How useful is home delivery?

A rant.

Why do retailers think they're doing us a favour by selling us products with 'free home delivery'? As most of us may be aware, most delivery agents don't work weekends, so what they're actually saying is we'll deliver to you at home when you're most likely to be at work. Maybe I'm assuming too much by the fact that most of us still go to work during the day, but I think for an average household this is still the case.

Some of us are lucky enough to be able to work somewhere that will accept deliveries on your behalf, but if recent experience shows, this doesn't always make for an easy life. We were hardly in a position to open and inspect a pile of kitchen appliances in the rain in a car park. Neither were were able to sign for the goods un-opened.

So what's the solution? Evening deliveries? Weekend deliveries? All of this is achievable, even if it adds another £10-£20 to the price, it'll still be cheaper than paying high-street prices.