Couriers....!!

[Brian Cooper]

Evri delivered a parcel here last Saturday. 

I was out but the "delivery" was captured on CCTV. 

The bloke didn't even attempt to ring the bell or knock on the door.

He just threw the package onto the doorstep and left as quickly as he could. . . Leaving the parcel in full view. 

Fortunately it was still there when I got home. 

 

I received an email later asking how the delivery went. 

My response wasn't complimentary.  

 

[Allan Bennett]

1 hour ago, Cuban8 said:

Today, my daughter wanted to buy some decent walking boots and a good quality coat as she often works outside. She visited the large bricks and mortar shop of the  well known retailer who said both items were out of stock and advised her to order the items on-line for next day delivery! A waste of time and fuel. Exactly why I avoid most  'proper' shops these days.

 

I'm not a luddite, and use online shops quite a lot.  But how does your daughter know the boots and coat will fit well?  There's just some things I have to see/feel/try on before buying.

[Erfolg]

I receive a lot of parcels (ordered by my better half), presents for my daughters, and grandchildren, just a few for herself (so I am told).

 

In general most of the logistics companies (is that the same as a delivery service) are good.

 

By far the best is Amazon.

 

The poorest are both Evri and the PO. Yep since the change from Hermes (and no longer the same delivery woman), parcels thrown over our gate, sometimes days of waiting. With regard the PO, the lest said the better, pages of failings to detail.

Edited December 8, 2022 by Erfolg

[Don Fry]

I used to receive stuff from DPD at about 10.40 am. The the round shifted, and it was 1700 ish. Then it was, we can’t deliver on the day as promised. Then  a suggestion I collect from the depot, after ignoring suggestions. Then it gets delivered.

Today an exhausted poor bloke deliverd my glue at 1830. Poor sod. 

[Adrian Smith 1]

Some Amazon sellers dispatch via Evri (Hermes) . I was due some goods today via Evri which didn't arrive. Amazon say they have shifted the delivery window to 9-13 December. If not received by then I can claim my money back from Amazon. I am still waiting for book ordered direct from the seller via Royal Mail over a week ago with a tracking number. RM has no idea when it will be delivered and the tracking info tells my nothing. I know it's "the Christmas" and RM has many strike days on the calendar but we are paying good money for RM delivery service which frankly is rubbish and wasn't much better in my area before the strikes. DPD and DHL have been very reliable thus far so not all bad. 😢  

Edited December 8, 2022 by Adrian Smith 1

[Ron Gray]

I checked with Hyperflight on an order I placed last week and was told that it’s currently taking 1 - 2 weeks for RM to deliver. As a result of that information I chose courier delivery on an order I placed with another company yesterday even though it cost more. RM are shooting themselves in the foot.

[Brian Cooper]

The burning question is: Why is it so hard to get a decent service?  

Why are we expected to meekly accept dreadful services.... in any industry? 

 

The Royal Mail can go to hell.... Increasingly expensive and increasingly useless. 

 

Evri has no respect for their customers or for the packages they deliver.  . Unbridled and blatant arrogance. 

 

There are other couriers, and they will get my business. 

[Ron Gray]

Ordered stuff from MSL yesterday, DHL delivering today.

[Andy Gates]

I have done the same Ron.

 

£3 cable, £6 delivery but it turns up today not sometime next week if I am lucky with RM.

 

I once ordered 15l of oil which came in a single drum, specialist auto transmission oil about £90.

 

Delivery was via Hermes.

 

Took a couple of days and I received an oil soaked box with a brand new black bucket inside.

 

To say I was not happy is a slight understatement.

 

Spoke to the supplier who refused to believe the date and time stamped photos I took.

 

Eventually they paid up, lost my custom as did Hermes. Posted some really rubbish feedback with pictures and kept getting pestered to modify it which I refused to do. They took it down themselves.

[Adrian Smith 1]

I have voted with my feet. I ordered some silicone cable and solder from Leeds Model Shop and ticked the DPD local courier even though it was more than RM. The bits came within 24 hours yesterday. Enough said from me.

