Unknown Courier Company

Shiggaddi

On Monday I received a Kaleidoscope magazine through the door in the afternoon. On the top right corner was a label saying "hand delivered by courier" however this delivered to the wrong address. The correct address is (street name omitted) close, but I live at (street name omitted) drive.

On the odd occasion Royal Mail have made the same mistake, and it's a simple case of seeing the postman the next day, or putting the letter back in the postbox for re-delivery so they can rectify the situation.

However this was a private courier company, who was un-named on the label, therefore it would be inappropriate to ask the postman to re-deliver as it's not their fault, plus Royal Mail are probably losing money as a rival delivery company have the contract, and not them.

Instead I e-mailed Kaleidoscope, and informed them of the situation, and told them a convenient time to collect their magazine (after 3pm weekdays) and that if it's not collected it would be put in a postbox. I got an e-mail back from them today saying they would be collecting Thursday (no time specified), and if it's inconvenient, then I should call an 0870 number (which I'm certainly not doing)

Does anyone know the consequences of putting it in the postbox, what would be the outcome?

1. The intended receipient is charged probably somewhere in the region of £2 (£1 handling plus normal 2nd class for whatever weight it is) for receiving unstamped mail, remember it's a private courier company that was supposed to deliver, and it does have a delivery address.

2. Kaleidoscope would have it sent back to them instead, and would be charged by Royal Mail.

3. Royal Mail know who the courier company is, and they have some sort of arrangement to charge each other for delivering mail that ends up within another company's network.

4. Royal Mail ends up delivering anyway, with no charge to either Kaleidoscope, the courier company, or the customer.

With Royal Mail no longer having the monopoly on mail, this sort of arrangement between Kaleidoscope and the courier company will become more common. Surely their must be people on the mailing list who have moved, and people might try and re-direct their mail, or return to sender.

Also those who pay Royal Mail to re-direct their mail won't be able to stop this mail getting to their old house.

So, out of interest, does anyone know who will be picking up the tab for this re-delivery, and any other circumstances which I have just mentioned!!

Justicia

Not sure of what the procedure is, as you have asked above but I would personally either destroy the address label (to protect the details of the addressee) and recycle the catalogue, or print the Kaleidoscope address on a piece of paper with "Delivered To Wrong Address" typed at the top, strap it securely to the catalogue and put it in a post box and let Kaleidoscope sort it out with the courier they have contracted and pay for it to be sent back to them.

...Or depending on how far away the correct address is, drop it off to them with a brief note attached, especially if passing by the area on a regular or planned route anyway.

TAG

I used to work for one of the catalogue companies as a 'courier'.

Basically it was a part time job delivering catalogue orders and any catalogues which were also marked 'hand delivered by courier'. I was employed directly by that particular company. So your mystery 'courier company' is in fact probably someone doing the same job I did. I personally wouldn't worry about sending it back. Whoever ordered it originally will request a new one. New Spring/Summer catalogues are going out now. It was just misdelivered.

Hope that helps