Abuse Over Courier Surcharges

[JPincas]

I'm sick and tired of getting 'abuse' from people that live in Northern Scotland about the surcharge that the courier places on orders going to certain postcodes. I get at least one email every day, either accusing me of something akin to racism, or, and this one really boils my blood, giving me 'advice' as to which courier I should be using.

Here's a typical email I got today:

My suggestion would be that you consider alternative courier companies, of which there are many.
We live on mainland UK. We are not Highland nor Islands.
Try FEDEX. They work from all over Scotland and the UK at reasonable rates. Or there are many fixed price couriers attached to Ebay.

So, my questions to everyone are:

1) Does everyone get this type of 'abuse'?
2) Does anyone know of any courier companies that DON'T have a zone within northern Scotland for which they charge a hefty extra?

 

[Bill1954]

We get that kind of abuse all of the time although I have to say I am sympathetic to them. It's not a crime to live in North Scotland and we would certainly kick up a fuss if they surcharged the oil and gas that comes out of the area.
I have never found a courier that doesn't impose these charges. I have on several occasions invited folk to send in their owm courier if they thought it would be cheaper. Only person who ever took me up on the offer lived in Denmark !!!

 

[marksg]

Short answers:

1) Yes
2) No

And the other reason for not using Fedex is that they're expensive compared to other couriers. That may be justifiable for some eCommerce operations, but not all - particularly if you're selling to a price-sensitive market.

What a lot of customers fail to realise, too, is that quality matters as much as price. I could name some couriers that generate double the number of complaints about lost or damaged items than others. The couriers that will ship from Andover to Aberdeen for the same price as Basingstoke to Bermondsey are cutting corners somewhere. Chances are it's in the quality of their handling systems.

 

[JPincas]

Well I must say I feel a bit better now.

 

[SamStones]

We don't get it so much anymore. We used to get the advice a lot but we seem to have cut it down. We state that we can't ship to those postcodes within the couriers surcharge list. If they do order and it's below 2kg then it goes with royal mail so it's no problem. If it's over 2nd and under 15kg we have started using myhermes (just for the odd one that's in the surcharge area) as it's fairly cheap with them. If it costs too much to send the item for the amount of postage they have already paid we explain that we don't nomally ship to their area but we have had a quote from cuz and can do it for a surcharge of ???? If they would like to go ahead. Otherwise we cancel the order.

It is annoyin for both them and us, but that's business.

 

I'm sick and tired of getting 'abuse' from people that live in Northern Scotland about the surcharge that the courier places on orders going to certain postcodes. I get at least one email every day, either accusing me of something akin to racism, or, and this one really boils my blood, giving me 'advice' as to which courier I should be using.

Here's a typical email I got today:



So, my questions to everyone are:

1) Does everyone get this type of 'abuse'?
2) Does anyone know of any courier companies that DON'T have a zone within northern Scotland for which they charge a hefty extra?

Why don't you tell them of the extra charge when they place the order giving them the option of a full refund?

And put a list of the PC on the site advising

Earl

 

[deniser]

In that quote above it says they are not in the Highlands. So whereabouts are they?

Our restricted area is only north of Aberdeen. If someone orders from this area we just use Royal Mail instead. We never charge them extra.

 

[BudgetSEO]

I've heard of Interparcel Company, you may want to try that?

 

[JPincas]

@sirearl Of course we put all the info on the site with a list of postcodes. These emails come before they place any order.

@deniser I can't remember exactly where they were, but our the UK Mail surcharge area covers mostly the highlands, but some other areas too. We don't have the option of posting because most of our orders are heavy.

 

[P4D | Parcels4Delivery]

I too can sympathise, but it's a simple case of logistics - distance and volume. If you haven't used a reseller like us, we will offer considerable savings and perhaps the extra costs won't be quite so offensive.

 

[deniser]

Is Parcelforce an option or do they have a surcharge too?

 

[Next Day Printing]

We get these emails all the time, I politely tell them that it is there choice to pay the extra for the delivery or not, and tell them that we charge the customers what we get charged by the courier (which we do). There isn't really much more you can do!

