Parcel tracking pioneer celebrates 20-year anniversary

Parcelhub is celebrating the 20th anniversary of the startup of its company in 2003. Now part of the Whistl Group, the business began as Mail Workshop from a site in Nottingham.

The business launched by offering customers more competitive pricing for handling their posts and parcels.  Assisted by family members, founding partners Mark Rosenberg and Steve Riley hired office and warehouse space and began fulfilling customers’ orders.

As the business grew, the Mail Workshop team identified a niche in the market and knew catalogue publishers were ideal customers who needed their larger consolidated items sent out in a more cost-effective way than through the post.

Very quickly, the team realised their customers wanted to be kept up to date with tracking and status updates on their items.  Programmes to process data were written, and as this developed, the team switched their focus to the customer service experience.

They contracted their first software development company in June of 2008 and, with this, saw the beginnings of “Parcelhub” being rolled out to customers by October. The Parcelhub system was their own labelling and tracking software that could be installed at their customers’ premises, making it easier to keep tabs on their items.

Mail Workshop and the Parcelhub system became industry leaders. Mail Workshop continued to offer fulfilment and pick and pack, working with 3PLs, and Parcelhub would manage parcels, customer service and tracking.

In 2018, Whistl accelerated its expansion in parcels and fulfilment with the acquisitions of Parcelhub and Mail Workshop, and Parcelhub became the primary business by 2019, Mail Workshop as a company was no longer, with everything now sitting under Parcelhub, although the hand fulfilment and pick and pack still operates in Nottingham. In 2020, Steve Marjoram was appointed Managing Director.