Postage RM vs Myhermes

[alexhill7]

Hi All,

We have started a small business and have been posting 2kg parcels through myhermes as they are the cheapest.
Very happy with service so far.
Question, top sellers on ebay selling the same product are posting 2kg items through Royal Mail.....How?
The cost is around £5.60, this is far more that a courier service.

Am i missing a trick here,how are they doing i? we are going to be looking at posting up 30 items a day

Thanks
Alex

 

[randallscandles]

Hi Alex

We post a similar number of packages to you daily, plus loads of large letters.

Do you have a RM 'Online Business Account? The rates are far cheaper than standard costs. We use their BPL rates, but if you only send packets then I believe there is an alternative cheaper service

It is cheapest for us to use RM up to 1kg, and Hermes over 1kg. Providing we can keep packages to the RM 'small packages' sizes.

We have generally had a good experience with Hermes, although some of their delivery guys are a little poor at times, and they respond when we have an issue.

We would LOVE to find a cheaper faster parcel service. Hermes taking 3-5 days is simply too long for our customers.

Hope this helps a little
Paul

 

[alexhill7]

Hi thanks, yes this helps.

I hear you can also get a discount at myhermes for volume parcels, i know someone who pays £3.89 instead of the £4.20.

I can't see this published anywhere though?

Thanks
Alex

 

[AndyP]

Hi

I just checked our RM OBA to see the cost...using your 2kg parcel as an example, to a UK address on RM48 service the cost is £3.39.

Hope that helps

 

[KevinRockett]

Also, A 2kg Parcel is £3.29 at jagpost - a service setup to save people on postage versus Royal Mail. UK savings at JagPost are 5p - 10p per parcel cheaper than RM generally but the international savings per parcel are more like 50p - £1 cheaper per parcel. Same service in terms of delivery times etc - it is just a case of using their RM account instead of yours to get access to their bulk discount. A good service and a good idea.

Hope this helps...

 

[14Steve14]

Hi thanks, yes this helps.

I hear you can also get a discount at myhermes for volume parcels, i know someone who pays £3.89 instead of the £4.20.

I can't see this published anywhere though?

Thanks
Alex

I think somewhere on their website it says if you are a business user contact us for pricing. They do not list htese prices, you have to speak to them.

 

[puffin]

Also, A 2kg Parcel is £3.29 at jagpost - a service setup to save people on postage versus Royal Mail. UK savings at JagPost are 5p - 10p per parcel cheaper than RM generally but the international savings per parcel are more like 50p - £1 cheaper per parcel. Same service in terms of delivery times etc - it is just a case of using their RM account instead of yours to get access to their bulk discount. A good service and a good idea.

Hope this helps...

Is this jagufs?

 

[KevinRockett]

Yes, JagPost is the small parcels service from JAG - UFS (International) Ltd.

They are from a global logistics background so the bigger freight stuff but they launched an e-commerce postage service in May this year targetted at online sellers for the RM type parcels.

 

[waynewes]

There must be a cheaper option in there somewhere. Does anyone know who Amazon uses for their packets?
I have a franking machine but because of RM's stupid size restrictions I only send items that fit into the 'small packet' catagory because even if it only weighs 100g, if it is the size of a large packet then it is cheaper to send it by myhermes. HOWEVER if you look at Amazon's prices for fulfilment by Amazon, their standard prices for letters and large letters are normal but their packet charge is only something like 85p I know for some things they use myhermes so I don't know if they just have a ridiculous volume discount with them.
With regards to the other people on eBay, it must just be that they used to use RM but since the price change in April they just haven't changed the listing to 'other courier'

 

[waynewes]

Also Jagpost website appears to be down?

 

[roydmoorian]

I prefer to see a reletively smart Royal Mail employee in a Royal Mail Van delivering my ubiquitous purchases compared to the chav in jogging bottoms with Jimmy's Jolly Window Cleaning Services brushed roughly out with emulsion paint and the bumper hanging off the 15 year old AstraVan (and probably the no hire & reward or Goods in Transit Insurance).

If I had the choice when completing a shopping cart I would NEVER choose MyHerpes.

Yodel seems to be more professional for the cheap & cheerful parcel service.

 

[KevinRockett]

I just checked - the website is definately up. Were you trying .com as the website is .co.uk?

As I say, it is definately not down as I just accessed it.

 

[waynewes]

I just checked - the website is definately up. Were you trying .com as the website is .co.uk?

As I say, it is definately not down as I just accessed it.

It was the UK site, I was going from google as well, it was coming up with an error but is working fine now

 

[alexhill7]

Hi

I just checked our RM OBA to see the cost...using your 2kg parcel as an example, to a UK address on RM48 service the cost is £3.39.

Hope that helps

Thanks Andy, IS RM OBA priced differently to a normal RM post office?
Or is it based on volume?
Can you give me an idea of discount against volume

Thanks, any help appreciated

Alex

 

[waynewes]

I prefer to see a reletively smart Royal Mail employee in a Royal Mail Van delivering my ubiquitous purchases compared to the chav in jogging bottoms with Jimmy's Jolly Window Cleaning Services brushed roughly out with emulsion paint and the bumper hanging off the 15 year old AstraVan (and probably the no hire & reward or Goods in Transit Insurance).

