How on earth can they justify this postal charge for posting in UK ?

GoldenEraGuitars

Complete fuckers. Sorry, rant...

We are held to ransom in Northern Ireland over shipping the same way the other “outlying areas” in the UK are. The difference is, the population is far bigger and we are firmly attached to IRELAND. So, why is it £12 to post something here? Arseholes. There is a steady stream of freight coming in and out every sodding day. They have NO right to make out like it’s a hardship to them to ship stock over. Isn’t that what they do everyday???? 

For the record, I don’t buy anything if the postage shoots up because of location. I’ll send an email requesting that they use Royal Mail which usually halves the price and if they decline they’ll lose the sale. I actually had an email back from one company AFTER their initial response which asked me if the goods were below £50 (their site was full of  typically priced £2-10 items). I said no, it was a £500 order that I told you about as I “saved” my basked at the checkout. I was offered a reduction but they were a day too late with the response.. I had gone elsewhere. I offer both Parcelforce and DPD to my customers. There’s a £10 price difference and I have no preference which one they choose. I do not penalise someone for their location. 

Rant far from over but it’s too early in the morning to get this annoyed 

Bridgehouse

ICBM said

In my opinion it should be illegal for any courier operating in the UK to charge different rates. It’s expensive enough getting things if you live on the islands, without being charged more for deliveries too - the Post Office has to cross-subsidise the rates, and so should their competitors.

Apart from Slough. Things should be more expensive to ship to Slough, just cos it's slough

Neill

ICBM said:

Great!

There’s really no excuse for charging extra for anywhere in the UK, including “Highland & Islands” as well as NI, especially if it’s a small item - Royal Mail postage is the same to anywhere in the UK. I know this for a fact since I work for a mail-order company...

In my opinion it should be illegal for any courier operating in the UK to charge different rates. It’s expensive enough getting things if you live on the islands, without being charged more for deliveries too - the Post Office has to cross-subsidise the rates, and so should their competitors.

This happens to me all the time.  I live in the Highlands and very often as soon as you enter the postcode a message will appear either "Don't ship to this postcode" or "additional carriage charges will apply" or similar. 

It's very frustrating and though I usually pass by on the other side, occasionally there is some rare item that you simply can't get elsewhere.  I forget what it was but I bought something recently where the carriage charge was twice the cost of the item itself.  On such occasions I have tried to persuade the supplier to use Royal Mail but common sense does not seem to prevail.

It's often companies that use cheap courier services which are all false economy anyway, IMHO. 

dbphoto

I have a business account with Parcel Force and they arrive at my premises at 3pm every working day to collect, and I charge my clients £7.95 + Vat for next day delivery.

If someone wants a small item posted via Royal Mail to try and save money then I charge almost as much because one of my staff has to go to the post office and suffer the misery contained within.

boogieman

The last couple of things I ordered through Amazon have come from Chinese sellers. One charged £1.99 for delivery, the other was 1p. 

Sporky

ICBM said:

In my opinion it should be illegal for any courier operating in the UK to charge different rates. 

All you'd get then is a lot of couriers refusing to ship to outlying regions.

It does cost them more to get stuff there after all.

streethawk

dbphoto said:

I have a business account with Parcel Force and they arrive at my premises at 3pm every working day to collect, and I charge my clients £7.95 + Vat for next day delivery.

If someone wants a small item posted via Royal Mail to try and save money then I charge almost as much because one of my staff has to go to the post office and suffer the misery contained within.

Can't say I approve this message, but I am on my way to the post office... so, give me 30 minutes to reflect.

stickyfiddle

Sporky said:

ICBM said:

In my opinion it should be illegal for any courier operating in the UK to charge different rates. 

All you'd get then is a lot of couriers refusing to ship to outlying regions.

It does cost them more to get stuff there after all.

Exactly. You can extend the argument to question why a letter sent within london isn't cheaper than an identical one sent from from Dover to Edinburgh, since clearly more time & energy is spent on the latter. 

If RM were forced to deliver *everywhere* and at the same price then everything would simply become more expensive, except perhaps those outlying destinations.

Sporky

I think RM are the same price throughout, no?

But other couriers don't make lower-cost deliveries subsidise higher-cost ones. I understand why RM do, and I understand why others don't.

