At a top-level meeting between senior NFRN officials and Booker management earlier today (Monday January 24), the food and drink wholesaler advised that soaring costs had forced it to introduce a delivery fee.
With effect from Monday February 28, Premier and Family Shopper retailers will be charged £29.95 for each delivery. The fee for all other retail customers will be £34.95.
According to Booker, this is a transparent fixed cost and will not fluctuate, regardless of the size of the order. Its minimum drop of £1,000, excluding tobacco, does still apply.
Advising of the move, the NFRN representatives were told that the past two years had been ‘demanding’ for all UK businesses, including Booker, with rising inflation, increasing driver costs and growing charges for vehicles, fuel and equipment, as well as the challenges posed by Covid-19.
So that it could continue to provide a sustainable delivery service to all retailers, and following an extensive review, Booker said it had no option but to introduce a delivery fee.
It added that to help maximise accuracy and availability for customers, it was changing the cut off time to place orders to 9am for next delivery. This new time will apply to all delivered retailers and will support a consistent and professional service to all customers, Booker said.
Speaking after the meeting, National President Narinder Randhawa said: “We are grateful to Booker for keeping us appraised of the situation and we will explore with them ways of offsetting these extra costs.”
A Booker spokesperson added: “We take these changes very seriously and regrettably have been forced to take this difficult decision due to rising costs.”
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