small 'help I'm a newbie' courier thread

Obviously_the_best

steveo3002 wrote: »

im up for trying hermes , the find a store thingy doesnt seem to do much

how can i find out where i can drop off

If it didn't do anything, you probably don't have a shop near you. It's still a very new network, but Hermes will still collect from your house.

Quinny_2

Soolin.

You will be well aware of my experience recently with CollectPlus.

Make a sentence out of the following: Barge pole, touch, wouldn't, with, a.

I started using My Hermes after the total !!!! up with Collect Plus, and so far so good for non valuable items. The Drop Shop around our way is excellent and is open from 08:00 to 20:00, but the collection is around 15:00 daily, so I try and aim to get it there in the morning to make sure it gets on it's way quickly. When you use yours, be sure to ask when their van collects during the day.

Both of them don't have real time tracking however, so it can be a behind if you need an update, but if you have a problem, then tweet them for a quicker response. (@myhermes)

janb5

Like Quinny, I had problems with Collect + before Christmas but these have now been resolved. i will say their customer services is better than myHermes which was appallling and used expensisve phone numbers. Interested in using Dispatchbay.

This_Year

I've used both CollectPlus and MyHermes with no issues *touches wood*

RFW

Strapped wrote: »

I know that this won't be a suitable solution for the casual, occasional sender of parcels, but I use DespatchBay to send my larger stuff with ParcelForce. It costs £6.13 + VAT (=£7.36) for 48hr service. For smaller items, DespatchBay have a packet service, which is £2.48 + VAT (=£2.98) - but the definition of packet is larger than for Royal Mail, at up to 1.5kg and no longer than 60cm per side. (This is also CHEAPER than myHermes who charge £2.75+VAT for up to 1kg).

I've never used the smaller item service, but have used DespatchBay who are good. They introduced it up to 1kg and then increased to 1.5kg, if it had been up to 2kg it would have been very good for us at the time.

Ahead of the changes I received what I'd call a spam email from TNT, touting for new trade. I think TNT required 1000/month send.

I'm fortunately in the very small minority that is better off from the new prices, I'd still like to know how any alternatives pan out and prices.

I've heard very mixed reviews on MyHermes and from receiving deliveries know they aren't too speedy.

I don't think it would be beyond the Ebay community to work on some kind of co operative for sending parcels via one of the bigger carriers and bring the rates right down.

soolin

I've listed my first things now with a MYHermes option and anything unsold towards the end of March will have the RM options removed and MyHermes added instead.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about this and I fully expect that switching to a courier is going to hit my stars and probably lose me my TRS, but the 10% discount I get from being a TRS is not as high as the savings I will get from not using Royal Mail.

Switching to a courier for all my items over a 6 inch cube is not something I am doing lightly, nor any sort of knee jerk reaction. It is a well considered business move, and I will see how it goes.

I am also planning to change my buying habits so that I do not stock as much oversize items as I currently do, that will have the advantage of being able to store my stock as well. I am also listing a lot of my larger items this week at bargain prices to get them gone so I can start again in April.

soolin

RFW wrote: »

I don't think it would be beyond the Ebay community to work on some kind of co operative for sending parcels via one of the bigger carriers and bring the rates right down.

Ebay push Collect plus of course and if you opt to use ebay postage that is the courier you get. The thing that really annoys me though is that when you choose to use Collect plus via ebay postage you get a warning that the courier does not meet the buyers expectation of speed and you should consider using a different service.

Just proves how rubbish ebay are at knowing what they are doing and what they promote.

martindow

I see from MyHermes site that the postcodes that incur extra charges are only IM, ZE and HS (Isle of Man, Shetland and Hebrides) which is much less restrictive than most carriers. Even for those there is a supplement of only 1.99.

http://www.myhermes1.co.uk/our-prices.htm

From this it looks a though there is no extra charge for N Ireland or the Highlands. Is that right?

lindseykim13

Well i have my TRS and anything currently over 750g has always gone with myhermes. My stars are all at the 4.9 mark so they can't be doing too badly. This xmas they were quicker with the deliveries than they are during the quieter months. I just hope they are prepared for the big rush when the prices kick in.

Strapped

martindow wrote: »

I see from MyHermes site that the postcodes that incur extra charges are only IM, ZE and HS (Isle of Man, Shetland and Hebrides) which is much less restrictive than most carriers. Even for those there is a supplement of only 1.99.

http://www.myhermes1.co.uk/our-prices.htm

From this it looks a though there is no extra charge for N Ireland or the Highlands. Is that right?

Yes, but they take a couple of extra days.