To expect companies to have been prepared for the Christmas rush

[Noodledoodledoo]

I am getting so fed up with Christmas deliveries not arriving.

I have not left things to the last minute, I have 2 orders I made in November, one the 14th one the 26th which I am having a nightmare being delivered.

I get they are swamped but it has now messed up 4 peoples presents which are unlikely to get there on time as I need to wrap and send on. I am aware there is a backlog at the post office so don't want to leave to the last minute when I ordered in good time!

Hobby craft and M&S have badly let me down this year, my attempt to not just rely on Amazon!

@CurryForever

I’m not going to apologise for needing a cooker to turn up when it says it will. I have a family and child to feed and 2 weeks is long enough to last without. The customer service agent knew it wasn’t covid related. Whilst I sympathise to an extent after years working in customer service myself I’m also not going to be fobbed off with shitty excuses. They admired I was right, it was not in fact covid related.

*admitted

Oh great! Another thread bashing retail and delivery staff during a pandemic at Christmas!

Well bahumbug to you. You can have coal for christmas instead if you want thousands to lose their jobs and for their kids to have no christmas and uncertain future about whether they will have a home and food. You'll still not get your essential tat for christmas anybody quicker

It’s just a different set of people losing out in a different way. There’s no winners when companies sell stuff they can’t materialise/deliver and there’s no winners when companies go out of business.

The argument you’re making isn’t just applicable to ‘plastic tat and toys’ it’s applicable to everything it’s ok to lie and sell stuff we can’t deliver as long as it stops us losing profits or going out of business so for arguments sake apply that to supermarket shopping. Suddenly Sainsbury’s can’t get enough delivery drivers to deliver food they’ve already sold slots for.
We’ve all heard the horror stories of Asda holding onto people’s money after no delivery arrives or is cancelled last minute. What do families do in those situations?

Either it’s ok for company’s to just tell customers whatever they need to make sales, or it’s unethical and companies should be held accountable.

I too am surprised at M&S. I've had 3 completely separate orders all arrive a day earlier than expected over the last 10 days.

No complaints from me.

I work for a large retail company and the internet department is absolutely totally swamped. You have no idea. We have a quick turnaround so we can manage it but I feel for the smaller companies.

Things are busy, but covid does seem to be an additional excuse in some places. Plenty of places have kept running through the pandemic with a few changes and the odd hiccup, others just haven't tried that hard and a few have been unlucky with sickness and isolations. I've got everything I ordered from black Friday without any trouble, so it certainly is possible for some.

this thread is hilarious!!

Most retailers have been well prepared in terms of stock and warehouse organisation, but the Post Office situation is beyond their control. The Post Office haven't hired enough Christmas temps so there's loads of delays going on. Amazon have their own arrangements with couriers so of course they're going to be quicker. But it's mainly unfair on small, independent businesses who are bearing the brunt of this.

I do feel a lot of places should limit the amount of orders in a day if they are know they are already fallen behind with getting deliveries out. I ordered Christmas presents from Superdrug in November and I’m still getting emails to say there has been a delay in shipping and now estimated 18th December.

Companies know its the busiest time of the year not to forgot the current situation we’re in, so I don’t think it’s fair to keep taking peoples money when a lot of them are still saying orders will be dispatched straight away as normal, when in fact weeks later they still haven’t been packed. Not to even mention the calls I’ve made to try cancel said orders for a refund and had no luck.

@doingitforthefrill

I do feel a lot of places should limit the amount of orders in a day if they are know they are already fallen behind with getting deliveries out. I ordered Christmas presents from Superdrug in November and I’m still getting emails to say there has been a delay in shipping and now estimated 18th December.

Companies know its the busiest time of the year not to forgot the current situation we’re in, so I don’t think it’s fair to keep taking peoples money when a lot of them are still saying orders will be dispatched straight away as normal, when in fact weeks later they still haven’t been packed. Not to even mention the calls I’ve made to try cancel said orders for a refund and had no luck.

If its an order from November delayed to 18th December the chances are its not a covid related delivery issue but a brexit port related one.

@Lougle

There was lots of coverage on radio 2 about containers being delayed at the ports.

But if the stock isn't there, they should say so on the website so you don't order it, or order knowing there will be a delay. Amazon tell you an approximate time that an order will arrive, so you know if it's going to take 6 days or 6 weeks.

