any good nationwide couriers?

charlysez · 15 January 2015 at 1:33PM

I have a small business and use couriers daily, unfortunately they are costing me a small fortune in lost parcels and customer retention. I have used several over the years and they are only as good as their worst driver. In December, I lost so many parcels I decided to stop dispatching the week before Xmas.

Is there a regulatory body for courier services? Can anyone set up a courier firm, lose parcels and still get paid in full?:mad:

fishybusiness · 15 January 2015 at 6:29PM

Who is (was) your courier?

Broadwood · 24 January 2015 at 4:10PM

Within reason you get what you pay for.

It really depends on the value of the goods you are sending, but is generally a trade-off between cost and reliability of service.

No courier can boast 100% reliability but some get much closer than others.

martindow · 26 January 2015 at 1:12PM

It might be worth looking at the Ebay board. There are regular threads about carriers on there.

lisa110rry · 26 January 2015 at 1:29PM

We use TNT and I haven't had any problems whatsoever in the past eight years I've been using them. I have a depot quite near the office and sometimes drop consignments to them myself. The items we send have a required timed delivery (Adjudication documents) and this has never been missed even in a terrible snowstorm - got quite near the wire that time though.

On the other hand, the "other party" in an Adjudication (representing the other side of the case) once tried to deliver at 08.30, before we were open, and instead of returning in half an hour took the documents back to their depot, effectively failing to Serve on time. This caused a furore. That company was not TNT but an independent.

doningtonphil · 26 January 2015 at 8:10PM

If you are losing that many items with what i am assuming is a high number of different firms then the common denominator is you and your packaging.
how do you label your consignments. For example, when i worked for TNT i had a customer who srnt items in white hessian sacks. It turns out sticky labels dont stick very well so would fall off mid journey so impossible to deliver.

what are you sending. How is it packed?

katie1968 · 7 February 2015 at 12:36PM

Hubby sells on ebay and has now even started to send all small packets via myhermes as almost same cost as royal mail but tracking included covered up to £50. Depends on the value of your items and speed at which you need delivered. We use these for our free delivery service. States 3-5 working days but they have been delivered lately within 2 days.

paddyrg · 7 February 2015 at 3:11PM

Just a nod about MyHermes - there's a reason they're cheap.

I was in Frome last week, on an industrial estate. One of the units had a small grotty forecourt, straggly fence, and every morning had half a dozen people with everyday/tired looking cars taking packages from cages, scanning them, and stuffing them in corners of the car (according to their route I guess). Sometimes they'd take stuff out, put it on the icy ground, repack. There was a laminated wet MyHermes sign loosely attached to the rusty fence.

Maybe other depots are a bit cleaner/fancier, but that one struck me as a bit down-at-heel, not the way I'd want a high-value package to be treated. I'm sure the individual drivers take utmost care, just the sorting through cages in the bitter cold on the forecourt and the road outside didn't seem terribly glamorous.

System · 9 February 2015 at 11:39PM

Have sent over 10000 with myhermes (approx £2.25 per small parcel), overall, happy. They lose a few, but they are fully covered. Not many complaints from buyers. Royal Mail also good (but no compensation, with business account) unless you use their tracked or signed for option (approx £3 per small parcel)

gingerdad · 10 February 2015 at 5:43PM

It all depends on what your are shipping, we use a UKmail at the minute for my day job, have used FedEx Citylink TNT and DHL in the past.

for a charity i'm involed in for ebay sales we use myHermes - no issues, great price, and much easier than the post office.

What are you sending, whats the weight per item and value and could give you a better idea of who to suggest.

also i worked for UPS, DHL (propper old pre DP DHL) and others in the past.

InvestInPoker · 10 February 2015 at 7:42PM

Speaking as a customer receiving parcels, Hermes are absolute ****. That's from multiple experiences, not just a one off.

DPD are in my opinion the best, they will certainly give your customers the most satisfaction. I doubt they are cheap though. They are the only ones who give a one hour window for delivery to the person being delivered to, and they stick to it.

any good nationwide couriers?

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