Which courier/shipping company do you use UK?

Which courier/shipping company do you use for those UK based?

I've been using Royal Mail signed for service. Has anyone experienced any delays with them? Would say vast majority of our customers have received their parcels on time but there's always the odd one that has to wait 2 - 3 weeks for their parcel to turn up.

I've used Hermes a couple of times and they've been fine but have heard from others that it's not a great service.

Do you all use tracked to send your items?

 

Within the UK I use Royal Mail for items that can go large letter.

Otherwise, I use DHL.

I have found the Royal Mail service to be not too bad, as a general rule.

 

Useful. Thank you. Do you go to post/delivery office to post your items or just drop them through the red post boxes? Which shipping method do you use via Royal Mail? Signed for? 48?

 

Everything goes 1st class signed for.

I pop them into the local post office. It's fairly rural here, and there is seldom a queue - in fact, I rather enjoy getting the chat to the staff there.

 

Lucky you! There's always a huge queue for me!

 

I send lots via the Royal Mail and very rarely have an issue of non-deliveries, most mailings are on time too, I send mainly Large Letter and after that Small Parcel. Pre-Christmas is the only time (first week of December for Xmas deliveries), and due to the current Covid situation all of my small parcels were held up for around 3 weeks stuck in a local overwhelmed distribution centre. That is the only notable issue I have ever had in around 7 years, aside from some reported damaged packages that all have looked to have been careless Posties from photos that I have seen.

 

Since our local Post Office moved to the Petrol Station / Spar I am usually the one creating the queue and standing there awkwardly as the staff try to do everything and also look after the PO counter

 

Thanks! Useful to know. Have you ever posted straight into a postbox? Or would you advise going to post office to post? Just trying to avoid post office as much as I can due to Covid situation.

 

Get a ream of sticky paper, and use this... send.royalmail.com (I'm new I can't post links) - you'll need scales that weigh in grams. You can keep the Certificate of Posting from the print out and mail direct into a postbox. I think it is marginally cheaper too.

 

I use this. I believe the Certificate of posting has to be stamped at Post office.

 

It is meant to be, the putting it into the system side of things is the oddity to the service, as you may as well as queued up... at one branch they just take them in, and stamp the one part I have, another place they put them through the system proper.

 

I spoke to 2 Royal Mail staff and they told me contrasting things on the phone. One said I have to go to post office to post my items so that it gets accepted into the network, another said I can post into a red post box and upon delivery, it should be signed and status should be updated online. There doesn't seem to be any consistency with RM.

 

I think the trick is two fold.

1. Find out what time they are quiet.
2. Live in the North East!

 

I dont think that standing in the row at the post office is practical
If your business took off unexpectedly you have to take a couple of wheel barrows

It is worth getting Parcel force to collect and Yodel are normally offering good rates
I would never rule out Hermes because you get what you pay for
If your looking for a top quality job I recommend your local APC

 

I do 1 already but not so accurate on Google! 2. Can't do! haha

 

Indeed - DHL do collect from the office. The post office volumes are modest, and it keeps the staff busy! They will collect of course, and if we had parcels for them every day I would organise that.

I suspect I won't grow that part of the business though, as my attentions are focused elsewhere right now.

 

I thought you went to the post office for a skive

 

Ssssh.....my boss might be reading this.

 

When busy our Postmaster used to take in a bag of mail to process when quiet. I'd pay when going back to collect the slips or leave a couple of £notes and rectify accordingly. He'd run 2 'windows' simultaneously, by himself, was often abrupt with slow customers but supremely efficient!

PS: We use Parcelforce and Royal Mail.

 

If I'm going to the post office, do you think I should pay Royal Mail 2nd class standard (pre-paid online) since I'll get a receipt anyway with tracking reference instead of Royal Mail 2nd class signed for? And for Royal Mail 2nd class signed for to post via post box?