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Delivery drivers claim working for Evri is getting “progressively worse”

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Evri

Several Evri couriers in Manchester have claimed drivers are having to work harder for less money and face having their rounds “slashed”, which has lead to “rock-bottom” morale at the company.

The self-employed couriers have revealed to the Manchester Evening News that they only get paid 60p per parcel. A driver explained that tensions have become so heightened at one depot that couriers were involved in a stand-off with bosses last week.

The delivery drivers have reported working hard over Christmas to help clear a backlog of parcels, but claim the “tipping point” came when changes to their routes were implemented. Evri has responded that they are in discussion with a small number of couriers affected by these changes.

A courier using the name Craig, who started working for the firm when it was Hermes, said his experience of the job has got “progressively worse”. He claimed he has to work six days a week in order to keep his round. He reported that changes to the packaging sizes means he makes less money than he used to.

“You could have a massive Dunelm parcel which is huge but doesn’t really weigh that much that’s put down as a packet. So someone will be delivering that for the same cost as an Asos parcel but it will take up the whole boot and you’ve just got to come back to the depot again to reload,” he said.

Craig added that couriers only get paid for the parcels they deliver to customers, and said this is the reason drivers have previously been filmed leaving parcels in bizarre places.

A spokesperson for Evri, said: “We are unable to respond to anonymous allegations about specific disputes or even verify that these individuals work for Evri without their details.

“However, we can confirm that as our couriers are self-employed, they are able to choose the number of parcels they deliver and the time frame they do it. If couriers are unable to do their round for any reason we have cover couriers in place and over the Christmas period we added another 5,000 to offer support.

“All our couriers earn in excess of the minimum wage after expenses such as fuel costs (the average is over £15 an hour) and this includes time for collection and redelivery. This is independently audited by the GMB Union.

“When fuel costs spiked we introduced an additional payment which was tailored for round types – it is worth noting that 2/3s of our rounds are less than 1sq mile and the average courier will do 15 or less miles per day. All parcels are sorted into cages inside the depots and then loaded into vehicles outside with access to rain shelters.”

The firm had previously responded to coming last in Citizen’s Advice league table of parcel companies.

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