Finding An Errant Parcel!
I ordered something on-line for Christmas and realised this morning that it had not arrived.
So I got on to the company and they replied in an hour or so, that Parcelforce had tried to deliver it on the eighth and that they had left a card and taken it to the Post Office.
I searched my hall and I could find no red Parcelforce card amongst the masses of junk mail, that I get. But then I’ve had a couple of incidents like this, where a parcel has not been delivered and no card has been left, from different couriers. I should say that I’ve also had delivery drivers and couriers get lost and end up in the mews at the back of the house.
I think the problem, is that there are several banned right turns and because of this sat-navs send drivers on a roundabout route. If a driver knows the area, it might encourage them to take a short cut and the mews is one that looks a good one. But unfortunately, the far end is blocked.
So as they can’t find my house, they just card one with a similar number and get off out of it.
I then went over to Camden, as I suspected the parcel was at their main depot.
It wasn’t!
But they said, if I could get the Tracking Number, they would find it.
So when I got the Tracking Number, I found it was in a Post Office about a mile away.
It took me about thirty minutes and two buses to get it.
I think there are various lessons to be learned from this.
- The system of the cards needs to be improved.
- Sat-nav systems must get better.
- Purchasers should have easy access to the Tracking Numbers.
But at least no harm was done!
I Thought Couriers Like This Had Reformed
I knew that today, I would be getting my new cooker hood delivered. The delivery company confirmed yesterday that it would be coming today and that they would tell me today, in what four hour slot it would come.
The message yesterday was just an automated voice one, with no instructions on where to phone, text or e-mail if there was any problems.
This morning, I got the delivery slot as any time between 15:00 and 19:00. This is very inconvenient as I have an important appointment, I booked some time ago, at 18:00.
It doesn’t matter to me, if I don’t get the hood delivered today, as it won’t be installed until next week or even the week after.
I have no means to contact the couriers to say this time is inconvenient.
Also judging by this courier company’s attitude of we deliver it when we decide and don’t tell you who we are and how to contact us, I suspect it would be a difficult process to get the item redelivered.
So it is wait here until it is delivered and hope that it turns up.
Incidntally, I actually ordered the hood from the John Lewis web site, so for a start they will be getting a complaint to say the least.
But I did think that couriers with these sort of attitudes had reformed.
Doddle To Expand
According to this article, the parcel shops at rail stations called Doddle is in for a big expansion.
The sooner they open at Dalston Junction station the better.
Collect Your Shopping At A Tube Station
This story in the Standard describes how London Underground stations will be used as pick-up points for shopping. Here’s the first two paragraphs.
Tube chiefs signed up some of the high street’s biggest names today to start a retail revolution on the Underground.
From next month, Tesco and Waitrose will offer a “click-and-collect” service that will enable passengers to pick up groceries from lockers or vans at a dozen outlying stations.
After the story about Doddle parcel points in rail stations, there would appear to be a delivery revolution starting out there.
And about time too!
Today, I’ll have to stay in as I am awaiting a valuable package from a courier. As they usually come here about 16:00, that will mean a long wait.
My most common package is clothes from M & S, but these days, I Click and Collect, at the store at The Angel and just pick them up when I get the e-mail. As I pass the store, virtually every day on a bus, it is so convenient.
When I get a local parcel delivery point, it will be so good.
It’s All A Bit Of A Doddle!
Many of those of my generation remember British Rail’s Red Star Parcels service with affection.
If you wanted to get a parcel from say Ipswich to London, you’d go to their office at Ipswich station, deliver the parcel and pay your fee, and it would be on the next train to London. The consignee would then go to Liverpool Street and collect the parcel later.
It worked well and was probably quicker than anything today, except for a courier taking a hig speed form of transport.
I remember in one instance, our McClaren baby buggy broke in about 1972. They told us to send it by Red Star to Derby, which we did. They repaired it and sent it back by another train the same afternoon.
Does anybody offer such customer service today?
Red Star is now long gone, but I was interested to see that Network Rail is introducing a parcel sending and receiving service called Doddle.
I doubt it would help me, as there isn’t a main line station close to my house. Unless it grows to use large Overground or Underground stations like Dalston Junction. After all, they could use the Ticket Office, when it closes.
But it would be an ideal service for those that pass through such a station on their way to or from work.
Will we see the like of Red Star again? I doubt it will come back everywhere, but on fully-crewed trains, it might return, as how else would you be able to get something really important from say Liverpool to London in under three hours.
