Coronavirus and models.

Started by scruff, March 07, 2020, 10:48:32 PM

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emjaybee

Brookline build thread:

https://www.ngaugeforum.co.uk/SMFN/index.php?topic=50207.msg652736#msg652736

Sometimes you bite the dog...

...sometimes the dog bites you!

----------------------------------------------------------

I can explain it to you...

...but I can't understand it for you.

Chuffington

Quote from: Snowwolflair on March 17, 2020, 08:32:42 PM
In New Zealand there is a Covid 19 rush to buy sex toys  ???

Imminent battery shortage in NZ...


Bob G

I just got an email from Hermes about their staff changing how they deliver to avoid contact with the addressee.

"A message from our CEO about COVID-19

Good Afternoon,
The interests of our customers, our people and our communities are at the centre of everything we do and this is particularly important during these challenging times.
With this in mind, we wanted to reach out and reassure you that we are putting in place a number of robust measures designed to make health and safety a top priority whilst still enabling people to send and receive parcels. We understand that deliveries to homes are not only convenient but could also prove to be a lifeline for many people and we take this responsibility extremely seriously.
So, we are making some changes to the way our couriers deliver parcels to offer 'contact-free delivery' right to everyone's doorsteps. These include:
- Asking customers to choose a safe place for deliveries. Anybody due to receive a parcel should visit the tracking section and choose 'divert' to select a safe place. This can also be done through our app, within the MyPlaces section.
- If a safe place hasn't been chosen but there is somewhere safe to deliver the parcel, then couriers will leave it there, even when there is someone in the property. A photo will be taken and this will be included in the delivery notification email.
- For parcels requiring a signature, our couriers can temporarily do this on behalf of the customer to avoid unnecessary contact via hand-held devices. This will only happen when the customer opens the door and gives their name for security reasons. The courier will stay at least two steps away.
- If there is no safe place available, please be assured that we will always attempt delivery 3 times.
Finally, I want to thank you for your co-operation, understanding and patience during these uncertain times. It is down to your continued support that our fantastic parcel people are able to keep deliveries moving across the country. I hope this update will give those of you sending and receiving parcels through our network just 'one less thing' to worry about. We will continue to publish updates on our website.
Stay safe and look out for those around you.
On behalf of everyone at Hermes,
Martijn De Lange
CEO, Hermes UK"

I have underlined the bits I found incredibly funny. Because they do that anyway!!! All this email does is legitimise bad practice that has become ingrained in Hermes (and some other couriers) as a quick and easy fix on a too tightly scheduled delivery round. Why dont they propose delivery-free delivery and be done with it. Your parcel can go anywhere and we will make up a signature like we always do.

I'm particularly upset with Hermes as I sent £500 of insured flyers to a conference in Italy last year. Their website claimed I could trust them to deliver in no more than 7 days. They delivered in 14 days, after the Conference. Despite paying insurance, I had no claim as they had delivered, and their insurance only covers loss. Their delivery period says it is guaranteed but it isn't. Their claims process is so convoluted I spent days just trying to talk to someone, and it was always the wrong department.
As a sole trader, that's my hard earned money and I could have simply set fire to my flyers and got some warmth from them. Come on Mr De Lange. Your response to Covid-19 is just endorsing your appalling existing practices.

There is no care or concern shown in your email. Just a method to ensure your contracts are watertight, as always.

Bob




daffy

Thanks for copying in Hermes' email.

I share your concerns Bob, and have experienced times when their 'delivery' has been slapdash.

I would add that the Royal Mail deliveries to us here in the wilds of Lincolnshire have been subject to similar changes. My postie tells me that they will no longer require a signature for any parcels, and will sign off on them themselves. They will not hand the parcel to a recipient even if they answer the door, but will place it on the ground at a distance. In other words, with absolute minimum human contact. I'm not certain what will happen if Im not at home (rather more likely I am these days of course).

Letters etc are still being posted through my letterbox, but I'm beginning to suspect deliveries may be less frequent in the near future as the virus tightens its grip,

I can understand what Hermes and RM are doing - and DHL, DPD et al are happy to not require me to use their touch-screen devices when they call - and it does make for some serious grey areas, and perhaps a licence to be less than fastidious in delivery duties.


Mike

Sufferin' succotash!

exmouthcraig

Like everyone we have plenty of stuff delivered by courier and Royal Mail.

