Cut in commission for parcel handling labelled a ‘kick in the teeth’ for independent retailers

The Federation of Independent Retailers (the Fed) says Evri’s decision to reduce the commission on one of its ParcelShop categories is another blow to hard hit shop owners.

From April 5, parcels that are classified as ‘shop to shop’ will see the commission received by retailers go down from from 20p per parcel to 15p for drop-offs, and from 25p to 20p for shop to shop collections by store customers.

Shop to shop drop offs and collections are parcels that are delivered to one store before being collected by an Evri driver and taken to another store.

The Fed’s national deputy vice president Craig Etchells, who is also a ParcelShop agent, said: “At the moment, we do not know how many of our dropped off parcels are classed as shop to shop because it is not broken down on our invoice.

“The decision by Evri to cut the commission on these sorts of parcel could mean a significant reduction in earnings for retailers.

“There is just as much work to do for the retailer as with any other dropped off parcel, whether it is a customer to customer or return parcel, while it takes even longer to process colections.

“Such a big reduction in commission is yet another kick in the teeth for smaller retailers like me and many of our members.”