Dough - The Future of Home Parcel Delivery
Sliced Bread
BBC
4.6 • 695 Ratings
🗓️ 11 September 2025
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Will delivery drones and robots make popping to the shops a thing of the past?
Greg Foot, host of the BBC Radio 4 show 'Sliced Bread', now brings you 'Dough'.
Each episode explores future wonder products that might rise to success and redefine our lives.
Experts and entrepreneurs discuss the trends shaping what today's everyday technology may look like tomorrow, before a leading futurist offers their predictions on what life might be like within five, ten and fifty years.
This episode looks at the future of home parcel delivery.
One of the UK's biggest parcel delivery companies, Evri, explains why its trial of a robot delivery 'dog' will not spell the end for human couriers.
A service already delivering coffee and groceries by drone in part of Dublin outlines its plans to take off in the UK.
And Greg hears how looking to the past may improve home deliveries in future by making more of our inland waterways and rail network.
Alongside Greg, delivering her expertise, is the futurist Tracey Follows and expert guests including:
-Craig Noonan, UK Director of Communications and Brand at Evri -Alan Hicks, Chief Technology Officer at Manna Drone Delivery -Michelle Gardner, Deputy Director of Policy at the trade association, Logistics UK
Produced by Jon Douglas. Dough is a BBC Audio North Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're dead to me. |
| 0:05.0 | No, no, that's the name of our podcast. Sorry. |
| 0:08.7 | And we're back for a brand new series. |
| 0:11.1 | Not only is it British history, it was a quill drop. |
| 0:15.1 | With more fun and facts from history without taking it too seriously. |
| 0:19.8 | Empress Matilda, what is she going to do now? |
| 0:21.7 | She decides to take back some of the jewels with her. I'm taking these as well. I'm going to come back |
| 0:27.3 | for Tuscany one day as well. You're dead to me. Again, not you. Name of the show. Listen first on |
| 0:33.7 | BBC Sounds. BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:39.7 | You're about to listen to Doe. |
| 0:41.2 | Episodes are released weekly on Thursdays wherever you get your podcasts, but if you're in |
| 0:45.5 | the UK, you can listen to the latest episode first on BBC Sounds, a week earlier than |
| 0:50.2 | anywhere else. |
| 0:52.6 | Hello, I'm Greg Foote and welcome to Doe, the BBC Radio 4 show that explores future wonder |
| 0:57.7 | products that might rise to success and redefine our lives. |
| 1:01.7 | Each episode, I sit down with entrepreneurs and experts to discuss what today's everyday technology |
| 1:06.5 | may look like tomorrow. |
| 1:08.5 | This time we're discussing the future of home delivery, asking whether delivery |
| 1:12.4 | robots and drones might make popping to the shops a thing of the past. Joining me to deliver her |
| 1:19.8 | expertise today, she's packed, she's tracked, she is ready to drop off some knowledge. It's futurist Tracy |
| 1:24.4 | follows. Hello, Tracy. Hello, Greg. Welcome. First time on the show. Are you excited? |
| 1:28.3 | I'm very excited. Always excited to talk about the future. This is a really interesting topic today. It's one that's close to my heart because where I used to live in Cambridge, there were these little small, autonomous robots that were just trundle around the pavement delivering groceries. Have you seen those? I have seen them. I think they're in Milton Keynes and I think they might have tried them in Leeds as well. |
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