Editor’s comment: Kept in the dark again

A recent example involved a small store in Birmingham having trouble with Collect+ and Yodel, which was refusing to pick up certain parcels legitimately dropped off by customers. When the retailer tried to contact PayPoint to resolve the issue, he simply “hit a brick wall”.

Although the problems may be different, it’s clear there’s a common theme running through them – large organisations failing to listen to their customers’ concerns, refusing to engage with them properly, and letting down the very people they depend upon for their livelihood.

Whether it’s parcel collection, bill payment providers, ATM networks, newspaper distributors, the Post Office, or even on occasion their own symbol groups, retailers have routinely been treated like the proverbial mushroom – kept in the dark and fed on a diet of bullshit.

The worst example of this is clearly the Post Office Horizon scandal, which saw hundreds of retailers wrongly accused over shortfalls in their accounts, which ultimately proved to be the fault of the organisation’s IT system. Pleas from retailers were dismissed, many lost their livelihoods and some even their liberty as a result.

What is good to see is that there now seems to be a collective realisation that this situation cannot continue. The Post Office has apologised for its “historical failings” and promises fundamental reforms to “reset the relationship” with postmasters. And now PayPoint boss Nick Wiles has written an open letter to retailers admitting the company’s shortcomings over the past year and promising to address them (see News, page 8).

We have to hope that all these statements are sincere and that genuine reform and two-way dialogue will come about as a result.

It’s high time these organisations started treating retailers like grown-ups, with respect, honesty, openness, integrity and transparency. It’s time all of them realised you can’t run a successful business if it’s built on treating your customers with contempt.

David Shrimpton, Editor