Accessible pick-up stations for the Austrian Mail Service.

After close cooperation for over a year, the Austrian Federation of the Blind and Partially Sighted was happy to see the Austrian Mail Service set up its first accessible pick-up stations. Now it is possible for visually impaired recipients to get accessible notifications and to collect their parcels independently at the new stations.

The notifications recipients will find in their mail have a beveled edge on the left upper side under which the barcode for the pick-up station is printed. In the accessible stations, machines with tactile signage and audio response will scan the barcode, which then opens the lock to the box in which the parcel is stored. A ticking sound allows visually impaired users to find their way to that box. The stations are open 24/7.

The Austrian Mail Service is planning to adapt all existing pick-up stations according to the described model in the coming years, including a tactile guiding system and a bell to call for assistance. BSVÖ serves as their main partner and started to collect user experiences from the first prototype set up in 2018. We are therefore very happy to see the first stations in place and to see the model spread in the coming years.