News to warm the hearts of most UK.D-I-Yers...

[Scott M]

I'm sure most here will be cheered by arch parcel basher's City Link having gone phut:

Sad for the drivers, natch - IME /some/ of then were very good.

[Tim Watts]

Suspicious timing - going bust on Xmas Eve...

Will Yodel start worrying or just pick of the cheap end of the business...

[Brian Gaff]

Yes but not much good if you have parcels in their hubs, or are an employee. How on earth can a company in the business of moving parcels go bust at Christmas? Only an idiot could not make money at that surely? Brian

[polygonum]

If they have any penalty clauses about delivering on time, and they failed in a big way, that could have precipitated the collapse.

When we had a local CL depot, they were quite good and I sometimes found it difficult to believe some of the worst stories. When that depot closed, and our nearest depot was then almost 40 miles away, then I came to realise how bad they could be.

[Vir Campestris]

Or they might just have pulled the plug when the debts were at a minimum.

Andy

[The Natural Philosopher]

maximum surely.

go bust owing billions with it all stashed away in directors fees in a swiss account.

[Capitol]

I assume that the company, being owned by a hedge fund, has no assets and is operating on borrowed capital which some stupid bank has loaned. So it was purely a matter of time before the bank pulled the plug. In the days when companies went into liquidation, the company had to have assets in order to borrow. In today's world where companies just rip off their suppliers and go into administration losing their debts, anyone giving credit to the operation needs their head examined. I had a rather nice A4 screed defining in humourous terms the company's approach to providing goods on credit which was required reading for anyone who worked with me. It reminds me of the Nigerian scams, which still bring in a new set of idiots every year to part with their money.

[alan_m]

I wonder what is the first time delivery success rate when delivering to domestic properties only on Mon-Fri, 8am to 5pm?

A lot of these delivery companies seem to be closing 'local' delivery hubs in favour of a centralised hubs which means for a lot of people means a round trip of possibly 100 miles if they wish/need to collect a package if the delivery driver does not find the recipient at home. It also means that many the delivery vehicles are needing to do this mileage before any package can be delivered.

[Tim Watts]

Quite good I would imagine if you use technology rather than scratching your butt and living in the pleistocene ere.

DPD mean not having to be in for more than an hour - or not having to be in at all if you are happy to elect a safe delivery place.

However, the likes of Yodel and ShittyLink refuse to evolve and as you say, make a vast number of unnecessary delivery attempts needlessly.

Apart from feeling sorry for the poor good ShittyLink staff who got boned for Xmas, in every other respect I'm glad this pathetic excuse for a company has finally curled up and died. Wonder how long Yodel have left?

[philipuk]

Very sad for the drivers. No doubt they have been working their nads off at tempting to get the Christmas deliveries done and now being self employed m ostly (I assume) are just another creditor and may not even get paid. They will also have spend plenty on their van, insurance and diesel.

Philip

[alan_m]

Hopefully not until after the new year.

They have a parcel for me. I can easily collect it from the local depot as its only 5 minutes walk from where I work. Unfortunately the local agent repeatedly attempts to deliver it despite putting through a card saying that they have already tried 3 times and its now back at the depot. Until the local agent physically returns the package to the depot I cannot track it, arrange delivery to an alternative address or pick it up myself.

[Sam Plusnet]

Shirley the 'delivery' model which works best for households where everyone works full time is delivery to, & customer pick-up from, a shop which the punter passes on his/her way home[1].

Home delivery is a pita for both delivery service and customer when you can't guarantee that someone will be home.

[1] Might not work too well if you're after a new fridge or settee.

[polygonum]

Mind it would have to be one with parking, and that opens late enough, and is not so overrun with others picking their things up you have to wait ages.

Further, you'd want the process to work whoever of the household goes in to pick it up. So not something that requires anything to be printed or needs a particular person's credit/debit card to be presented.

[Bill Wright]

Firms pull the plug when debts are at a maximum.

Bill

[harryagain]

Running a delivery company is not as easy as most of these that moved into the Royal Mail's business thought. Bound to be inefficent when there are several vans/depots/organisations covering an area when before, there was just the one.

There are some things that should be kept nationalised. Just politicians letting their mates make a quick buck. Short termism at it's worst.

[Andrew Gabriel]

I think I read somewhere the depots will be open for one day only (Monday?) for customers and recipients to collect parcels in transit, and that's it. I can't find where I read that now.

[Robin]

I think that's rather unlikely as such limited access would risk legal action - and I'm not sure but think the administrators might even be on the hook if they are blatantrly unbeasonable.

I also think it's worth bearing in mind that with parcels sent in fulfilment of online shopping by consumers they face inconvenience rather than financial loss in the majority of cases: if they don't get their shiny new angle grinders or whatever they notify the retailer and the retailer has either to refund them or send a replacement.

OTOH I suspect quite a few businesses will be worried about the number of items in transit with CL which will turn out to have gone missing when they try to retrieve them from depots next week. After all, if anyone knows which boxes have eBay-able goodies........

[Scott M]

Barring the poor work force, I wonder if they haven't actually pulled the plug at the right time? Xmas week must be when parcels in transit and in storage ought to be at a minimum.

[Big Les Wade]

It's a private equity investment fund, which is quite different from a hedge fund. Hedge funds buy and sell paper, typically futures. Private equity buys companies and manages them.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

I must admit to not being surprised. Some years ago they had a depot opposite where I worked. So would have been very handy for sending parcels. But the only payment they would accept was a cheque - and even by then I hardly ever used cheques.

Not the best for deliveries to here either - although UPS have now taken over as my pet hate for this.