Parcel deliveries

I have Amazon Prime (paid for, of course) and if a parcel is correctly delivered and I spot the driver, I give him a small tip. I know it adds to the cost but the village where I live has few shops and the nearest bigger towns are not much better. So the Prime sub plus the tip are usually cheaper than the cost of me driving to collect it.

I had a book delivered today from Oxfam. Actually that isn’t right. A book was delivered next door. Not put in their post box but in the hedge behind. Just a fluke they found it.
Nothing on the Oxfam book site for complaints and I have no idea of the carrier.

Sago I m convinced all Brits do now is moan

Sago

We moan about the shops closing down and the death of the high street.
We moan about Amazon and their monopoly.
We moan about the delivery companies and their haphazard ways.
We moan about the immigrant labour that deliver the parcels and work in the warehouses.

We have created the monster.

I wouldn't say that we have created this monster exactly - this is how Capitalism works. Pile 'em high, sell 'em cheap, and - obviously - to maximise profits - employ labour as cheaply as possible.

We haven't so much created the monster rather we have colluded with its creation and function.

Technology has made it possible, so it was inevitable it would happen.

As for the death of the high street, well of course that is to some extent also inevitable. There was a time when you could buy small livestock in the town high street - now of course you have to go to a livestock market. I imagine there were those who rued such markets at one time.

It's about change and adaptability.

But I do think it's reasonable to expect your package to actually arrive at the appropriate address. If only there was a way to sanction or exclude those delivery companies that employ people who can't or won't deliver as they are scheduled to do and who clearly don't care either way, then Capitalism would work in our favour. At the moment, it doesn't.

Sago

We moan about the shops closing down and the death of the high street.
We moan about Amazon and their monopoly.
We moan about the delivery companies and their haphazard ways.
We moan about the immigrant labour that deliver the parcels and work in the warehouses.

We have created the monster.

So true, Sago. However, I must admit to using online shopping. I so dislike shopping generally, apart from for food. We buy from Amazon Prime, and get RM and Evri deliveries, without any problems. There is always a tracking system, so we know when to expect our goods. It works for us.

My front door is on quite a busy street. I ask that my parcels are left with a neighbour if I'm out. As many drivers from various companies don't seem to ring the bell, and they don't leave it with neighbours either.

Sago, I’m so with you about moaning, what ever happened to looking onthe bright side, counting blessings and seeing how fortunate we are.
Life isn’t perfect but we can bet the farm it’s better than the one our grannies experienced,

Sago

We moan about the shops closing down and the death of the high street.
We moan about Amazon and their monopoly.
We moan about the delivery companies and their haphazard ways.
We moan about the immigrant labour that deliver the parcels and work in the warehouses.

We have created the monster.

Disabled family member couldn't function if it wasn't for delivered goods and food. I'm a lot older, and don't have the energy to be traipsing round 3 different shops, as I did recently looking for something quite mundane. It was exhausting, took nearly an hour and I failed. 90 seconds on the internet

Exactly Chardy, these services are an absolute blessing for many people.

Phew! I thought it was just me who was being driven to insanity by flipping Amazon not ringing the bell or knocking the door. I don't much care about parcels being left outside, as long as I know that they are there.

The DFD driver has always been very good and will knock on the kitchen window or come around to the back of the house because he always delivers heavy sacks of dog food. Eastern European, I think.

The dogs are very good doorbells, so I always know if no effort has been made to let me know about a parcel delivery.

WithNobsOnIt

I think the parcel delivery situation in this country is well out of control.

Companies will just leave parcels wherever they want to. I think putting the in bins is definitely bwyond the pail

Why isnt somebody taken these companies to task.

Also this may not be politically correct but l really think some of their staff
including food delivery people who cannot speak. word if English are illegal immigrants or asylum seekers working on the side.

Yep....that is my suspicion re your point in last paragraph. I suspect some of those workers maybe shouldnt be workers.

As I see it - put the wages up for these delivery people and then the firms will get a decent choice of would-be staff. If that means a knock-on of a little bit extra postage costs for receiving our goods = well it would be worth it imo to get reliable service.

There'd be the added side benefit of getting the message out to anyone wanting a job "Yep...you'll be considered - once we've checked you speak good English". That will give them some added impetus to do just that - and, after all, if they want to live in Britain = they should speak good English after all.

Chardy

My front door is on quite a busy street. I ask that my parcels are left with a neighbour if I'm out. As many drivers from various companies don't seem to ring the bell, and they don't leave it with neighbours either.

Can I swop neighbours with you?

I wouldnt dare ask for my parcels to be left with neighbours. In fact I specify very strongly indeed that they must NOT leave my parcels with neighbours. There was an earful - or two - given out by me at the outset before the message sunk in not to do so.

