Courier for small business needs

[Patryk Rosinski]

Hello everyone, I'm new to that forum but I already found it very informative.
I do electronics repairs for living. I usually get 4-6 parcels from my customers everyday, I repair them and I send them back on the same day. That's important- my reputation rely on speed of my services.
I am currently using Royal Mail special delivery by 1pm. The parcels are usually about 40x30x20 cm and below 2kg.
It is very expensive and inconvenient for me. Each parcel cost £11 and I have to spend about 40 minutes every day travelling to the closest post office (40 mins is a lot for me).
About 2 years ago I sent enquiries to a few well known courier companies but I couldn't get anywhere with them. I mainly asked "can you collect AFTER 4 pm each day", I think I got only 1 reply saying "yes we can collect between 12pm-3pm". All other replies were not related to the question at all. I met an UK Mail driver from my area and he wanted to make a deal with me- just send him an SMS and he'll collect late afternoon. Unfortunately when I tried to open account with them it turned out their system won't let me in, as my address is residential and not business (as if it would matter in any way).
Anyone can recommend anything to help me in this matter?
Appreciate any help or input.

 

[AlanJ1]

Hello,

Your volume is very very low and even with that you are needing after 4PM which is a premium, we have looked at moving couriers doing 10x the volume and struggled to get after 4.
Not sure what to suggest as £11 for a service before 1PM guaranteed isn't actually that expensive.

 

[Patryk Rosinski]

Ok thank you Alan, good to know. By saying expensive I just compare it to other couriers which prices are £5-£7 if bought through parcelmonkey or parcel2go etc. but that way they collect on next day. It's in worst case about £600-£800 monthly difference, for a small company like me it is a big difference. Funny thing- I had a DHL collection booked a few days ago. On the collection day I ordered 4 more collections with the same courier hoping the driver can collect them too. It turned out the driver don't have them in the system and can;t accept them on that day.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I will be very honest with you . ! You are asking for too much and not willing to pay for it .

Its OK taking advice from the driver he has no idea of the costs that his global company are laying out every second of everyday

Some of you people need to factor in these costs into your sales and pass them onto your customers . Being frightened of charging the custom is rife and traders are expecting my industry to provide a service that resembles a charity !

It is acceptable to demand a quality service but to demand it on the cheap in the same sentence is not acceptable at all !

I am getting increasingly frustrated by other businesses wanting to make a profit but then have a big problem with their couriers making a profit !

 

[Patryk Rosinski]

Thank you for honesty Jeremy.
It's not that I don't want to pay, maybe I express myself incorrectly.
As I said- UK Mail prices were ok for me, collection times too. The problem was the address (not location, only address type residential/business).
DHL prices are fine too, but system doesn't allow the driver to collect the parcels if they weren't booked the day before.
I know for sure that many companies doing similar services to mine send their parcels for way less than mentioned here, and I also know they don't send much more than me. The reason I started looking into this matter again is that Royal Mail let me down 3 times during a week. They delayed the guaranteed deliveries for 4 days.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

You will get good prices with high volumes
I recommend that you contact your local APC depot where you will talk to a human that may even turn out to be the franchise owner in many cases . I think this would be the best option for your requirements .

 

[Mr D]

Have a look at the Royal Mail online business account. Usually works out different price than the post office.
Pay several hundred quid a year for collection, though if spending enough on postage the collection is free.

If not wanting to charge customers enough to cover the postage then reduce the standard postage down. First class mail perhaps with special delivery as an optional extra for an extra fee if they want it. And charge them enough to cover the extra cost.

Either you pay for the service you provide or your customers do. The choice is yours.

 

[chalkie99]

From around 4 pm onwards the drivers are trying to fit in as many collections as possible, mostly from central locations and larger users. They don't have the time to travel to you (you have already suggested your location is residential and far from a Post Office) so it's neither economical nor a good use of their time.

Years ago most of the parcel companies were chasing business and would do anything to get an extra customer. UK Mail were then called Business Post and I know for a fact what lengths they made their drivers go to to collect an extra parcel. The trouble was that the drivers were self employed and the pay for a collection was less than the cost of the diesel they used (and paid for).

Last time I checked they had completely changed their ways and now required a minimum monthly payment to open an account.

One option might be for you to find a drop off point if there is one closer or, better, find a parcel company who has a depot near you so that you can take all your parcels there and get them into the system after you have finished your days work.

The driver you spoke to will have been self employed and in no position to offer you the service you want and it is correct that they cannot (or should not) take parcels which have not been booked..

 

[MikeCC]

Deleted, same ideas as Mr D

 

[bodgitt&scarperLTD]

What Mr D or Chalkie said. Can you find a local self employed motorbike courier to take the parcels to the drop off point for you? Royal Mail is 4 mins away, is there a Hermes or something nearer?

 

[Radoslav Brodzinski]

Royal Mail guaranteed delivery, insurance etc.

 

[AlanJ1]

Ok thank you Alan, good to know. By saying expensive I just compare it to other couriers which prices are £5-£7 if bought through parcelmonkey or parcel2go etc. but that way they collect on next day. It's in worst case about £600-£800 monthly difference, for a small company like me it is a big difference. Funny thing- I had a DHL collection booked a few days ago. On the collection day I ordered 4 more collections with the same courier hoping the driver can collect them too. It turned out the driver don't have them in the system and can;t accept them on that day.

That's understandable for those prices on those sites, but they will change depending on postcodes, if they actually collect the next day etc. Getting a same day collection at the time you require for that price without the volume sadly isn't feasible.

That is 100% correct with DHL and with any other courier the way you are doing it. We have Hermes pick up daily for one customer and they can only take what is booked in for the previous day.

 

[Root 66 Woodshop]

Take a look at Transglobal express...

We use them regularly, we can either drop off at a collection point in close proximity or have the parcels collected from us directly.

we don't send a lot of orders out on courier but their services enable us to do everything online.