If I had the choice when completing a shopping cart I would NEVER choose MyHerpes.

Yodel seems to be more professional for the cheap & cheerful parcel service.

Harsh, I use MyHermes all the time, most customers don't care who drops off the package as long as they get it in good condition and when it comes to my profit margin then its myhermes all the way!

 

[alexhill7]

yea i sort of agree, had no problems up to yesterday with Myhermes.
However a guy emailed me saying he hasn't received his parcel after 3 weeks!
Checked on myhermes and it said delivered to porch last Wednesday.

The buyer is claiming the porch always locked and not received it, and myhermes claim they have delivered, what do i do, i feel caught in the middle.
Is it my responsibility to refund?

Alex

 

[iKam]

yea i sort of agree, had no problems up to yesterday with Myhermes.
However a guy emailed me saying he hasn't received his parcel after 3 weeks!
Checked on myhermes and it said delivered to porch last Wednesday.

The buyer is claiming the porch always locked and not received it, and myhermes claim they have delivered, what do i do, i feel caught in the middle.
Is it my responsibility to refund?

Alex

Afraid so. As a trader you have the duty to ensure a customer receives their order.

 

[japancool]

I had my first problem with MyHermes last week. The driver had failed to find the property and had scanned the delivery in as "recipient on holiday".

Having contacted MyHermes a few times to try and sort it out, it hadn't been delivered after the third attempt, and they would normally have sent it back to me. I got some additional instructions to the courier on day of the last attempt, but it obviously hadn't got to them in time. I refunded the customer, as I had promised to do.

The next day though, the customer messaged me to tell me that they had now received it, and would I like them to send the payment again? I said no, to keep it with my compliments. It was a relatively low value item so no big deal, but the customer was happy and I will hopefully get repeat orders in the future.

It was mainly my fault for not getting the instructions to the courier as soon as the first failed attempt was made, so fair enough. I haven't had any other problems with them.

The only thing that really, really, REALLY p***ed me off was the customer service idiot at the other end of the webchat who couldn't seem to grasp that the delivery address on the package was right, but the courier hadn't been able to find the property. I'm not normally rude to CS people but this just stretched my patience to breaking point.

Other downside is the 10ppm call charge to ring their 0871 number.

 

[LED Lightworld]

Harsh, I use MyHermes all the time, most customers don't care who drops off the package as long as they get it in good condition and when it comes to my profit margin then its myhermes all the way!

Have to agree.

 

[RogerBa]

Thanks Andy, IS RM OBA priced differently to a normal RM post office?
Or is it based on volume?
Can you give me an idea of discount against volume

Thanks, any help appreciated

Alex

Your best bet is to give them a call, I've found them (RM) very helpful and spent a bit of time on the phone to their OBA team talking about my business and what options there are. After opening the account with them they were also very good at talking me through the system which is quite straight forward after you know what your doing.

 

[cdmsjtr]

We use Hermes and generally they are very good, occasionally they leave a next calling card which is confusing for the recipient. Parcels getting left is solved by requesting a signed for service. DPD I think provide the best service, but quite often the value of the item getting sent does not justify the additional cost.

I think packet post is dead, too many consumers know that there is no proof of delivery (although printing dummy tracking codes on the labels helps).

 

[14Steve14]

I too had my first experience of using CS at myhermes last week.

The customer phoned me to ask when the parcel would be delivered and whilst he was on the phone, I checked the tracking information. Aparently two attempts had been made but there was reported as no answer. I eventually got through to CS and what an idiot I ended up with on the telephone. He was no help at all, and when I asked why the customer had not been called on the phone number I had entered when completing the order, I was told that they couriers were not expected to call customers. Well to cut a long story short, my customer did eventually get his parcel. It was deluivered by someone from down the road, when they were walking to the pub for a drink. Ahain I phoned customer service and asked for a copy of the signature. The CS person told me it had been signed for by 'porch'. After a bit of a laugh I asked for a claim form as they had not delivered the parcel and had not obtained a signature as they should. Now I had already spoken to the customer, and also had spoken to the person who actually delivered the parcel, I was told that no claim copuld be made as the customer had signed for the parcel and it had been delivered. It mattered not that the parcel was just left in a porch at the wrong address. I looked og google maps for the postcode and found the farm almost immeadiatly as it has its own postcode. I also tapped the postcode into my tomtom and it too found the farm. God alone knows what the delivery driver was using.

WWhat a nightmare this delivery was. I eventually managed to get a form to complete as the parcel was not delivered in a reasonable time. It actually took 11 working days. God knows how they manage to get anything delivered. As an insight evertime I have had to ring CS at myhermes I have had a n unusually long wait for the call to be answered, and I mean up to 20 minutes in one case, and at least 15 minutes on an other. If it wasnt for the price I would look else where.

 

[Crown-MAil]

Hi Guys

if you are sending packets no larger than 305mm x 228mm x152mm. and up to 2kgs please contact us for a quote as you may be happy with what we can offer.

 

[JMRidley]

We have an OBA account with Royal Mail - really happy with them. We get really good postage rates and the service is incredibly reliable - only 4 or 5 lost parcels in 3 years and we send thousands.