak of activity began in November with Black Friday. According to the team manager, “it increased by 4 to 5% compared to last year”. Proof, if ever there was one, of the Christmas shopping frenzy on the internet.
249 tours in one day, the record
To cover needs, a delivery person must currently distribute 200 packages per day, instead of 150 during normal times. “They don't work more hours because we add reinforcements: we schedule other tours with the Machine, continues the team manager. But the circuits are smaller and we increase our personnel resources by 30%. But not everyone works at the same time, whether in the suburbs or the city center. After Black Friday, we totaled 249 tours in one day. For Philippe Salomon, director of the establishment, this time of year also brings a certain “satisfaction among the employees who are keen to deliver all the packages for Christmas”. Between November and December in France, La Poste plans to transport and distribute more than 100 million Colissimo, 50 million Chronopost and 19 million DPD parcels.
