[Q]

I ordered a butchered & vacuum sealed half pig for delivery this week but.....
It came back from the butchers on wednesday, The courier was booked thursday morning and picked up by the courier on Friday morning. It still isnt delivered yet as at 10.00 saturday.

I assume it was chilled up to the point the courier picked up but not sure if a courier will keep it cooled.

Isn't this stretching the powers of vacuum packaging a bit?

[shygirl]

take its temp when it arrives. it should be in an icepack and isulated packaging during transit.

[Q]

Thanks shygirl.  I will see if I can check it.
Seems a bit odd that a 24 hour courier picks up on thursday am and still not here at 13.30 Saturday.  The last movement on the tracker shows picked up from the depot at 17.30 last night.

[HappyHippy]

It's not great 
I sent a beef pack by courier last Thursday and it was delivered to the Highlands at 5pm the following day. Ice packs and polystyrene packing is usually good for 24-36 hours tops.
Was the meat frozen? If so you might be lucky and the temperature will have stayed low, but the only way to know for sure will be to temp. probe it to make sure.
I'd make sure the seller takes it up with the courier though - if that happened to one of my orders I'd be livid 
Hope it's arrived by now 

[Q]

I contacted the seller - he said it was polystyrene with ice packs & good for 36 hours.  He expected it to be delivered by 7pm tonight - they ahve 4 mins!

So what next - who picks up the loss on the pork  - me?

[Marches Farmer]

I don't think so, if fast delivery was part of the deal.  Once the agreement has been made the provider of the service has to deliver the goods (quite literally in this case) in a timely manner, even if he hasn't yet received payment.   
I would feel very cautious about eating the pork - we currently have just the kind of humid weather that's the worst for meat storage.

[Q]

Thanks MF - pork hasnt arrived and you are right - I am nervous about eating it because it has been in a couriers van since 17.00 last night which wont have been chilled.
The pork is probably inside the courier by now 

I hope the supplier doesnt lose out - its tough enough as it is.

I am now going to have a bacon sandwich for dinner instead of the planned pork chops!

[hughesy]

Q why not avoid pitfalls like this in future by buying your meat from a supplier local to you? You might even be able to collect it yourself and see where it came from and how it was reared. It's got to be better than buying from an unknown source many miles away and half the benefit going to DHL or somebody like that.

[Q]

Thanks for the advice Hughesy but there is a bit of a story to this which I wont bore you with,  I was due to collect the pork and arrangements got changed so we decided to courier it.

This was my first half pig purchase and I really liked the idea of saddleback tamworth cross pork.

ho hum.  I am sure we will be able to sort something out.

[Factotum]

We send beef via courier to the SE of England - thus far it's left here (Moray NE Scotland) at about 1pm and reached the customers by 10am the following morning.

The meat is sent in poly-boxes with freezer packs and has arrived chilled, with the freezer packs still frozen. We have been lucky as we haven't had a delayed/lost delivery so far...

But, the T&Cs of the courier co are clear that any problems with delivery are not covered by their guarantee - if a consignment is delivered late or goes missing it's our hard luck as we are sending fresh meat.

In another life a courier managed to lose an entire exhibition stand - 6 very large blue boxes full of metal poles and plastic  displays - they were never found - where they went remains a mystery as they would have been useless to anyone else, but they never turned up. Couriers do lose things.

Sue

[Lesley Silvester]

The company should be able to claim against the couriers if it was supposed to be delivered in a certain time.

[Q]

Thanks for your replies - the meat didnt turn up yesterday and wont be delivered today as they dont deliver on a Sunday. I will have to refuse it when if it ever turns up

As Hughesy says, perhaps next time a bit more local.

I do hope they can claim against the courier.

[Q]

UPDATE

The courier finally tried to deliver the pork at 3.00pm today.

I refused the delivery and the van driver was very unhappy because it was making his van smell.  Oh dear what a shame. It will probably smell a bit more when he takes it back to the depot tomorrow.

Good news is the supplier has agreed to send me another half pig and with a different (guaranteed) courier.

[Lesley Silvester]

If it was making the van smell it wasn't fit to eat. Glad the supplier is replacing it. 

[Bionic]

It sounds as if the pork was getting nice and ripe. Probably sitting in the sun in his van.
Glad you are getting fresh supplies