News / Delivery charge profits
SHETLAND MSP Tavish Scott has vowed his support for a bill that will be forcing online retailers to expose delivery surcharges that apply to customers in the highlands and islands.
LibDem MP, Robert Smith, has announced that he will table such a bill in Westminster.
The MP for West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine said the bill was part of a wider campaign to put an end to the excessive surcharges that some retailers charge for delivery to northern and north-eastern Scotland.
Scott added: “In recent months I have been astonished at just how much more Shetland online consumers have been charged, sometimes at the very end of a transaction.
“It is very frustrating to Shetlanders when delivery surcharges have not been made clear from the onset.
“Indeed, many retailers advertise ‘free delivery’ on their home pages and I know of cases where payment has gone through before the customers have been told there is suddenly extra to pay.
“Once this is tackled I think we still need to look at just how much extra companies are charging for postage, especially given that the Royal Mail still have a universal delivery charge.
“How can a small memory stick cost £8 to send to Shetland? Companies cannot keep using these tricks to subsidise their profits at the expense for Shetland’s consumers.”
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