A number of delivery services such as Ocado could face glitches as the Christmas rush starts to build up.
ADVERTISEMENTWith Christmas fast approaching, delivery services covering groceries and more are starting to feel the strain.
Some have made plans to handle the seasonal rush, drawing from past experiences. Others, however, are facing criticism for not being adequately prepared to address anticipated issues.
Amazon is one of the services that seem to have planned in advance, with the tech giant announcing that it would be hiring 15,000 new seasonal workers in the UK for the end-of-year holidays.
The company has also announced that it would be raising its frontline operations base pay to between £11.80 (€13.75) and £12.50 per hour, depending on where the workers are stationed. This includes storing, picking, packing and shipping operations.
However, this may still do little to appease unions such as the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union (GMBATU), known more commonly as GMB.
This is due to more and more accusations in recent months that Amazon is a hive of unsafe working conditions, heightened workplace surveillance and unfair disciplinary measures, especially for warehouse workers.
The allegations have already led to staff walkouts and industrial action back in January, which could potentially be repeated during the holiday rush if pressures on seasonal workers mount as well.
Other online and grocery retailers, such as Ocado, have already come under fire for not having enough Christmas delivery slots or providing enough notice to customers ahead of slots opening.
The lack of notice has led to slots being booked out within minutes of opening, leaving most shoppers frustrated and turning to other competitors.
Like most other retailers, Ocado started releasing its Christmas slots at the end of September. It had originally announced that it would stagger the release of slots, giving as many consumers a chance to make a booking as possible. Its SmartPass membership customers usually have priority, with a number of different weekly, monthly and anytime delivery slots.
However, this year, a number of SmartPass consumers have already complained that they haven’t received any emails or texts alerting them that slots were open and available, causing them to miss out.
Of the lucky few who did get slots, many were disappointed to find that Ocado had some key Christmas items missing, as well as no slots available after 21 December. This has put a dampener on several shoppers’ plans to get Christmas lunches and dinners from Ocado and will likely mean the retailer misses out on some prime holiday revenue.
Bringing in reinforcements
Other delivery services appear much better prepared this Christmas.
Back at the end of September, UPS already announced that it would be hiring over 100,000 seasonal workers to deal with surging demand this holiday season.
This is in line with last year’s figures and is expected as the company makes most of its revenue from the last quarter of the year.
UPS has been hit especially hard by the pandemic and has lost swathes of customers to rival services such as FedEx.
In an attempt to turn things around this year, the company has announced that it will not be charging delivery surcharges this Christmas. It also offers flexible pick-up and delivery times, amongst other perks.
Other companies in the sector are going down a similar route: the UK’s Royal Mail has revealed that it will be hiring about 16,000 seasonal workers across 38 mail centres with “competitive pay rates and the opportunity for longer-term work”.
ADVERTISEMENTThe company seems keen to avoid a repeat of last year’s disaster, when it lost about £200 million over the Christmas period, due to strike action by the Communication Workers Union, mainly over working conditions and pay.
As such, this year Royal Mail has already prepped in advance by also hiring a fleet of extra trucks and vans. Not only that, it has issued notices to customers regarding the latest they can book second class and special delivery slots, for parcels to still be delivered on or before Christmas.
The company hasn’t been immune to any criticism, however: several irate customers have accused it of prioritising parcels over letters.
Meanwhile, the John Lewis Partnership has announced that it will hire more than 10,000 seasonal workers across subsidiary companies John Lewis and Waitrose. The measure will include over 2,900 roles across merchandising and sales across 34 John Lewis stores and about 2,800 roles across 329 Waitrose stores.
John Lewis customers have been able to access Christmas stock online as early as 31 August, with store stocks being available on 27 September, making it one of the earliest among UK retailers.
ADVERTISEMENTHowever, some John Lewis cardholders had complained that the retailer slashed their credit limit by half right before Christmas, with no warning, despite robust credit histories. Customers were informed of the change over email.
The sudden move was linked to NewDay taking over the John Lewis Partnership card from HSBC and implementing new standards. However. NewDay has since reinstated the limits.
A NewDay spokesperson said in response: “We recently told a small number of customers that we were reducing their credit limits. These were only in cases where their spending was well below their limit. Having listened to customer feedback, we reinstated the previous limits and apologised for the change."