 

[Mr Dibb]

Interlink Express are quite good for highlands. Its only about £1.50-£2 extra - so we just absorb it.

Offshore its still silly money though.

Dont dismiss people complaining about this as "par for the course" - look on it as lost business. Give every courier a ring and ask them. They can only say no!

 

[roydmoorian]

I

Offshore its still silly money though.

Can't imagine why, after all it costs nothing to run ports and ferries. :|

 

[Mr Dibb]

Can't imagine why, after all it costs nothing to run ports and ferries. :|

I seriously doubt any courier runs their own port or even their own ferry.

I don't object to fair surcharges, but £15-20 to take a parcel to the Isle of White is silly. Consider a van with 100 parcels on it. How much must it cost to take a van on the ferry?

 

[ProductCreators]

What's even more frustrating is when couriers are due to deliver and (this might be a bit of a generalisation) don't bother because the last Job is too far out of their way and it's the end of the day.

This has happened to us on several occasions for us - we've even been told by the head office of (no names of course) that their driver has a serious telling off.

Doesn't help when you're relying on the delivery being on time though does it...

 

[wormcity]

Parcelforce does add surcharges to the islands and highlands though fortunatly not to the isle of wight.

We actually take a hit on the price, because we do have complaints, and use the 48 hour service rather than the 24 because its about £3 cheaper.

I can understand the customers annoyance, and if I could find a cheaper alternative I would, but as our parcels weigh around 11 Kg, there isnt one for fast delivery.

Ronnie

 

[dynamic08]

Dont have this problem and Scotland we charge an extra £20 for anyway.

Most customers dont mind paying it either they usually say yeah we always have to pay more thats not a problem.

the stuff we send can be as much as 100kg mind you.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

The cost of delivering above the central belt is very high many addresses are miles apart and travel is slow in addition there are ferry costs and the trunking of goods to the highest points in the land bears a huge cost .

These high costs quite simply have to come from somewhere !

 

[MH1]

I seriously doubt any courier runs their own port or even their own ferry.

I don't object to fair surcharges, but £15-20 to take a parcel to the Isle of White is silly. Consider a van with 100 parcels on it. How much must it cost to take a van on the ferry?

Then again imagine a van with only three parcels on it, it can happen.

The parcel industry is as cut throat as any and worse than most, few of the companies will have any real room to lower the rates, simple answer is to ask which quality company they know of not asking for a surcharge and you will happily contact them for details. If they believe they are know it alls, let them prove it.

The trouble with most people is they see a 1 cm delivery on a map, without realising due to mountains etc that 10 mile as the crow flies journey really means a forty mile round trip taking up to two hours in good weather and a lot longer for a third of the year. Add to that most sat navs are of little use in such areas, even locating an address can take all day sometimes.

 

[Deleted member 74679]

OP, can you not add a FAQ to your existing ones to address this - that you appreciate the frustration of customers in Northern Scotland but that for a guaranteed service these are the prices your courier charges, you don't make any profit on your delivery charges, you're happy to sell minus delivery if the customer wishes to arrange their own courier collection blah blah?

 

[scm5436]

I'm sick and tired of getting 'abuse' from people that live in Northern Scotland about the surcharge that the courier places on orders going to certain postcodes. I get at least one email every day, either accusing me of something akin to racism, or, and this one really boils my blood, giving me 'advice' as to which courier I should be using.

Yes, and we get the same thing from Northern Ireland as well (and yes, some do go as far as using words like "discrimination" and "racism" - get a grip people!)


Common comments are:

• "We've never had this problem with anyone else!" which seems unlikely as all the couriers use basically the same postcodes
• "we're part of the United Kingdom and the delivery charges are the same for everywhere" which is only true for post sent through the Royal Mail, not for courier services
• "we're not in the highlands" - ok, officially some of them aren't technically in the highlands, but look on a map and they are clearly in the arse end of nowhere and ou delivery page clearly states which postcodes are charged extra...

