Postage cost

[mickwinf]

Most of us sell bits on Ebay and suchlike, and as metal parts are heavy postage can be expensive. I sold a rear brake plate for a 550k3 and when I took it to the post office they were going to charge me £12 odd to send a £5 item so I would be loosing money. so I did some research and most couriers charge similar amounts, although there are some who charge less but my problem is I am not at home to wait for pickup. Then I discovered a company called Collect plus who use a network of local shops and businesses as drop off points, my nearest is a petrol station at the end of my road! You pay on line and print a label (you can link to your ebay account to get details) then take it to the drop off point, they scan it and give you a receipt, job done, £6.19 up to 5 kilo 3-5 days delivery or slightly more for 2 day. also includes tracking and insurance up to £50. I have sent parcel so hope it all works, if so will send all my heavier parts via this method

[hairygit]

My Hermes operate a similar system with a lot of convenience stores taking parcels in from 8am to 8pm, again, good prices, and up to 15kg

[Bryanj]

Trouble with Hermes is the delivery end is total Cr*p, at least it is in my area

[hairygit]

Bryan, maybe you just live in a poorly covered area, I sent 2 parcels out monday  from Devon, both arrived today, one in stockport and one in Dursley (your neck of the woods?) and they advertise as 3-5 days

[mick]

I use parcel2go and interparcel both have been cheaper than the post office and fast delivery  ,

I sent a 4 into 1 exhaust last week picked up at about 1pmin Lancaster (north west) by city link and delivered next morning before 10am in Devon 

well worth comparing prices, cheers Mick.

[Bryanj]

Not the area mate, its the courier in this area Don't seem to care at all and NEVER leaves a contact number

[Rozabikes Tim]

Bryan is right.

Hermes often work using  self employed individuals and their own vehicles for initial collection and delivery. They then service the larger national  distribution hub / big branded trucks etc. For example the guy who does Hermes in our area works using the roughest little Peugeot 106 you have ever seen. He is reliable however.

I think with a lot of carriers they load drivers up with too many parcels to handle. Hence inefficiency / unreliable service.

As had been said a company like interparcel are good. They are basically a company offering the services of all the big carriers in one place. You can then select the most economical service that fits your needs

TIm

[mickwinf]

I just had notification the parcel has been delivered, I call that good service, will use them again

[pptom]

Also use Collect+ more often than not - think they use the 'home delivery network' as couriers - they always say 3-5 days but the last parcel i sent was there in 2.
Only small issue is that, despite advertising up to a certain size parcel, a couple of shops round here will not take one that big.
Perfect for me though - cheaper than royal mail, tracked, insured, can buy online 24hrs a day via paypal and because i spend all day driving around town, I'm always passing a shop.