Decent courier for fragile items

[Gforster]

Hi guys,

does anybody know of a decent courier that can transport fragile items (basins, bathroom pottery) around the country for reasonable rates.

We have used two couriers so far and both have managed to keep a steady rate of nearly 40% breakages ! not only this but they are charging me more for transporting fragile items and refusing to insure it (clearly as they are playing football with the boxes at the depot).

I don't think it is too much to ask of a courier company to get a package from one place to another without smashing it into a million pieces so ANY advice or recommedations would be good.

I have purposefully not included the names of the two companies that we used as I am not sure if it is allowed / ethical to name and shame but I am sure you lot will tell me if it is !!!!

 

[Jills]

Try Movers Transport 0161 442 9999 Rick or Craig an excellent company. They travel throughout the UK & Europe.

 

[alex4orne]

Are you talking about a courier or a carrier ? That is a dedicated vehicle or do you mean like a parcel service like TNT ? A Parcel service like the aformentioned is a carrier, a courier offers a dedicted vehicle usually same day.
What do you think is a resonable rate? small van will be anywhere around £.90-£1.00 per loaded mile depending on where you live.

 

[GreatSEO]

www.boxby.co.uk should be all you need

Regards

Dave

 

[An Oasis]

Thanks for that Jills

Added to our contact list.

 

[Gforster]

Are you talking about a courier or a carrier ? That is a dedicated vehicle or do you mean like a parcel service like TNT ? A Parcel service like the aformentioned is a carrier, a courier offers a dedicted vehicle usually same day.
What do you think is a resonable rate? small van will be anywhere around £.90-£1.00 per loaded mile depending on where you live.

I guess a carrier then, A reasonable rate for us would anything to £15 per consignment. We send volume so we can usually get the rates down a bit.

It would be uneconomical for us to send things on a dedicated van at the moment as sending a £100 on a dedicated courier to London at £1 is not the way for us !

The goods are REALLY well packaged so providing a common phrase in the warehouse isn't "GO LONG" they should be alright....

Thanks for the suggestions so far though guys !

 

[alex4orne]

I guess a carrier then, A reasonable rate for us would anything to £15 per consignment. We send volume so we can usually get the rates down a bit.

It would be uneconomical for us to send things on a dedicated van at the moment as sending a £100 on a dedicated courier to London at £1 is not the way for us !

The goods are REALLY well packaged so providing a common phrase in the warehouse isn't "GO LONG" they should be alright....

Thanks for the suggestions so far though guys !

Yes I see what you mean, trouble with a carier is how many times is your parcel man handeld, probably at least 4 or 5 times. It will go on at least 3 different vehicles and 2 convayer belts, not to mention how many different people will pick it up. I have worked for several companys on a subby basis, so have seen how they treat the parcels.
I dont think there is an easy answer to this apart from going to check out the nearest depot (again no indication of what the others are like, usually a franchise).
If you were able to pay a bit more, you might find a courier who will co-load as long as yuo can give them a big enough window to do it in. I have only just stopped being a courier myself, hence the knowledge.

 

[RayB]

Yes I see what you mean, trouble with a carier is how many times is your parcel man handeld, probably at least 4 or 5 times. It will go on at least 3 different vehicles and 2 convayer belts, not to mention how many different people will pick it up.

Yep, that is the problem ^^^

The most reliable we have used from a damage point of view is Interlink. Still goes via a hub though.

You might need to look at more robust packaging as the answer instead

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Yes I see what you mean, trouble with a carier is how many times is your parcel man handeld, probably at least 4 or 5 times. It will go on at least 3 different vehicles and 2 convayer belts, not to mention how many different people will pick it up. I have worked for several companys on a subby basis, so have seen how they treat the parcels.
I dont think there is an easy answer to this apart from going to check out the nearest depot (again no indication of what the others are like, usually a franchise).
If you were able to pay a bit more, you might find a courier who will co-load as long as yuo can give them a big enough window to do it in. I have only just stopped being a courier myself, hence the knowledge.

HI

I have to agree with all of the above.

Parcel service will be the cheapest, and £15 a consignment is an OK rate. But you will get breakages because of what's been said above. It's just a case of offsetting the hassle of the few breakages against the numbers of shipments that are going out at £15 a piece.

(We used to ship antiques with a parcel service, and we looked at the odd breakage as almost part of the shipping costs)

The courier rate will be the most expensive, and to minimise this the best thing would be to combine deliveries onto regular routes (i.e. North East on Monday, South on Tuesday, etc etc etc). But this may affect your turnaround of customer orders.

If you want to obtain a variety of competitive courier quotes for a delivery then try us at www.boxby.co.uk . But you will not be able to get anywhere near as low as the £15 you are currently paying.

Maybe a pallet service could be an alternative, if you have the facilities to pack it onto a pallet we could see if we could get you a standard national pallet rate which would allow you good budgeting. It would be more than the £15 parcel rate you are paying at the moment, but cheaper than a courier, and a lot less chance of any breakages. Although delivery could only be B2B with pallet services.

Let me know if you want a pallet quote. Good luck.

Kind regards
Sandra

 

[Gforster]

Thanks for that Boxby, we do have a pallet company two doors down and they are quite competitive at around £30 per pallet anywhere in the country (including residential addresses).

We use them currently for orders where there are several items or for the higher end goods, however £30 is still too much if we are sending a single basin or pan at the budget end of the market.

I have just had a reply from one company who feel that they can compete on these terms so I will see what they say or maybe have to rethink the model which we currently use....

Thanks for all the help though guys.

 

[10Yetis]

^^^ What Boxby says... pop your requirements on the site and take your pick.

P.s Great tag Boxby

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

^^^ What Boxby says... pop your requirements on the site and take your pick.

P.s Great tag Boxby

Wonder who thought of it!!!!!!

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Fours years old !!!

But self promotion for search engine reasons !!!( I am a full member of this site )

Please see our contact details we are here to help

Many Thanks Jeremy