Packfleet's 2023 Impact Report

At Packfleet, we’re on a mission to empower businesses across the UK to offer the best deliveries on Earth, without costing the earth.

We’re bringing the experience of receiving a package into the 2020s with modern tech, real-time tracking and updates, seamless integrations and a great customer experience. And we’re committed to the fair treatment of our drivers.

We constantly look at how things are done now and ask “why?”. Without the weight of legacy holding us back, we've been able to start from scratch and build something with an experience that truly delights.

This has led us to designing and building so much in-house. From what recipients see when they get a delivery, to the app our drivers use, the custom algorithms powering our routing software and everything in between.

These are the pillars Packfleet is building on, driven by a team that deeply cares about the impact we’re having:

"When we started Packfleet, we set out to create a once-in-a-generation company which didn’t compromise the planet. I’m delighted to say that we held true to that promise this year – from raising our Series A to become a B-Corp, we’re proving that it’s possible to do both. Each year, we’ll publish an Impact Report to highlight not just the achievements of Packfleet, but also hold us to account in the areas we can do better."

Tristan Thomas, CEO

About this Impact Report

This is our first Impact Report as a certified B Corporation.

This Impact Report is an opportunity for us to communicate our current and intended impact to the people our business depends on. At Packfleet, being green isn’t an optional extra for us – it’s the foundation of everything we do.

This report is an honest look at our progress, focusing on the people we work with, their impact and their stories – less frills, more heart, and resources directed to real improvements.

2023 Highlights

2023 was packed with plenty of standout moments – and lots of big numbers!

• 2,000+ meals donated to Southwark Foodbank
• 1,338,955 km covered
• 129,132 kg CO2 saved in emissions
• 2,640 team "Recharge" hours
• 200+ volunteering hours
• Real Living Wage Employer

Becoming a B Corp

Since day one, it’s been our ambition at Packfleet to be a net positive company for the planet and for society.

Fun fact: When the idea for Packfleet was first pitched – before the business even had an office – the B Corp logo was in the slide deck. In the words of our Co-Founder, Hugo Cornejo, this was done to say ‘this is the kind of business we’re going to build’.

In May 2023, we proudly became a certified B Corp, scoring 80.9 – an achievement that highlights our commitment to doing business better. To become a B Corp, a company must score at least 80 points out of 200 on the B Impact Assessment (BIA).

The accreditation process was no small feat. We learnt a lot about how we operate as a business and the impact we have socially and environmentally. It’s given us a clear sense of where we are and where we want to be.

This is just the beginning of our journey – becoming a B Corp is a starting point, not the finish line, and we’re committed to continuous improvement in making a lasting impact.

The B Corp framework keeps us honest, providing moments of reflection, celebration and accountability for our team. We now get the opportunity to be a force for good in our industry, for our customers and society.

Planet Conscious

Our electric vans are charged with 100% green electricity from renewable sources, or otherwise offset where this isn’t possible.

Our office and warehouse all run from that same supply, so every cup of tea we make is carbon-neutral too. We also currently use low carbon servers - using 92% carbon-free energy – and buy as much tech as we can recycled, from our hub phones to the speakers in our office.

For a small team operating in only London, in 2023 we covered some serious distance:

By using an all-electric fleet we saved:

That means we’ve saved emissions equivalent of:

Our next step is to ensure every aspect of our business is carbon-neutral: moving from low-carbon options to full carbon neutrality, from the servers we run to the tools our customers use before a parcel even reaches us.

Ecologi

Since February 2022, we’ve partnered with fellow B Corp, Ecologi, to support us in our efforts to reduce emissions and take positive action.

In a perfect world, all of our collections and deliveries would be in zero emission vehicles, but sometimes this isn’t the case (for example where technology or infrastructure doesn’t yet allow for it such as for long distance haulage). So, we committed to Ecologi’s carbon avoidance scheme who help us by investing in carbon avoidance projects. In 2023 this saw 116 trees planted and 25.68 tCO₂e carbon avoidance.

At the end of April 2024 we made the decision to stop planting trees based on guidance and research. One of the key things is that trees can take many years before they start drawing down carbon in significant quantities, and they don’t absorb carbon at a linear rate throughout their lifetime.

This means we’ll be more heavily investing in carbon avoidance projects run by Ecologi. You can read more about the amazing work they are doing here.

Technology First

We’re not just keeping pace, we’re setting the standard.

Packfleet is creating a more connected delivery experience, where speed, reliability and convenience are a given.

Since 2021, we’ve built systems that power the entire journey of a Packfleet delivery. From integrating with e-commerce and shipment management systems, to tooling that powers our entire day-to-day operations and vehicle routing.

