MrSpeedy
East Midlands
www.vintagediesels.co.uk
Posts: 4,786
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Sept 28, 2010 17:24:41 GMT
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We send a lot of stuff out for work - mainland, highlands, offshore, overseas etc and have very little probems. HOWEVER, we do seperate what we send with whom. Small parcels and low value go Royal Snail / Parcelforce. Small higher value parcels also with RM but ALWAYS insured value. Larger parcels upto around 25KG , we use Fastway couriers. So far very good. Large parts, ie engines, gearboxes etc or parcels to Ireland, we use Panic Transport. Generally good so far (the odd cock up but nothing lost) and i really don't know how they do it for the money. - An engine and gearbox weighing in at 1Tonne from Ireland to the Midlands for £80 Can't beat that shizzle !
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Sept 28, 2010 17:32:32 GMT
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You never get a 404 error from one for starters... [image] [image] [image] Agreed I've had issues with the mail service before- sadly about the only failing I've had was having things sent to work. The monkeys at the front desk signed for a box for me, which contained a very badly transit-damaged item... but because it has a signature- doesn't have to be yours- it's no longer the courier's problem. That being said, you think Royal Mail is bad... move here where there's a USPS Rural Route and you'll be begging on your knees for Royal Mail, trust me. Now, where are my spring compressors? I have no idea... somewhere in Norway by now probably. That being said, I did drive as a "Hot Shot" for a good while. With insurance, inspection etc. it is prohibitive unless it's something you're doing 24/7, especially on a small scale. With enough people driving you can turn a profit but in order to get a guaranteed quality of service you really do need a) people who can drive a loaded vehicle b) drivers who have a good driving history c) staff who care about what they are doing d) vehicle(s) suitable for the task. Random faces in an unreliable vehicle aren't fun to have to explain away especially if you've promised a deadline. --Phil
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Last Edit: Sept 28, 2010 17:39:54 GMT by PhilA
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Sept 28, 2010 17:50:17 GMT
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I use a LOT of different couriers but I'm going to stick up for Royal Mail just a little here. They are almost always cheapest for anything under 2kg. Probably due to the fact that they don't charge extra to/from Northern Ireland but all couriers do. Under 1kg to the States or Europe - no-one can compete with them. Small packages to Europe are cheaper than 1st class sometimes. On the other hand if something does go wrong, they are the most annoying people to get money back from. But proof of the sale and a receipt for postage goes a long way towards helping this. Broken stuff though - no chance. You want it either arrive fine, or not at all. Having said that, I've had some silly ebay sellers send me glass/fragile items through RM with virtually no packaging and have it arrive safe when DHL have broken the same item with more packaging... For stuff heavier than that outside the UK I use DHL. Good reliable service, very quick, fully tracked and insured, and very easy to claim back from, again providing you have proof of value and pictures are essential with broken items. I've also used parcels2go (awful service all round, and over a year before the spam emails stopped) and PaisleyFreight (rude, unhelpful, arrogant service, but very cheap) and Citylink (couldn't be nicer, but could be cheaper!) In short, whatever it is that you're sending, send it with a company that can fully insure it and caters best to your needs. At the end of the day, they're all both equally as good and equally as rubbish as each other*. (* except Fedex - they're all rubbish )
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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Sept 28, 2010 17:55:19 GMT
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I use interparcel for all items I post these days for one simple fact: I hate queuing at the very inefficient local post pffice, it takes 10-15mins as the queue is snaked back sometimes out the front door. If I do it during my lunch break, thats all my break over. Paying the few extra quid for smaller items is made back in my free time.
For larger items interparcel saves loads, it's fantastic. I normally use DHL through interparcel as I can't be bothered to print any labels out with the "Interparcel" service. It's all about the convience for me...
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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Sept 28, 2010 18:05:14 GMT
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I use interparcel for all items I post these days for one simple fact: I hate queuing at the very inefficient local post pffice, it takes 10-15mins as the queue is snaked back sometimes out the front door. If I do it during my lunch break, thats all my break over. Paying the few extra quid for smaller items is made back in my free time. For larger items interparcel saves loads, it's fantastic. I normally use DHL through interparcel as I can't be bothered to print any labels out with the "Interparcel" service. It's all about the convience for me... dhl turned up this morning for two parcels and i had write on both addresses before the driver would take them, even though the interparcel service specified no labels required.
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Someone just shot the elephant in the room.
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Sept 28, 2010 18:12:29 GMT
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I think you need address labels but not a consignment bill. with DHL.
