Recommendations for UK and EU courier - large parcels

Recommendations for UK and EU courier - large parcels

Author
Discussion

Griffith4ever

Original Poster:

4,772 posts

42 months

Tuesday 15th October
quotequote all
Anyone got any recommendations? I currently use DHL for domestic, and Parcelforce for EU.

DHL business suport is non existent - you are on hold for 30 mins usually to speak with anyone.
Parcelforce is too expensive for domestic but great for EU.

I'd like to use one company with good cust services. My parcels are all 1.4m long, which rules out a few.

Current spend is around £800 a month.

I've made enquiries with a few like DX but an awful lot of them don'e even reply.

Limited100

1,396 posts

107 months

Tuesday 15th October
quotequote all
I regularly ship wall art around this size with https://www.transglobalexpress.co.uk - amazing customer service and competitive prices.

andrewcliffe

1,113 posts

231 months

Tuesday 15th October
quotequote all
I have Transglobal amongst my list of parcel brokers. Assess their prices and see if you can approach the best carrier directly to discuss further.

V8RAW

71 posts

75 months

Wednesday 16th October
quotequote all
I've just started using CourIerPoint who search for best prices. They do bulk discounts if sending x amount per day:

https://www.courierpoint.com/

andrewcliffe

1,113 posts

231 months

Wednesday 16th October
quotequote all
We have a contract with Fedex UK and they were quite competitive. Book online by roughtly 12.30pm for a same day collection and can add more once a collection has been booked after the cut-off time. Whilst most of our parcels are conventional sizes and shapes, they are happy for long or awkward shapes going as long as its a relatively low amount of parcels.

For international stuff, we've found that the parcel brokers have the benefit of bigger volumes, so for the sake of an extra days transit time, the cost saving to a customer is worth the extra day. We still have a Fedex contract if the parcel is so important that the extra day saving is important.

Unfortunately the rise of the parcel broker service means that Couriers are not so keen unless you're a big business in talking directly to you.


Edited by andrewcliffe on Wednesday 16th October 18:52

Griffith4ever

Original Poster:

4,772 posts

42 months

Wednesday 16th October
quotequote all
andrewcliffe said:
Unfortunately the rise of the parcel broker service means that Couriers are not so keen unless you're a big business in talking directly to you.
This I am finding.


essayer

9,623 posts

201 months

Wednesday 16th October
quotequote all
V8RAW said:
I've just started using CourIerPoint who search for best prices. They do bulk discounts if sending x amount per day:

https://www.courierpoint.com/
seconded

Griffith4ever

Original Poster:

4,772 posts

42 months

Wednesday 16th October
quotequote all
No good for 1.4m long parcels sadly.

UPS £72 + Vat

Cheapest

Dr Interceptor

8,045 posts

203 months

Friday 18th October
quotequote all
We use DX - they add on a massive surcharge though if shipping to a residential address. I also have a WorldOptions portal which has lots of couriers on it.

What's the average dimensions and weight and I'll put it into my system? Also business or residential?

Griffith4ever

Original Poster:

4,772 posts

42 months

Friday 18th October
quotequote all
140cm x 61cm x 7 cm. Always. Weight varies between 10kg and 18kg

B2C almost always (business to residential)

Cheers

Thing is, DHL do it for about £14+ vat, but their lack of support if something goes wrong is tragic.

Dr Interceptor

8,045 posts

203 months

Friday 18th October
quotequote all
Its bloody hard work sending long items.

Our rate with DX for that would be £9.50, but then there is a £10.50 surcharge for Residential, so that's £21.00 plus fuel whatever and VAT. If it was a business address though it would just be £9.50.

My cost with DHL is £14.90 (£5.40 parcel rate plus £9.50 long length). UPS booked through world options is £30.87 + VAT.

So for residential we use DHL, if its B2B we do DX.




Chipstick

335 posts

47 months

Friday 18th October
quotequote all
No idea on costs as I have only been on the receiving end, however often when receiving oversized building materials via a courier it's usually been handled by Tuffnells. https://www.tuffnells.co.uk/

Dr Interceptor

8,045 posts

203 months

Friday 18th October
quotequote all
Chipstick said:
No idea on costs as I have only been on the receiving end, however often when receiving oversized building materials via a courier it's usually been handled by Tuffnells. https://www.tuffnells.co.uk/
Tuffnells went bust in June 2023 - they were acquired by 'Shift' however I've never heard anything about them getting going again.

andrewcliffe

1,113 posts

231 months

Friday 18th October
quotequote all
DHL Parcel UK through Transglobal is cheapest for me.

DHL Parcel is the old UK Mail Company rebranded. Its a different company to DHL.

Its a nightmare dealing with them if there is an issue, fortunately we managed to get the local depot telephone numbers which are not published on their website.

cutting out broker sites and going directly to parcelforce with 18kgs at 140x61x7 gives £ 12.46 + VAT for express48 and £ 14.58 + VAT for express24 - and that would probably come down for a regular spend.



Griffith4ever

Original Poster:

4,772 posts

42 months

Friday 18th October
quotequote all
andrewcliffe said:
DHL Parcel UK through Transglobal is cheapest for me.



cutting out broker sites and going directly to parcelforce with 18kgs at 140x61x7 gives £ 12.46 + VAT for express48 and £ 14.58 + VAT for express24 - and that would probably come down for a regular spend.
I have a contract with PF - use them for all my international parcels, but, I have those UK prices above and they now (since last year) incurr a £7.99 handling fee - any one length over 1.2m or width over 70cm. UK only - they don't charge that fee on international.