The realities of I want it now - courier drivers

Agree with your comments Steve.

My last parcel was delivered by a local plumber in his company van, so it's a second or third job for him.  I also know of some mums who take kids to school then do deliveries/collections, go home to do paperwork and drop off returns at depot, before collecting kids from school.  If it works for them....

What concerns me is that whilst Amazon will ensure their drone pilots are properly trained and certified, other less scrupulous companies may feel they can do it "on the cheap".  In that situation, I would rather wait for a human to deliver my parcels.

I admit to being totally naive on this one. I had no idea courier firms were outsourcing final destination delivery to mums and plumbers!

Understand freelance couriers with their own vans, so covered by insurance, maybe some idea of what they are doing (debatable...). But wasn't expecting mums to do it after the school run using the family bus!

One of my bug bears is DPD. We get a lot of stationary or print work in, and half the times DPD have outsourced it to a private courier.

Here's an example of our latest delivery, some vehicle stickers from Fastprint who use DPD 

Maybe they used it for football? Maybe there was an Alsatian trapped in the van? After telling Fastprint what we thought of their courier, we got assured it would be looked into. Two weeks later, I'm guessing they are still looking  So are we, for another supplier...

Even my missus looked at me in disbelief, apparently there is a little old man that delivers her NEXT purchases. Throws the parcel in the porch, rings doorbell apparently and then legs it...

With the issue of Hermes drivers delivering parcels and not being paid enough and their policies regarding self employment, I wonder if Hermes has even bothered to check each drivers insurance to cover such parcels in transit? Cover can be anything from £700 upwards. How could a single mum wanting to earn some extra cash afford such sums to start off and then be paid such a low wage by Hermes? 

I know our local Hermes courier delivers parcels for them and also at the same time parcels for Next, QVC and others to make a decent part time wage up as our area is only approx. 8000 households and he has to travel many miles with just one small parcel. He also delivers with a smile and courteous unlike a lot of other Hermes drivers you get delivering to your door and throwing your goods in the doorway.

Very good point, In the original example the guy in the video included insurance as a breakdown of the costs. But I wonder if it is checked? Plus £700 is a lot if that is the case.

So as a professional courier, how do you stand on the issue of having an army of amateur delivery drivers? Does it impact your business or is it a non issue?

This has developed into a really interesting discussion!

Not wishing to cast doubt over individual's honesty, I wonder how many of these "part-time" couriers have notified their insurance providers.  

Another issue seems to be the differing charges and systems used by mail-order companies.  Kaleidoscope uses Hermes and charges £3.95 delivery but returns are free if courier collects or you take to one of their appointed outlets (One-Stop, BP Petrol Station, Co-op Convenience Store, etc).  QVC delivery charges are variable, but they charge for returns via Hermes.  Amazon has option to collect from local Post Office, I've used it and it works fine.   

Again not trying to stereo-type in any way, there may be a higher turnover of "part-time" couriers given that they are mums, pensioners or others supplementing their income.  

I would guess that very few will have been completely truthful with their insurers. Forgetting they would need G.I.T Insurance and its associated cost, they would need Commercial Travelling too, which back in my day was a premium loading of around 60-100%, depending on the insurer.

On Sky News last night, Ian King interviewed Frank Field MP about the Philip Green knighthood situation.  It appears that after the committee concludes the BHS investigation, it will move on to the low pay complaints from Hermes employees.  

Is this going to be a repeat of Mike Ashley saying he didn't know what was going on......