What I also think should become law is that when ordering online you know who the parcel carrier would be. There would be improved service, albeit at a cost, I think

I agree with this and have said this for years. In normal times when loads of people aren't home to receive parcels it's a pain when you find it's a courier with their depot 50 miles away, and the Royal Mail sorting office is 10 mins drive! You should be able to select the courier.

@tectonicplates

Most retailers have been well prepared in terms of stock and warehouse organisation, but the Post Office situation is beyond their control. The Post Office haven't hired enough Christmas temps so there's loads of delays going on. Amazon have their own arrangements with couriers so of course they're going to be quicker. But it's mainly unfair on small, independent businesses who are bearing the brunt of this.

It was within their control - they should have hired more people!

I assume they were trying to save money by not hiring temps and now it's come back to bite them. I wrote on the Hermes thread that we are only getting deliveries every other day. It's annoying when you are waiting for something important - some things do still come by letter.

'Should have hired more people'

What magic money do you think they should use? How do you think they can hire more people on the profit margins they have?

Honestly. Too many people without the first fucking clue on how the world works.

@Laiste

To be honest even all my non xmas Amazon Prime stuff is still turning up within a day.

!

It's "cool" to hate Amazon but I think they do a great job. The stuff comes when it should. I temporarily have Prime because they gave it to me free for a month, but even without it, they give a timeline for delivery and they meet it.

The system is running at Christmas capacity, and has been since March.

There's very little scope to increase it further.

I've found a lot of stuff is selling out, delivery times are a little longer but on the whole, everything is pretty manageable.

The whole world is in the same boat so no need to stress or worry, people will understand.

@RedToothBrush

'Should have hired more people'

What magic money do you think they should use? How do you think they can hire more people on the profit margins they have?

Honestly. Too many people without the first fucking clue on how the world works.

There is no need to be offensive or insulting - or swear at posters you don't agree with.

I disagree - the Royal Mail is badly run, and sadly Ofcom is colluding with them, eg agreeing that the poor little so and so's won't have to provide a Saturday service.

They usually recruit heavily for Christmas, they obviously didn't do so this year despite having more parcels to deliver and making money on the parcels.

I agree that Amazon does deliver on time, and has kept service up throughout the pandemic. I wonder if they now have their eye on offering a postal service with their infrastructure and resources which will see the end of royal mail. And levels have been exceptionally high all year, they always take on extra at Christmas and this year especially their forecast would have predicted the demand; so yes, they could have taken on extra staff. With so much competition, it's worse to offer a poor service than to be realistic and set limits for what is achievable imo.

Im sorry but I'm fed up of people just coming out with stupid fuckwitted comments about hiring more people as if companies can magically pull money out of their arse to do so.

THERE'S NO MONEY LEFT.

How is criticising how the royal mail is run going to speed up your parcels this year?

If it needs a major restructing (which it does) then in the midst of this shit storm perhaps isn't really the moment to go around using the limited resources available to decide who should be made redundant etc.

There has been a huge surge since March, they have money to invest in personnel, they need to imo to remain a viable entity for delivering stuff. Plenty of others who can actually deliver and increase capacity accordingly when needed that are eagerly awaiting to take over I imagine. Amazon drop boxes will no doubt have a dual post and pay purpose soon, and some sort of postage arrangement for letters. Sellers will turn to couriers as well if the service times aren't achievable, it's survival at this point for RM, they should be prioritising making it work, or to set limits on orders.

The company I work for sends parcels out by courier every day (industry).

We have found over the last couple of weeks that both goods sent out and deliveries we are waiting for have been delayed or lost far more frequently than normal.

The courier companies are completely rushed off their feet with all the extra deliveries on top of what they usually have to contend with at this time of year.

Couriers have been madly swamped. I run an online business and we have had loads of issues in the last month. We have also had huge problems getting packaging. Boxes are sold out everywhere!

@RedToothBrush

Im sorry but I'm fed up of people just coming out with stupid fuckwitted comments about hiring more people as if companies can magically pull money out of their arse to do so.

THERE'S NO MONEY LEFT.

Lots of businesses have done well out of the pandemic and do have plenty of money. Do they want to spend this on recruitment and paying extra staff or a nice end of year dividend? We're not all dumb hicks without a clue how business works, sadly lots of us have been on the receiving end of cost cutting and streamlining so others can line their pockets.

The thing is - People are having to leave work and isolate. So companies may be fine one day. They a supplier has 20% of staff isolating, and the courier has 20% isolating and then they themselves have a spate of isolations and suddenly things go out by weeks. Totally unforeseeable i'mafraid.