In fairness to Hermes, who appear to very unpopular with many members as well as generally, I have used them on quite a few occasions because of their competitive rates and have never experienced problems. With the current increasing trend of internet trading various couriers are increasingly to be seen & inevitably there is a proliferation of horror stories. It is natural to complain vociferously when things go wrong but when things go right it is rare that comment is raised. It would be interesting to learn as to the proportion of complaints in relation to the overall balance of trading. In some cases, it is not the courier who is at fault, I refer to wrongly addressed items, items that are weight dependant being incorrectly described, items with flimsy/insufficient packaging etc. One aspect of current practice that has not raised concerns is the increasing trend of leaving parcels on front doorsteps, usually (in my case) clearly visible from the road with little or no attempt to actually deliver personally. As is often the case nowadays, Covid is the excuse/reason that this practice has become the norm - the procedure appears to be , ring the bell, dump said parcel on step & retire smartly, these actions to be carried out in quick succession regardless of whether there is a customer response or not! It is a "get out of jail free" card to the driver as there are no time consuming chores to be carried out such as contacting next door in an attempt to leave the consignment safe and then writing a card and inserting it back at the original port of call etc. This burgeoning practice obviously has a favourable impact on the number of parcels delivered in the working day and hence the related earnings.Two days ago I arrived back at base and found a £200 item parked outside the front door, amazingly intact! Earlier the same week I left my pressure washer adjacent to the front door whilst answering a call of nature and found it missing when I returned to the fray! Yes, the £200 item was the replacement pressure washer! The difference being, amazingly, the parcel had stood there in magnificent isolation for about 4 hours unlike its predecessor which had gone in minutes.