Do you handle parcels? It really works for some and Johnny Singh, who runs Lifestyle Express at Edenthorpe, Doncaster, is a fan of the concept - footfall and all that - but he has had issues with his parcel service, myHermes.

When he rang me he had been handling about 10 parcels a day for three months and hadn’t received a penny of the promised: not the £10 joining fee, regular fee, or the bonus for handling 30 parcels-plus. He reckoned they owed him about £300.

But here’s the thing: because the transactions are paperless (just a receipt for the customer via a hand-held terminal) Johnny didn’t know how much he was actually owed.

When we spoke, on a Friday, he had given them a deadline and threatened to go legal. By the following week he had been paid and he assumed it was the correct amount as he was relying on the company’s polling system. But in the interim it had given him cashflow problems.

I know of quite a few retailers who are successfully handling parcels. Collect+ says that thousands of corner shops are offering the service and the global American company United Parcel Service (UPS) claims similar success.

Johnny says he’ll continue to offer the service even though a post office is opening up next door.

What I’d like to know is how do you keep track of how many parcels you have handled? Feedback please.