I just think there's an obvious consequence to any price-fixing policy - if I ran a courier company and couldn't charge based on what a delivery cost me I'd just split the company; one would deliver to everywhere cheap so I could carry on competing, and another would specialise in outlying regions.

You'd probably find that mainland deliveries (for want of a better term) dropped in price a bit, and outlying deliveries shot up dramatically.

ICBM

stickyfiddle said:

Sporky said:

ICBM said:

In my opinion it should be illegal for any courier operating in the UK to charge different rates. 

All you'd get then is a lot of couriers refusing to ship to outlying regions.

It does cost them more to get stuff there after all.

Exactly. You can extend the argument to question why a letter sent within london isn't cheaper than an identical one sent from from Dover to Edinburgh, since clearly more time & energy is spent on the latter. 

If RM were forced to deliver *everywhere* and at the same price then everything would simply become more expensive, except perhaps those outlying destinations.

Royal Mail are, for standard mail. It's the same price anywhere in the UK.

That's exactly my point - all couriers operating in the UK should be legally required to charge the same amount for any source and destination, and not be allowed to cherry-pick. Of course it costs them more for outer areas - they would then have to cross-subsidise as RM do for the post. It can't possibly be economical to send a small package to a small island in the Outer Hebrides by standard 2nd Class post - but they do.

As it stands, other couriers can unfairly compete against RM by being able to cherry-pick the services they offer and charge more once an arbitrary line is crossed.

Neill

Sporky said:

ICBM said:

In my opinion it should be illegal for any courier operating in the UK to charge different rates. 

All you'd get then is a lot of couriers refusing to ship to outlying regions.

It does cost them more to get stuff there after all.

Does it?

The logistics of eg shipping something from Leeds to Inverness are a damn sight easier than getting a parcel from say Newcastle to Exeter.

I do wonder if a lot of these couriers at the cheaper end still assume it's a single track road once you get past Glasgow.

Sporky

ICBM said:

all couriers operating in the UK should be legally required to charge the same amount for any source and destination, and not be allowed to cherry-pick

So you'd shut down all the local-only couriers who operate with just one or two vans?

ADP

I wanted to buy a guitar body from eBay. Shipping was free within Great Britain and £24 to Northern Ireland. Assuming this was a mistake generated by eBay's system, I messaged the company to ask if this was correct and was told that it was. I can't see how it can cost £24 more to send a body to Northern Ireland than to North Yorkshire.

Sporky

Neill said:

Sporky said:

ICBM said:

In my opinion it should be illegal for any courier operating in the UK to charge different rates. 

All you'd get then is a lot of couriers refusing to ship to outlying regions.

It does cost them more to get stuff there after all.

Does it?

The logistics of eg shipping something from Leeds to Inverness are a damn sight easier than getting a parcel from say Newcastle to Exeter.

I do wonder if a lot of these couriers at the cheaper end still assume it's a single track road once you get past Glasgow.

Sorry, missed this one.

Having had a look at Google Maps for each journey I'm not sure Inverness would meet my use of "outlying" - they're both about a 7-hour journey. ICBM had specifically mentioned the (Scottish) islands so I was thinking more along those lines.

If it doesn't cost them more then it shouldn't cost a customer more.

Sassafras

£12 postage is ridiculous but no more so than £15 for a minute tube of grease.

Bridgehouse

Businesses will agree bulk shipping terms - some areas may be excluded from those deals. It may not, in practical terms cost more to ship to NI, but if the business hasn't got it in their deal then it would cost them more

ICBM

Sporky said:

ICBM said:

all couriers operating in the UK should be legally required to charge the same amount for any source and destination, and not be allowed to cherry-pick

So you'd shut down all the local-only couriers who operate with just one or two vans?

How does that follow? They are not offering a national service.

Sporky

Then all you'd end up with is a load of couriers not offering a national service. Easier to split your company and have one covering the "cheap" areas and another covering the outlying areas, each charging different rates.

Bridgehouse

ICBM said:

Sporky said:

ICBM said:

all couriers operating in the UK should be legally required to charge the same amount for any source and destination, and not be allowed to cherry-pick

So you'd shut down all the local-only couriers who operate with just one or two vans?

How does that follow? They are not offering a national service.

You didn't say "all couriers operating nationally in the U.K." though. So @Sporky is right.

Sporky

Though I didn't mean it in a post-lawyering way - I believe I misunderstood ICBM's intent.