How a leading hospital manages thousands of parcels
We're visiting the most famous and largest hospital in Belgium: Campus Gasthuisberg of Leuven's University Hospital, with 9000 (!) employees and 1995 beds. Thousands of parcels pass though here on a daily basis and yet Herman Homblé, head of the postal service, is still a happy man. We want to know how he does it...
The University Hospital Leuven is the reference point for quality and innovative medical care in Europe. It's divided into four campuses: Pellenberg, St. Peter, St. Raphael and Gasthuisberg. The largest of the four is the Gasthuisberg campus where Herman Homblé is working.
Herman is responsible for ensuring that distribution of both the internal and outgoing mail runs smoothly. Between 2000 and 3000 parcels pass every day. These days, the packages aren't just delivered in the traditional way. A Bringme Box was installed just opposite the post office.
What was the reason for choosing Bringme?
"Theoretically, our employees aren't supposed to have their private parcels delivered to work. But I noticed that the deliveries were often from companies like Amazon or Coolblue. Considering how many people work here, and that they often have very unsociable hours, the management didn't want to forbid it. That's why I was immediately in agreement when the management decided to install a Bringme Box. It's essentially a token of appreciation, an acknowledgement for the employees."
"There are about 9000 people working here and I think that at some point, almost everyone has received or sent something.
How many UZ Leuven employees use the Bringme Box?
"There are about 9000 people working here and I think that at some point, almost everyone has received or sent something. Although obviously, they don't all use the service intensively. Most of the staff was, like me, very enthusiastic from the start. It is so simple to use, everyone was immediately on-board. The parcel drop box is regularly full, and more and more new names are appearing in our user list. The box is only used for personal packages, nothing work-related. That's delivered locally."
What do you like the most about the Bringme Box?
"You can receive your package at any time. There are various other options, but you either have to buy a special postbox, or you need a specific pick up point. That's just not an option for us. At UZ Leuven, people literally walk past the Bringme Box at least twice a day. That makes it very easy to use. And if the parcel is too big for the box, it's simply delivered to the UZ Leuven postal service.
Offering discretion for our employees at UZ Leuven is very important to us. Thanks to Bringme, we can guarantee that even more. It was different in the pre-Bringme era. Once there was a parcel that for one reason or another couldn't be delivered to the right person. It spent a few weeks being bounced between departments until it was finally opened. It turned out to be sexy underwear. With Bringme, we can offer our employees discretion"
One last question: Would you recommend Bringme?
"Yes absolutely! And definitely for any company with lots of employees, I don't know how you can manage without it."
