Yodel (company)

Yodel Delivery Network Limited
Formerly called
 Home Delivery Network Limited
Private
Industry Logistics services
Founded as Home Delivery Network Ltd
Headquarters Liverpool, England
Key people
 Michael Cooper (Chief Executive)
Owner Barclay Brothers
Website www.yodel.co.uk

Yodel is a delivery service company in the United Kingdom and is one of the largest couriers along with Royal Mail.[1] [2] It was originally known as the Home Delivery Network until it acquired the B2B and B2C operations of DHL Express UK and thereafter, re-branded itself as Yodel in August 2013.[3][4][5] It is privately owned by the billionaire Barclay Brothers.[1]

History

A Home Delivery Network lorry
A Yodel delivery van in Tadcaster, North Yorkshire

Home Delivery Network operated as the logistics division of Shop Direct Group until it demerged in 2008. It was formed by the merger of Business Express and Reality, the former Littlewoods and Shop Direct delivery companies respectively.[6] Yodel has hubs at Shaw, Hatfield and Wednesbury.

In 2011, the London Evening Standard carried a story on reports of packages from Yodel being lost or not delivered on time for Christmas. Yodel said that there had been a great increase in December deliveries over the previous 2 years and that Yodel had delivered over 20 million packages that month with 999 out of 1000 being delivered on time.[7] In March 2012, the BBC's Watchdog consumer programme broadcast a segment highly critical of Yodel.[8]

In January 2014, Yodel was voted as the worst delivery service in the UK for the second consecutive year.[9] BBC Watchdog says that it continued to regularly receive reports of bad service after the re-branding to Yodel. [10] Yodel was named the "worst parcel delivery firm" in a poll by MoneySavingExpert.com, of 9,000 people, with 78% of customers rating their experience negatively. Despite this, Yodel continues to be the delivery company of choice for many major UK retailers, largely due to the company's relatively low prices.[11]

The company apologised in November 2015 after one of the firm's couriers had left a parcel on the roof of a customer's home.[12]

In February 2016, Yodel was featured in a Dispatches investigation, which aired on Channel 4. The investigation was entitled Where's My Missing Mail?. The programme sent an undercover reporter to work at Yodel as a sorter. The investigation highlighted how parcels had been thrown onto conveyor belts and even thrown between staff members. During filming, staff could be seen dropping televisions and walking across parcels. During the twelve days the reporter spent working for Yodel, he witnessed parcels being thrown into the back of trucks every day. One worker stated to the reporter that he was told by a manager that "if it doesn't say fragile, it doesn't matter". The programme also sent an undercover reporter to work as a delivery driver who was based on the outskirts of Leeds. The investigation highlighted that these drivers are self-employed, and in the case of the undercover reporter, they are paid a flat delivery rate of 60p per parcel based on a semi-rural route.

References

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  1. 1 2 Ratcliffe, Verity (16 March 2015). "Yodel blamed for late Mother's Day flowers". BBC. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
  2. ↑ "Yodel and Hermes named UK's worst parcel delivery firms". 28 June 2013.
  3. ↑ "Home Delivery Network Limited Renamed As Yodel Delivery Network Limited". Yodel. 8 August 2013. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  4. ↑ James Hall (5 January 2010). "Home Delivery Network buys DHL's UK parcel operation". The Telegraph. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  5. ↑ Russell Parsons (27 May 2010). "Home Delivery Network rebrands as Yodel". Marketing Week. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  6. ↑ "HDNL Internet - Home". Home Delivery Network. 19 June 2009. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  7. ↑ Ross Lydall (23 December 2011). "Pippa Middleton's party presents hit by delivery chaos". Evening Standard. Retrieved 17 August 2013.
  8. ↑ Elham Rizi (22 March 2012). "Yodel: New name, but delivering the same old problems?". Archived from the original on 15 August 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2012.
  9. ↑ Miles Brignall. "Yodel voted worst parcel delivery service for second year running". the Guardian. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  10. ↑ "BBC One - Watchdog - Yodel: New name, but delivering the same old problems?". BBC. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  11. ↑ "Yodel and Hermes named UK's worst parcel delivery firms". Moneywise.co.uk. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
  12. ↑ "Delivery firm apologises after courier throws parcel on roof when no answer at door". ITV News. 23 November 2015. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
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