Evri is in advanced negotiations to withdraw entirely from the Isle of Man and hand over all parcel delivery operations to the Isle of Man Post Office, Courier Checker can exclusively reveal.
The deal, understood to be around 95% finalised, would see Evri exit the island by September 2026 and transfer last-mile delivery responsibility to IOMPO, effectively ending the courier’s direct presence on the island altogether.
If the agreement goes through as planned, it will leave around 40 self-employed Evri couriers currently working on the Isle of Man facing the loss of their livelihoods, with the Post Office expected to create just six new roles to absorb the work.
What The Evri Isle Of Man Exit Looks Like
The proposed deal would see IOMPO take full control of Evri’s final-mile parcel delivery across the island, replacing the network of self-employed couriers who currently handle the work directly for Evri.
Sources familiar with the negotiations say a small number of operational details, including how collections and delivery photographs will be handled under the new arrangement, are still being ironed out.
The transition target is September, and Evri couriers on the island have been told they will be invited to a “recruitment drive” run by the Post Office.
However, that sounds more generous than it is.
The Post Office is understood to be creating just six positions island-wide, split across two in the north, one in the south, and three covering the central region.
For context, the south of the island alone currently has six Evri couriers handling an estimated 3,500 parcels a week between them, and the Post Office intends to replace all of them with a single employee.
How The News Came Out
The situation only came to light because the head of final-mile operations at IOMPO began directly contacting Evri couriers on the island to inform them of the incoming transition.
That is how around 40 people found out their livelihoods were on the line, not through Evri, not through their union, but through a phone call from the organisation that is about to take over their work.
40 Couriers, Six Jobs
The maths does not need much explanation.
Around 40 couriers currently deliver for Evri on the Isle of Man, all of them self-employed and working directly for the company rather than through a local contractor.
Many have been on the island for years, building rounds, rebuilding customer trust, and handling volumes that have grown steadily over time.
One courier who spoke to Courier Checker on condition of anonymity described delivering up to 1,200 parcels a week on a busy round that covers a mix of semi-rural and urban addresses.
They have been with Evri for more than four years.
“I worked really hard right from the beginning to rebuild the round and customers’ trust after thousands of parcels went missing thanks to the previous courier,” they said.
That effort, and the experience behind it, is now set to be replaced by a fraction of the workforce the island currently relies on.
How Evri’s Isle Of Man Operation Currently Works
Evri does not operate a traditional depot on the Isle of Man in the way it does on the mainland.
Instead, the operation relies on Manx Independent Carriers, one of the island’s largest haulage companies, which brings Evri’s trailers over on the boat daily.
MIC handles the sorting of parcels and distributes them to the island’s couriers, as well as running a small warehouse on site where couriers covering the central part of the island collect their work.
For the more rural parts of the island, where driving to the depot would be cost-prohibitive for the community couriers who handle those areas, MIC also dispatches parcels via solus couriers, drivers in vans who drop the work directly to them.
It is a setup that has functioned for years and, by the accounts of those working within it, has been delivering a generally reliable service to customers.
What replaces it in September, assuming the deal completes, is an open question.
GMB And Evri Higher Management Were Blindsided
Perhaps the most striking detail to emerge from the situation is that Evri’s own local management and its recognised trade union reps appear to have been completely unaware of the negotiations until couriers on the ground started raising the alarm.
Sources say the GMB, which represents a significant number of Evri couriers across the UK, had no knowledge of the Isle of Man discussions until couriers who had been contacted directly by IOMPO brought it to their attention.
Evri’s management at regional level is also said to have been out of the loop, with the matter only being escalated after couriers themselves flagged it.
For a deal that directly affects the employment of around 40 people and fundamentally changes how Evri services an entire jurisdiction, the lack of internal communication is, at best, difficult to explain.
Evri’s Response
When approached for comment, an Evri spokesperson said: “There is no change to the way we service our customers on the Isle of Man.”
That statement may be technically accurate today.
Whether it will still be accurate in September is another matter entirely.
A Pattern That Keeps Repeating
Evri’s relationship with the regions and nations it is supposed to serve has been rocky for some time.
Last year, the company’s new Mallusk depot in Belfast descended into chaos within weeks of opening, leaving thousands of parcels in limbo and customers across Northern Ireland waiting weeks for deliveries.
The Isle of Man situation is a different kind of problem, not an operational meltdown but a quiet strategic withdrawal, though the end result for the people on the ground may not be too dissimilar.
Couriers who have spent years building the service are being told, with very little notice and apparently no consultation, that their work is being handed to someone else.
For a company that has spent the last few years trying to shake off a reputation as the UK’s most disliked courier, pulling out of an entire island and leaving 40 people scrambling for six jobs is not the kind of story that helps.
What Next for Evri Operations on the Isle of Man?
The deal is not yet signed, and a transition target of September leaves a narrow window for the remaining details to be finalised.
If it goes ahead as described, the Isle of Man will lose its entire network of experienced Evri couriers and replace them with a skeleton crew of six additional Post Office employees covering the whole island.
Whether IOMPO can realistically absorb that volume of work with that number of staff, across an island with a mix of urban, semi-rural, and rural delivery points, remains to be seen.
The couriers currently doing the job already know the answer.
Isle of Man Post Office Response
Courier Checker approached the Isle of Man Post Office for comment prior to publication. No response was received.
However, IOMPO has since issued a statement to Isle of Man Today, saying: “Isle of Man Post Office actively considers commercial opportunities that support the long-term sustainability of the organisation and deliver wider economic benefit to the Isle of Man.”
The spokesperson added that this “can include discussions with delivery and logistics partners from time to time” but said such discussions are “commercially sensitive” and that the organisation “does not comment on commercial matters” in line with normal business practice.
