DPD Local - Thoughts?

[Elliott Coleman]

We currently use Royal Mail for our shipping but with all these strikes, constant price increases and not a very user friendly service we're looking to switch to a courier service instead.

Anybody use DPD Local? What are your thoughts. Any good?

 

[tertius]

Used DPD with no complaints. Now switched to APC as cheaper. Wouldn't touch Royal Mail, if they carry on the way they are, the workers will have no company to work for soon.

 

[WaveJumper]

My son uses DPD they have been absolutely fine

 

[DefinitelyMaybeUK]

Used DPD with no complaints.

My son uses DPD

But they're not the same folk on the street and in the office - 'DPD Local' are the blue vans and DPD the red ones. We tried to sign-up with DPD directly a few years back and didn't do enough orders though. They put us onto to DPD Local who did quote for UK deliveries* (marginally cheaper than Tracked 24, as long it was a small parcel in their bags), but the international prices were shocking, which is where the full DPD would of been great.

*Unfortunately, DPD Local only covered more mainland destinations and either had no service or long delivery times north of the border and nothing to NI iirc.

The prices also jumped up for anything over a couple of kg, which is where a RM contract comes into its own, as it's the same price for the "occasional" large parcel. In the end we stuck with Royal Mail - and 99.9% of the time it's excellent full UK coverage and Tracked 24 is pretty quick as it should be. International destinations can incur occasional delays, but they're not that bad, just at the mercy of destination customs.

Since Brexit, DPD also have a long PDF with some seemingly unreasonable prohibited items that other carriers take as normal, so worth checking your goods aren't on the list.

We connect to the RM click and drop through their API, it's seamless for our web orders - DPD Local do have something similar I think, but I'm hedging their user interface for manual order is better than CnD

RM also collect at the end of day, while DPD Local would of been more ad hoc, so next day deliveries wouldn't normally be possible. That said, when we have DPD Local deliveries, the guy is great, less so the random bunch of DPD drivers who's rather mark your house as "no one in" than try to deliver and completely blank you if do set a safe place!

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Expect prices to rise across the board if your supplier has not placed an increase already

The DPD prohibited list is a good honest list and I would say that you would have less problems if you needed to adhere to this list

 

[WaveJumper]

It always surprises me lately when people are surprised by a price increase, do they actually expect prices to be going down. Probably the most important factor surly is are you getting value for money.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

It always surprises me lately when people are surprised by a price increase, do they actually expect prices to be going down. Probably the most important factor surly is are you getting value for money.

I am convinced that nobody factors in the movement and carriage of goods in their business strategy.
It is a joke here that they assume that transport operators offer their services for free to avoid paying tax
All I hear from online retailers is moaning about the price of couriers . It is well known question on UKBF!

 

[Mark T Jones]

I am convinced that nobody factors in the movement and carriage of goods in their business strategy.
It is a joke here that they assume that transport operators offer their services for free to avoid paying tax
All I hear from online retailers is moaning about the price of couriers . It is well known question on UKBF!

An extreme variant - I had a start up loan applicant selling stickers online

Made a big noise that his USP was that he didn't add delivery to his costs whereas others did.

His projections didn't show any delivery costs. Once added the business wasn't viable.

(Also a great example of where projections can highlight flaws in a plan)

 

[Alex@Amber]

We currently use Royal Mail for our shipping but with all these strikes, constant price increases and not a very user friendly service we're looking to switch to a courier service instead.

Anybody use DPD Local? What are your thoughts. Any good?

Hi Elliott - I work closely with a business called London East Transport. They have done a lot of work recently to help smes struggling with the strikes. They act as negotiator and shipping planner between yourself and DPD (and other couriers) so you get the service but at a better rate and with actual customer service support. I'm happy to chat directly if you want? [email protected] or I can pass your details to the team (they are lovely) and ask they give you a call. (www.londoneasttransport.co.uk)

 

[lesliedocherty]

We have used DPD for years, after trying Parcelforce, DX, APC etc, tried them all

DPD are still the best (not without issue occasionally)

 

[Mister B]

We used DPD up until the end of last year...when we had a spate of non collections and a whole heap of issues sending internationally.

I accept that things go wrong occassionally, but I refuse to accept poor standards of customer service. Especially when paying for a premium service.

For the time being we're back with RM, but that may well change in the near future.

But going back to your original question, I think that they're as good as any. Not perfect, but far better than average.

 

[Elliott Coleman]

quoted wrong poster

 

[Elliott Coleman]

I am convinced that nobody factors in the movement and carriage of goods in their business strategy.
It is a joke here that they assume that transport operators offer their services for free to avoid paying tax
All I hear from online retailers is moaning about the price of couriers . It is well known question on UKBF!

How very condescending. If price was the only factor, I'd be signing up with Herpes or Evri or whatever they've decided to call themselves this month.

The fact is RM is not good value for money, especially when looking for a next day service.

 

[DefinitelyMaybeUK]

The fact is RM is not good value for money, especially when looking for a next day service.

