Shopkeepers may be able to stop worrying about their customers’ defection to online buying.

I am one of those customers. It is hard to justify trudging out in all weathers to buy a selection of items, especially at Christmas, when at the touch of a few buttons they can be delivered to your door with no, or negligible, further cost. However the weakest point of the whole transaction is the delivery. 

The advertised image of highly automated state of the art aircraft hangers full of conveyor belts hurtling your goods to their delivery vehicles crumbles when those white vans hit the road. Many drivers with no Wells Fargo ethic would rather send messages alleging ‘no one at home’ when you were there all day and the dogs never barked.

These incidents have been increasing, possibly because of the approach of Christmas and possibly because the volume of orders has increased to the point where the delivery drivers are employed with little or no training or impossible schedules.

I spent 90 minutes this week trying to tow a white van driver with minimal English off the grass in front of my house which, on the worst night of the year, he had reversed onto, downhill, rather than back down the road he had just come up. 

The grass now resembles the aftermath of the Somme and all he did was curse his van and his employers and demand shovels and assistance. When I finally managed to get him out and to reverse back the way he had come, he disappeared without a backward glance or a word of thanks.

I pay Amazon for their premium service offering next day delivery. This is simply not working at the moment. One item is already a week overdue. Today when the snow melted outside our gate a parcel was found sodden and falling apart; it was only the packing inside that saved the contents. Just now another two were left outside in the pouring rain. Fortunately I saw from the window and was able to claim them as he sped off. Why not ring the bell?

Shops in the area be comforted; the rest of my Christmas shopping will be conducted in your hallowed portals until of course someone says to me that they don’t stock that in the store and why don’t I order it online? It all seemed such a good idea, didn’t it?