Delivery rights discussion

tomjonesrules

lcharm wrote: »

A massive chunk, if not all of it and more depending on what the customers salary is.

I work with low margin products as well.

It's deeply upsetting and after reading some previous posts, I agree that this "compensation culture" being promoted will eventually create the same price increase effects as we are already experiencing with car insurance

Thank you, maybe someone will read and realise that not all retailers are multi million pound companies.

I know a few people that are ebay business sellers. They make less than £50 a week. One claim and they'd be making a loss.

lcharm

unholyangel wrote: »

Contract a company to deliver for you then? We used to have one that was much much cheaper and we didnt even use them all that much....you could possibly get a better deal if you're using them regularly with a guaranteed amount of work. They should also have liability insurance should anything go wrong.

Plus as a business, you're supposed to have projected loss and write these in your overheads so you account for these costs over the course of the year and build them into your prices.

Not that simple, I sell small items that go as large letters and in order to be competitive Royal mail are the only delivery option for my smaller items that are cheapest.

I'd imagine the process of claiming of a professional indemnity insurance via the courier is just as time consuming!

k66yla

roguetrooper72 wrote: »

Yes very annoying and the houses with a name instead of a number, yet the name is way too small to read from the roadside, or hidden on a plaque on the floor. Door number stickers don't cost much but in the end could save your life as emergency services could end up spending extra minutes searching for your house.

Totally agree. Can never understand why people spend 100's of £1000's on a property but can't spend 50p on a couple of stickers. Also people who park their cars inches from their front doors, what if the car caught fire. What annoys me the most is standing waiting for someone to answer the door, they get to the door, try the handle....locked, then wander off for 5 mins to go search for their keys, hope they don't have to get out of the house in a hurry.
I take no notice of notes left on the outside of doors, how do I know that the householder has written it and not some dodgy neighbour knowing the homeowner is out for the day. As for not knocking and just leaving a card, never happens with me always knock twice, then write a card out. It is in my interest to get rid of the packet as I don't want to be carrying it around all morning.

arcon5

unholyangel wrote: »

Contract a company to deliver for you then? We used to have one that was much much cheaper and we didnt even use them all that much....you could possibly get a better deal if you're using them regularly with a guaranteed amount of work. They should also have liability insurance should anything go wrong.

Plus as a business, you're supposed to have projected loss and write these in your overheads so you account for these costs over the course of the year and build them into your prices.

But compensating somebody for a lost day of work isn't exactly a small price to pay. On the basis your shift would be 8 hours on minimum wage thats £48.64. Assuming your net profit is 50%, for every late parcel somebody claims for you need to take £97.28 just to cover it -- for many small business, this is nearly a days takings.

Lets now say RM loose/deliver late 3% of parcels, lets assume it costs £2.50 to post and has a value of £20 (therefore cost £10)... assuming all people affected make a claim at £50 for the day off (rounding up for simplisticness (if thats a word ))............ these claims now account for approximately 17% of your takings. This is more than some companies advertising budgets! It would add circa £3 to every item sold.

Many business' are (unfortunately) reliant on royalmail.. particularly for packet size items costing around £2.10(ish). The next alternative is Hermes at £3.30 inc VAT followed by mainstream couriers, for which even with a fantastic deal in place your looking at anything between £4-£6.

Optimist

arcon5 wrote: »

But compensating somebody for a lost day of work isn't exactly a small price to pay. On the basis your shift would be 8 hours on minimum wage thats £48.64. Assuming your net profit is 50%, for every late parcel somebody claims for you need to take £97.28 just to cover it -- for many small business, this is nearly a days takings.

Lets now say RM loose/deliver late 3% of parcels, lets assume it costs £2.50 to post and has a value of £20 (therefore cost £10)... assuming all people affected make a claim at £50 for the day off (rounding up for simplisticness (if thats a word ))............ these claims now account for approximately 17% of your takings. This is more than some companies advertising budgets! It would add circa £3 to every item sold.

Many business' are (unfortunately) reliant on royalmail.. particularly for packet size items costing around £2.10(ish). The next alternative is Hermes at £3.30 inc VAT followed by mainstream couriers, for which even with a fantastic deal in place your looking at anything between £4-£6.

If you send a item by RM I would assume you are not going to enter into a agreement with the customer to deliver on a specific date.

That is unless you actually pay RM extra for next day delivery and you agree a delivery date with the customer.

SADIE

Interesting article, looking on the bright side as a courier, perhaps retailers would then have to increase shipping costs to build in the cost of claims, similar to car insurance.
They may have to make the delivery terms clearer.

Most delivery companies and retailers have agreed terms, it's not clear when you order but the couriers(drivers)then agree to deliver for x cost on x day definitely not x time(I'm talking self employed), unfortunately sometimes the retailer doesn't make the customer fully aware of the agreed contract, why would they in these tough times they want as much business as they can get.

The larger uniformed and employed courier companies have support(and union help) but complaints still roll in, must be good not to be everything deliverer, office, theft limitator etc.

In my opinion if they informed customers that the supersaver or free delivery will mean they would need to be at home from 8am - 6pm, I'm sure some customers would choose an upgraded time slot at an extra cost or select delivery to another address, I'm also sure some would expect the courier to deliver out of hours, disinterested in the fact they are asking for more than they paid for or more than the courier is paid to do.

I have been told I called and didn't ring or knock, that has never happened in nearly 11 years of working as a courier, I've been told I wasted my time because their bell doesn't work(no note and no knocker)told you knocked too loud like a bailiff!, Oh dear you can't win.