Unlike the rest with interparcel who need both. This is useful for when customers send us stuff that we arrange the shiping for, you only need them to put our address on. You don't need to email them the consignment bill that they then have to print etc.
I find you have to train the delivery drivers, when have our parcel force driver trained now, he is very good. Not looking forward to when he goes on holiday!
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Sept 28, 2010 18:21:23 GMT
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Its brief, as I'm tired, but I'm a postman.
I deal with special deliveries, when they come into our office, I sometimes do van driving, normal walking stuff, collection counter, the lot.
The biggest problem with 'lost' mail, is that its not correctly addressed.
I work in a lovely area, good colleagues, no theft, good records, but with life, there is always going to be some bad apples somewhere.
I'm proud to be a postman, as I do the best I can, my customers appreciate it, and its a shame bad things happen.
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bxer
Part of things
Posts: 457
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Sept 28, 2010 21:31:01 GMT
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We send a lot of stuff out for work - mainland, highlands, offshore, overseas etc and have very little probems. HOWEVER, we do seperate what we send with whom. Small parcels and low value go Royal Snail / Parcelforce. Small higher value parcels also with RM but ALWAYS insured value. Larger parcels upto around 25KG , we use Fastway couriers. So far very good. Large parts, ie engines, gearboxes etc or parcels to Ireland, we use Panic Transport. Generally good so far (the odd cock up but nothing lost) and I really don't know how they do it for the money. - An engine and gearbox weighing in at 1Tonne from Ireland to the Midlands for £80 Can't beat that shizzle ! Am I the only one wondering what sort of engine/gearbox weighs in at 1 tonne??
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Sept 28, 2010 21:39:40 GMT
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A BIG one ;D
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Remember the days when sex was safe and motorsport was dangerous. Vintage bling always attracts pussy.
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,886
Club RR Member Number: 71
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Sept 28, 2010 22:02:34 GMT
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I'd like to say something positive about the royal mail but I can't - I really really weant to be positive but I can't If I could fire up the scanner I'd attach a scan from the paper a few weeks back......... But untill then www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-11100968My local postman of the last two years is spending some time (two years) in Norwich Jail for withholding mail and stealing vouchers and cash from birthday and christmas cards When I say local I mean he lived 3 houses up the street from me and also delivered my mail and collected from the post box at the end of the road. I could not understand what was going on last year untill I found this out If I send anything now unfortunately it's going to be via UPS or a n other specialised courier and to be honest for most things it's not worth it.
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Sept 28, 2010 22:25:08 GMT
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Oh gawd.. Is that what happened with the stickers thing? That must have been awful for you, my sympathies. tbh, I don't seem to have too much bother with Royal mail... everything I buy on ebay turns up, the (few) letters I send seem to get where they are going. Only trouble I ever have is when there is a relief postie and no-one tells them that where I live looks like one street, but is actually 2 with the same numbers opposite each other. This means a weeks worth of post ends up through the door of the empty house over the street
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To get a standard A40 this low, you'd have to dig a hole to put it in
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bstardchild
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 14,886
Club RR Member Number: 71
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Sept 28, 2010 22:31:23 GMT
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Oh gawd.. Is that what happened with the stickers thing? That must have been awful for you, my sympathies. I didn't know what the heck was going wrong sent me round the twist - Sending stickers in plain envolopes with some card in it to stop them being folded seemed like a good plan - but it appears thats a good plan for cash too I have three cheques recently delivered dated from Dec - March last year - apparently "lost" in the mail - no envolope etc - i've shredded them as they are past 6 mths old and I hardly think anyone would want anything now
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Sept 28, 2010 23:16:21 GMT
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You never get a 404 error from one for starters... No, but you do occasionally get those fun articles and letters in PPC that end half way through a sentence. But I wouldn't try and kill a fly with my rolled-up laptop. And how happy are people when their car is featured in a mag? Recognition from someone else, rather than a circle of people on a forum. I knew an ex- and current postie at college and they told me some interesting stories; cards opened, rental DVDs taken, stuff kicked around the depot, etc. I think those two might just have been a bit dodgy though ;D As for this ECU though, would you post £1200 through the post? I wouldn't.
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1989 Peugeot 205. You know, the one that was parked in a ditch on the campsite at RRG'17... the glass is always full. but the ratio of air to water may vary.
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Sept 29, 2010 7:00:28 GMT
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I sent a bunch of volvo ecus through the post once. The woman asked me if they were valuable,
They cost me £30 from the scrappy but they are about £900 each from Volvo.
