Isle of Wight is NOT in the Scottish Highlands!!!!!

unforeseen

redped wrote: »

Unfortunately you've just demonstrated one of the reasons for this thread - a lack of basic geographical knowledge about the UK, and what the letters actually stand for - the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Sorry for pulling you up on this, but it's an issue for people in NI as well - some companies won't post items to NI, even though they'll be using Royal Mail - "oh you live in Ireland, we don't post to there". I know that RM have strict rules on what can & can't be sent though the post (e.g. aerosols), but this is usually down to ignorance of the seller, rather than the item itself.

YOU didn't correctly read what I had written.

I stated that HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS refers to the Scottish Highlands and Scottish Islands and no other parts of the UK & NI.

NI has never been part of the area called Highlands and Islands so I did not mention it.

I'll accept your apology for your basic lack of comprehension, but there is nothing wrong with my geographical knowledge

redped

unforeseen wrote: »

YOU didn't correctly read what I had written.

I stated that HIGHLANDS AND ISLANDS refers to the Scottish Highlands and Scottish Islands and no other parts of the UK & NI.

NI has never been part of the area called Highlands and Islands so I did not mention it.

I'll accept your apology for your basic lack of comprehension, but there is nothing wrong with my geographical knowledge

I stated that the term UK stands for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, so there is no need to say "UK & NI" - it's like saying "UK & England". It is valid to say "GB & NI", but not "UK & NI".

I'll accept your apology for your basic lack of understanding of the term UK.

Gers

vikingaero wrote: »

Gers,

The simple problem is geography! Most HGV's can travel from the Midlands to Glasgow in one shift/hit (with appropriate rest periods). The estimated drive time is 7hrs 30 mins. To drive the extra 80 miles/2hours would incur another shift. That is the simple reason for extra transport costs.

The RM is different. They are bound by the Universal Service Obligation.

It's not so much courier costs (which don't apply to other areas much further away north) but when company's try to charge courier fees for something which can go in a padded envelope. Or they have a blanket policy.

If I can't find a different suitable company my poor DM in Glasgow gets the delivery!

Snowedunder

Thanks for adding to my thread. It does seem as though this is a bigger problem than just for us here on the Isle of Wight,

Whilst typing the above, I was reminded of an advert for one of the ranges sold on QVC by an island company, Liz Earle - imagine if they said they would have to charge extra to deliver to mainland UK and NI !!!!!!!!!!

On e bay I do not charge any extra postage to send off island because it does not cost me any more!

All of the above replies are very interesting and not offended by the laughter from China - it caused me a great deal of laughter because it is just so, well, funny!!

On another point, this does raise a more serious note about the £16 charge quoted and upheld for a small package. IMO that could almost allegedly be classed as an attempt t0 extort payment by fraud, or something like that, too late at night for us yokels on IOW:rotfl::rotfl:,

I wonder who else we affected parts of the UK and NI could contact to try and get this sorted for good. No good going into schools to teach Geography!! where it should be taught to the very young - any ideas

sheramber

Because Caithness has a KW post code it is deemed as on an island by many companies who wrongly associate KW with Kirkwall on Orkney. It does in fact refer to Wick, which KW1.

They either refuse to deliver or charge an extortionate price for delivery.

Carriers from England tend to stop at Perth or Inverness so a change of carrier is required. This increases the risk for parcels getting lost or getting lost and untraceable.

We just search for a company that will deliver, preferably by Royal Mail who give us a great service.

giraffe69

And the Channel Islands!

We are part of the UK

No you aren't and nor is the Isle of Man.

DoaM

Snowedunder wrote: »

mainland UK and NI

You made the same error as unforeseen.

mainland GB and NI

If you say UK then the words mainland, and, and NI are redundant.

Chickabiddybex

When postage is by Royal Mail it is unfair to exclude people from the Isle of Wight, yes. But when sending larger items, the couriers often charge substantially more. It depends what it is of course, but large items cost a small fortune to get to the Isle of Wight (and the Scottish Highlands too - many large item couriers often don't even go that far, so there's less competition) so if you keep in mind that Ebay is a place where people sell washing machines and sofas etc, then you will see why they won't change these exclusion areas. For businesses selling these types of goods, the difference between delivering to London or Edinburgh and delivering to the Isle of Wight or Scottish Highlainds is a difference of £50-100. So they decide not to deliver there.

Gavin83

In order to use Royal Mail wouldn't the company making the delivery have to take it to the post office, rather than having it collected? If so I can understand why they'd rather not use this service. Even so, it's all well and good suggesting to the company they use Royal Mail but if they don't then it's a lot of extra work to arrange just to get the parcel to you. Royal Mail are generally more expensive, they'd have to set up an account, etc.

Most other couriers charge more to deliver to the Isle of Wight. Unfortunate but it's your decision to live there and if it is actually costing the company more to send why shouldn't they pass that cost on?

Manxman_in_exile

giraffe69 wrote: »

No you aren't and nor is the Isle of Man.

I was going to point that out but you beat me to it.