The McCannics isurvey, February 2000

Internet-connected firms taking part in the McCannics isurvey complain about the service given to small firms by Parcelforce, the UK's market-leading package carrier.

Most (82%) of the small firms taking part in the McCannics isurvey use Parcelforce or competitors such as Securicor Omega, TNT and DHL to deliver parcels. Just under one-third of these send 10 or fewer packages per year, just over one-third send 11-100 packages a year and just over one-third send over 100 packages a year. The maximum number of packages sent each year by any firm taking part in the survey is 10,500, by a computer hardware and software retailer. These firms are all small (none are believed to employ more than 100 employees and three-quarters employ fewer than 10 people).

Only just over one-quarter of firms taking part in the survey have a contract with a single carrier. The chart (right) shows that this proportion rises to 43% of those firms which send over 100 packages per year (and the same proportion of those who send over 1000 packages per year). A few of the firms whch don't say that they have a contract with a single carrier may have contracts, but with more than one carrier - one for instance, notes that they have a contract with one carrier for domestic deliveries and another for international deliveries. However, other sources suggest that up to 90 per cent of the UK package delivery market is accounted for by deliveries under a contract. It appears clear that the small firms taking part in this survey are far less likely to operate under contract to carriers than the large firms, which get discounts for signing a contract.

It also seems that small firms without a contract may get worse service than the well-cared for big customers of the parcel carriers. Parcelforce came in for particular criticism (though it is possible that this is just because it is the most widely used carrier):

• "Used to have a contract with Parcelforce, but found them expensive and sometimes slow - and not helpful. Now prefer to shop around."
• "We try hard to avoid using Parcelforce."
• "... the worst Parcelforce, where we regularly have to visit the depot to collect parcels they have failed to deliver."

More comments from respondents ...

Some reports suggest that an e-commerce explosion could lead to an increase of more than 20% per year in the number of residential packages delivered over the next few years, much of this driven by small firms. If parcel carriers wish to take advantage of this tremendous market opportunity then it appears that they will have to take more notice of the needs of small firms.