[Allan Bennett]

15 hours ago, Erfolg said:

 . . . The poorest are both Evri and the PO. Yep since the change from Hermes (and no longer the same delivery woman), parcels thrown over our gate, sometimes days of waiting. With regard the PO, the lest said the better, pages of failings to detail.

 

It's worth remembering that the PO and Royal Mail are different companies. RM is on strike today, PO isn't. 

 

(I have no relationship with either of them, other than as a customer.)

[Erfolg]

Last week my wife and myself journeyed to Manchester to shop and a day out. We live at the end of a road to nowhere, times have changed so we have to travel, for good shops, where we may have gone in the past to has changed as everything has changed massively.

 

When I consider parcel delivery, I am no longer surprised when Alex announces a parcel will be delivered today, along with a time window or slot whatever the present jargon is. Other couriers send a text message to my phone. I also often have access to tracking of parcels, even from the distanced parts of the world.

 

When it comes to deliveries, most of the couriers, keep trying until they make a successful delivery. Although the odd parcel, is left by the door step, I do not remember which couriers have done this, partly due to ear ache on the side where my wife is, it seems to drown out any thoughts beyond, when will it end.

 

With respect of the time from purchase to delivery, most of the companies seem to manage next day delivery as the norm.

 

It strikes me that much depends on Management, designing, maintaining an effective structure, which has to change with time. Along with the structures there is also a requirement to have a work force that makes things happen, rather than being obstructive.

 

Pay and conditions also matter to people in my position, a worker (actually an ex now). With great age (which I dearly hope to increase) I saw my pay change with time, as engineering collapsed and changed with time. My (original) job, as a tradesman, disappeared as it was before I would have become time served. As a Professional Engineer, my role was many, in some cases loosely associated with being a CEng. 

 

My 67 mile trip to Manchester reminded me of so many of these aspects. I remember the last of the tram tracks being ripped out as being antiquated. Here I was back on a tram, now seen as modern. I did not recognise much of the City now. It struck me that the down at heel city I knew, destined for the dustbin of time, like the towns and city nearer to where I now live, had been avoided by the many different changes. Those that thought that things could remain the same have paid a high price, higher rates of unemployment, which goes with low general incomes, many businesses having gone. Liverpool also on a road to nowhere has reinvented itself (finally) and looks like it is starting to prosper. All of these issues face all the couriers, some that were successful, look that they will be victims to time if the changed circumstances are not recognised and adaptations seen as part of life. 

 

Much of life is a competition that is never won, as the race just goes on. 

Edited December 9, 2022 by Erfolg

[David P Williams]

My package shipped Royal Mail Tracked 24 by RC World on 28 Nov is still in the RM Cardiff depot where it has been since 29 Nov.

[GrumpyGnome]

My RM/Parcel Force parcel from Steve Webb arrived about 20 hours after I ordered it - I must have been lucky....

[Erfolg]

Strangely on a day when the PO are on strike, we received a parcel via Royal Mail.

 

The door bell was not rung, although I did hear the letter box clump. When I opened the inner door there was a yellow card on the floor. Examining the the card, I was surprised that it was from the Royal Mail. Expecting to read a message that suggested go to PO etc. I was very surprised to read parcel by door, behing planter.

 

Opening the door, yes it was.

 

I now await my wife's return, critical comment, that the parcel was clearly a Abercrombie item. My own thoughts will be at least you have got it. No trudging to the PO Collection Office. For me a first, in a step in a better direction.

[EarlyBird]

This is new to me.

 

 

Steve

[Nigel R]

On 09/12/2022 at 14:10, Erfolg said:

Strangely on a day when the PO are on strike, we received a parcel via Royal Mail.

 

Subcontracted to Hermes...

[leccyflyer]

My Parcelforce parcel from 4 Max arrived a day earlier than I expected - the tracking said at 8:15am it was in the collection centre in Leicestershire, but before 10:30am it was delivered here in Central Scotland, several hundred miles away. I didn't hear Thunderbird 2 dropping the delivery van off.