Mygawd no - considering I've had/got neighbours that used to regularly trespass in my garden and have even stolen a bit of my garden = the deliverers had to be given the message there would be huge trouble if they ever left any of my parcels with a neighbour - and I also had that porch built round my front door (partly so they have no excuse to even try it on leaving it with one of them). The Post Office deliverers have been told some of what the neighbours got up to - cue for them telling me there's a LOT of it about in this area (ie bad neighbour issues) and so they are pretty used to knowing there's a good chance they aren't allowed to leave packages with the neighbour anyway in this area.

petra

Is it possible that you could have parcels delivered to a pick up point?
Or if you lived in my close my porch is the pick up point 😊

I’ve had the same problem with a few different companies but the worst is Amazon, as you said they don’t even ring the bell to let you know it’s there, that wouldn’t take them two seconds seeing as they are at the doorstep with the parcel.
The best courier I have is Evri I’ve had the same man for over two years and if I’m not home he leaves it in my car which I’ve asked him to

I don’t really want to shop on line as I used to enjoy pottering around the shops (although DH hates it) but the few shops that are left in my nearest town, such as M&S, never see to have what I want or the right size. If I ask an assistant I’m told ‘you can order it on line’! Well I could have done that without traipsing into town, so sometimes shops are their worst enemy.

Sago

We moan about the shops closing down and the death of the high street.
We moan about Amazon and their monopoly.
We moan about the delivery companies and their haphazard ways.
We moan about the immigrant labour that deliver the parcels and work in the warehouses.

We have created the monster.

I don't agree. I much prefer shopping online to going into shops. There is more choice, and a greater chance of items being in stock, and it is simply more convenient.

The problem is not with the way we shop, but with the delivery companies paying too little and cutting corners. It costs more to buy online, as you have to factor in delivery charges, but the service we get for this extra payment can be terrible. I don't think the nationality of the drivers is relevant - so long as they can operate a SatNav there should be very few mistakes. The problem is that they have 30 seconds per delivery, no breaks and insecure working conditions.

I would like to see fines if parcels are not delivered, or delivered to the wrong address/thrown over walls/placed in bins/left on doorsteps etc, and licences issued that can be withdrawn if standards fall below an acceptable level. It is ridiculous that companies make a profit when customers are paying for a service they don't get.

I'm the same, Doodledog. Apart from food shopping, I do virtually all mine online. I've never really had much of a problem with deliveries, apart from the past couple of months when a couple of deliveries from Evri haven't turned up.

Sago

We moan about the shops closing down and the death of the high street.
We moan about Amazon and their monopoly.
We moan about the delivery companies and their haphazard ways.
We moan about the immigrant labour that deliver the parcels and work in the warehouses.

We have created the monster.

👍👍👍

Only this afternoon, I had a message on my phone to say Evri had delivered my John Lewis parcel. Well I can't find it? and my Ring Doorbell camera is showing me No one has even walked up our Drive today.
Checked neighbours, nope no sign.
I was waiting for that particular parcel too!

I recently had a delivery by Yodel for the first time. Not impressed. First they indicated the delivery would be by the Saturday. I checked the status on the Friday morning as I wanted to go out, and as it was not yet "out for delivery" I went out as planned. Then I got a text with a two-hour window starting at 11 something on the Friday, but the text arrived after the start of the window. Fortunately I was back home for the delivery, then when the parcel arrived the driver knocked but did not wait for me to open the door and he was disappearing down the road when I opened the door to find the parcel sitting there.

I was annoyed yesterday over a DPD non parcel delivery. I was supposedly out. The customer advisor emailed me this morning in response to my moan, saying they had a picture of the driver outside my property. When I asked what colour my front door was they couldn’t answer, seems he was outside my block of flats and never my front door (on 7th floor). He is being reported for not doing his job properly. I am now having my parcel delivered to the local post office instead.

Our local Evri delivery man is brilliant, he picks up messages on Facebook of people asking if anyone recognises a doorstep where a Royal Mail or Amazon delivery has been left and he can nearly always identify it! He is cheerful and follows instructions. We have a hingesdvlidded box for mail and newspapers which is fine for modest de
Liveries if we are not in, otherwise he writes a note to tell me where the parcel is, usually the greenhouse. There are good’nes in this world!

I mostly have my parcels delivered to a shop five minute walk away then I haven’t got to worry about me not being there for deliveries

I hadxan Amazon delivery this morning. The message said posted through my letterbox. Well no, it wasn't. It wasn't in my safe place either.
We were having a dead tree cut down at the gate and the driver couldn't get in so he left it in the recycling bin.