Shipping to the UK

campo

Hi All,
I run a small business where I ship on average 20 parcels per week to the UK, They are small enough to fit into a A3 envelope.

So my questions is who would be best to use as courier.

My experience so far

Started with using Parcel Motel at a cost of 14.50 per parcel but they were taking at least 5 days to deliver and they lost on average 2 parcel per month

Went to Fastway was paying 12e per parcel again they were slow and lost 2 parcels in 1 week.

So my question is who is the best courier out there for UK Delivery, Ideally I would like delivery time to be 3 days and cost wise 15e is probably the highest I would go.

Suggestions

MODS FEEL FREE TO DELETE AS IT IS A DOUBLE POST I ALSO POSTED THIS IN BUYING AND SELLING ONLINE BUT THIS MAY ALSO BE A GOOD PLACE TO POST

jimmii

Try parcel2go just had a look there and looks like you can get that for €12.25+vat with night line. I use them for courier books you save a fair bit a lot of the time.

makeandcreate

I have used parcel to go and parcel to ship - for UK to Ireland and reverse. All been fine and competitively priced.
I was in the UK over Xmas and had to send a small parcel back to Ireland and this time decided to trial Parcel Monkey - their best rate was using Parcel Force 48 service in the UK. Being Xmas, I didn't expect miracles - I booked the service Sat 20th Dec and the parcel was collected at 10 am on Mon 22nd. Quite suprised to find the parcel was in Dublin on Dec 23rd. And there it stayed. 4 phone calls and e-mails at various stages and a quite inexplicable comment on the GLS tracking service (apparently Parcel Force handed it over to GLS somewhere en route) that "the addressee requested a change of delivery date on Dec 29th" - No - we didn't - no one ever contacted either myself or my OH (the addressee) and this was what really annoyed me.
Parcel arrived today. So when it comes to Parcel Monkey - remember the adage pay Monkeys Peanuts .... & they don't give a t*ss.

campo

I actually can't believe how bad courier services are from Ireland to the UK considering we probably export more goods to the UK then any other market you would think that the couriers would have this nailed down.

But no in my experience as soon as a parcel leaves the ship or plance and lands in the UK you can basically say goodbye to it.

Especially if it is handed over to someone like Yodel or UKMail

campo

Bit f an update, I contacted DPD they would do it for 16e plus VAT but it is a 48hr service and I can track parcels door to door as they don't hand it over to a UK agent

Waiting to hear from An Post to see what they can offer

makeandcreate

My complaints to ParcelForce fell on deaf ears but Parcel Monkey have offered me a 50% refund on the cost of shipping.
I know a lot of the time I don't complain about a poor service but maybe I need to do so a bit more - if they don't receive complaints I suppose these companies think they are doing ok.
How do you find Fastway - do you need a mobile number for the customer? I've had a couple of people saying they don't disclose their number & the postman knows where they live - but I've had issues with squashed parcels from An Post and non delivery from DPD when parcel sent without a phone number.

delahuntv

campo wrote: »

Bit f an update, I contacted DPD they would do it for 16e plus VAT but it is a 48hr service and I can track parcels door to door as they don't hand it over to a UK agent

Waiting to hear from An Post to see what they can offer

If you can have just 2 collections a week and about 10 in each, you sould get that rate down to about €10.

If the parcels are all under 2kg, then even the standard an post rate is €11.55 and no vat.

_Brian

What about an post.
I checked a large envelope to UK of 0.5kg and it showed €4.50 standard and €9.50 registered.

Even if it were a little more than the €9.5 for registered wouldn't it be worth it if they weren't loosing parcels.

I use an post, not for UK but find them great.

JMR

_Brian wrote: »

I use an post, not for UK but find them great.

An Post provide a good service within Ireland but as soon as they hand over to Royal Mail for UK deliveries the problems start.
Neither will take responsibility for a lost package.

msdoc

Are DPD collecting from you or are you dropping to their depot? You might get a better rate if you drop to the depot