Scots paying £38M more for parcel delivery, report finds

Online shoppers in Scotland are having to pay more for delivery than in the rest of the UK, a report found.

Picture: PA

Research by the Scottish Parliament’s information centre (SPICe) estimates Scots face a £38 million additional cost annually for parcel delivery surcharges.

It is higher than the calculated cost for England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The figure for 2018 has risen since SPICe reported its calculations last year, which were estimated to be £36.3 million

The analysis suggests around 510,238 Scottish adults are impacted by the delivery surcharges, with the cost per adult estimated to be around £74.64 annually.

Over the Christmas period, the total cost of surcharges in Scotland is estimated to be around £11.4 million.

The surcharges added to delivery costs to more rural areas have previously been described by MSPs as a “postcode penalty”.

A rising number of people shop online in the UK, with 89% of adults using the internet at least weekly in 2018, up from 88% in 2017 and 51% in 2006 - according to the Office for National Statistics.

Among all adults, 78% bought goods or services online in the last 12 months, up one percentage point since 2017.

Younger people overwhelmingly shop online, with 95% of those aged 16 to 24 and 96% of those aged 25 to 34 choosing to do so in the last year, according to the data.