Regular readers of this column won’t be surprised to learn that UTC is no fan of Valentine’s Day.
As far as he’s concerned, it is nothing but an elaborate con foisted upon an unsuspecting world by a shady cabal of greetings card manufacturers, and a bigger waste of money than the entire Hamilton Accies starting 11. Not that he’s bitter.
So he felt more than vindicated when new data from PayPoint painted an interesting picture of the annual love fest.
Apparently a whopping 74,080 parcels were picked up from Collect+ stores in the run-up to Valentine’s Day, between 11 and 14 February. The Auld Boy could imagine what they contained, and if batteries were included. However, he found this a fairly reasonable indicator that Cupid was keeping busy.
The good news for UTC’s conspiracy theory – but not so brilliant for the nation’s Romeos – is that Valentine’s Day itself saw a total of 55,875 parcel returns, a sobering 158% increase on the previous Monday, 7 February, which saw a paltry 21,630 take-backs.
However, the Auld Boy had to doff his bunnet to Nick Williams, Head of Strategic Partners & Product, Parcels at PayPoint, who tactfully pointed out: “It’s the thought that counts.”
