Seeking Couriers

[my favourite wine shop]

Hello

We currently run a wine shop in Sidmouth and are now expanding online with a new website up in a week or so.
Ideally we need to find a courier service that is happy to transport glass/fragile items and insure us for it!

We are using a courier service but basically its our own risk and if the item gets broken then tough.
Or is there an additional insurance that exists to cover sending items via a courier. Royal Mail do but are too expensive. Needs to be about £5.99 for up to 5kg.
Thanks Emilie

 

[TheGuru2010]

Hi Emilie,

I may be able to help you with the insurance side of things but would have a few Q's for you to start with, do you have some contact details?

 

[Kernowman]

I think one of the cheapest is Hermes at £4.99 + VAT for up to 10kg. Not the quickest to collect and deliver though and insurance is additional

 

[my favourite wine shop]

Hermes is what we use at present but not covered by their insurance, its our own risk if we use them!
Nothing broken yet but it would be our luck that the 2000 Rothschild at £600 + gets broken!

 

[Kernowman]

Hermes is what we use at present but not covered by their insurance, its our own risk if we use them!
Nothing broken yet but it would be our luck that the 2000 Rothschild at £600 + gets broken!

For that value of package you need a different service

Trouble is, the insurance certainly racks the price up considerably, well beyond your £5.99 target and mention the word "glass" gives the average courier a myocardial infarction Maybe your should tier the shipping cost depending on the value of the consignment, like your Rothschild for example and use a "balance of probabilities" formula of say 1 shipment in 20 of the cheaper packages getting lost or busted, as opposed to what you would have spent on insurance premiums per package. I used to send high value and delicate items by courier and kept a "pot" of contingency money just for that purpose which worked out much cheaper than insuring the package each time.

 

[shaunatsf]

Hi,

We use a company called fastway, I know they operate in the UK as well but I am not sure of the price but I think it is around £4.99

Hope it helps

 

[my favourite wine shop]

Thanks, i will certainly take a look

 

[sysops]

Hermes is what we use at present but not covered by their insurance, its our own risk if we use them!
Nothing broken yet but it would be our luck that the 2000 Rothschild at £600 + gets broken!

Then you pack your more expensive bottles accordingly! It is very easy to pack a bottle of wine in such a way that it withstands a drop from 12 ft onto concrete (we do this all the time). It takes about 3 minutes, and costs £2.50 in materials. This is not viable for a £10 bottle, but makes perfect sense for a £60+ bottle.

You don't need a new courier or insurance, you need to think carefully about your packaging.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Saxon Packaging and Winebox do a wine box D) that is approved for transit of wine through DPD/Interlink. Which means that it is normally insured.
http://www.interlinkexpress.com/shipping/shipping_advice-2/packaging_tips-2.htm

I personally would avoid fastways simply because it doesn't have a proper network/hub system, and so your wine goes from franchisee, to parcelforce, to another franchisee, and may end up getting transferred a couple of times in each area with each franchisee.

The rules for sending anything by any courier are exactly the same and very simple.
It is any AUTOMATED sorting process, there is no-one to read labels that say "fragile" or "this way up". Every box should be packaged so that you are confident to hold it out at arms length and drop to the ground.

And everything can be packaged pretty much to that standard (I used to ship antique china/glass & furniture with parcelforce). It just takes a bit of time and effort perfecting packaging techniques and materials.

 

[winelabels]

Sysops is right, especially with christmas coming, when courier companies are busiest and hire cack-handed extra staff.

On the courier side you should be more concerned about convenience of collection and reliability of delivery. I found the cheaper couriers like Fastway were'nt up to it.

 

[thejoshm]

We've recently moved over to DPD and been quite impressed so far!

Booking system is good and they can update clients by email/text with a one-hour delivery window which clients love!

Cheers
Josh

-----
Online Printing

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Secondly. Don't get emotional about it, get business like. If it's cheaper to have a 3% breakage rate, than pay £x on packaging on all sales, then accept that 3% as part of your cost of sales. Budget for it. plan for it. cost for it.

And don't moan about it.

 

[sysops]

Secondly. Don't get emotional about it, get business like. If it's cheaper to have a 3% breakage rate, than pay £x on packaging on all sales, then accept that 3% as part of your cost of sales. Budget for it. plan for it. cost for it.

And don't moan about it.

As with most things, there are optima to be reached. For cheaper goods, you use less packaging and accept a slightly higher breakage rate. For more expensive goods you use more packaging.

 

[winelabels]

Don't forget to take your customer's experience into account. If they want a special bottle for an occasion they'll be peeved if doesn't arrive on time and in one piece when they want it. A prompt replacement isn't always good enough.

 

[KidsBeeHappy]

Yep, and that should be built into your breakages tolerance. Along with the cost and more importantly the customer service time dealt with dealing with customer complaints, processing refunds/claims, and lost customers.

But the point is, all of this should be based on cold hard costings, and you should be aware of your tolerance.

The difference between a parcel courier and a same day courier for a bottle of wine could be as much as £100. So, you've got to know at what point to switch service. And as syspos says at what point to invest in the more expensive packaging. Based on £ and % rates. Not based on emotional reactions or whether one customer complains particularly loudly.

In every business, the pefection percentage varies. Many business would be 110% happy with a 98% customer satisfaction rate however when it comes to things like midwifery, and sealing deep sea oil pumps, it is clear that only 100% is acceptable.

You've got to know what your acceptable tolerances are for your business.