Delivery fees in Scotland: tell MPs your stories

67% of private rented properties were flats and 46% were located in large urban areas.

In the social-rented sector, 56% of properties were flats.

upbeat1 wrote: »

The one safe and reliable method for getting items delivered daily throughout the Highlands is guaranteed under the Universal service obligation (USO) within the Royal Mail service charter.

Unfortunately a shrinking minority of all firms still use the Royal Mail. This is due to RM's policy of imposing unreasonable charges to collect during postal rounds.
Rm dont collect during 'postal rounds' for volume customers. Do you think collection costs is the only factor in play here?
Courier firms throughout UK generally enter long term contracts with large parcel carriers to collect. A big dispatch dept does not have to do any more than pile up items awaiting collection, to consign safely within the network of a huge international concern. Surcharges to consumers in remoter zones, imposed by these transport "giants", loose all significance. So you feel these costs should be absorbed by the company,all customers or.....?
In Scotland, all mainland addresses outside the central belt face " remote area"surcharges. Often online sales sites will only flag up these charges when the process reaches "check out stage". Generally at this stage, as a consumer, we will quit any potential transaction on which some unreasonable surcharge is to be applied. By then we will have inserted huge quantities of sensitive personal data ) These firms will lose our custom, as this is our only "weapon". It is sinister that We have then had some phone to enquire why we did not complete. On hearing our reason, the staff will claim they are powerless to change their firms courier policy. .
Huge quantities?
We live on the mainland, albeit remote. Each weekday couriers representing at least half a dozen large multinational transport concerns will deliver right past our door.The Royal Mail runs these routes too. It is hugely wasteful. Excess charges extracted from a few, sponsor a ridiculously inefficient service. International competition for volume..not service..is driving the "gravy train of charges " ever higher.
So you are maligning having many options?

It is clear that Royal Mail management considers that throughout Scotland it suffers from the "penalty"imposed by the USO . Nothing like it applies to the courier firms. It is equally clear that if RM managers wanted the remote area business back, they could assist larger retailers everywhere by not charging ridiculous and off putting fees for collection. Remote areas would see charges drop to standard charge USO figures , and large International forwarding firms would look on as their costly 'money-grabbing' remote area courier agents can no longer afford to operate.

upbeat1 wrote: »

Custardy.

My post was for this review. It is not a forum discussion point.

Vans travel to every destination in Scotland as required by the USO. people acoss the Highlands are now being required to sponsor a delievery option that firms do not want to run. Placing a charge figure apparently "plucked from the Sky" for some deliveries -or refusing them altogether means that only a small % of potential business is being transported by each courier van on each route. On the same day duplicating other courier vans on the same poorly supported route. Highlanders are being asked to pay for this inefficiency. An efficient method whereby one van collects the lot for each route from a central hub is the only way to resolve this.

I was in this business for decades.