- Original Poster
- #1
Hi All
With the Christmas selling season ending and as we go into the New year it’s a good chance to step back and assess all aspects of the business. I love this time of year because the workload tests all the systems and procedures and always finds weaknesses which need to be worked out or improved. Each year I write an essay to myself which is essentially a review, improvement, and analysis document and with several years now I can compare each year…. about the only bit of ‘traditional writing’ I do.
Anyway, one of the main priorities this year is assessing my postage and shipping methods and options.
I send a good mix – Letters, Large Letters (up to 300g generally) and parcels (glass) up to 1.3Kg.
Though I ship internationally I’m happy with that setup so its UK Only we are talking about here.
Its worth noting I’m an engraver so everything I send is personalized, no off the shelf stuff.
Up until October I exclusively used the Post office Drop and Go System. Mainly sending 10 - 15 items a day for most of the year. However, I had a rough period in September/October when I had a dramatic increase in delivery delays and at least 1 item a week was disappearing from earth without trace (only delivery scan, no tracking). The final straw was when I sent something urgent to another business by Next day special delivery and it took 4 days to arrive. That being a quiet period I felt royal mail will not cope with Christmas when my quantity goes up over 4x normal, so took decisive action.
Since then, I’ve been using FedEx to send the more valuable parcels and the Post office to send the smaller cheaper large letters. I raised my item prices slightly and my postage prices slightly to cover FedEx but I’m still subsiding a small amount…plus their prices, fuel surcharge seem to be increasing about 10p per week. I am VAT registered, which helps greatly on the price front, but perhaps not a great long-term solution.
I have had only 2 issues with Fedex, but great feedback from customers given they get all the notifications and next day delivery etc.
However, I'm considering dumping Fedex due price and switching to a Royal Mail Business Account with Collection and full tracking on orders (simply because of the immensely positive feedback on the tracking aspect from the FedEx experience), I can also do Parcels and large letters in one go.
What are people’s thoughts on Royal Mail Business accounts these days, any issues and how have those of you that send a medium amount over Christmas found deliveries with RM? What is the pricing like for end to end Tracking?
Anyone got any other combinations and postage methods that might work for me?
Many Thanks
John
With the Christmas selling season ending and as we go into the New year it’s a good chance to step back and assess all aspects of the business. I love this time of year because the workload tests all the systems and procedures and always finds weaknesses which need to be worked out or improved. Each year I write an essay to myself which is essentially a review, improvement, and analysis document and with several years now I can compare each year…. about the only bit of ‘traditional writing’ I do.
Anyway, one of the main priorities this year is assessing my postage and shipping methods and options.
I send a good mix – Letters, Large Letters (up to 300g generally) and parcels (glass) up to 1.3Kg.
Though I ship internationally I’m happy with that setup so its UK Only we are talking about here.
Its worth noting I’m an engraver so everything I send is personalized, no off the shelf stuff.
Up until October I exclusively used the Post office Drop and Go System. Mainly sending 10 - 15 items a day for most of the year. However, I had a rough period in September/October when I had a dramatic increase in delivery delays and at least 1 item a week was disappearing from earth without trace (only delivery scan, no tracking). The final straw was when I sent something urgent to another business by Next day special delivery and it took 4 days to arrive. That being a quiet period I felt royal mail will not cope with Christmas when my quantity goes up over 4x normal, so took decisive action.
Since then, I’ve been using FedEx to send the more valuable parcels and the Post office to send the smaller cheaper large letters. I raised my item prices slightly and my postage prices slightly to cover FedEx but I’m still subsiding a small amount…plus their prices, fuel surcharge seem to be increasing about 10p per week. I am VAT registered, which helps greatly on the price front, but perhaps not a great long-term solution.
I have had only 2 issues with Fedex, but great feedback from customers given they get all the notifications and next day delivery etc.
However, I'm considering dumping Fedex due price and switching to a Royal Mail Business Account with Collection and full tracking on orders (simply because of the immensely positive feedback on the tracking aspect from the FedEx experience), I can also do Parcels and large letters in one go.
What are people’s thoughts on Royal Mail Business accounts these days, any issues and how have those of you that send a medium amount over Christmas found deliveries with RM? What is the pricing like for end to end Tracking?
Anyone got any other combinations and postage methods that might work for me?
Many Thanks
John