I work on the theory a customer orders and wants their item, they have read their t&c's and they will be at the delivery address or contact me when they miss their delivery to let me know what THEY have arranged for the delivery to be successful, it's not up to couriers to find a way to deliver it's up to the customer.

I'm sure some couriers get absolutely fed up with customers not being available and chance leaving in an unsecure place. I'm often asked to leave in front gardens in wheele bins etc. they will take responsibility, it's a no from me but again you can't win.

It would be wonderful as a self employed courier if I could claim for my financial loss, when a customer agrees redelivery and isn't at home again.

MSE says
Yet you can fight back if you know your rights. You may even be able to force compensation for the lost time. The aim here is to be reasonable, but with our often rotten delivery culture, we need to start to make them understand there could be consequences when they fail to, er ... deliver.

Martin, I know you see so many complaints on the forum about deliveries but our often rotten delivery culture is created quite often by often rotten customers.

MSE says
Your relationship is with the retailer –
not the courier company

If you have problems the retailer is responsible, my advice is to build up a good relationship with your courier you'll have far less problems don't expect couriers to jump through hoops to deliver YOUR parcel.

Sadie Hermes courier

LowFlyingCourier

DPD may not be as cheap as others like Yodel but they offer lots of various services other than NextDay, you have before10, before12, afternoon and evening deliveries! All of which are classed as special services and will cost slightly more!
When the van leaves the depot They will also send a text or email to people that have 'opted in' stating a very accurate 1hr time slot in which the parcel will be delivered! The consignee then has the option to reply and change the delivery date!

John_Pierpoint

John_Pierpoint wrote: »

Well here is my new year's resolution:
I am going to get a lock for that redundant horizontal dustbin that is used at the end of the drive for parcel deliveries.

So are we all agreed?

All delivery addresses should include TWO contact numbers, normally land line and mobile plus a number for text messages and/or email messages - Technically back in the 1960's, most of my customers had a "Telex" and it was a whole lot easier for me stick a pre-punched bit of paper tape through the machine than try and telephone only to be told that the contact was - in a meeting/at lunch /out of the office/would ring back in 5 minutes:rotfl:/is sick today/ Those are the monkeys on your back not mine; I've got troubles of my own.

There is a dual responsibility
The head of the household should be legally required to provide a secure storage for "parcels". (We can debate the definition but I would define that as something small enough to be carried for say quarter of a mile without that "my arms a dropping off" feeling.)

Inside the "door" of this secure storage, there is a standardised sticky note, which can be accepted as proof of delivery, when it is exchanged for a similar note identifying the date time carrier and driver. This could be produced by the drivers "tablet" computer and so form part of the audit trail.
[If another driver chanced along on the same day, then at least one more redelivery should be standard before a "not at home come and get it" message is left or a redelivery could be charged for]. In the re-delivery business it is not in our interests to have the warehouse cluttered up with undeliverable parcels.

For larger items and/or those requiring technical support: The £50 quid for a wasted day off fee should kick in (pro rata if the firm can give a pro-rata time of delivery). No iff's no but's except for "act of God".
The working day for deliveries (from the delivery firm's point of view would be 07:00 thru 21:00 if the terms of delivery are "next day" or something similar)

Now the quiz question: What measures roughly 30 x 30 x 40 cm long and has locks ?

MotheroftheKid

Very interesting read. What happens when you get delivered a package not intended to you, the courier company mixed up the towns? No mobile number on card of courier. I phoned the courier company (0844 number) - recorded message, no option of speaking to an actual person, was told to get in touch with my supplier. I emailed the courier compay, standard reply - get in touch with my supplier) I left it a week or so, hoping the courier would realise the mistake and collect from me. Emailed supplier - no reply.

Short of delivering the package myself, what do I do with it?

Jazx68

COSTLYPETROL wrote: »

Has anyone experienced the fact Yodel (employed by Amazon) dump parcels instead of delivering them?

In our case our parcel was dumped by the roadside half a mile from our farm (we are remote!).

Amazon simply reply with a template apology email but no explanation.

Anyone know a contact at Amazon who is interested in what has occurred?

I'm having the same problem with any company that uses HERMES delivery. Since September we've had Asda, Evans and New Look parcels dumped half a mile away from our house at an abandoned, uninhabited cottage on a main road.

All 3 parcels tracked and marked as "Delivered to a secure location"

1st parcel - undelivered/stolen?
2nd & 3rd parcels found at above cottage location (we have now assumed the 1st parcel probably got left there and stolen before we had a chance to see it.) It was NOT a secure location, they were left on the outside doorstep open to wind, weather and any opportunist thief that passed by.

Like the above poster, we live on a farm up a half mile drive. We get many successful deliveries, but live in dread of anything coming via HERMES.

I don't want compensation, but I do want the companies who use these delivery services to demand a better service on our behalf and actually listen to our complaints about it. I'm still unsuccessfully trying to get somewhere with New Look, thankfully both Asda and Evans at least acknowledged the problem. I don't expect goods costing £50-£100 to be left dumped outside an uninhabited cottage door available for all to see or weather damage. It is a stressful enough time of year, we really don't need this kind of behaviour on top of that.

Due to the 1st missing parcel "delivered to a secure location" I marked all subsequent orders not to be left outside and left our telephone number. Still Hermes left them dumped outside, half a mile away from where we actually live. What are we supposed to do? :mad: