Hermes -- the reality

Peter B

Peter B

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I'm linking a current Gumtree ad for a "Self-employed lifestyle courier driver" offering all of £25 - £100 per day, which is absolute peanuts in any area, but even more so in rural areas where fuel costs are higher and distances might be considerable. If you are using them, you may well be getting exactly what you are paying for. o_O

https://www.gumtree.com/p/drivers-r...le-courier-driver-grantown-on-spey/1137449374
 
The only courier that leaves packages in my wheelie bins.
 
Mr Bastable said:
The only courier that leaves packages in my wheelie bins.
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That happened to me once, I wouldn't have minded but there was no card through the door and it was bin day the following day, I just happened to lift the lid as I pulled it down to be collected! (In reality I had no idea how long the parcel had been there, it may well have been a few days for all I know).
Oh and the only wheelie bin I have is for garden rubbish, and it was (Almost) full of rotting grass cuttings!
 
I think they only get something like 50p a parcel (maybe someone who knows can chip in) which is fine if your clients are all in one street but further north in the likes of Grantown on Spey where houses are sparse you might have to travel a mile or ten between deliveries. I don't know how they do it. Well I know how one of the drivers of an independent courier firm that delivers to me manages to keep costs down, he tries to offload parcels onto anyone who might be passing and then spends ten minutes insulting his customers and bitching about his boss. To be fair he is the exception as most of the delivery firms I see have decent, helpful staff. A contrast from years ago when most delivery drivers seemed to be chancers.
 
Can you honestly blame him, take into account the cost of fuel etc and the increased insurance costs, there won't be much left.
I know one chap round here who does 16 hour days during the busy times to make up for the slack ones.
I bet a fair few don't have the correct insurance either and you have to wonder whether Hermes will cover them if stuff is
stolen from the vehicles
 
Derek_W said:
I think they only get something like 50p a parcel (maybe someone who knows can chip in) which is fine if your clients are all in one street but further north in the likes of Grantown on Spey where houses are sparse you might have to travel a mile or ten between deliveries. I don't know how they do it. .
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At 50p a parcel that means 50 - 200 parcels per day to make the £25 - £100, and self-employed status means van costs, no holidays, no sick pay, no pension. "Lifestyle" indeed!
 
Other couriers aren't a huge lot better. DPD driver only gets paid per drop not per consignment. So at times i will have 3 consignments/orders all 2-5 boxes per consignment delivered on a given day. So he could be lugging 10-15 boxes each weighing 20kg and get £2-£3 for his efforts. He doesn't like me very much on those days! :)

They also cheekily adjust the price per drop at a drop of a hat if they make too much money. It works something like this. They give you a area that theoretically will give you say £150 a day. They will know the average drop for the area say 80 drops a day. So when you start they say we will guarantee you £150 a day and we will pay you £1.87 a drop with a min of 80 drops a day. But if you start taking on too many extra drops per day to bump up your earnings, they recalculate your per drop price.
 
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Peter B said:
At 50p a parcel that means 50 - 200 parcels per day to make the £25 - £100, and self-employed status means van costs, no holidays, no sick pay, no pension. "Lifestyle" indeed!
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I can't think of anyone who could make enough money to run a vehicle under those circumstances, unless there's more money than the guy told me. He might have been looking for sympathy but he didn't get it. ;)
 
rjbell said:
Other couriers aren't a huge lot better. DPD driver only gets paid per drop not per consignment. So at times i will have 3 consignments/orders all 2-5 boxes per consignment delivered on a given day. So he could be lugging 10-15 boxes each weighing 20kg and get £2-£3 for his efforts. He doesn't like me very much on those days! :)

They also cheekily adjust the price per drop at a drop of a hat if they make too much money. .
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I think I'd manage a grumble or two in those circumstances.
 
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I thought hermes were about 70-80p a drop but i could be wrong. I don't think its a bad little job to supplement another around here. I live in a big town but low traffic. You could do 20-30 drops in 2 hours and not cover more than 10 miles.

Beats working in a supermarket over the weekend thats for sure
 
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Derek_W said:
I think they only get something like 50p a parcel
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They only get paid on a "successful" delivery, if they can't leave the parcel they don't get paid until they do.
 
rjbell said:
I thought hermes were about 70-80p a drop but i could be wrong. I don't think its a bad little job to supplement another around here. I live in a big town but low traffic. You could do 20-30 drops in 2 hours and not cover more than 10 miles.

Beats working in a supermarket over the weekend thats for sure
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Has that taken into account proper commercial insurance on the vehicle used? 30 drops at 80p/drop is only £24 for that 2 hours of work - better than minimum wage, perhaps but you won't make much after expenses.
 
I've lost count of the number of threads that have appeared here regarding one courier company or another.
What some hate, others have no issues with. Each have delivered p*** poor service in their time, including good old RM & Parcelforce.
Hermes? Personally I've never had an issue, in fact when it comes to returns, the local Hermes driver has gone above and beyond.
It's a lottery.
 
Nod said:
Has that taken into account proper commercial insurance on the vehicle used? 30 drops at 80p/drop is only £24 for that 2 hours of work - better than minimum wage, perhaps but you won't make much after expenses.
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No its not great at all. Like mentioned above they probably have standard car insurance. Pretty sure they are covered with hermes insurance, although i wouldn't be surprised if they wasn't. Better off with a paper round!
 
viv1969 said:
I've lost count of the number of threads that have appeared here regarding one courier company or another.
What some hate, others have no issues with. Each have delivered p*** poor service in their time, including good old RM & Parcelforce.
Hermes? Personally I've never had an issue, in fact when it comes to returns, the local Hermes driver has gone above and beyond.
It's a lottery.
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It wasn't meant to be critical of Hermes to the exclusion of others, but more to highlight the financial position for these self-employed drivers trying to make a reasonable living.
 
