Businesses should tell online customers which delivery agent they use before any online orders are placed insists Councillor Dan Kerr.
Councillor Kerr, an Independent representative at Mid-Ulster Council, was speaking in the aftermath of delivery company Evri being at the centre of a number of parcels destined for addresses across Northern Ireland being dumped at a Coalisland residence just before last Christmas.
This came not long after a BBC Panorama documentary investigation into Evri’s working practices and delivery standards.
Evri themselves refuted all claims made by the BBC programme.
Councillor Kerr was at the time contacted on the parcels being dumped, not long after it happened and while all parcels were returned to their rightful owners, the incident left those affected with a negative view of Evri.
One of the BBC’s claims was that Evri ranked bottom of an Ofcom survey into customer satisfaction and Councillor Kerr says that retail companies should be obliged to tell online customers which delivery agent they use so that those customers can choose to go ahead with their purchase.
He said: “I don't blame people who want this. If you're getting the parcels delivered to you, you should be made aware of who's going to deliver it and then decide if you still want to buy the item you’re ordering.
“Unfortunately, a lot of people had contacted me (at the time when the Coalisland dumping of parcels happened), saying if I could find out if there was any chance was that this was their package, because this is a Christmas present.
“A lot of stuff wasn't delivered, and probably a lot of disappointed young children due to this.
“The programme on the BBC also highlighted some of the working practices there. I would ask that they try to change the attitude there to try and get to claw back some of their reputation and try and get back to where or try and get a reputation that those at the top of that Ofcom survey have.”
Councillor Kerr says that he has raised the issue with fellow Mid-Ulster District Councillors to see what could be done to ensure that parcel dumping, like the one in Coalisland, does not happen again.
He added: “I actually raised it at the last Council meeting just so the Council was aware with what had gone on and to request that at some point a face-to-face meeting with Evri could take place in the future just to make them aware of the issues that have been ongoing with their service these last few weeks and months.
“Again, something in place that obliges retailers to tell online customers who they use to deliver items is definitely something that would be worth looking at because then it makes the consumer or customer decide whether or not to go elsewhere.”
In response to the incident at Coalisland, an Evri spokesman stated the company apologised to those whose parcels were dumped but added that this was not a reflection on other Evri delivery agents.
He said: Our 34,000 self-employed couriers work hard to deliver record parcel volumes, around four million parcels every day, throughout our busiest weeks of the year. The vast majority do an excellent job and strictly follow our delivery standards.
“Our priority is to handle every parcel with care, and we apologise to any customers impacted.
“The selective cases here do not reflect the dedication of thousands of couriers serving their communities, and the many millions of successful deliveries they complete each and every day. Our couriers are self-employed and on average earn around £20 per hour.
“Our benchmark-setting delivery rates exceed punctuality targets of many other industries, and we provide a fast, reliable, and cost-effective delivery service, which will deliver about 900 million parcels this year to over 25 million households.
“We understand how special every parcel is – especially at Christmas – and remain committed to ensuring customers receive theirs on time. To support this, we have invested £57m in our operations in the last year.
“We are proud to be the only parcel carrier recognised by Citizens Advice’s independent Parcels League Table, which found Evri’s service scores had improved the most since 2021, with the business rising to third overall.
“Our progress is further reflected in our ranking among the UK’s Top 10 Most Improved Brands by YouGov and consistently high customer feedback, with over four million five-star ratings and an average courier rating of 4.6 out of 5.”