Couriers are Crap
Hooray,
Someone else has finally noticed that courier companies just cannot do residential deliveries. I just don’t get it really, what is so hard? At least if Royal Mail fail to deliver its stored in a depot just round the corner*
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2005/07/20/home_delivery_ecommerce_deal_breaker/
* for me anyway. I guess for some people the local delivery office isn’t so near. They should probably move if they want parcels delivered.
February 1st, 2006 at 2:51 pm
Hmmph! I would like to disagree. Our service record is that of a true courier - impeccable. The reason for this is that in our field which is sameday we do just that - deliver same day. We are not carriers and we are not hauliers. We are couriers.
I would like people to recognise the difference and give us credit where credit really is due. We might take till tomorrow to deliver something to Stuttgart but that’s because you asked us to collect it at 1800hrs that day and it’s like a really long way to drive. We aren’t moaning or anything - just being factual. The miles between the two points are the variable determining how long it takes us to deliver.
Our deliverability record is as close to 100% over the last 16 years as anybody big or small is going to get! And another thing - carriers trans-ship - we don’t. By this I mean that we are hired “as is” the van you see collect is the exact same van that delivers. you pay for the entire van, not some small overpriced compartment.
Did you know that £ for £ we are 10% of the cost of an overnight?!? An overnight package can cost you upwards of £35-50 per mile!! Bet you didn’t know that! Nor did you care - because you’re too busy slamming us down when it isn’t even our fault!
Facts are facts - and these are mine:
Couriers - same day - deliverability 100%
Carriers - tranship - deliverability 90% overpriced and deliverability depends on intellect of warehouse staff handling you package at their “hub” (a misnomer if ever there was!!)
Hauliers - Bulk-load - deliverability 90% overpriced and deliverability depends on tacho hours regs set by govt.
Wanna argue?
February 1st, 2006 at 3:25 pm
You’re both right.
Domestic customers don’t care whether you’re a courier or a carrier. Either is the wrong service for consumer mail-order.
Mario: you say you have 100% deliverability — but what do you do when the recipient isn’t in?
Couriers and carriers are fine for business deliveries, because they’re geared up to deliver packages during office hours, to locations which are manned during office hours.
Consumers, however, are often not at home during office hours. They’re at work.
I personally avoid online merchants that insist on using a courier/carrier rather than using Royal Mail. Why? Because if a courier/carrier tries to deliver some number of times and doesn’t find me in, they return the goods to the sender, or start phoning demanding I stay in all day.
If the Royal Mail tries to deliver a package and I’m not in, they leave a slip, and I can collect from the post office at my convenience. Sometimes they mess up, but it’s more convenient than couriers/carriers.
It’s not technically the courier/carrier’s fault. They provide a stated service which they perform correctly. It’s just the wrong service for the purpose, and sellers shouldn’t be using that service for domestic consumers.
Now: the innovator who starts offering a consumer-friendly delivery service has an opportunity to make some decent money. Get thinking!