We are not remote, the nearest town is 4miles away and our private gate is off a major road linking the two towns.

It has taken me 6years to get Royal Mail to drop parcels over the gate, behind a fence, which is quite secure. It got to the point where I had to go to the PO and collect 2 mail bags FULL of parcels before they realised leaving was a good idea.

DPD are always happy to leave over the gate and scribble in their box, they always ring me and their website will always have a photo of the parcel behind the fence.

Amazon arent everyones favourite company but their couriers are bang on with tracking and delivery.

Our Hermes courier is very local to us and knows us very well, she has my phone number and will ALWAYS ring 10mins before she arrives to see if I can make it to the gate, I never normally can but she will always leave over the gate and scribble in the box.

I have NEVER had a parcel delivered in this way go missing, never had any reason to question or complain about any of them. As long as they have a phone number, only Parcel Force will not ring you as they dont carry work mobiles, and you can get onto any of their websites they will always photograph the parcel where it has been left.

We are quite anti social in our location and environment but I'd rather have it dropped over my gate with the courier signing the box then chasing it around Leicestershire for 2 weeks trying to find where it's been sent.

Other people's experiences with couriers is obviously different but all thumbs up from me.


Bealman

I'm not sure I understand that video... unless it was eggs, so what?  :confused2: :worried:
Vision over visibility. Bono, U2.

Newportnobby

Quote from: Bealman on March 19, 2020, 09:53:23 AM
I'm not sure I understand that video... unless it was eggs, so what?  :confused2: :worried:

So you'd like your £200 Beyer Garratt delivered like that?

Bealman

Vision over visibility. Bono, U2.

daffy

Just read my earlier post here this morning and realise it doesn't correctly illustrate my feelings on the matter.

I too have a good working relationship with our Hermes delivery person, and she is very efficient and has never let us down. Previous problems were at our former address.

Also, what Hermes, RM and others are doing is understandable, and, I hasten to add, fully supported by me. I think there is really no other choice in the matter if we are to protect ourselves, and protect others. My concerns are for after the virus has passed and deliverers may not swiftly return to proper procedures. And I am lucky, for if  a parcel is left on my doorstep it is very, very unlikely it would be picked up by anyone other than my wife or me, such is the nature of where we live. In more densely populated areas I can see the issues, photographs or not.
Mike

Sufferin' succotash!

Southerngooner

Here in France I've had two deliveries in recent days, one from UPS and one from La Poste (the RM equivalent). UPS handed over the parcel and scanned it, so no interface other than handing it over. LaPoste delivered a package from Antics which needed to be signed for, and as I was not allowed to use the touch screen or pen on his telephone, he had to send me a photo of the label for me to return to confirm receipt. All very well, but our French phone is so old it won't receive photos, so after five minutes of chatting over the wall (probably just about at a safe distance!) he phoned me and I messaged him back with a message saying received OK. All very sensible, but both packets were handled by the delivery guys, who were not wearing gloves. Surely if they had the virus it would then be on the package....?

The strange thing is that we've had four things coming from abroad in the last week and all have got here really quickly, the opposite of what I'd have expected given the supposed rise in online shopping. Maybe no ones going out to post anything!
Dave

Builder of "Brickmakers Lane" and member of "James Street" operating team.

EtchedPixels

Well if you get a lock down all the sheep are outside ...
"Knowledge has no value or use for the solitary owner: to be enjoyed it must be communicated" -- Charles Pratt, 1st Earl Camden

NTrain

I am getting my packages handed to me but no signatures. Having said that, the UPS driver has known me for years and calls me by my first name and we are a small town and the local postal service knows a lot of the locals.................

Bob Tidbury

My son has a lot of packages throughout the week so he has bought a SMART MAIL BOX this has a flap that the courier opens on the flap is a barcode which they can scan as proof of delivery or if they can't scan they can put the last three digits in .
But it appears that even though the packets are marked quite clearly
Smart Box to the left of front door
Followed by his name and the full address we still have couriers knock on the door or ring the bell .I showed one driver the huge box on the wall and pointed out the address that was clearly on the package ,all he said was ere you are and shoved it in my hand he didn't even ask for the required signature .
When will courier firms employ staff with common sense ,they must be able to read otherwise the parcel would t have got to the front door .
Bob Tidbury

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