UK Couriers For Low (20 a day) Volume
Discussion
Chaps I find myself out of my knowledge zone where I am helping a start up "start up" they have a decent product, we are pressing ahead with ebay / amazon / website and FB shop should all be done in a few weeks and I really think it will be a slow burner but ultimately a success, issue is -
Do I lie to a courier (DPD) to get decent rates from the off ? (£5 ish)
Do I tell the truth and use Hermes, Yodel / Ipost parcels (£7 ish)
Anyone got a effective strategy and a good partner to recommend personally I have always used Interlink / DPD for many years.
Cheers
Do I lie to a courier (DPD) to get decent rates from the off ? (£5 ish)
Do I tell the truth and use Hermes, Yodel / Ipost parcels (£7 ish)
Anyone got a effective strategy and a good partner to recommend personally I have always used Interlink / DPD for many years.
Cheers
£1k pm for DPD? That's a shame. You certainly don't get the service from agents with lost parcels, sadly I can vouch for that one. We don't send a lot, only about 60 per month but would like to deal direct if possible. I think the problem we have is that we don't need a regular daily collection most of the time - probably have 3 a week but book them in when we have parcels that need sending and it's possible that we don't have any one week. Found parcel2go a bit expensive when looking for a quote to send a small parcel.
Interested to hear how you get on.
Interested to hear how you get on.
Biggest problem we see with agents is insurance, or rather lack of. A year ago standard cover on parcel2go was £50 with UPS, now £20-25.
I'm extremely wary of certain carriers depending on what you're sending and customer perception. DPD today stuck 2 missed delivery cards through our letter box at home, both for the same parcel, one dated yesterday, one today. Unit across from my mates garage is used by a crew that do Hermes and they have recently started Yodel as well. You would not believe the antics we've witnessed.
I'm extremely wary of certain carriers depending on what you're sending and customer perception. DPD today stuck 2 missed delivery cards through our letter box at home, both for the same parcel, one dated yesterday, one today. Unit across from my mates garage is used by a crew that do Hermes and they have recently started Yodel as well. You would not believe the antics we've witnessed.
LordHaveMurci said:
DPD/Interlink have a great system, DPD in our area wanted a minimum spend of £1k pm to open an accou t though.
Have been told DPD are pulling the plug on Interlink franchises, anybody know if this is true?
Interlink (IIRC) are just about to get parcels from 10000 GP practices every week, if the pilots go OK, I reckon these folks might be needed.Have been told DPD are pulling the plug on Interlink franchises, anybody know if this is true?
from a buyers point of view I always like DPD, their tracking and text system works well for me.
Certainly a point worth considering..
I've used Ipost Parcels quite a bit for sending stuff out and never had any issues, but have never had anything sent to me to know what they are like inbound!
Certainly a point worth considering..
I've used Ipost Parcels quite a bit for sending stuff out and never had any issues, but have never had anything sent to me to know what they are like inbound!
We just use Parcel2go as we fall outside of the amount to get decent rates, they are handy for new businesses until you stabilise.
We now give the customer the option of insurance at extra cost, but have found by avoiding Herpes and Yodel parcels generally don't go missing anyhow these days, it's so rare that when they do the money saved over the years from not insuring more than pays for the lost item anyhow.
Because of this I'm inclined to think that the insurance is where these agents are making a lot of their money as they really push it when you are booking, when in reality we've found it's rarely needed.
They're easy to deal with when anything does go missing, so not sure why you think they are any other.
We now give the customer the option of insurance at extra cost, but have found by avoiding Herpes and Yodel parcels generally don't go missing anyhow these days, it's so rare that when they do the money saved over the years from not insuring more than pays for the lost item anyhow.
Because of this I'm inclined to think that the insurance is where these agents are making a lot of their money as they really push it when you are booking, when in reality we've found it's rarely needed.
They're easy to deal with when anything does go missing, so not sure why you think they are any other.
Edited by 227bhp on Thursday 18th February 21:45
just speak to them and be honest? Tell them your a new stt up investing blah blah, you need a good delivery rate to keep competitive. You anticipating from 20-100 per x days,even ask if You could get a reduced fee for 3 months while you build hopefully getting enough delivery's to stay on the reduced rate. Lying just leads to problems later down the road.
hotchy said:
just speak to them and be honest? Tell them your a new stt up investing blah blah, you need a good delivery rate to keep competitive. You anticipating from 20-100 per x days,even ask if You could get a reduced fee for 3 months while you build hopefully getting enough delivery's to stay on the reduced rate. Lying just leads to problems later down the road.
with DPD they'll likely stick you on an interlink account for that initial period.See my thread in SP&L for my recent experience with Parcel2Go/Yodel and a parcel with no insurance.
I wouldn't touch them again until they start offering some sort of insurance in their standard price. I'm now using UPS through Interparcel for the 1-2 per week we will send. Only a little bit dearer than P2G with Yodel but a better courier with £150 insurance in the price.
I don't think the insurance makes your parcel anymore likely to not go missing, but it gives the agent an incentive to do something about it if they're looking at a £150 payout. P2G couldn't give a toss as they were only on the line for the £9 it cost to send the parcel.
I wouldn't touch them again until they start offering some sort of insurance in their standard price. I'm now using UPS through Interparcel for the 1-2 per week we will send. Only a little bit dearer than P2G with Yodel but a better courier with £150 insurance in the price.
I don't think the insurance makes your parcel anymore likely to not go missing, but it gives the agent an incentive to do something about it if they're looking at a £150 payout. P2G couldn't give a toss as they were only on the line for the £9 it cost to send the parcel.
DPD are indeed parting with Interlink, although from what ive heard is that they are not renewing leases on Interlink depot's, so wont be a quick separation. My local depot still has 8 years lease remaining on theirs.
Back to the original post, I use a mix of Interlink / Hermes / Royal Mail and Interparcel (mainly tnt and ups). My main account is Interlink and i put about 20 - 30 parcels a week through them. Wasnt difficult in opening an account, think i had to put a £500 deposit down which i got back after 6 months
Back to the original post, I use a mix of Interlink / Hermes / Royal Mail and Interparcel (mainly tnt and ups). My main account is Interlink and i put about 20 - 30 parcels a week through them. Wasnt difficult in opening an account, think i had to put a £500 deposit down which i got back after 6 months
Silverage said:
See my thread in SP&L for my recent experience with Parcel2Go/Yodel and a parcel with no insurance.
I wouldn't touch them again until they start offering some sort of insurance in their standard price. I'm now using UPS through Interparcel for the 1-2 per week we will send. Only a little bit dearer than P2G with Yodel but a better courier with £150 insurance in the price.
I don't think the insurance makes your parcel anymore likely to not go missing, but it gives the agent an incentive to do something about it if they're looking at a £150 payout. P2G couldn't give a toss as they were only on the line for the £9 it cost to send the parcel.
I've just read it, ironically I was doing exactly the same as you, but with Interparcel and UPS, they lost a huge heavy parcel of a value way in excess of yours and wouldn't pay out as I hadn't insured it. I did exactly the same, stormed off in a huff and went to P2G! I wouldn't touch them again until they start offering some sort of insurance in their standard price. I'm now using UPS through Interparcel for the 1-2 per week we will send. Only a little bit dearer than P2G with Yodel but a better courier with £150 insurance in the price.
I don't think the insurance makes your parcel anymore likely to not go missing, but it gives the agent an incentive to do something about it if they're looking at a £150 payout. P2G couldn't give a toss as they were only on the line for the £9 it cost to send the parcel.
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