What annoys me is that many of these comments aren't from people who saw the prices and decided to complain - they're people who placed an order on the site and deliberately selected standard delivery instead (when in most cases they probably knew they should be paying extra) and then had their orders cancelled...

 

[Deleted member 74679]

This all explains why I get a disproportionate number of orders from Northern Scotland, Highlands and Islands (plus N Ireland) - I use Royal Mail, so provide 'free' delivery to everyone (whereas my competitors would have to use couriers due to the weight of conventional bookcases).

Particularly Shetland - I think about half the houses there must have one of my book boxes, I send to there at least once a week!

 

[Alicatt]

There's an easy answer - don't surcharge them.

Add a small amount onto your overall p&p charge and absorb the hit when it comes to remote deliveries. Add up the proportion of remote orders and work out how much extra on average you need. This is what I used to do and it is well worth it for the lack of hassle.

The only exception I made was for express deliveries when I did add on the extra.

 

[gibby]

Its a difficult one. The only courier we have used that didnt place large surcharges on Scottish Highlands was DHL and they were awful and too much hasssle trying to sort thier issues out.

We do send out smaller orders via royal mail but customers them get on the phone as its not there in 24 hrs.
Almost every customer that complains states they don't live in the highlands!

We have had alot of customers try hard to fiddle our system but putting on the wrong postcode etc & then go nuts when we pull them about it.
We even did drop the price down a bit to see if it would boost orders but came across customers ordering very small amounts on a regular basis & costing us a loss each time.

Now we just charge what it costs and ignore the complaints. Really they can take it or leave it & Im sure most of our competitors charge the same, despite the insistence by customers they are cheaper.

If we could we would send everything by royal mail but the service is getting worse in these areas.

We have been told by a few of the couriers we use that changes will be happening to remote areas next year.
Some will only be delivering once or twice a week to save on fuel costs.
Some have sold off the remote areas to private couriers as they are becoming too expensive for the major chains.

G

 

[scm5436]

There's an easy answer - don't surcharge them.

Add a small amount onto your overall p&p charge and absorb the hit when it comes to remote deliveries.

So we (consumers who don't live in the arse end of nowhere) have to pay extra to subsidise people who choose to live there? That hardly seems fair. Let them pay what it costs, petrol doesn't grow on trees...

 

[internetspaceships]

@sirearl Of course we put all the info on the site with a list of postcodes. These emails come before they place any order.

Ahh bugger I misread a post. No I wasn't having a go, I was asking a STUPID question

 

[internetspaceships]

So we (consumers who don't live in the arse end of nowhere) have to pay extra to subsidise people who choose to live there? That hardly seems fair. Let them pay what it costs, petrol doesn't grow on trees...

It might not be fair but lots of us do it!

We're in business after all, we have to look "client friendly."

 

[scm5436]

It might not be fair but lots of us do it!

We're in business after all, we have to look "client friendly."

ok, but you're being client friendly to a minority of customers and unfriendly to the vast majority of customers... the only reason you can get away with it is that they can't see what you're doing.

If you disagree, try explaining it on your delivery page ("Delivery is £5.00 to the UK, £1 of this is a subsidy to keep scottish delivery prices down") and see how many orders you lose...

 

[Bill1954]

We have a dedicated delivery charges page and no one ever looks at it until they get an email with a link to it because they live in a chargeable area. Because we say "free delivery to most UK postcodes" everyone assumes that they get free delivery.
Also while I'm having a rant, why do the courier companies charge the same for North Scotland postcodes as they do for Northern Ireland, Isle of man IOW Channel islands etc ? If the firms that supply supermarkets in Scotland tried that one on there would be a national outcry, at least there would be in Scotland. They also charge the same for ROI as they do to France.

 

[golfclubs]

What a lot of customers fail to realise, too, is that quality matters as much as price. I could name some couriers that generate double the number of complaints about lost or damaged items than others. The couriers that will ship from Andover to Aberdeen for the same price as Basingstoke to Bermondsey are cutting corners somewhere. Chances are it's in the quality of their handling systems.

