PSA: guitarguitar now doing free delivery to highlands and islands over £50

streethawk · December 2016

Not sure if this has already been shared, just got the email through.

Good news.

DiscoStu · December 2016

And so they should! Good stuff.
Halfords on the other hand...
http://www.insidemoray.com/national-firm-admits-they-dont-wish-to-sell-online-to-moray-customers/

AuldReekie · December 2016

I live in Edinburgh but I'm Black Isle born and bred, so welcome this by GG

ICBM · December 2016

Hope they're including Northern Ireland as well.

streethawk · December 2016

ICBM said:

Hope they're including Northern Ireland as well.

Yes, as far as I know. Hopefully more will follow.

I know it doesn't cost me any more to ship to mainland UK via royal mail/parcel force, and you'd think big shops could negotiate something with the likes of UPS. I dunno.

ICBM · December 2016

I've said this before I know, but I think it should be illegal for a courier that offers a national service to charge different rates for any part of the UK. They already heavily cross-subsidise routes within England, Wales and southern Scotland, and allowing them to charge more for the most expensive routes gives an unfair competitive advantage over Royal Mail.

Not to mention penalising people who live in places which by their very nature are already more expensive to live in and more likely to need to use mail order.

The mail-order business I work for mostly uses standard Royal Mail parcel post and we don't charge more for any part of the UK either.

mikeyrob73 · December 2016

Being originally from the Highlands (Inverness) have to commend GG also

Dave_Mc · December 2016

ICBM said:

I've said this before I know, but I think it should be illegal for a courier that offers a national service to charge different rates for any part of the UK. They already heavily cross-subsidise routes within England, Wales and southern Scotland, and allowing them to charge more for the most expensive routes gives an unfair competitive advantage over Royal Mail.

Not to mention penalising people who live in places which by their very nature are already more expensive to live in and more likely to need to use mail order.

The mail-order business I work for mostly uses standard Royal Mail parcel post and we don't charge more for any part of the UK either.

Wisdom

Flanging_Fred · December 2016

That's good news. That used to really get on my tits when I lived in Stornoway.

andyp · December 2016

Totally agree with the sentiment here.

I've moved about a bit but I guess my "home town" is Inverness, although I've lived near Falkirk for 17 years now (nearly half my life) and am now working in Aberdeen. I encounter this regularly - it's often cheaper / free and much faster to have stuff sent home than it is to have it sent to work (or my parents' place) in Aberdeen. This gets my goat too - the definition they use for this additional cost / time. Aberdeen is a very different place to get to than even some of the towns quite nearby, but they blanket all the AB postcodes as if they're in Fraserburgh.

Two examples that I always remember...

1. Buying a new trolley jack on eBay for £25ish - free delivery to home, or £10 "Highlands and Islands" charge to Aberdeen. When I'm spending £25, that additional tenner is a huge hike.

2. Buying an expensive gig bag from a well known guitar / music shop in SE England, next day delivery anywhere in the UK except Highlands and Islands... which took 5 days in total to come to Aberdeen. It sat in Dundee and didn't move for 3 days. One day to get there, one day to get here from Dundee and 3 days sitting in a warehouse.

As a wee aside, Amazon Prime quite often takes 2 days to get up here too but it never misses the next day delivery at home.

I've just accepted all this as part of the deal when you live up this way but I try and plan my ordering enough that I tend to get stuff sent to home to avoid the faff and cost. The only downside is that Mrs. P then sees what I'm buying...

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PSA: guitarguitar now doing free delivery to highlands and islands over £50

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