TBH, I think overall RM is cheaper and offers a better service for our business - I looked back at our quote and DPD Local actually came in 10% more than Tracked24 once you'd added the DPD Local 9% fuel surcharge at the time. The price we had for next day by 12 (akin to RM SD by 1pm) is (even now) slightly more for 10kg than RM is. And as I said, RM collects every weekday end, with no need to book like DPD Local - I'd be surprised that if you had a last-minute next day order, that DPD Local would pick up that day for 'real' next day delivery - RM does. But it may well work for you, just watch out for the small print like a congestion surcharge for central London addresses. I did misquote previously, DPD Local do deliver to NI and other islands/highlands, it's just that the price was 3x more than mainland. Again, depends what your market is, this may be ok when weighed against other factors.

 

[Elliott Coleman]

TBH, I think overall RM is cheaper and offers a better service for our business - I looked back at our quote and DPD Local actually came in 10% more than Tracked24 once you'd added the DPD Local 9% fuel surcharge at the time. The price we had for next day by 12 (akin to RM SD by 1pm) is (even now) slightly more for 10kg than RM is. And as I said, RM collects every weekday end, with no need to book like DPD Local - I'd be surprised that if you had a last-minute next day order, that DPD Local would pick up that day for 'real' next day delivery - RM does. But it may well work for you, just watch out for the small print like a congestion surcharge for central London addresses. I did misquote previously, DPD Local do deliver to NI and other islands/highlands, it's just that the price was 3x more than mainland. Again, depends what your market is, this may be ok when weighed against other factors.

The problem with Tracked 24 is that it's not a guaranteed next day service.

Most of our stuff is shipped on a free delivery, because, @JEREMY HAWKE, customers really do think that deliveries are free. For that, Royal Mail 48 is fine and we're happy with the price and for the most part deliveries are made within 2-3 days.

We signed up to Tracked 24 specifically for our next day deliveries and would have shipped a lot using that service but it soon became apparent that 24 did not mean a 24 hour service which ended up in annoyed customers and lots of refunds so we ended up going back to Special deliveries which is expensive for a small item worth circa £30-£40. This makes our next day delivery service to customers expensive when compared to other businesses using somebody like DPD, APC etc.

We still used Tracked 24 for items heavier than 2Kg, but because we moved back to SD and weren't hitting our projected targets they've increased prices, 3-4 times to the point were it's more expensive than SD and Tracked 48 they increased so much it's now costs twice as much as Tracked 24. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot.

Any contract we sign with a courier will require regular daily collections (Monday to Friday) which, from the conversation I've had with them, DPD don't seem to have a problem with.

I don't have any pricing from them yet and pricing will of course be a deciding factor. I was just trying to gauge customer experience with them. Looking at online reviews is difficult because most reviews are from the end users (waiting for a missed delivery) and are quick to leave a bad review but can't be bothered to leave a good one.

 

[DefinitelyMaybeUK]

The problem with Tracked 24 is that it's not a guaranteed next day service.

Well no, I'll give you that, they quote 1-2 days, and we never claim it isn't this, but rarely (on the occasions that I check) are parcels not delivered next day. Perhaps what you need to get opinion on is "do DPD Local Next Day deliveries arrive next day?" - I note there terms (much like anyone else I suspect) says: "Any specific timescales for delivery and/or collection which the Company gives are estimates only."

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Most of our stuff is shipped on a free delivery, because, @JEREMY HAWKE, customers really do think that deliveries are free. For that, Royal Mail 48 is fine and we're happy with the price and for the most part deliveries are made within 2-3 days.

I have no problem with that as long as you understand that your footing the bill and not me . This lot has to get me a Greek villa and a replacement E class .

 

[Elliott Coleman]

I have no problem with that as long as you understand that your footing the bill and not me . This lot has to get me a Greek villa and a replacement E class .

I've never expected you to foot the bill.
That was just an assumption that you made.

That doesn't mean that I can look for value for money though.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

I've never expected you to foot the bill.
That was just an assumption that you made.

That doesn't mean that I can look for value for money though.

To be honest everything I buy online requires a 5 or 6 pound delivery charge so I don't know where you're finding these customers who don't have any money

 

[Elliott Coleman]

To be honest everything I buy online requires a 5 or 6 pound delivery charge so I don't know where you're finding these customers who don't have any money

Well the plan moving forward is to stop free delivery and charge a small delivery fee, but for that I need to offer my customers something better than 2nd class post and over priced next day deliveries because special delivery is my only option.

Until I get pricing I'm not sure what that's going to be, but right now for every £1k I charge for shipping, it's costing me £2k after the free deliveries. I'm hoping that whatever changes I make will see me break even on shipping costs.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

Well the plan moving forward is to stop free delivery and charge a small delivery fee, but for that I need to offer my customers something better than 2nd class post and over priced next day deliveries because special delivery is my only option.

Until I get pricing I'm not sure what that's going to be, but right now for every £1k I charge for shipping, it's costing me £2k after the free deliveries. I'm hoping that whatever changes I make will see me break even on shipping costs.

Just out of interest What is the average value of order

 

[Elliott Coleman]

Just out of interest What is the average value of order

Around £45