Nod said:
Has that taken into account proper commercial insurance on the vehicle used?
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If you're paying extra for business insurance on a car for anything other than rep mileage you're using the wrong insurer.
 
neil_g said:
Trouble is consumers want cheap delivery for their goods, essentially its the guys on the front line that suffer from this.
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:agree:

We want it tomorrow and preferably free. Somethings gotta give somewhere
 
Dpd aren't even stretching to vans for all deliveries at the moment. Delivery today was in a small hatch back. Never got the email saying what time they were going to deliver either.

i like to be at the door before they've rung the bell as I know they have about a spare nanosecond for each delivery.
 
I spell the end for Hermes anyway. Royal mail launched the 2d barcoding this month for there account holders. By next year everything you send by royal mail will be trackable as standard. Bye bye Hermes!
 
rjbell said:
I spell the end for Hermes anyway. Royal mail launched the 2d barcoding this month for there account holders. By next year everything you send by royal mail will be trackable as standard. Bye bye Hermes!
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Not unless they make their software easier to bring in bulk addresses without using an outdated version of Java, and the make it compatible for Mac users.

I know many, many businesses, including myself that will not switch to RM new system until then.
 
ecoleman said:
Not unless they make their software easier to bring in bulk addresses without using an outdated version of Java, and the make it compatible for Mac users.

I know many, many businesses, including myself that will not switch to RM new system until then.
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To be honest I've even looked into how it works yet. Can it be integrated into Amazon and eBay?
 
Gremlin said:
Can you honestly blame him, take into account the cost of fuel etc and the increased insurance costs, there won't be much left.
I know one chap round here who does 16 hour days during the busy times to make up for the slack ones.
I bet a fair few don't have the correct insurance either and you have to wonder whether Hermes will cover them if stuff is
stolen from the vehicles
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Yes I can

Just because they think they are on crap wages, doesnt give them the opportunity to do a s*** job.

I dont get my wages and think oh well I will just do an average job today. Or the wedding I photograph arent going to buy extras so I will just put half the effort in.

Personal Pride.
 
rjbell said:
To be honest I've even looked into how it works yet. Can it be integrated into Amazon and eBay?
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I've tried looking, but the demo logins they gave me don't work with my OS or browser. I've emailed my so called "account manager" who is ignoring me and I've tried completing their online form for a call back. That was over a month ago. All in all as far as I'm concerned RM can go to hell. I'll stick with OBA.
 
ecoleman said:
Not unless they make their software easier to bring in bulk addresses without using an outdated version of Java, and the make it compatible for Mac users.

I know many, many businesses, including myself that will not switch to RM new system until then.
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Until you've tried to integrate DMO into your entrepise you've never truely suffered.
 
As an update and aside to the main topic of the thread, this month's Which? has dropped through the door and has a rating for delivery services (with numbers of people reporting on them in survey). On a strict understanding of "don't shoot the messenger", here are the ratings:

DPD (422) 82%
Private/local independent(383) 79%
Royal Mail(8,463) 79%
Parcelforce(316) 78%
Hermes/MyHermes(901) 78%
TNT(61) 74%
UPS(79) 73%
Yodel(1,121) 72%
Interlink(44) 72%
Fedex(83) 71%
 
My company use Dx to deliver my passports and visa's ( I travel frequently) to my home address.
These buffoons are truly awful. I've been sat in waiting for a delivery and heard someone walking up the drive and gone to meet them at the door only to find they had turned around and were getting back in the van. "Oh, there's no one in" Did you try knocking or ringing the bell and leaving a card?" "Yes" Liar, give me the package.
Other times they've reported a successful delivery when there is no sign of them on my CCTV. Again, they have lied, and found the package at their warehouse.
I'm sure most of the problem is the drivers but the management leave a lot to be desired too.
Despite complaining to my company they still insist on using them so someone can claim they are saving $$ every year..
 
ecoleman said:
I've tried looking, but the demo logins they gave me don't work with my OS or browser. I've emailed my so called "account manager" who is ignoring me and I've tried completing their online form for a call back. That was over a month ago. All in all as far as I'm concerned RM can go to hell. I'll stick with OBA.
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Yeah me too. Seems like to much both at the moment. Its only me myself and i so haven't the time for it. I only sell low value items i'll keep taking the occasional item lost on the chin.
 
Peter B said:
As an update and aside to the main topic of the thread, this month's Which? has dropped through the door and has a rating for delivery services (with numbers of people reporting on them in survey). On a strict understanding of "don't shoot the messenger", here are the ratings:

DPD (422) 82%
Private/local independent(383) 79%
Royal Mail(8,463) 79%
Parcelforce(316) 78%
Hermes/MyHermes(901) 78%
TNT(61) 74%
UPS(79) 73%
Yodel(1,121) 72%
Interlink(44) 72%
Fedex(83) 71%
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I see UK Mail didn't make the list. Something fishy going on there.
 
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I can remember having a discussion with a retailer about the non delivery of an item.

I explained to the lady on the phone that I had paid for next day delivery, stayed in all day, no show etc. etc.

The conversation went a bit like this

Them: "our systems show it as having been delivered"

Me: "no it has not"

Them: "Our systems say it was delivered and posted through your letterbox"

Me: "No microwave was posted through my letterbox"

Them "Oh"

Me: "yes, oh"

Still took another two weeks to get my money back
 
What are you selling? You must be close by are you in Swansea?
 
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