As anyone living in a Scottish island will have experienced, delivery companies see fit to charge us more for delivering goods - purely because we live in an island (or in a remote area of the Highlands). Comhairle nan Eilean Siar have repeatedly asked residents to report such practices, but no firm action has so far been taken.
An e-petition has been set up on the website for No 10 Downing Street, to petition the Prime Minister to investigate surcharges on deliveries to remote areas of Northern Scotland. If you're interested, you can go to the petition's webpage to sign it. Further background on this page from the Press & Journal newspaper on-line.
I have signed the petition having discovered that there are certain companies I will no longer be willing to use once I get to Lewis due to extortionate charges. Those companies don't deserve my business however when there are others who treat the Highlands and Islands as any other part of the UK.
ReplyDeleteI buy a fair bit of DIY stuff (and will be buying a huge amount more expecting to renovate up there) and buy much from Screwfix and Tool Station. Screwfix's delivery policy says 'Sorry! Our carriers cannot offer Premium options for remote areas, offshore and Northen Ireland - please allow 3 days for standard (FREE) delivery'. That's fair enough to me. You need to spend £45 for free delivery otherwise it's £5.95 same as anywhere in the country. Tool Station is even better, you need only spend £10 to get free delivery and they state 'For orders to some addresses, especially in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and Offshore, Express and Turbo options are not available and items will be despatched by Standard delivery'. Again fair enough.
If these two firms can offer free delivery to the Highlands and Islands then surely anybody can?
Amazon comes top in my list of Goodies and there are too many to mention in the Baddies section... A haberdashery supplier in Yorkshire got dumped in no uncertain terms several years ago when they decided to load a £8+ charge onto Orkney deliveries, whilst still using the Royal Mail! Lakeland does free post on orders over £50...which is no hardship if you're an addict!
ReplyDeleteI know it's only part of the solution but refusing to patronise businesses which penalise Island residents does give some satisfaction. It may also be more effective in these times of hardship for some businesses. I always ask about delivery charges and make it plain that I am quite happy with the postal service and do not require secure carriers etc. I then make it plain that overcharging on delivery means no sale as far as I am concerned. If more companies would use the Post Office it would help us all as it would go some way to protecting that service and, in my experience, it is a good service. In the last few months I have had one item delivered in less than 24 hours and another in little longer. The, soi disant, specialist carriers can simply not match that.
ReplyDeletewww.johnlewis.com - no delivery charges, and their no quibble return policy works a treat too. Can't recommend them too highly!
ReplyDeleteI know of a friend who lives in a remote township on the mainland who challenged JL in Aberdeen to deliver a fridge/freezer to their crofthouse, 300 yards off a tarmac surface. They promised a delivery slot, kept to it, delivered the new equipment and took away the old. No charge, no grumblings from the delivery guys and smiles all round.
If you are required to pay a delivery charge for something that you can get at www.johnlewis.com for no charge (and usually cheaper into the bargain) then you should vote with your debit cards!
And its a workers' partnership too, which just adds to its shiny niceness!
ReplyDeleteOk, so being in the central belt this issue is not of immediate concern, however as there are friends and family in the islands I have duly sent staff off to sign the petition. *purr*
ReplyDeleteI've signed it too, AL, in support of the island inhabitants. They'd charge us by the mile if they could :-)
ReplyDeleteSigned it right away! Before Christmas I tried to get two bottles of wine delivered to my parents in the mainland Highlands. The company called me back to say they had to charge an extra £6 on an already expensive delivery charge due to them using Royal Mail. I thought that was ridiculous especially as their website delivery terms and conditions did not state the Highlands would be classed as seemingly being on another continent! The UK mainland is the mainland.
ReplyDeleteI took my business elsewhere to another, large drinks supplier who use City Link couriers. They delivered when they said they would and no breakages.
John, I would suspect mendacity (Not Salford variety) on the part of the grasping vintner. In my experience parcel postage is competetively priced compared to the other carriers not least because of the obligations placed on it by the government. A concession we may lose if the privatisers have their way.
ReplyDeleteI was ordering a half case of wine from a London vintner for my Dad's Xmas. Total cost for wine was £61.65 but at checkout found their total cost for postage to an Isle of Lewis postcode was £35.00 for a 10 day delivery! Swiftly pressed Cancel Order. Consider the petition signed.
