How much would you like us to deliver it for?

There has been a lot of discussion about the cost of postage increasing. It costs a lot of money to deliver items and the Royal Mail can offset the costs as they have the volume in order to do that. I heard that it costs £36 to deliver a letter from Aberdeen to Southampton. All the other postal users subsidise the more expensive routes.

Over the past few years wages, pensions and fuel have all increased significantly. We can’t expect Royal Mail  (or any other business for that matter) to suck up all the expenses and not increase their prices. If you use the postal services you should have an understanding of the costs involved.

For example, I have just taken a phone call from a potential customer. He has an axle for a vehicle, it’s too heavy and too awkward for the postal service to take care of.  The job is 300 miles from collection to the end destination. The customer wants it collected at a certain time (evening) and delivered in the evening so he doesn’t have to take a day off of work.

How much do you think that would cost to deliver?

Well, our potential client thinks £40 is reasonable. Would you spend £100 in fuel, collect the item, store it overnight, deliver it to it’s end destination and make a loss of £60? That’s not including wages or insurances etc. No? But people expect transport to be cheap and they expect the mail service to be cheap but the truth is, the days of cheap transport are long gone.

People need to get realistic when it comes to pricing up deliveries.

If you wouldn’t drive 300 miles for £40 don’t expect your courier to do it. Ah, but I hear you say… Volume, you can send other things with the axle and that will make it viable. When a customer starts adding restrictions into play, then it becomes harder to add other items to the consignment. If you want evening collection and evening delivery, we’re happy to do it but it will be on our terms. If you are happy for it to be delivered any time then of course it will be a lot cheaper.

Think sensibly when it comes to getting your transport prices, if you do then you won’t be disappointed.

Kev

Return Home.