Parcel Force Prices

Flyonthewall

I was sent an item and it says Parcelforce on the package and sent Express24.

The item cost less than £3 and weighed just 0.02kg. It's small (less than 12x12cm) and only mm thick (less than 5). Sent within the UK as far as I'm aware, seller appears to be UK based. Quote for Express24 with that weight is £16.49.

I'm curious if there's a way to get it far cheaper?

Just seems odd for anyone to send the item that way. I expected it to be sent 2nd class RM!

gollum007

Depends on who the seller was
If it's a private person, was probably sent via work.

If a business, they'll have a preferential rate, and many businesses prefer to suck up a small loss on some items.
(Extreme example- If you post 10,000 items a day, then splitting them between carriers to get the cheapest for every package is going to cost you far more than just sending everything the one way )

I'm sure you can probably get it under £10 using one of the courier booking sites, but not AFAIK under £3.

-Gollum

ballisticbrian

Yes, people stealing from their employer who think the franking machine or the Parcel Force labels are their own personal bonus scheme.

Flyonthewall

It's a business that sent it.

I just don't get why they'd make a loss (potentially a fairly big loss compared to the items worth) when they could send it and make a profit.

It's not like it's much effort to send 2nd class RM and they sell other items that could be sent the same way. They're making a big loss if they're not sending any that way.

Flyonthewall

They're a highly rated business seller who has been going a few years now. So no stealing from an employer going on.

theonlywayisup

Like other carriers, PF give a very good business rate.

RFW

theonlywayisup wrote: »

Like other carriers, PF give a very good business rate.

Not good enough to send a £3 product on a 24 hour service.
Is it possible that this is RM 24 hour service and not Parcelforce?

There is also a parcel service that goes via Parcelforce. Essentially you send them a box of smaller parcels and label them and they send. I think it works out under £2 a parcel, I can't find a link to it right now. So if the seller is using this, it's the same price for a case, so if they have higher value items, yours would have been almost free.
I've read up on it a couple of times but couldn't make it work for my business.

Flyonthewall

RFW wrote: »

Not good enough to send a £3 product on a 24 hour service.
Is it possible that this is RM 24 hour service and not Parcelforce?

There is also a parcel service that goes via Parcelforce. Essentially you send them a box of smaller parcels and label them and they send. I think it works out under £2 a parcel, I can't find a link to it right now. So if the seller is using this, it's the same price for a case, so if they have higher value items, yours would have been almost free.
I've read up on it a couple of times but couldn't make it work for my business.

Clearly says Parcelforce on it and Express24. No mention of RM or any other courier.

Ah right. Possible they've done that then

sequence

You can get parcelforce for around £11.90 on P2G. But that doesn't explain it. Was the £3 inc postage ?

Flyonthewall

sequence wrote: »

You can get parcelforce for around £11.90 on P2G. But that doesn't explain it. Was the £3 inc postage ?

Yep. Just less than £3 including postage.

theonlywayisup

RFW wrote: »

Not good enough to send a £3 product on a 24 hour service.
Is it possible that this is RM 24 hour service and not Parcelforce?

There is also a parcel service that goes via Parcelforce. Essentially you send them a box of smaller parcels and label them and they send. I think it works out under £2 a parcel, I can't find a link to it right now. So if the seller is using this, it's the same price for a case, so if they have higher value items, yours would have been almost free.
I've read up on it a couple of times but couldn't make it work for my business.

Yes you can get that on volume, price per parcel. And lesser weights takes the next quarter price down (on averages).