Claiming lost earnings from courier?
Discussion
Fairly confident the answer is going to be no but just wondering since it is such a regular occurrence.
Part of my business is we test samples sent to us via courier. They often manage to lose, delay or damage them beyond viability.
It basically makes naff all odds to our clients who the courier contract is with as they are just out of pocket the cost of the sample and delivery, which is negligible.
This is losing me thousands per year however in lost work as the majority of the samples can not be reproduced. Today alone one courier has lost over half the samples sent to us which means I’ve lost over £300 in work.
Is there any way to claim this from them or is it a case of they have no contract with me so tough titties?
Part of my business is we test samples sent to us via courier. They often manage to lose, delay or damage them beyond viability.
It basically makes naff all odds to our clients who the courier contract is with as they are just out of pocket the cost of the sample and delivery, which is negligible.
This is losing me thousands per year however in lost work as the majority of the samples can not be reproduced. Today alone one courier has lost over half the samples sent to us which means I’ve lost over £300 in work.
Is there any way to claim this from them or is it a case of they have no contract with me so tough titties?
Seems you are out of luck at the moment. However is there a future solution?
Do you specify the courier or do they choose their own? Do they pay for the delivery?
Could you send them pre-paid labels for your choosen courier and chose a more reputable one?
Or is the packaging to blame? is it your packaging?
There might be plenty of solutions depending on your product/overheads/business model and you just need some fresh eyes.
Do you specify the courier or do they choose their own? Do they pay for the delivery?
Could you send them pre-paid labels for your choosen courier and chose a more reputable one?
Or is the packaging to blame? is it your packaging?
There might be plenty of solutions depending on your product/overheads/business model and you just need some fresh eyes.
We don’t have anything to do with arranging/ packing / specifying the delivery. Got about 20 regular clients who use a variety of Post Office/Parcelforce, UPS, DHL, DPD, TNT.
I’m not sure it would be possible for us to arrange delivery or packing materials as some of them ship from courier warehouses who store their goods too like DHL.
Guess I will have to keep lumping it. We have managed to get a couple of clients to really pack things really well but only the ones it is a problem for if the samples are ruined. According to TNT todays ones have just gone walkies
I’m not sure it would be possible for us to arrange delivery or packing materials as some of them ship from courier warehouses who store their goods too like DHL.
Guess I will have to keep lumping it. We have managed to get a couple of clients to really pack things really well but only the ones it is a problem for if the samples are ruined. According to TNT todays ones have just gone walkies
RB Will said:
It basically makes naff all odds to our clients who the courier contract is with as they are just out of pocket the cost of the sample and delivery, which is negligible.
So what inventive is there for the client to do anything differently?Unless you're willing to bare the cost of using a preferred courier and using preferred packaging, I don't see a way to resolve it if the customer don't care (not sure why they're even using your services if that's the case...)
DanL said:
Any way to make it the client’s problem by charging them regardless? Might focus the mind and ensure it’s well packed or sent by a good courier?
This surely?A fee to be charged in event of sample non-delivery should focus the client and get them to resolve their courier issues
These are not real couriers, they are cheap parcel services.
Personally though, I see less than 1% failure rate with any of them.
The other thing is, the OP's customers seem happy with the service they get overall, so maybe much of the additional trade is something of an illusion?
Something odd about the whole thing!
Personally though, I see less than 1% failure rate with any of them.
The other thing is, the OP's customers seem happy with the service they get overall, so maybe much of the additional trade is something of an illusion?
Something odd about the whole thing!
Evanivitch said:
So what inventive is there for the client to do anything differently?
Unless you're willing to bare the cost of using a preferred courier and using preferred packaging, I don't see a way to resolve it if the customer don't care (not sure why they're even using your services if that's the case...)
Apart from a little bit of ballache, 5 mins of paperwork at their end it doesn't make any odds. A lot of the samples are tested for information / monitoring only rather than outright necessity so if some are missed one week they just use results from the next week instead. So bit nervous about making life difficult for them and threatening extra costs. Samples are different shapes, sizes, weights and no consistency over numbers or shipping routine so hard for us to dictate the transport and packing methods across clients. The cost of us employing someone to organise client logistics would be more than our annual "losses" Unless you're willing to bare the cost of using a preferred courier and using preferred packaging, I don't see a way to resolve it if the customer don't care (not sure why they're even using your services if that's the case...)
Boristhebold66 said:
Can you work out which couriers are the worst? And then perhaps contact the 'suppliers' and explain the situation and ask if they'll switch to the more reliable courier? Even if their courier costs are low, constantly losing a few quid here and there won't be what a business wants.
We do have to contact the client every time, a couple have switched about, one uses reinforced boxes, one has switched to a personal same day delivery driver but as I say for others it just isn't enough of an incentive to change.andburg said:
A fee to be charged in event of sample non-delivery should focus the client and get them to resolve their courier issues
As I say bit nervous of action against my clients as such, also seems a bit unfair when a lot of the time it isnt their fault at all. If they have packed it well, paid for next day delivery and it then it arrives 3-5 days later and is untestable.OutInTheShed said:
The other thing is, the OP's customers seem happy with the service they get overall, so maybe much of the additional trade is something of an illusion?