 

[internetspaceships]

If you disagree, try explaining it on your delivery page ("Delivery is £5.00 to the UK, £1 of this is a subsidy to keep scottish delivery prices down") and see how many orders you lose...

Err...... no.

 

[JPincas]

What a great way to sign off for Christmas. The very last email I dealt with before shutting up shop:

Would have purchased from you but your delivery charge to AB43 is ridiculous.
I am 40 minutes from Aberdeen. The oil capital of Europe.
I do most of my shopping on the internet and have never come across
such ignorant delivery charges.

So apparently out charges are 'ignorant'. That's a new one.

 

[WickITServices]

I'm based in Wick which is pretty much as far north as you can go before falling into the sea. The problem we have here is that the postcode "KW" suggests we're actually in Orkney, (i.e. offshore - so subject not only to distance surcharge but a ferry fare too) which is actually the Post Office fault from when they designed the postcode system.

Personally, I can quite understand why couriers surcharge for long distance journeys but the reverse situation applies for suppliers at this end who have to charge everyone higher rates and lose the competitive edge on our southern rivals.

So while I am annoyed at the Post Office for messing up our post code I bless them for the national rate!

Oh, Merry Christmas! by the way...

 

[scm5436]

I am 40 minutes from Aberdeen. The oil capital of Europe..

What a ridiculous thing to say! You could equally say that Rome is the 'pasta capital of Europe' but that doesn't mean I'm going to ship stuff there for a fiver!

So it's a big city with lots of business - that's not the point - the point is that it's very remote and takes more time and petrol to get to...

And have you typed AB43 into google maps? It's miles from anywhere (including aberdeen)!

 

[Deleted member 127702]

Give every courier a ring and ask them. They can only say no!

This is true - we got a very good deal on N Ireland consignments from our couriers, much less than "rack rate"

 

[Deleted member 127702]

ok, but you're being client friendly to a minority of customers and unfriendly to the vast majority of customers... the only reason you can get away with it is that they can't see what you're doing.

If you disagree, try explaining it on your delivery page ("Delivery is £5.00 to the UK, £1 of this is a subsidy to keep scottish delivery prices down") and see how many orders you lose...

This is the Ryan Air approach; it seems to be very successful, but people won't love you for it!

 

[internetspaceships]

Overall I guess it depends on how many items you send to this area as a percentage of your overall sales. If it's very low I'd just wear the extra cost and lower margin (if the sale can stand it of course.)

However if you're selling something that specifically appeals to people living in a remote area then this isn't quite so easy.

It really is very dependent upon your business model.

We recently carried out an accounting excercise to confirm our projected courier and packaging costs for 2011, and it worked out that over an average month the total cost of all couriers and all packaging came to approx £5000 + VAT, but we charged out £5500 + VAT.

Therefore in the scheme of things these costs were actually zero. Naturally this isn't going to work the same way for
all businesses but if people are going to complain about your courier costs before they have even bought then maybe they are not the type of clients you wanted in the first place?

 

[scm5436]

Overall I guess it depends on how many items you send to this area as a percentage of your overall sales. If it's very low I'd just wear the extra cost and lower margin (if the sale can stand it of course.)

Well no the sale can't stand it. I don't know where people get these crazy ideas that internet traders make lots of money on every sale, but generally they don't - We make money by making a small amount on lots of orders.

On most of those orders we'd make a loss if we charged £3-4 delivery to Scotland but paid the courier £16 to deliver it.

Far better to do what most of us here are doing and simply charge the customer what it costs to deliver, and just let them whine about how unfair it all is.

 

[gibby]

One thing that may help - when you get a whinning customer, is to tell them what you actually pay per parcel.

We have had plenty over xmas saying £4.99 for UK next day was well above what our competion charges.
We politely state that it usually costs us £6+ and that we discount the costs to stay competitive for customers.
We also ask which competitors charge a lower price and we still have not found a cheaper rate.

Let em whinge. They love to do it & very little will change this

G