Whoever thoght of the name; Doddle, deserves at least an OBE. But I suspect the man backing the scheme; Lloyd Dorfman, who might have thought of the name wouldn’t accept it, as he already has a CBE.
A Hassle And Courier-Free On-Line Purchase
I’ve had various issues with couriers in the past, like this episode.
So on Saturday night, when at 23:00 or so, I decided I needed some new trousers, I ordered them on line from Marks and Spencer and said that I’d like to pick them up sometime today, in their shop at the Angel. I chose the Angel store, as usually I pass through the area, at least once a day, often when I go to the Waitrose a few doors away or Chapel Market.
The original e-mail from Marks, said that the trousers would be in store after midday, but this morning I got an e-mail saying that they had been delivered to the store at 09:30.
I picked them up just after lunch.
Forty years ago, this small store, had been our local Marks and Spencer when we lived in the Barbican and most Saturdays we’d push the children up the hill to the Angel to do our weekend shopping.
Times have certainly changed. Picking those trousers up from Marks and Spencer was certainly less handle and there was nothing couriers could do to to throw spanners in the works.
What Shall We Do With The Royal Mail?
I get very little useful mail today and haven’t for about ten years. My friends either, e-mail, text or phone me and all of my banks, utilities are on line. The only important post I get is tickets for various events, I’ve ordered on-line or by telephone and the odd small package delivered by the postman, like my INR test strips.
Most of the rest of the mail is junk usually addressed to the Occupier of my house. Make non-specific junk mail illegal and the Royal Mail would go bust. The worst offenders are estate agents and Virgin Media. I think I’ll get some cards printed, that I can post to the worst offenders, saying they will be charged £50 for wasting my time, if they send anything more.
Incidentally, I do post letters more regularly than I used to, as I have a post box on the corner.
Most of us love the Royal Mail and in rural and sparsely populated areas, I will admit, they do perform a regular social service. But where I live now in Hackney, I wouldn’t even recognise my postman, if I sat next to him in a pub or cafe. We though have a guy, who performs that low-level social service. We have this very accommodating guy, who keeps the streets clean and tidy, with his barrow and he always wishes you a hello and how are you, every time, you meet him on the street.
The real problem, I have is with parcels and packets, delivered by all of the companies and not just Parcelforce and Royal Mail. Usually, they come early in the morning, when I am still here, but often I return to find a card through the door.
Royal Mail/Parcelforce are in a strong position to create a proper on-line tracking service, as they are generally trusted.
You would need to register your name and address on their site, so that if you were getting a parcel delivery, they could send you an e-mail to say it was coming. I know some on-line vendors do this, but it often means logging in to a site and entering a tracking number, which means you have to have on-line skills.
Obviously, you wouldn’t always get an e-mail before it arrived, but you could have standing instructions like leave with number 27 or something similar.
A properly designed system would make it more efficient and probably save the Royal Mail money.
The first courier that gets it right and completes the loop between supplier and customer, will make a fortune and clean up.
Privatisation is not the cure, but augmenting the local link with technology may just be.
Just look at how easy it is to track trains and collect tickets at stations, compared to say ten years ago.
That Was Quick!
Yesterday at 16:26 I ordered a new laptop battery from Amazon. Just before 12:00 this morning, the door-bell rang and on checking through the window, I saw a courier with a box marked Amazon. The check was because I’d seen some Jehovah’s Wasters walking up and down the road and thought it was my turn to be annoyed. I get them usually once a week. We need a preference service where you can register to stop calls from these people.
The box contained the new battery and it’s now up and running and being used for this post.
Would anybody complain about that very speedy service?
Back To The Future?
Fedex were delivering a parcel nearby and parked their driver parked his van outside.
Fedex Modec Electric Delivery Vehicle
It is totally electric and called a Modec. It would appear that the manufacturer no longer exists.
The reason I used the title was that I can remember the electric Harrods vans that used to trundle all over Central London until about the late 1960s. They had been built in the 1930s in the basement of the store. I think I once read that the rolling friction was designed to be so low, that it was possible for one man to push them on his own. I also think there were about sixty of them.
We need a lot more of this type of delivery van in big cities. London is probably an ideal place, as it is fairly flat, but perhaps San Francisco would be less so.
Couriers Revisited
I had a parcel delivered today by Parcelforce.
- They sent me an e-mail, so I could track it.
- I was phoned by the driver at 8:30 to check that someone would be there.
- The parcel was delivered at 9:00 by the usual cheery driver.
So if they can do it so professionally, why can’t others? APC can and delivered my repaired Nokia 6310i later this morning.
The Anonymous Widower 