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2026-08-28 04:36:13 - Paul D. Foy -
BritishRetailers

Right this is an unashamedly grumbly old man post, a post on British retailers. Now I should probably say from the outset that this doesn't apply to food retailers on the whole because they don't seem to suffer from this phenomenon too much. They are operating in a very efficient manner and perhaps are putting quite a bit of pressure on people like farmers and distributors and entities like that. This post is regarding my experience of many other retailers, in particular British retailers. There are some retailers, and I'm actually going to name their names, which are doing a perfectly reasonable job, are very good value, and are very dependable. You can trust them to do a good job and deliver your goods to you without any hassle or grumble. They're places like Amazon for example. Now I don't really know what goes on in America but I don't think American companies are all that bad and I think they do actually look after their workforce reasonably. They look after their people in America so I don't have too many qualms about using an American company. Unfortunately Amazon is extremely efficient and very reliable so that's a good company but come to some other British retailers and we run into problems. There's always some kind of problem: - There's a problem with the delivery - There's a problem with too many staff taking holidays - There's a problem there - There's a problem here There's always some kind of problem. I don't understand how retailers are going to compete with those doing a good job if they're always claiming there's some kind of problem. If they're selling the goods too cheap for some reason, cheaply to get going, well they've just got to live with that. I'm afraid they've got to honour their commitments that they made and they've got to do it gracefully and acceptingly. We've got to, I think, re-find the spirit of customer service, looking after the customer. It just seems there's always some kind of problem if there's a delivery involved in it. The personnel performing the delivery have got to take on some small tasks, such as screwing a handle on an article of furniture. It always seems to be too much bother but they're taking it out on me. They're taking it out on the customer instead of making arrangements and complaining with the people organising their schedule and their rounds at the point where this all began. They take it out on the customer, miles away at the point of delivery. There's always some kind of problem. There's always something, always too much hassle, too much of a problem. I don't understand this attitude. You set out your stall for what you can do honourably and what you can do at the right price, etc. , and you stick by it. If it doesn't work out, well that's tough love but you don't make everybody else's life a misery. I've also observed another phenomenon: this phenomenon of there being a problem of grumbling is greater the further you are away from me. It's as though the distance provides a convenient shield, a convenient excuse to create a problem and to make excuses. I don't have this problem so much locally with local people who seem to be able to take on the responsibility to do things like deliver. If you're a small shop or something like that and the person has a difficult mobility arrangement or something like that, some special case, they will make an effort for you. They will make it part of their business to make an effort for you. They'll get a van going as part of the shop or something. If it's far away, you seem to be shielded by it. It seems to be far too much of a problem. Now of course I know many retailers that are an exception to all this grumble. I can think about SoloPress in Southend, an excellent Company, things like that. I won't mention too many names but I think the British retailers have a problem. They have to pull their finger out and compete with those entities doing the better jobs, such as Amazon. Now it's not just me either because I witnessed this phenomenon by other people when I was at my language class in Bristol. There were two sources for the book: Amazon, the course book, and another retailer. I'm not gonna mention his name this time but the other retailer couldn't deliver it within weeks but Amazon got it there in a few days. You make your conclusions and you take your actions.