delivery to scotland

[Inchlaggan]

The debate widens-

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-26923387

[Wildfisher]

It's on the radio right now. A lot of huffing and puffing and not a lot of alternative suggestions.  At least we still have the Royal Mail universal service while we are part of the UK, so that's positive.

[Fishtales]

They should ban private firms, insurance companies and estate agents from using Post Codes to determine how much it will cost for their services and house price. It is a Royal Mail operational code and these things should have nothing to do with your Post Code. Where you live is fine as long as it is based on your physical address and not on an area that could be square miles in size.

[Buanán]

Listening to it too.

I'm on an island as well apparently. Robbing barsettes. Recently I ordered an HH highline oilsking jacket online, they e-mailed me back to tell me I lived n an island, they wanted £25 to deliver it by courier. I refused of course and in the end we came up with a compromise 2nd class mail for a fiver, the jacket arrived after just 3 days, about a week sooner than it would with a courier.

Many times I've tracked packages and found that they can sit for a week in inverness, depending on the local distributor used by the national courier. Shit state of affaires, with the privatized royal mail, it ain't going to get any better anytime soon   

[Wildfisher]

Surely it's up to the buyer to make an informed choice? When I'm buying anything I check all the costs.  If you live in a remote area it is unreasonable and unrealistic to expect things to cost the same as  they do in Edinburgh, Glasgow or London. The private delivery companies are businesses set up to make a profit they are not a pubic service.  UK Royal Mail is my number one choice, great service, level cost no matter where you are within the UK.

Same applies to everything, not just deliveries. Where I lived before energy costs. delivery costs, my own transport costs, locally shopping for food - in short EVERYTHING was more expensive. Living there was a lifestyle choice and the cost of that lifestyle had risen to a level I was no longer prepared to pay, so I moved.

[Inchlaggan]

A while ago I searched t'interweb for a couple of heated propagators. Cheapest price was via an Amazon reseller, even with a hefty £20 delivery charge. Delivery would be 5 days and I was given an online tracking code. It turned out the reseller was in Inverness.
The package took this route with these couriers-
Inverness- Carlisle (TNT)
Carlisle- Glasgow (TNT)
Glasgow- Oban (Highland Haulage)
Oban- Inverness (Highland Haulage)
Inverness- Fort William (AJG)
Fort William- Glen Garry (AJG)

[Wildfisher]

A big worry must be the splitting up of Royal Mail with Salmond promising to nationalize it in Scotland. That would be the end of Royal Mail as a universal service within these islands and Scotland then being a foreign country is bound to make deliveries from down south more expensive.  Very bad for business and private users.  If you think it's bad now .........................................   :?

[Wildfisher]

Post offices are already privately owned. Our village post office closed a few years back. The UK universal flat rate postal service is currently guaranteed within the UK, not to foreign countries outwith the UK as an independent Scotland would be. In the real world you  can't have it both ways.  Clearly the only current and very real  threat to this universal service is splitting the Royal Mail up as Salmond openly boasts he will do.

[Inchlaggan]

The future of a universal (Royal Mail) postal system is in doubt whichever way the independence vote goes. A Yes vote may well make things worse but a No vote need not improve the situation that those of us who live on "remote islands" on the UK mainland currently face.
This is not about those suppliers who use Royal Mail. The few that try it on by charging extra for remote areas and then using Royal Mail are quite quickly dealt with.
Nor is this about bulky/weighty items that are beyond the limits of Royal Mail/ Parcelforce. Though we still have items that could be delivered by Royal Mail but are delivered by courier at a cost well exceeding that of Royal Mail.
This is about the abuse of a system (Postcodes) that was never intended to be the basis of courier costs, as Sandy has explained.
Many suppliers, wherever they are based, use what is becoming an industry-standard set of postcodes to determine "remote" areas that will be charged a premium. From the couriers' perspective, there may be some sense when a ferry crossing is involved, or where the population is sufficiently low that the service will not be carrying a sufficient number of items to be economically viable.
This does not suit the suppliers however as it eliminates an increasing number of potential customers.
It is just bollocks that a customer in Dalwhinnie is charged an extra £XX for a delivery from Newcastle when the same item will be delivered to Penzance or Inverness free of charge.
Until today, the debate had been about private customers where the "if you don't like it, move" argument holds some water. It has now expanded to business customers. That is worrying.

[Wildfisher]

This is about the abuse of a system (Postcodes) that was never intended to be the basis of courier costs, as Sandy has explained.

In a free market and free country that wishes to attract investment you cannot prevent this. These companies  are private and will set their pricing to suit their business model. Ban them from using post codes  and they will simply translate it into their own system. You cannot un-invent something be it post codes or nuclear weapons. I don't know what the solution is but I do know that Salmond's plans to split up Royal Mail and nationalize  the Scottish part in order to appease  left wing voters will end the universal flat rate system across  these isles.  This idea is nuts.