• State-of-the-art routing: Our in-house router accounts for building size, area restrictions, and learns from past routes – reducing the likelihood of redelivery, or cause wastage due to mis-deliveries.
• Business deliveries: We started taking into account information we have about whether an address is a business. If it is, we apply a 9am-5pm window so that we won't be attempting a wasted delivery outside of business hours. This change saw us reduce our overall business delivery failure rate from 10% to 3.7% in the first four weeks.
• The Packfleet App: We use a fully in-house built iPhone app to power our delivery and hub operations. It’s tailored to our unique and exact needs, so we can operate as efficiently as possible. Whenever we can, we buy phones second-hand to reduce needless waste.

Customer Obsessed

Customer obsession is the driving force behind every decision, every innovation and every interaction – offering a personalised service, lightning-fast response times and a commitment to going the extra mile.

Being a B Corp is one of the main reasons why we’re the chosen delivery provider for a number of fellow B Corp businesses.

Over 20% of our volume is made up from B Corp companies. We love that we get to support their journey and commitment to making positive decisions for the environment.

We hit a 4.9 Trustpilot rating (including hitting the elusive 5/5 in April this year!). Our small but mighty Customer Service team are always going above and beyond to deliver.

Our Team & Community

We're building a team that's truly "something to write home about".

At Packfleet, our People team has one clear mission: supercharge the growth of the business while making Packfleet the best place you'll ever work.

Over the past year, we’ve worked hard to balance growth with culture, embracing change while celebrating milestones along the way. In 2023, we focused on taking care of our team and defining who we want to be as an employer.

Investing in Our People

• We partnered with therapy and professional coaching platform, Oliva, to provide workshops for managers and team members, focusing on mental health and well-being.
• We launched a generous life insurance policy and health insurance policy providing security for employees and their families.
• Our enhanced caregiver leave policy supported four new families.
• We introduced our Cycle-to-Work and Electric Car schemes, providing sustainable travel options for our team.

Strengthen Our Culture

With every new phase of growth, we’ve worked to evolve and strengthen who we are as a team.

• 11 Recharge Days, giving our team time to reset.
• Two company-wide offsites, traveling by train to minimise emissions.
• Two company-wide celebrations, plus socials and team lunches

Creating Impactful Careers

• As our team has expanded, 28% of employees were promoted or moved into new roles.
• Implemented full salary transparency and benchmarking, ensuring fair pay and reducing bias.
• Introduced our first formal review cycle to support career development.

Giving Back to Our Community

• Donated 2,000+ meals to local food banks from undelivered perishable goods.
• Volunteered 200+ hours to support community initiatives.

Our Values

At the start of 2024 we set about defining our values. We wanted to recognise who we are today and who we strive to be in the future. We landed on five values:

• It’s on you (and all of us)
• Take action, be relentless
• Dig beneath the surface
• Feel what they feel
• Something to ‘write home’ about

We know deliveries are broken so we’re doing something about it. Our values help us do that in a way that is good for the environment and people.

We’ve brought our values to life in some fun and meaningful ways - like creating our mascot, Boxanne, and getting the team together for a screen-printing event with Print Club London.

After defining our values, we needed a way to identify and spotlight when people in our team live them to the fullest.

Fast forward to today and our #values Slack channel is filled with everyday examples of people embodying any one of our five values.

The best part?

If you find yourself in the channel it's because someone else put you there – and to do that they saw a specific value in something you've done, whether it's digging beneath the surface or thinking about others first.

What Next?

Right now, we're hard at work to deliver plenty of content for our next Impact Report. Here's a sneak peek into what we're focused on:

Technology First

• Improve our routing technology to generate more efficient routes, increasing productivity and driver engagement – without compromising on working conditions.
• Develop our Driver App to work cross-platform, meaning we no longer need to use phone only for the purpose of delivery.
• Improve visibility of driver pay on the app, improving transparency for drivers and their earnings.

Planet Conscious

• Reach more merchants and recipients to increase our carbon reduction efforts, moving them to a delivery company that uses electric vehicles and offsets via carbon avoidance in areas where it’s unavoidable.
• Reduce operational costs – especially with regards to our fleet – to ensure we don’t need to perform as many environmentally costly repairs.

Customer Obsessed

• Expand the delivery range for our customers beyond the M25 in a carbon neutral way.
• Develop and launch tech that helps our merchants track their positive environmental impact by working with us and help effectively share these insights with their customers.
• Continue to track customer NPS scores, ensuring any product improvements benefit the lives of our customers.

Our Team & Community

• Establish charity partners.
• Continuously improve our feedback cycle process, enabling teams to grow and develop in their careers.
• Implement meaningful benefits to our team, such as tools to help with the cost of living.
• Continue to improve our financial metrics in a sustainable way so we can continue to have the impact we want (for example, by not reducing driver pay to increase profits).

Until next time 👋