'Throw the parcel at the door' - Evri couriers cutting corners to earn a decent wage

When Becky ordered a Barbie doll for her daughter, she received a note from delivery company Evri that it had arrived. There was just one issue: it was nowhere to be seen. There was no parcel at her front door in Twyford, Hampshire, and the photograph she was sent of its location was not one she recognized. Becky became a detective, and she discovered that reports of similar events nearby had

snowballed. Jonathan, her neighbor, had received a similar alert around the corner. It showed a snapshot of a box of tools he was looking for, but no one had been delivered. He tried to face Evri but told BBC Panorama that

they don't respond - it's really frustrating.

We've been investigating Evri, which includes sending a journalist undercover as a courier, with millions relying on delivery firms to deliver their parcels this Christmas. Although the company is a market leader, a recent customer survey by industry regulator Ofcom found that Evri has the most issues regarding parcels not being delivered and the highest degree of customer dissatisfaction. Customer satisfaction was at the top of the charts for Amazon and FedEx. Although Evri condemns Ofcom's conclusions, 30 current and former employees have pointed out that courier shortages are being exacerbated by increasing pressures. One of them told us, "They must now produce so much volume in order to get a decent pay.

Parcels started to vanish in Twyford six months after a regular courier, Dave, left Evri. He worked as an Evri courier for six years, often with his wife, and both them earned around £60,000 per year. Like all Evri couriers, Dave was self-employed. However, because Evri pays couriers by the parcel and sets the price per parcel, it felt as if the company was in the driving seat. Last January, when Evri's parcel rates were modified, it meant that it no longer made financial sense to go forward, Dave explained. According to him, it would have resulted in him receiving less than the minimum wage.

The amount Evri couriers are paid vary on the length and weight of the parcels they produce as well as how far they must travel. Couriers like Dave, who was on an Evri Plus contract, were supposed to be paid at least the National Minimum Wage, which is currently £12. For those aged 21 and over, there are 21 per hour. Dave says he expected that with Evri's changes, which also included a new small packets rate, he would make $100,000 per hour.

You were always looking over your shoulder, wondering what might be next in terms of lowering your rates,

he explained.

So that you're getting paid less for what you''re doing even though you've been doing the same job.

Another Evri Plus courier told Panorama that he could make as little as £7 or £8 an hour at times, provided that fuel and his vehicle's running costs had been factored in.

According to Hugo Martin, Evri's legal advisor, this shouldn't be happening.

Couriers make more than double what the company's paid-per-parcel program does,

he told MPs. Liam Byrne, Labour's chair, has told Panorama that because of the categorical promises that people were not paid below the minimum wage, the company should now be summoned to Parliament to look at the full picture. His remarks came as a member of a separate, cross-party group of MPs expressed their dissatisfaction with Evri's delivery record last week.

We quoted Mr Byrne's remarks to Evri and a spokesperson who said that courier couriers

generate income significantly above the National Living Wage. The National Living Wage and the National Minimum Wage are now the same for anyone aged over 21. 21 an hour. The Evri spokesperson continued that courier profits were

exceeded £20 an hour. The

sector is highly competitive, but they benchmark pay locally,

they said.

Small packets, small fees

It wasn't just Dave who told us that the arrival of Evri's little packets has made it difficult to make a living. Other couriers told us that they had started to see more of them in their rounds, and that it was eating into their income because they were paid less to produce them. Evri pays couriers as little as 35p to produce one, but courier rates can vary, but Evvris pays courier courier To remain competitive, the corporation told us it had introduced the new small packets sizing in January. However, some couriers told the BBC that large parcels, for which couriers will be charged more per delivery, are being mislabelled as small packets. According to Evri, the shipping company does not do enough to ensure that the items are being accurately measured and measured by senders, they said, with heavy flatpack furniture and radiators as examples of large items that had been misbanded and paid for as small bags. One courier told us he had hundreds of misbands, leaving him short of money. According to the BBC, clients, not Evri, are labelled parcel, not Évrit. It said that 99.

Couriers can request checks and upgrades through the courier app if a parcel has been misbanded,

2% of all parcels were correctly identified.

'There's a safe space for everything, mate'

An Evri courier of ten years told us that their coworkers were cutting corners because they were required to produce so much in terms of volume to get a decent pay. They are not doing the job properly, he said. Parcels are missing. Piles of parcels are found in hedges.If you want to earn money, you need to find a safe place and leave it there. Another courier told Sam,You should not tell us about it. During Sam's six-day stint at Evri's West Hallam delivery unit near Nottingham,

you can even throw the parcel at the back door, you only get paid if the parcel is delivered. Sam was hired on a Flex contract, which does not include sick or holiday pay, and does not agree to pay the minimum wage, unlike the Plus contract. As they don't know their patch, new starters can't be as effective, so they won't get the same as more experienced couriers. Sam was told he could qualify for some extra cash. According to Evri's lawyers, new starters get payments to ensure they work adequately as they get used to the job. Couriers told us that they do not pay extra for the time it takes to scan the parcels and load them into their vehicles at depots, but Evri claims that this time is reflected in its parcel rates. Couriers are now only paid if a parcel is delivered and a photograph is taken, which is supposed to mean giving it to the customer, a neighbor, or locating a safe location, rather than leaving it outside the delivery address. According to Evri rules, if drivers are unable to deliver a parcel, they should make at least two more attempts to do so, but it takes time. A courier told Sam that returning to the depot was not necessary because couriers did not get paid for going back.

You'll make no money unless you get all your parcels out,my companion says. Get them all out, he said. There's a safe space for everything, mate.The company claims that it will produce 900 million parcels this year, going to nearly every single household in the United Kingdom. According to Ofcom's latest customer survey, 7% of consumers in the six months between January and July said they had not received an Evri parcel that had not been delivered compared to an industry average of 4%. According to the report, Evri had the most delays in the UK, with 14% of customers reporting a parcel arriving late in the same period. The industry average is 8%, says Ofcom. According to Evri, it provides

a fast, reliable, and cost-effective delivery service

and that couriers are local people.

The vast majority do an excellent job and strictly follow our delivery guidelines. If

a courier gets a poor customer rating for a delivery,

it says, it is immediately investigated. The company, which rebranded from Hermes United Kingdom in 2022, has been owned by Apollo Global Management, an American investment company. Evri's pre-tax income nearly doubled to nearly £120 million in the fiscal year 2023-24. One courier told us,

I think Evri is making a lot more money off the couriers' backs, and I think the courier carriers' backbones are being completely cut off. At least, Becky and Jonathan in Hampshire were not lost, and they were not alone. After finding how many messages were being left on the village Facebook page, Becky created a spreadsheet for other people in the area to list their missing Evri parcels. Almost 90 incidents were reported to the police. A man was arrested but never charged. Lawyers for Evri told the BBC that this was an unusual occurrence and that the firm took prompt action.