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Many UK retailers are preparing to use AI in delivery operations, but shoppers are more cautious about letting it make decisions that affect their parcels. In a Scurri survey reported by Modern Retail on 30 September 2026, 58% of surveyed enterprise retailers said they were likely to use automated AI for delivery strategy and carrier operations; 37% of consumers said they were comfortable with AI making decisions affecting their deliveries. The gap points to a practical distinction: people may welcome help with a defined delivery task while still wanting control, clear disclosure, and access to a person.

What the survey says about AI and delivery decisions

Scurri’s survey, as reported by Modern Retail, included more than 1,000 UK consumers and 150 UK enterprise retailers. Among consumers, 37% said they were comfortable with AI making decisions that affect their deliveries, 38% actively disagreed, and 25% were undecided. Among retailers, 58% said they were likely to use an automated AI system to manage delivery strategy and carrier operations.

Those figures describe different groups and questions, so they should not be treated as a direct one-to-one comparison. They do show why retailers’ readiness to automate should not be mistaken for broad customer approval. Modern Retail’s account does not provide survey field dates, exact question wording, recruitment details, or weighting; the results are company-linked survey findings, not independently verified estimates of all UK retailers or consumers.

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Which delivery tasks seem more acceptable?

Consumer comfort varies with how much authority an AI agent receives. In the survey, 64% said they would allow an AI agent to track a delivery, while 51% said they would be comfortable letting one resolve a late or failed delivery. Six in ten said they would be likely to use an agent capable of automatically resolving a delivery problem.

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These responses suggest a useful distinction for delivery services: providing status or handling a bounded problem is different from making open-ended choices about what happens to a parcel. Tracking tells a customer what is happening; a delivery change can affect when or where they receive an order. The survey does not establish that every shopper draws the line in the same place, but it indicates that acceptance depends on the task and the agent’s authority.

What safeguards do consumers want?

Shoppers named several conditions that would make them more comfortable with an AI acting on their behalf. The survey found that 34% valued the ability to switch to a human at any point, 33% wanted the AI to ask permission before acting, 29% valued an immediate override, and 24% wanted to see what the AI had done.

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Human access and clear disclosure also drew strong support: 88% believed they should always have the option to speak to a human, and 85% expected retailers to make clear when they were interacting with AI. These safeguards address different concerns. Disclosure tells customers who or what is handling the interaction; permission and override preserve control over actions; visibility helps explain what happened; and a human handoff offers another route when automation is insufficient.

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Where retailers expect to use AI

Retailers’ leading expected operational uses were largely behind the scenes. The survey reported these intended applications:

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Predicting and preventing failed deliveries 33%
Managing technical integrations 33%
Monitoring delivery problems and carrier performance 31%

These are expected uses reported by surveyed retailers, not evidence that the systems are already deployed or that they produce a particular outcome. They also differ from the customer-facing priorities named in the report: real-time tracking, faster refunds, accurate delivery dates, and earlier warnings when a problem occurs. Operational automation may help with those service goals, but the survey does not demonstrate that it will.

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What this means for a delivery AI agent

Rory O’Connor, Scurri’s founder and CEO, described the distinction as a choice between “AI that removes friction” and “AI that removes control.” He said shoppers may accept tracking and straightforward problem resolution, while resistance can grow when AI acts without permission, explanation, or an accessible human route. His framing reflects the survey’s reported responses; it is not a separate test of agent performance.

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For retailers designing delivery automation, the findings support a task-by-task approach rather than granting an agent broad authority by default. A customer-facing agent can be assessed against a few concrete questions:

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  • Is it providing information, or changing a delivery decision?
  • Is its authority limited to a clearly defined issue, or can it make broader discretionary choices?
  • Does it ask before taking consequential action, and can the customer reverse that action?
  • Can the customer see what the agent did and why?
  • Can the customer reach a human without losing the context of the conversation?

O’Connor’s other recommendation was to combine “automation behind the scenes with transparency and choice at the customer interface.” The survey does not prove that any particular interface or safeguard will guarantee acceptance. It does show why retailer readiness alone is not enough to judge whether delivery AI will feel useful to customers.

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