Yodel address courier charges

sIr, – As a parcel carrier specialising in deliveries for online retailers, we are very proud to service every address in the British Isles and currently deliver over 10million parcels to businesses and households in scotland each year.

This week’s articles “Geography barb to courier who had Moray as ‘isle’” and “Courier told to take geography lessons after considering Moray as ‘an island’” contain statements about Yodel that we felt were inaccurate, and which we would like to address given the role we play in serving customers across scotland.

When asked by the Press and Journal about delivery costs added to a reader’s online orders, we explained that Yodel does not make any charges to parcel recipients, as the cost of delivery is the responsibility of the sender. We therefore suggested contacting the retailer concerned. Yodel did not, as the article states, ‘choose to blame retailers’.

The article also includes a quote stating that Yodel considers Moray to be an island.

‘scottish Highlands and Islands’ is the term we have used at Yodel for both the most northerly and southerly regions of the British Isles, including Moray, where deliveries cannot be completed within 24 hours of order. This is due to the distance that our trailers need to travel from our three main sortation centres.

The technology used to create the delivery labels for this service uses the abbreviated code ‘Isle’ to indicate that an additional 24 hours is allowed.

We recognise that Moray is neither in the Highlands nor an island and that the code has caused some concern. We would like to apologise for any confusion or offence caused and confirm that this code will be removed from all labels from next month to prevent any further misunderstanding.

We speak regularly with Citizens Advice scotland and continue to welcome customers’ feedback on the service they receive through our own award-winning Have Your say survey.

Patrick McGuirk, commercial development director, Yodel, Frobisher Way, Hatfield,

Hertfordshire