Next-day courier deliveries

[Taz]

I've got mixed feelings about next-day deliveries. I do lots of online shopping every week and generally get 4-6 parcels a week delivered to my home. Around 90% are low-cost items (below 20GBP). I've signed up to Amazon Prime, got my Hexus account linked to Scan for free deliveries, and tend to choose next day delivery elsewhere if it's cheap enough.

However, I'm seeing more and more that deliveries are delayed by 1-2 days which makes time-critical ordering a bit awkward. Some of these delays are down to products not actually being in stock and I'm finding that some retailers are having to get items couriered to them from other suppliers before they can courier them to me!

Now, on the other hand, I really feel sorry for courier drivers. Something that brought this home to me was a parcel delivery via a courier that provides a one hour time slot for delivery and online tracking of the delivery van. I was shocked to find that my delivery was number 112 of 136 deliveries!!!

I guess this is why parcels are often just left on my doorstep and courier drivers cannot wait more than a few seconds after knocking on my door.

So whilst the slow rise in delayed deliveries is sometimes annoying, always on the back of my mind is how these drivers must feel to earn a fairly low wage versus the workload. I don't know what the solution to this is but it has changed my attitude to one-day delivery days. Now when I see courier company vans rushing on the roads, I imagine there's a driver in there trying to earn money to put food on the table. When a small package is left on my doorstep, I'm not cheesed off so much any more. I almost feel it's a kind of modern-day slavery that's being dished out to very low-paid workers.

I'd be interested in how others feel about this

[Ttaskmaster]

While not a courier, my dad drove twin-trailer HGVs with very tight delivery schedules for a supplier to time-critical businesses, usually having to park and offload in High Streets and the like rather than dedicated unloading spaces. His pay was docked a percentage for every delivery slot missed and he'd have to politely accept an earful off angry business managers who sometimes weren't even old enough to drive, let alone knew anything about what it took to get the delivery there.
His day started anywhere between 2 and 6am and he'd rarely be home before 10pm. It got slightly better as working regulations improved, but until the day he forcibly retired he'd sometimes spend the night out in the cab as it was easier to meet the schedules.

At my end, I never order something with that short a notice, as I know it will likely be delayed anyway. I can't afford the stress of watching for postmen and if it needs doing, I have three dogs who can do it for me!

I do love how my DPD guys give me a slot and always, always, always arrive within 5 minutes of the start.
Also, I've never had an issue with any of the big names, as far as their vans and trucks on the road go. They're always courteous, professional and very good drivers.

I only know one motorcycle courier and half the time he's off work because he's had another accident and/or I'm fixing up the piece of [censored] bike that he never spends any money looking after!!!

[peterb]

I do currently have Anazon Prime, but before that I used to find that standard delivery often arrived earlier than scheduled, however so far AP hasn't failed to deliver on or within the timescale.

I have found couriers to be more reliable than they were even 3 years ago. However the best has to be DPD - at least in my area. It does make me smile though when they arrive early and have to hang around for 5 minutes because the system won't accept a signature before the allocated time slot.

But as taskmaster says, I have found most drivers to be professional and courteous. It helps if it is a regular driver as there is thdn a personal connection, and as in all aspects of business, it's about building relationships.

[Saracen]

I can't say I use next-day much. For about 25 years, I've been home-based and typically either working from home or abroad on a trip, in which case next-day makes no sense anyway. And while I'm home, rarely does next-day nake sense over 'sometime this week'.

Also, wherever possible and unless the price differential is stupid, I buy local rather than mail-order anyway. Total nail-order purchases YTD is, IIRC, 3 items.

[Lucio]

I think much like personal banking, and the internet in general, the rise of a "free" service has only screwed the sector over, leading to depressed wages and often, an over-demand for services.

Too many companies have fallen into the trap of not putting a value on what they do, or not being able to justify their costs, and instead get left with having to squeeze costs to remain profitable (or obscenely profitable)

[relo]

I don't know about other placesk, but the only ones i know that do next day delivery its amazon prime and asos premier. they usually use DPD or YODEL. i just got a pair of jeans and a top from Carhartt and dickies and it came through YODEL. i did the order yesterday of course.