Whenever I buy online I suffer angst about the courier delivery. Nine times out of ten I am out when the courier calls. There are then two choices: Arrange another day and wait in, or drive over to the courier company’s local depot. In London that isn’t too much of a hassle, even though depots are usually on remote trading estates. Outside the capital and major cities it is often impractical to collect.
Americans have always been better at organising these things. Not only are there many options for collection, courier companies are more likely to leave items on the doorstep.
Good to learn, therefore, that there is at least one nationwide service, Collect+, which enables you to have your parcels sent to a nearby business. I was surprised to find that my local corner grocery store is on the list and I will definitely use it in future.
Amazon has just joined the list of companies using Collect+ and, since most of my online buying is through Amazon I am delighted. No mention of Apple, though, and Apple is the subject of my biggest gripe. Last time I ordered a computer from the Apple on-line store I discovered they were using a small, specialist delivery company (not the usual UPS) with no local depot. As a result I wasted a day sitting at home waiting for the delivery.