[Don Fry]

Can you think of a daily grind like that, find all those doors, negotiate the dogs, no replies, traffic, 120 drops per day, be nice to customers, driving safely, avoiding murdering the management.
Followers of some religions would think them very evil in a past life to endure that in this life.

[leccyflyer]

That's why I posted earlier that I always try to consider the poor guy or gal having to do that job, rather than getting frustrated that my toys might be a little late arriving. The vast majority of delivery folks I've had experience of have been perfectly fine - I can only think of one total jerk, who came back a couple of times with a cob on and hasn't been seen since.

[Erfolg]

In my case it was a card marked that it was a PO delivery.

 

What was surprising to me, was it was a day that PO workers were on strike, also this is the first time I have received a yellow edged card, thirdly that the parcel was left, in a relatively safe location.

 

I have come to understand that parcel and letter delivery is not the greatest of jobs. Relatively unskilled, where letter delivery takes place in all weathers (always has done), the parcel deliveries appear to have tight schedules. Has the job ever been that different?

 

As many if not all sections of the economy, there has been and will continue to do so ( as through history). The changes are probably in line with "Industrial Revolution" in their personal impact. In the (recent) past, in banking, we saw Bank Managers culled in favour of younger people (undertaking slightly different roles), staff reapplying for the jobs/roles, we the public have seen on line banking becoming the norm, in additions to most branches having closed. In engineering, we have seen NC, CAD systems FSA and so on. This set of pictures is part of changes in all industries. What is or has happened with letters and parcels is another part of the picture. Those who do not change and adapt will probably find that their future becoming compromised.

 

In short I was pleased that I did not have to go to a sorting office, where the large building apparently empty, nor have to arrange a redelivery.

 

Edited December 15, 2022 by Erfolg

[Cuban8]

On 08/12/2022 at 19:54, Allan Bennett said:

 

I'm not a luddite, and use online shops quite a lot.  But how does your daughter know the boots and coat will fit well?  There's just some things I have to see/feel/try on before buying.

Exactly the reason she went to the shop in the first place. I don't think they offered the option of having the products delivered to the shop where they could be tried on. Home delivery or nothing and the risk of having to return the lot, if as you say, they don't fit.

[john stones 1 - Moderator]

Any of you done multi drop jobs ?

Relatively unskilled Erf says, nah, it's a tough job, under pressure most of the day, things beyond your control conspiring to make things tougher, customers giving you an earful because of things you ain't responsible for,  one traffic problem (could be anti fracking protesters Erf) and you're chasing the clock trying to catch up, plus gaffers in yer earhole coz customers rang him.

I want it free post, and bang on the time stated.

I see you Mr Bezos.

[Rich Griff]

That DHL tracking picture, very good idea and relatively simple to set up. Other firms also do a tracking/progress report system. These systems have been in use for some time now.

 

That's just good customer service, and good business.

 

A reassurance the parcel you are expecting today is actually on its way to you, today.

 

As to over worked, tired, stress out delivery drivers, I feel for you particularly this time of year.

 

Some delivery drivers have to provide Thier own VAN!!! !!!

 

Tell it like it is delivery drivers, so the ones who don't know how it is, can be informed.

Edited December 15, 2022 by Rich Griff

[Erfolg]

I accept that delivering  is not without its issues. I also recognise that many jobs have there issues, from those in sales in all their guises, even CEOs have their challenges.  When I was very young, the issue was "piece work", that decided me that working as a tradesman, was something that I did not enjoy. Yet as many others I came to realise that my life would not be devoid of challenges.

 

I do feel for those in deliveries, as I do for many others in differing areas of the work place, many whom i had thought had cushy jobs, later finding life for them was not quite as I thought.

 

Perhaps where I differ from others, that like Canute, some aspects of life cannot be resisted, and there can be opportunities emerging from change. Without change, in the extreme we would be existing in caves. More recently, the working week would remain at 42 hours, 5.5 day working week, no car that I could afford, no pension etc.