Yodel Suspends Collections Hitting Deliveries

[Spoked Wheels]

My brother works in the industry as a courier in London. He's one of the lucky ones because he had been in it for +15 years (he has no other qualifications and traffic warden is about all else he is qualified to do, he had tried getting qualifications but that's another story complicated by this one) which means he has a reputation and can work for a reasonable company who has set work at certain times of day with a guaranteed minimum number of items in a day, so he knows the minimum he will get paid for a day's work. He also gets an attendance allowance for turning up to work 6 days a week. This extra is what makes ems meet for him!

A considerable number of these delivery drivers are not being paid what it costs to cover even the fuel for the journey from the depot to the home/business and only make any money if they are able to drop off more than 1 parcel along the way. In cities this may work, may being the operative word. Where i live, it does not and it is not uncommon for my parcels to sit in their vehicle until they are driving through the area with enough other parcels to make it worthwhile financially. I can understand this and I sympathise with them. It is a cut throat business and if the £ you are being paid to deliver a package does not actually cover the cost of even the fuel to try 1 delivery (they are paid only for successful deliveries and by the number of them, not by the hour) why would you want to try repeated deliveries of you know that person is going to be out? Why would you not try to leave the parcel with a neighbour?

It really makes me angry seeing big companies exploiting people in this manner. More and more companies are at it and this government is giving the legal platform for companies to take advantage of the situation. I was so critical of the Spanish government that created the climate for companies to terminate millions of peoples contracts and re employ them on a self employ basis with no rights to holidays or sickness pay. This government is following the same path.

My experience with Yodel has been mixed, definitelly not the best but cerainly the cheapest. I've had a parcel showing "out for delivery" with Royal Mail and not deliver it for another day so they aren't brilliant either.

 

[Broadside]

Wow there are lots of people who have had a bad experience with Yodel. I've used them a lot and have never had an issue, just thought I'd share that :-)

 

[snorri]

I always take in parcels for neighbours and they do for me. To do otherwise seems a bit miserable to me.

Me too, and it suits me well when couriers leave packages in my shed when I'm not at home, it's what sheds are for!

 

[phil_hg_uk]

Me too, and it suits me well when couriers leave packages in my shed when I'm not at home, it's what sheds are for!

Depends what they are leaving, I once had a courier leave £4000 worth of laptops on my doorstep in the rain

 

[Ticktockmy]

Having been in the logistical Business, A lot of delivery problems are caused by the simple fact that the Multi-drop driver, doing the final leg, cannot possible deliver all the parcels at a time that suits the Customers because he is not dedicated to a particular customer and might well have a couple of hundred drop-offs or Pick-ups to do during his shift. Another problem is when ordering items people do not bother to fill in the Customer Delivery advice Box to say where or why they want the item to be delivered to another location. ie, next door neighbour, office or place of work.
Damaged goods are another matter, and this is caused by many factors as the parcel travels through the different hubs. However some damage does get caused by bad handling practices, in the main by temporary staff brought in to handle increased traffic at this time of year who have no interest in the job other than there wages.

 

[MarkF]

I always take in parcels for neighbours and they do for me. To do otherwise seems a bit miserable to me.

I work from home during the day, hence my irritation at unpaid work for Yodel, would you like it if your neighbours parcels were delivered to you, whilst you were working?

 

[Fnaar]

I take in parcels for both neighbours, and likewise they for us... but I never order owt that isn't RM delivered. Too many past trips to remote depots to wait half and hour while a clueless nurk tries to find my item. I simply refuse to put up with that any more

 

[Rezillo]

Parcelforce have improved a lot locally - mainly because they now leave undelivered parcels for collection at the local post office. Even if I was to be carded by a driver short of time, the post office still gets the package and it's not far for me to go and pick it up (3 miles instead of 20 miles).

 

[nickyboy]

I work from home during the day, hence my irritation at unpaid work for Yodel, would you like it if your neighbours parcels were delivered to you, whilst you were working?

I also work from home. I have no problem with having parcels delivered to me if my neighbours happen to be out. It's nice to pop around with the parcel in the evening and have a quick chat. We don't see much of each other in the Winter

 

[MarkF]

I also work from home. I have no problem with having parcels delivered to me if my neighbours happen to be out. It's nice to pop around with the parcel in the evening and have a quick chat. We don't see much of each other in the Winter

Our 6 houses share a drive so we each other every day, winter or not, we have a street party on it too each summer too. But when I am on the phone to a client and a courier calls, yet again. it is a bummer, my income will continue to take precedence.

 

[DRM]

I placed two separate orders with Wiggle & Chain Reaction on Wednesday night, both were delivered this morning by Royal Mail, you can't really fault that, I have been at one of the courier firms mentioned here for work & wasn't impressed when I saw one driver pick up a new bike in a wiggle box and hurl it the full length of a lwb transit, then throw other parcels on top of it.