Scotland: National Rural NetworkWith my husband operating a very small business in a rural area, there is one thing above all which he, and I, find infuriating.
In almost every case, when sourcing materials, small tools, parts, almost anything infact whether from the internet or otherwise, the postage/carriage is shown as x amount for mainland UK. Then you put in your postcode and discover there is a higher rate for "highlands and islands", or NON mainland - and the rates are quite extortionate - a small engine part costing £1.50 suddenly costs £8 to post!
Actually we are not technically in Highlands and Islands, we are NOT on an island, and we live only 1.5 hours from Glasgow, - the last time I looked we were definitely on the mainland of the UK
And the main reason the prices seem extortionate - in our opinion, is that these companies are fixated on using private carriers and NOT using the Royal Mail.
Do others find this practice as unacceptable as we do?
The Royal Mail would deliver alot of these items for much less and we have rarely had a problem with the service provided - in fact it has been absolutely excellent. Occasionally we press a supplier to "just send it by RM" - we know we will get it without the hassle of carriers leaving notes to say they couldnt deliver it and could we pick it up from their main depot (in Glasgow!).
Of course RM is fine at the moment, but I shudder to think what will happen to rural areas if the RM is completely privatised or broken up or are left with only "non profitable" areas to work in. In fact, this must soon become an issue for all non major conurbation areas as profitable routes are stripped away by profiteering companies and what is left becomes more and more costly to maintain.
Does anyone have a suggestion as to how we can work to combat this rising tide of cost pressures on rural businesses because of unaffordable carriage rates?
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Citizens Advice Scotland survey
Following the high level of response to their Free Delivery* report and campaign, Citizens Advice Scotland has re-opened their survey on this issue for another month. The survey received almost 900 responses - the biggest ever to a survey of its kind carried out by CAS. You can now complete the survey until 19th January 2012.
Find out more here: https://www.ruralgateway.org.uk/en/node/4180
The report found that many consumers are angry with delivery policies to rural areas, and 84 percent of respondents had been refused delivery because of where they live.
Complete the survey here: http://www.cas.org.uk/Publications/recent-publications/Free+delivery
Comment from our Facebook page
I think it should be illegal, it's mere discrimination. It's unacceptable to make rural folk to pay more for health services, road tax and so on. Either work out everyone's delivery cost determined by mileage or admit you are discriminating against customers. And that's disgusting.
http://www.facebook.com/scottishnationalruralnetwork
Highway robbery!
Just recently I contacted Tesco 'online' to ask why they did not deliver to the Western Isles. They informed me they were now 'doing a trial' and if I could phone with an order they would be more than happy to help. I did contact them re a toilet seat priced 9.99. To my utter disbelief I was to be charged 15.00 over and above the delivery charge of 5.99 - almost 21.00. When I queried these extortionate charges I was told it was because they used a courier, I then asked why they used a courier instead of Royal Mail. They just did! was basically the answer. Absolutely scandalous is what I call it. I am so glad there are others who feel the same as I do about these outrageous charges. Let's do something about it!!
Delivery Rural Rip-Off - Further danger ahead
Of course we find these additional charges unacceptable and simple profiteering.
The future does not look good as yesterday the government floated partial privatisation of the Post Office, yet again.
What we look for is the USO regime for UK-wide services to be strengthened and widened.
Or, please Mr Government just tell us all to move to a nearby city and empty that bleak, unprofitable countryside.
Combating the rising tide of cost pressures as Ms Wardrop mentions likely won't be possible as quite some time ago we learned that we do not live in a society - these do not exist - we live in a market and there are too few rural dwellers to influence markets.
Now; if someone could assess the market worth of views and fresh air and set that against the market costs demanded by modern society we might know more objectively why our cost problems are as they are. Or, maybe a mechanism to alleviate market cost demands would show itself.
Consumer Focus Scotland recommendations
Consumer Focus Scotland have published their Parcel Deliveries: Current Practice and Possible Solutions briefing note which makes a number of recommendations to parcel operators. These include better communication about parcel delivery charges at the point of sale, offering customers a choice of parcel operator - including Royal Mail, and the need to keep surcharges for delivering to rural areas to a mininum.
You can find out more in Parcel delivery recommendations made.
Higher rate delivery charges
Apologies for the late response to the letter on this topic, I was having log-in problems.
