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| Christmas deliveries face delay as Yodel warns of parcel backlog | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Fears of a festive parcel logjam have escalated after Yodel, which claims to be Britain’s leading delivery company after Royal Mail, admitted it had stopped collecting parcels from retailers as it struggles to deliver the vast volume of online Christmas shopping. | Fears of a festive parcel logjam have escalated after Yodel, which claims to be Britain’s leading delivery company after Royal Mail, admitted it had stopped collecting parcels from retailers as it struggles to deliver the vast volume of online Christmas shopping. |
| After the splurge in spending in the so-called Black Friday last week, when 24-hour promotions pushed sales up 50% higher than expected, and the seasonal rush in online orders peaking on Monday, shoppers now face a wait to see if gifts and parcels arrive in time ahead of Christmas, with Yodel saying deliveries could take three days more than planned. | After the splurge in spending in the so-called Black Friday last week, when 24-hour promotions pushed sales up 50% higher than expected, and the seasonal rush in online orders peaking on Monday, shoppers now face a wait to see if gifts and parcels arrive in time ahead of Christmas, with Yodel saying deliveries could take three days more than planned. |
| Yodel pointed the finger at poor forecasting from retailers for its difficulties. The courier firm has told many retail clients that it will not be collecting parcels until next week as it attempts to deal with the backlog. Yodel executive chairman Dick Stead wrote to clients including retailers explaining the suspension of collections until Monday, saying: “This is not a decision that we have taken lightly but one that we have had to take to protect service levels.” It delivers parcels on behalf of retailers including Argos, Amazon, Boots and Tesco, among others. | |
| A message to customers awaiting deliveries posted on the firm’s website warns: “We are continuing to receive extremely high numbers of parcels as a result of the seasonal sales. We’re working hard to get your orders to you asap, but some may experience a slight delay in arriving.” | A message to customers awaiting deliveries posted on the firm’s website warns: “We are continuing to receive extremely high numbers of parcels as a result of the seasonal sales. We’re working hard to get your orders to you asap, but some may experience a slight delay in arriving.” |
| Yodel, which was named Britain’s worst delivery service in a poll of 9,000 MoneySavingExpert.com readers earlier this year, has told its larger clients, who can guarantee at least one full trailer of parcels, they may have have a collection on Friday. Argos said deliveries would not be affected, although customers wanting to return goods would be impacted. | |
| Having sustained a barrage of criticism for delayed deliveries in 2012, Yodel had put a range of plans in place to ready itself for a surge in deliveries. It was expecting to handle 15% more parcels than last Christmas but despite investing in another 13 handling sites, sourcing an extra 200 HGVs to ship goods from client warehouses to its own sorting centres, and extending working hours, Yodel appears to be currently unable to meet demand. | Having sustained a barrage of criticism for delayed deliveries in 2012, Yodel had put a range of plans in place to ready itself for a surge in deliveries. It was expecting to handle 15% more parcels than last Christmas but despite investing in another 13 handling sites, sourcing an extra 200 HGVs to ship goods from client warehouses to its own sorting centres, and extending working hours, Yodel appears to be currently unable to meet demand. |
| The company said in a statement: “The recent, well documented, Black Friday, Cyber Monday and other retail promotions have resulted in unexpectedly high parcel volumes across the carrier industry. On these key days we have experienced volumes that were up to 26% over the forecast from our clients. | |
| “We would like to reassure consumers that there is no suspension to our delivery service. We are working with all our clients to manage the flow of fresh parcels into our network with a 24-48 hour hold on some of the collections coming into our sort centres. Deliveries will continue throughout this period, but some may experience short delays of between 24-72 hours. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. | “We would like to reassure consumers that there is no suspension to our delivery service. We are working with all our clients to manage the flow of fresh parcels into our network with a 24-48 hour hold on some of the collections coming into our sort centres. Deliveries will continue throughout this period, but some may experience short delays of between 24-72 hours. We would like to apologise for any inconvenience this may cause. |
| “We are working closely with our clients on their forecasted parcel volumes and we are confident that the action we are taking will ensure that normal service is resumed after the weekend.” | “We are working closely with our clients on their forecasted parcel volumes and we are confident that the action we are taking will ensure that normal service is resumed after the weekend.” |
| Yodel’s joint venture with PayPoint, CollectPlus, which lets consumers collect or return shopping orders via local stores, is telling customers to expect possible delays of up to three days. A warning on its website reads: “We are still seeing higher than planned parcel volumes on all our services, unfortunately resulting in some deliveries taking up to three days longer than usual.” | Yodel’s joint venture with PayPoint, CollectPlus, which lets consumers collect or return shopping orders via local stores, is telling customers to expect possible delays of up to three days. A warning on its website reads: “We are still seeing higher than planned parcel volumes on all our services, unfortunately resulting in some deliveries taking up to three days longer than usual.” |
| The unexpected demand has also wrongfooted retailers including Tesco and Marks & Spencer, who admitted earlier this week that they were struggling to clear backlogs of orders after Black Friday. | The unexpected demand has also wrongfooted retailers including Tesco and Marks & Spencer, who admitted earlier this week that they were struggling to clear backlogs of orders after Black Friday. |
| Customers have also reported that internet retailers such as Amazon have been forced to amend next day delivery pledges. | Customers have also reported that internet retailers such as Amazon have been forced to amend next day delivery pledges. |
| The transport and logistics industries called on the government recently to tackle a critical shortage of drivers, with hauliers struggling to match rates paid by supermarkets to secure deliveries of stock ahead of the biggest season for consumption. | The transport and logistics industries called on the government recently to tackle a critical shortage of drivers, with hauliers struggling to match rates paid by supermarkets to secure deliveries of stock ahead of the biggest season for consumption. |