We ship a lot overseas direct to customers not B2B and it’s always a worry sending things internationally, especially when you are not shipping directly to another business. Things go missing all the time and the process of claiming for loss can be very challenging indeed. I think shippers rely on their customers just letting it go rather than jump through a load of hoops to get money back on relatively small amounts when things go wrong.
We use Royal Mail to send anything in the UK. They are more expensive than other carriers like Relay, Evri (formerly Hermes, so bad they needed a rebrand) and in post but when shipping a lot the extra cost is worth it for the savings in time spent dealing with unhappy customers and tracking down lost items.
Parcelforce Worldwide is owned by Royal Mail Group Limited, which is a subsidiary of International Distribution Services (IDS) And they are our choice for sending anything overseas. With all the additional paperwork and import export duties brought about by Brexit, don’t get me started and the costs and hassle for businesses trading internationally Parceforce streamline the whole process and make things a lot easier.
Whenever I have to visit the depot, the process is always smooth, the staff are friendly and they have never lost anything in over 5 years.
Even when something is too large to place in a locker, the communication is excellent and the service quick, no hassle, no worries.
They also are open 6 days for drop off and pick up, 8.00am-7.00pm Monday to Friday and Saturday morning until 12.30pm. Way better than Royal Mail who have cut their depot hours to a couple of hours in the morning and a couple of hours in the evening.
On a side note it feels like shipping companies are under more and more pressure as we are all shopping on resale platforms to save money.
I went into my local collection store to pick up something up sent by relay and they had over 200 parcels to sort. They asked me to come back the next day so cheap but not super convenient. I try to avoid the lockers at all cost as I’ve had more problems with doors not opening, codes not working than things going smoothly and now at our local lockers there’s usually a queue to use them.
The efficient shipping company Parcelforce is one in a million.