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1985 Bedford CF2 camper 1991 Volvo 240 Turbo
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Sept 29, 2010 7:27:04 GMT
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Well I've sent hundreds of parcels in the post over the years and only one has ever gone missing. After a few forms I was compensated with a cheque for the full amount.
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Sept 29, 2010 8:36:12 GMT
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Must admit, I've not really had any bother with RM and I've sent and received hundreds of things via them.
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1962 Datsun Bluebird Estate - 1971 Datsun 510 SSS - 1976 Datsun 710 SSS - 1981 Dodge van - 1985 Nissan Cherry Europe GTi - 1988 Nissan Prairie - 1990 Hyundai Pony Pickup - 1992 Mazda MX5
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rob0r
East of England
Posts: 2,743
Club RR Member Number: 104
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Sept 29, 2010 8:56:18 GMT
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I use interparcel for all items I post these days for one simple fact: I hate queuing at the very inefficient local post pffice, it takes 10-15mins as the queue is snaked back sometimes out the front door. If I do it during my lunch break, thats all my break over. Paying the few extra quid for smaller items is made back in my free time. For larger items interparcel saves loads, it's fantastic. I normally use DHL through interparcel as I can't be bothered to print any labels out with the "Interparcel" service. It's all about the convience for me... dhl turned up this morning for two parcels and I had write on both addresses before the driver would take them, even though the interparcel service specified no labels required. Yeah, thats no problem. It's the printing that gets me!
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E30 320i 3.5 - E23 730 - E3 3.0si - E21 316 M42 - E32 750i ETC
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Sept 29, 2010 11:52:20 GMT
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In the last four years I must have posted somewhere around 30,000 parcels. The vast majority go by RM. I can count the number that have been 'lost' on one hand.
If you send stuff under 2kg then RM are unbeatable. We send anything of value by Recorded as we've never had a recorded item go missing, the vast majority is delivered next day if sent first class and theres no surcharge for sending to islands and remote areas.
DHL for bigger stuff but they can't compete on small items.
Just a shame you can't claim VAT back from RM but I have to charge it to my customer.
It seems that the vast majority of items that end up 'lost' are those with incomplete addresses or no return address. And as others have said, sending something worth £1200 through normal post is stupid.
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Last Edit: Sept 29, 2010 11:54:48 GMT by Mr Lobster
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Sept 29, 2010 13:05:54 GMT
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We send a lot of stuff out for work - mainland, highlands, offshore, overseas etc and have very little probems. HOWEVER, we do seperate what we send with whom. Small parcels and low value go Royal Snail / Parcelforce. Small higher value parcels also with RM but ALWAYS insured value. Larger parcels upto around 25KG , we use Fastway couriers. So far very good. I work for a mail order company and our experience is similar to yours above. Unfortunately Fastway don't cover our area for collections in our new location, but there are others out there. Anyone who sends a high value item through regular post is an idiot. It also isn't a good idea to mark items as fragile (most of what we send is fragile and some very high value). The programme dbizzle mentioned highlighted nothing new. We were advised against marking stuff fragile by our postman 15 or so years ago. If it says fragile, they'll test the packaging. That is not just true of RM but all bulk handlers. Better to just over pack it in the first place. We also produce a magazine that we send to our customers. I wish that the paper copy were dead as it would make my job a lot simpler if it went straight to online and didn't need a hard copy laying out, printing and posting. When we first introduced the online option several years ago, many subscribers switched to the cheaper option, only to contact us a few weeks/months later and ask to revert to the print copy and get the back-issues. A proper magazine or book is so much more convenient to read on the bog/train/in bed than a laptop or ebook is. You're also far less likely to be mugged for it if reading in a public place and if you drop it in a puddle, it costs very little to replace.
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Sept 29, 2010 13:27:57 GMT
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I'm going to remember "panic" for large heavy itms in future then!
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1937 Austin Street Rod - 1941 Wolseley Not Rod - 1956 Humber Hawk - 1957 Daimler Conquest - 1966 Buick LeSabre - 1968 Plymouth Sport Fury - 1968 Ford Galaxie - 1969 Ford Country Squire - 1969 Mercury Marquis - 1970 Morris Minor - 1970 Buick Skylark - 1970 Ford Galaxie - 1971 Ford Galaxie - 1976 Continental Mark IV - 1976 Ford Capri - 1976 Rover V8 - 1994 Ford Fiesta
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