My wife and I are in total agreement with the points made in the couples letter and have had cause to discuss the issue on many occasions. We live in North Sutherland and depend a lot on mail order. Our postcode area is KW14 and we first encountered the "Extra charge" in 2006. When we challenged the company about it we had the greatest difficulty pursuading the employee that we did not live in the Orkney Isles. The "battle" has been ongoing since that time, the most recent instance when a firm advertised free postage on orders over X amount - when we took delivery of the order, postage had been charged. Asked about this, the firm explained that as we lived in a remote area we had been given free postage at standard rate and just charged the extra for where we lived!!
What can be done about this? All I can suggest is challenge it every time it occurs and support the Royal Mail who presently provide an excellent service; you know when the post is likely to arrive (not somewhere between 8am and 6pm), in our case if we are not in, the package can be collected from the local Post Office just 3.5 miles away (not the nearest depot - often Inverness or wait in all day the next time the delivery van is due).
John B.
I agree
I agree with John. As I said in my previous post, I try to choose companies which don't charge a surcharge for posting to us. I normally then get in touch with the company and let them know the reason I've chosen another company is because of the surcharge. Maybe if companies realise they are losing business then they'll think about using different delivery methods.
Consumer Focus Scotland online survey
This is exactly the problem that we are looking into at Consumer Focus Scotland. As already stated, some companies do not deliver to certain areas, or if they do - they often apply extra charges. We want to build a picture of what the current position is.
Our aim is to find out if online retailers are giving consumers enough information upfront about general delivery options on their websites (before you register or make a purchase). Sometimes this information is hidden away under ‘Customer Services’ or ‘Help’ sections and can be difficult to find. From your previous experience of buying goods online or by having a look at your favourite website we want you to rate how easy or difficult this is.
PLEASE NOTE: WE WANT TO FIND OUT WHAT INFORMATION IS AVAILABLE BEFORE A PURCHASE IS MADE – DO NOT REGISTER OR ENTER ANY DEBIT OR CREDIT CARD DETAILS
Please complete our short survey which will take no longer than 5-10 minutes giving your views on this subject:
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/7YJKP7Z
There is a section at the end of the survey for any other comments – if you have had any personal experiences (good or bad) please let us know.
The closing date for responses is Friday, 12 February 2010 - if you have any questions about the survey please let me know.
With best wishes.
Gill MacGregor
Consumer Network Co-ordinator
Consumer Focus Scotland
£15 for something that weighed about 300g
I got Rick Stein's new cookbook for Christmas and decided to buy some of the more exotic spices etc online. There were a number of companies listed in the book as stockists. The first couple I tried were charging me much, much more for delivery to Ross-shire. I could have got all the ingredients I wanted from one place, but I'm pretty sure they were wanting about £15 postage for something that weighed about 300g - if that.
I was pretty frustrated. After spending about 30 minutes on their website. But I managed to get most of the ingredients from two other online companies who sent their parcels by Royal Mail. Everything arrived on time and in perfect condition. And it only cost about £2 to post.
I agree with the person who posted this in the forum. We've asked people to use Royal Mail before instead of couriers. Either because of the costs or because often the courier can't find our house.
Not a new issue
On the previous Rural Gateway website this issue came up in the forum twice while I was editor. Both times an e-petition was highlighted - if I remember correctly one was to the Scottish Parliament and one to the UK. I'm not sure what the outcome of these petitions was, so if anyone knows post a comment here to let us know!
Consumer Focus Scotland is the statutory organisation campaigning for a fair deal for consumers. It's a fairly new organisation that was a merger of energywatch, Postwatch and the National Consumer Council. It might be worth getting in touch with them as they deal with postal issues - particularly about your concern about what would happen if the Royal Mail was broken up.
CFS survey
Norette - I have placed an appeal for members to complete a short survey on parcel delivery options for a research project that we are undertaking. The closing date is this Friday, 12 February. Could you flag this appeal on your front page to gain maximum impact?
Many thanks.
Gill
No problem
Thanks for your post, Gill. I'll get a news story up later today and will highlight in our next email newsletter which will be going out on Thursday.
Our postcode area is KW14 and
Our postcode area is KW14 and we first encounter the "Extra charge" in 2006. When we challenged the company about it we had the greatest difficulty persuading the worker that we did not live in the Orkney Isles. The "battle" has been ongoing because that time, the most recent instance when a firm advertised free postage on orders over X amount - when we took delivery of the arrange, postage had been charged.