Postage Question ??

[Hedgehog Toys]

i send out small packets as well as larger items (up to 30kg). At present i ue Royal Mail / Parcel Force. Is this the most cost effective way of sending goods?

Another thing is, i charge a set delivery fee regardless of number of items / weight. This can have a knock on effect on the profit margin. Is this normal or should i introduce a postal charge that is different on products over a certain weight?

Chris

[UK2004]

Same dilemma as me dude! AM still bugging mysel fover whether to offer fre delivery or a set fee, with free delivery gotta slap a few pennies on the products and in some cases will make profit margins miniscule, but the downside of set postage costs is that someone might say, hey buddy im only ordering 1 thing and I pay 3 quid the same as someone ordering ten things, think in end i wil go with free delivery and have to try make it up in the postage, I am doing everything by special and recorded delivery next day so not too cheap but want to give a good service.

[Hedgehog Toys]

Yeah i know what you mean, the price of some of my goods means that the postage is dearer than the product....which will put people off. On the other hand if someone orders something large or heavy then i end up paying £8+ in postage which eats away the profits....

[profitxchange]

Most buyers do not object to postage/delivery charges, the key is it should be shown as a separate item on any invoice!

The cost of the product is then shown as clean.

The buyer has to decide do they want incure the your cost of delivery or incure expense going to an alternative outlet to collect it - its called shopping. We all too often overlook what it actually costs us to go and get our shopping. car at 60+p/mile plus parking and the odd fine.

I bet your delivery charges are cheaper!

Regards

[coxadmin]

Yeah i know what you mean, the price of some of my goods means that the postage is dearer than the product....which will put people off. On the other hand if someone orders something large or heavy then i end up paying £8+ in postage which eats away the profits....

I always charge postage / courier at cost, rather than subsidise it.

[puravida]

We weigh every product we have and then charge the customer the exact postage rate plus 50p for the envelope.

We have an account with Parcelforce (but almost as cheap just to use someone like Interparcel) for larger items and again, we charge exact shipping cost plus the cost of packaging.

I've been shopping around for better ways to ship for about 3 years now and Royal Mail 1st Class for smaller items then Parcelforce (but only if you have an account otherwise v costly) for the larger items is pretty much as good a combination as you will find.

We've gone a step further and have scales/franking machine in the shop now to deal with all our web & phone orders and the postie drops by the same time every day to collect.

That saves a ton of time over days gone by of queueing at the post office counter with an armful of packages!!!

[UK2004]

Profitxchange, at end of day people might not add up cost of going shopping but they can use google and if someone offers something with free delivery they will be tempted, I think in my market I have to subsidide postage on some things or I won't be competitive enough unfortunately.

[UK2004]

Puravida, my father's company uses the franking machine nd scales and he has offered me an office where he has a few, I want my business totally separate though, think family and business in our family should be separate!

What I wandered though is can you do the postal peopel picking up your mail if you send everything recorded delivery? All my parcels are going recorded delivery so does that mean every single thing will have to be signed for in the post office, when I post something recorded delivery normally I would fill out the stickers they give you, what happenes if you have 50 parcels a day to send?

[puravida]

Yeah yeah yeah. Course. The postie picks up regular mail, recorded, special delivery, airmail to Europe - everything you would do at your post office.

If you are sending 50 items a day then don't even THINK about hitting the post office every day!!

Also - I think you should reconsider taking up your dad's offer. My advice would be to take whatever help you can in business and I'm sure your dad would love nothing more than to help you along your way.

If you add up what you spend each month and have him give you a proper invoice to pay then then where is the harm?? Scales and franking machine makes life soooooooooo much easier!!!