Hermes has rebranded to 'Evri' and everyone made the same joke

Hermes, the courier firm marred by allegations that its drivers mishandle parcels, has changed its name to Evri, it has been revealed.

According to the delivery brand, the decision comes after “two years of dramatic growth” which put the business through a “major transformation programme”.

Evri CEO Martijn de Lange said: “It is more than just a name change, it’s a statement of intent of our commitment to leading the way in creating responsible delivery experiences for ‘Evri one’, ‘Evri where’.

“It heralds a new culture and an even better way of doing things in an ever-evolving world, building on our achievements and successes.”

However, not everyone will agree that Hermes/Evri has been very successful, as the company continues to face complaints about delayed deliveries on social media, and videos surface of drivers throwing parcels into the back of delivery vans.

In December, an investigation by The Times revealed instances of parcels allegedly being thrown against walls, with one depot manager telling the reporter “all you can do is act totally stupid” if an angry customer complains.

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Another employee is reported to have said: “You’ve got f**ing big houses to go to, they’ve got massive gates. You’ve got to wait for the c***s to open it.

“Best thing to do is just f***ing chuck [the parcel] over the gate.”

A spokesperson for Hermes told the paper they were confident the “vast majority of allegations” were “unfounded and do not reflect our business”.

They added most couriers for the company are “hardworking and honest”, and in cases of exceptions “the individuals are identified and removed from the business”.

A month later, a poll by Martin Lewis’ website MoneySavingExpert found Hermes ranked second-last in a list of delivery firms, with 48 per cent of people surveyed describing Hermes’ service as “poor”.

On Thursday, the firm’s official Twitter account shared a YouTube video about steps it was taking to improve the business, writing “we’re listening” in a tweet with replies turned off.

So naturally, when it emerged that Hermes would become Evri – a unique spelling of the word ‘every’ – most of Twitter made almost the same comment:

Things could also prove tricky for Evri in terms of changing their Twitter handle, too, as handles such as @Evri and @EvriUK already appear to be taken up by other users.

With its social media accounts still displaying the name Hermes at the time of writing, The Evening Standardreports Evri is due to officially reveal its new name in a TV ad “next week”.

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