Something odd about the whole thing!
Not sure what you mean?Something odd about the whole thing!
Yesterday one client sent me 2 boxes of samples, 6 in one 7 in the other. Only one box turned up. Box and courier docs marked as item 1 of 2 and sample submission paperwork from client states all 13 samples sent. Courier confirmed they received both boxes but don't know where one is, so I'm out 7 tests.
It would likely take a lot to make some clients change as it would involve approving a new supplier, changing shipping SOPs, training, doing anything in this industry is a major faff and something that costs them less than £100 a year is not worth the effort.
RB Will said:
Fairly confident the answer is going to be no but just wondering since it is such a regular occurrence.
Part of my business is we test samples sent to us via courier. They often manage to lose, delay or damage them beyond viability.
It basically makes naff all odds to our clients who the courier contract is with as they are just out of pocket the cost of the sample and delivery, which is negligible.
This is losing me thousands per year however in lost work as the majority of the samples can not be reproduced. Today alone one courier has lost over half the samples sent to us which means I’ve lost over £300 in work.
Is there any way to claim this from them or is it a case of they have no contract with me so tough titties?
Are the samples clearly of no use when they arrive or do you have to test them to find that they are not viable? Part of my business is we test samples sent to us via courier. They often manage to lose, delay or damage them beyond viability.
It basically makes naff all odds to our clients who the courier contract is with as they are just out of pocket the cost of the sample and delivery, which is negligible.
This is losing me thousands per year however in lost work as the majority of the samples can not be reproduced. Today alone one courier has lost over half the samples sent to us which means I’ve lost over £300 in work.
Is there any way to claim this from them or is it a case of they have no contract with me so tough titties?
If you have to test then I’d be looking at charging the clients. If not then I don’t see what you can do - if the samples aren’t viable and you haven’t tested them what are you proposing to charge for? Unless you are pre-booking lab time?
It might cost clients £100 a year now but that's because you allow them to get away with using cheap couriers who don't deliver, at the end of the day not charging them for non-delivery is costing you money. I guess results aren't massively time sensitive to them as they don't care if they need resend new samples when the penalty is a delay and £5 postage they will probably even claim that loss from the courier.
The client has no reason to sort out their couriers as you don't charge them for your losses when nothing arrives.
Either you make non-delivery their problem by charging them accordingly or you take responsibility for the couriers.
At the end of the day it is their fault, they are actively choosing to use courier who regularly loses their items.
edit to add:
I assume you cant just increase prices accross the board to cover the no-show losses
The client has no reason to sort out their couriers as you don't charge them for your losses when nothing arrives.
Either you make non-delivery their problem by charging them accordingly or you take responsibility for the couriers.
At the end of the day it is their fault, they are actively choosing to use courier who regularly loses their items.
edit to add:
I assume you cant just increase prices accross the board to cover the no-show losses
Surely there is a particular courier that is up to the job that you can recommmend or even put as part of your terms that all samples need to be send by this courier. If it isn’t sent via them then it will be returned to sender.
Also maybe find a supplier that has a safe packaging style (pcr style boxes) people can buy from in bulk of 5 or 10 they can purchase and use when required?
Maybe you could even sell them, have some mark up and branding opportunities.
Also maybe find a supplier that has a safe packaging style (pcr style boxes) people can buy from in bulk of 5 or 10 they can purchase and use when required?
Maybe you could even sell them, have some mark up and branding opportunities.
I wonder if it's your area? Some areas have much more problems with parcel theft and damage than others. I ship all over the UK using DHL and I have never, ever had a parcel go missing with DHL. I've had a small amount get damaged (always corner damage) but it's usually one to three a year, and I ship around 400 to 500 large parcels a year. So reliable that I do not take the extra insurance out now as the fee savings cover the odd damaged item. They are high ticket items too. Used them for around 5 years now (formerly UK mail)
I've lost two with parcel force in one year, hence I only use them for international shipping now (super competitive for large parcels globally ). Both just "got lost". One to Birmingham, and the other to Leeds. Another one to Birmingham was "lost" until I got proof the customer tried pulling a fast one when it was left with a neighbour. The neighbour took photos when it was collected :-)
I wonder if your office is in a "troubled" area or near one, where all the different parcel distribution hubs will be (they tend to be bunched up in the same places). You have a very high failure rate.
I've lost two with parcel force in one year, hence I only use them for international shipping now (super competitive for large parcels globally ). Both just "got lost". One to Birmingham, and the other to Leeds. Another one to Birmingham was "lost" until I got proof the customer tried pulling a fast one when it was left with a neighbour. The neighbour took photos when it was collected :-)
I wonder if your office is in a "troubled" area or near one, where all the different parcel distribution hubs will be (they tend to be bunched up in the same places). You have a very high failure rate.
I run a sameday courier company and while I personally would do everything to ensure our customers are happy . No carriers will have insurance or terms and conditions that would cover consequential losses.
That said I really do feel for your situation Your putting in everything into to make your business work but suffering from disappointing suppliers not good !
That said I really do feel for your situation Your putting in everything into to make your business work but suffering from disappointing suppliers not good !
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