Parcel delivery companies, who's the best?

[Cyclezee]

I would like the opinion of anyone who uses a parcel delivery company to send goods within the UK and to Europe.

In the past I have used Parcelforce and City Link. A few years ago Parcelforce managed to destroy a PC and monitor in their original packaging in two separate boxes. So one bad experience with them, but at other times they have been OK.

City Link were OK, but who is the best interms of service and value for money?

 

[roadster]

Hi - I always use: parcels2go and have never had a problem and have used them 100s of times: Courier Services | Express Parcel Delivery Company | Parcel2Go
Value for money: dhl through parcels2go
But the best is: UPS - not the cheapest but the best...
Hope this helps...

 

[flecc]

But the best is: UPS - not the cheapest but the best...

That's my experience too.

 

[eddieo]

Most of us would use something like an ebay courier...But as you are a new blossoming enterprise! I guess you would need something more reputable/reliable and more expensive.....

eBay Couriers UK | eBay Delivery Auction Services | Local Pickups & Collection

Cheap parcel delivery courier service | Low price UK wide, Europe & International Shipping | Parcel Monkey

Cheap Parcel Delivery: Use the web to cut courier costs...

 

[Iffy]

I work for a company that ships in excess of 100 consignments a day by parcel carrier. The products include cleaning chemicals, paper products and glassware. Protective packaging is paramount as there seems to be an accepted inevitability that damage will occur when using parcel carriers.

The company that we use is City Link, not the cheapest but they are reliable and damage is minimal. City Link use a cage system to transfer parcels between depots whereas others such as DHL and UPS "handball" the items on and off the trunking trailers thus increasing the handling and the likelyhood of damage.

There are other factors to take into consideration such as response to queries (City Link are not very good at this) local depot proximity and Island/Highland charges.

At the end of the day they all offer a similar service and it may well be that you will need to trial several until you settle upon one that best meets you needs.

 

[rsscott]

I work for a company that ships in excess of 100 consignments a day by parcel carrier. The products include cleaning chemicals, paper products and glassware. Protective packaging is paramount as there seems to be an accepted inevitability that damage will occur when using parcel carriers.

The company that we use is City Link, not the cheapest but they are reliable and damage is minimal. City Link use a cage system to transfer parcels between depots whereas others such as DHL and UPS "handball" the items on and off the trunking trailers thus increasing the handling and the likelyhood of damage.

There are other factors to take into consideration such as response to queries (City Link are not very good at this) local depot proximity and Island/Highland charges.

At the end of the day they all offer a similar service and it may well be that you will need to trial several until you settle upon one that best meets you needs.

DHL do use a cage system to transfer parcels between the delivery centres and the Midlands hub. However, the cages are quite big and no consideration is placed as to whether the boxes at the bottom can support the weight of those on top of it.

Basically you need to pack for the worst, never assume. Forget about 'Fragile' labels - nobody takes a blind bit of notice.

 

[Kudoscycles]

City Link are good,Interlink are good and take to out of the way places,cheap and good for Europe export,RH freight are good for pallets,Laser transport are good for big consingments. TNT are the best for world wide deliveries but expensive,but reliable. Schenkers for containers. It's horses for courses,we use them all and experience teaches which for which job.
Parcelforce are terrible,don't use at any price.
But they vary,in 6 months time it could all change.
Dave Elderfield
Rally Design and Kudos Cycles.

 

[Cyclezee]

Thanks to all for the advice.

I think I will go for City Link or TNT. Both have have depots very local to me and can drop off in parcels in person if no one is going to be around for collections. I have had past experience with both of them and not had a problem.
I also think 24 hour/next day delivery is best within the UK.

 

[Iffy]

DHL do use a cage system to transfer parcels between the delivery centres and the Midlands hub. However, the cages are quite big and no consideration is placed as to whether the boxes at the bottom can support the weight of those on top of it.

Basically you need to pack for the worst, never assume. Forget about 'Fragile' labels - nobody takes a blind bit of notice.

We trialed DHL for three months over last Christmas and noticed a considerable increase in damages compared to City Link. When we questioned this we were told that it was due to items "falling off of the end of conveyor belts at the hub". Northampton's main hub is Hatfield but some consignments were routed through both Hatfield and the Midlands.

 

[Cyclezee]

City Link are good,Interlink are good and take to out of the way places,cheap and good for Europe export,RH freight are good for pallets,Laser transport are good for big consingments. TNT are the best for world wide deliveries but expensive,but reliable. Schenkers for containers. It's horses for courses,we use them all and experience teaches which for which job.
Parcelforce are terrible,don't use at any price.
But they vary,in 6 months time it could all change.
Dave Elderfield
Rally Design and Kudos Cycles.

I agree about Parcelforce Dave. I have also found them, how shall I put it, less than helpful.
I will bear in mind what you say about Interlink for Europe.

 

[rsscott]

We trialed DHL for three months over last Christmas and noticed a considerable increase in damages compared to City Link. When we questioned this we were told that it was due to items "falling off of the end of conveyor belts at the hub". Northampton's main hub is Hatfield but some consignments were routed through both Hatfield and the Midlands.

Doesn't surprise me Iffy, I spent a year managing integration between DHL and what used to be Securicor - quite an insight I can tell you!

 

[M_B]

They are all very similar... IMO it's more important to use a courier company with a good 'local' depot (the more local the better), one who you get on with, and will look after you... you get good depots, and bad ones, the same goes for drivers and central hubs.

As others have pointed out, it's worth it over the long term to spend money on really good 'over the top' packaging. You should be able to drop your boxes from a couple of meters and kick em all over the warehouse without any damage being done to the goods inside IMO. Check their small print on claiming for damages and loss, check their redelivery policy if the customer wasn't in, check how good their tracking system is and how much info you will have easy access to - online POD's etc. There is a host of other stuff, but you'll only learn by trial and error.

 

[microwave]

parcel deliver

hi everyone,

just wanted to flag a new parcel delivery comparison site. it's quite useful for comparing prices however services are not compared just prices. the site is: Compare parcel delivery prices with Parcel Checker | Home | Parcel Checker

 

[7cfm]

As an end user I despair when companies use citylink as I have not had good experiences with them. Fedex are good as are parcelforce as they will deliver to a local post office for a small fee.

 

[Cakey]

We ship uk and overseas , interlink and db schenker .
You can insure for £7

 

[claudbutlerfan]

DHL would be good for maximum service but you could save a lot shopping around using a parcel broker

 

[axolotl]

I've found Tuffnells to be pretty good. As one of the smaller couriers, they seem to give a more personal service.

 

[Kuorider]

There is an APC near you. http://www.apc-overnight.com/apc/depots-home.php?depotid=30 give them a call.

 

[claudbutlerfan]

I agree about Parcelforce Dave. I have also found them, how shall I put it, less than helpful.
I will bear in mind what you say about Interlink for Europe.

Hi, I work for a place called Parcelhub. You may want to give them a try if you are referring to your Cyclezee eCommerce retailer? On twitter they're @ParcelhubLtd

 

[KTM Bike Industries UK]

If you're shipping bikes in the UK, use TNT. We do, Madison do, and big big shops like Wheelies on-line do. This means that most drivers and depots are used to handling bikes and know how to treat them. TNT also know that if they loose one of the big accounts they could loose all of them, so they bikes get treated very well.