ReplyDeletepetition signed
ReplyDeleteFlying Cat 2 - i agree about Amazon itself but be very careful when you get into the market place - prices can vary on shipping and it is not always clear. i reported one seller who wanted to add a £12 postage charge on a book (normally £1.80 postage) Amazon said they shouldn't be doing but did nothing about it!
Being a "prime" member of Amazon.com, I get free 2 day shipping (at times it does take three days, not counting weekends). I pay one shipping fee per year and then i can splurge with a good (almost) conscience. It's not a bad deal for Amazon either, as many more purchases are made than would otherwise be the case. # I am surprised shippers charge more even when they use Royal Mail (isn't it one rate for the whole of the UK? US mail is one price whether it is to be delivered next door, or three thousand miles away, so long as it is in the States).
ReplyDeleteHi AL! I just cancelled an order due to the rip off delivery price the company was going to charge me >:( Postage would have cost more than the goods I was ordering :O And I'm still at loggerheads with land of bleeding leather to take their crappy suite back at their cost not mine - especially since they charged me twice for delivery because of my postcode! Its beyond a joke and about time us little people got listened to!
ReplyDeleteLand of Leather has gone into administration, so you can whistle I'm afraid
ReplyDeleteWhistle Dixie, perhaps? (oh, why not?!)
ReplyDeleteAnother thought. Rattle the bars of your MP and MSP's cages. Our MP is fighting on his own at the moment not only regarding delivery charges but also the iniquitous excees cost of fuel.
ReplyDeleteI've signed too ... However, I find myself propelled towards playing Devils Advocate ... (maybe I don;t get out enough ...)
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to debate yourself out of the proposition that we *are* a separate case, because there's an amount of water on the scene, isn;t there ...
Also, because of this water, there's a necessity for couriers to make Third-Party subconbtracting arrangements in order to get the parcel here, isn;t there ...
Now couriers are not usually known for their vibrancy and responsiveness to whatever the occasion demands ... This is not one of their Unique Selling Points really ...
Therefore, they levy a large surcharge, because *really* they do not want to do it, but if they're going to be *forced* to do it then by heavens they're going to make you pay ...!
No such excuses with Royal Mail though ...
I wonder whether the people who loaded RM charges actually understood that this was the case ...??
Also I do understand why firms will *not* use Royal Mail ...
Their compensation amounts for lost and damaged parcels are vastly smaller than those offered by Couriers.
Their opportunities for Tracing mails whereabouts are almost non-existent, with most of their offerings ...
Also, unless you have a costly contract with parcelforce, you are stuck with standing in the PO waiting for your parcels to be processed, whereas a Courier collects them and releases you from all obligation ...
PS: I use Royal Mail for 100% of my parcels ...
100% is the successful delivery ratio I maintain now, after five years of doing same ...
I would never use a courier unless Royal Mail went out of business ...
Not quite true about Royal Mail Soaplady. They will guarantee next day delivery by 5.30 pm to Lewis (and other islands) if you use Special Delivery and compensation can be up to £2500 and it's fully tracked. Gets a bit expensive over 2kg but it can be done even with water in between.
ReplyDeleteNot true about Parcelforce either - they will collect a parcel from any address free of charge (at least in England). I have used this service several times when selling stuff on Ebay.
Delivery charges are a total rip-off. I went down to England over Xmas with my van in the fond belief that coal has to be cheaper in England than the £14.60 a bag (if you collect it yourself) on Lewis. And so it was, costing a mere £14.20 a bag. If a dirty, bulky thing like a sack of coal can be delivered to Lewis for 40 pence then how come a little parcel worth £50 cost me £60 for delivery? Hyperboreans point about the MP is a good one - the poor lad is doing his best with not alot of help from anyone else. A petition to Gordon Brown? Dont make me laugh.
ReplyDeleteHi Les,
ReplyDeleteyes I know proper compensation *can* be done ... But as you say, it costs more ...! and with couriers, it's standard ...
Parcelforce will not collect free for me ... otherwise I might just bite their hand off ...!
[...] website, related to delivery charges to the Highlands and Islands. I first reported on this on 8 January. The reply basically says that the Government will not take any action against carriers who appear [...]
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