Sending Parcels (May 2013)

[Old-Guy]

Strictly speaking, this isn't specific to French Cars, but as members often need to send 'bits' to one another, the following may be useful.

To send a Xantia radio, which is just a bit too large to be a Royal Mail 'small' parcel, the cheapest my local Post Office (very obliging) could do it for was £8 second class parcel post.

However, I discovered that Collect+ (book and pay on-line 24/7, leave the parcel at a local corner shop) will deliver anything up to 2Kg for £3.99 (the radio packed weighs a bit less than 1.8Kg) anywhere in mainland UK. 2-5Kg for £4.99, 5-10Kg £6.99. If it's more convenient for the recipient to collect the parcel from their nearest 'corner shop' agent, Collect+ will leave it there for collection and will let them know by e-mail when it's ready for collection. The agencies are all early 'til late small shops so parcels can be dropped off or collected whenever the shops are open. Collect+'s website is really well thought out: you just stuff in your own postcode and the map shows you the nearest agencies, you pick one, stuff in the destination postcode and it shows that together with the nearest agencies to it. Payment by PayPal or any Credit/Debit Card (except Amex of course). Simple idea, well organised and implemented - wish I'd thought of it!

Update:When it came to sending the radio, I discovered that Collect+ do in fact have maximum parcel dimensions but they're quite generous (small = 30 x 30 x 50 cm IIRC) so I was able to abandon the hunt for the smallest possible box that the radio would fit in and use one kindly supplied by Amazon with lots of space for protective bubble-wrap.
I dropped off the parcel at 8:50 on my way to work on a Saturday morning, getting a receipt with a tracking number in return (confirmed by e-mail). The consignee was alerted by e-mail when the parcel was waiting for collection at his local 'corner shop' and I received another at 11:24 on the Tuesday morning to tell me it had been collected. Not only was collection more convenient for the consignee, but it reduced the charge from £3.99 to £3.49. So "3-5 days" was in fact 2 working days - pretty good.

In complete contrast, when I got home on Saturday afternoon, there was a Royal Mail card to tell me that a 'Signed For' letter was waiting for collection at their local 'Collection Office' (open 7am to 12noon Monday to Saturday). Fortunately for me, it's 'only' a 4-mile round trip and there was no excess to pay.

[evilally]

In my opinion Royal Mail have shot themselves in the foot. All they've done is complain about how email has reduced their business, completely ignoring online shopping, ebay and people sending things to one another on the internet (such as car forums). They've done away with their Standard Parcel service which was cheap, had optional insurance and was perfect for the non-business user. Now not only do you have to use either 1st class or Parcel Force for large items, parcels are also charged on their size as well as weight making many things completely unrealistic to send.

Other businesses such as Collect+ (and personally I've been using My Hermes) have identified this home user gap and stepped in with more tailored services. My Hermes has online tools, automatic import of ebay items, local collection and drop off points at corner shops who open early and close late, and best of all, most of my items have been working out about half the price of what Royal Mail now charge. All tracked and with optional insurance. Sure, it's a 3-5 day service but we don't need to pay twice the price for 24-48 hour service, most of us don't care. They've been closing down the local Post Offices near me, so now I have to travel to get one, and the queues are huge. If I miss a delivery then I've got to get to the depot before 12, unfeasible if you're working.

[citroenxm]

*EDIT: Ditto EvilAllys comments above..

MyHermes has Sucesfully helped me send - A complete Steering rack for an XM (Track rods undone from the main rack but in the package) - An intercooler and inlet manifold (My useless packaging there though helped a broken bit) - an XM Pump and feed pipe - so these are my latest parcel senders!

Very help full web site too..

My hermes ALSO has a compulsary £50 insurance for FREE too! Optional higher at cost too

[myglaren]

Just used iPost to send a parcel to Croatia.
They were the lowest-cost option but more significantly I was able to drop the parcel at their depot as having it collected proved to be a problem.
Took increased insurance just in case.
They are only ten minutes away from me. The fact that it took me two and a half hours to find them isn't entirely their fault - they are part of UKMail and I drove past several times.
Very friendly and helpful service, emails to say when the parcel was delivered and in about half the expected time.

[vborovic]

Anyone has a rough idea what would be the cheapest shipping option from UK to Croatia for a single shirt (the eBay item shipping cost is 18.31 GBP)? If the shirt would arrive in one piece, I'm happy, it can come in a Coke can for all I care ...

[myglaren]

Checked iPost but without exact size and weight. Guessed 30x20x5 and 1kg, £22.

[vborovic]

I think the shirt shouldn't be more than 300g, and the compressed size should be roughly 15x10x5 cm ... is there a royal mail option in an big bubbly envelope? No tracking required, snail mail also ok? I've found a Citroen shirt on eBay, 8 GBP for the shirt, 18 GBP for the shipping ...

[Gibbo2286]

Have you looked here: https://www.parcel2go.com/ I've been using them for years but not recently so I can't say how good they are now.

[vborovic]

I did actually, the cheapest method is 25 GBP (incl VAT)

[bobins]

Royal Mail international standard (3-5 days) should be about £5.50 for your small parcel*, you could save 20p and go for international ecenomy but it could take 15 days !

*-Minimum size: One surface must be at least 9cm x 14cm.
Maximum size: The combined length + width + depth must be no more than 90cm with no single side longer than 60cm
Maximum weight: 2kg

[vborovic]

Which should save me 10 GBP from the initial listing ... not a bad deal then (the shipping would be the shirt's value)

[Peter.N.]

If I have anything bulky or heavy to send I use one of the pay and collect firms which seem to always be cheaper than the Post Office and also much more convenient as we don't have any corner shops and Axminster is 7 miles away.

Peter

[myglaren]

If you want it sent to me I can forward it on to you after altering the dimensions to the Post Office requirements.
I pass a convenient Post Office on my way to and from work.

[vborovic]

@ Steve - deal, I'll buy it and have it sent to your address ... no hurry with the shipping, whenever it arrives is fine

[myglaren]

I will send it on the day following it's arrival here and let you know when it has been dispatched.