One of our regular readers was inspired to put pen to digital paper and sent us a copy of his e-mail to a company he was about to buy goods from:
"I was nearly going to place an order with you when I found that you charge unbelievable price for delivery to the northern half of Scotland. How can a £19 order be charged £16 delivery. I live 15 miles east of Inverness which is a city on the mainland of the UK which has the main A96 trunk road from Inverness to Aberdeen. Bet they don't get charge silly amounts to post to Aberdeen.I am sorry but will not be purchasing the product from you."
Our correspondent told us: "I am flabbergasted at the cost of delivery and thought this was getting under control because of bad press for companies."
Royal Mail has a flat rate charge for the whole of the UK but in effect people who use their service sending parcels and letters locally subsidise items going from one end of the country to the next
ReplyDeleteIs the mood of the UK one which would support a similar subsidy for carriers other than Royal Mail to send parcels to the 200,000+ people who make up the Highlands, I doubt it
You can always shop around for goods but someone in the end is paying the cost of sending items to us here in Nairn
Could be worse, one company claimed Inverness was an island off Skye and not on the mainland. Do what I demand, everything through Royal Mail or I shop elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteI wanted an item which was approx 141cm x 102cm x 2mm and weighed less than a kilo and cost £20. I was quoted by the company that their standard delivery was £19.50 and because we are in the Highlands their courier also had a additional surcharge of £18.50, bringing the total delivery cost to £38! You can imagine where they were told to shove it!
ReplyDeletePostie, the same could be said that someone in Nairn is also subsidising parcels and letters being sent to other areas within the UK.
greedy bar stewards
ReplyDeleteYou can read other peoples experiences about rip-off company's at this Facebook page.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/ScottishHighlandsandIslandsagainstdeliveryripoff
Blame the Highland Council....Morayshire is a lot cheaper...even if the courier is traveling from the direction of Inverness...go figure, if there was still a Nairnshire we wouldn't be paying Highland rates.
ReplyDeleteIf you think it's expensive now, what would it be like in an independent nation, with deliveries from the United Kingdom!
Delivery charges are so high for some companies that any initial cost saving due to item price is wiped out. I try to use local businesses where possible but selection and ease if product range viewing is difficult if you have little time. Does anyone maintain a list of good companies who don't charge excessively? I've spent hours looking for companies to supply things like office furniture, garden buildings etc. (with an affordable but good quality range)
ReplyDeleteThe issue just underlines the increasing cost of fuel and therefore greater transport costs.
ReplyDeleteI think it's unrealistic to expect a company to send an item (unless they can use Royal Mail) from one end of the country to the next without charging more, the only way they have to absorb carriage costs are to charge more for their goods which it turn might make other customers unhappy so they shop elsewhere
I would suggest it's only a matter of time before much more is done to look at producing local goods, especially food as it makes no sense environmentally to be shifting tonnes of fresh food around the world everyday