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How to make a compost bin from used pallets

April 28, 2010 By

As a courier company with a greener flavour we always where possible, dispose of our packaging carefully – recycling most of it.

5 years ago I built Sarah a deck made from used pallets, she wasn’t too impressed. It was quick, easy and built to last :)

A friend uses pallets to plant things in and another edges his flower beds with them, so generally they are well recycled.

Yesterday, I found this blog and it shows you how to make a compost bin from old pallets!

Ok, you’ve probably seen these wooden pallets lying around everywhere, right? I sure have. Any construction site or store will have about a gazillion of these things on-hand.

The sobering thing is that most of the time these wooden pallets are just carted off to a landfill when the person or company is done using them. Wasted.

But, we can give these wooden pallets a new life by turning them into all sorts of useful things. People have used wooden pallets to build barns and homes, and even outdoor toilets.

Today, thanks to some help from fellow blogger and friend Renaissance Ronin, I wanted to talk about how easy it is to turn these pallets into a large, outdoor compost bin for yard clippings and leaf waste.

Full instructions on their blog, go and take a look – The greenest dollar

http://www.thegreenestdollar.com/2010/04/how-to-build-a-pallet-compost-bin/

Of course if you need some pallets, I may have some around.

Kev

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Filed Under: General, Packing for transportation Tagged With:

It’s a matter of urgency

November 19, 2009 By

How to decide whether something is same day delivery or next day delivery.

As I write in the title, it’s a matter of urgency and that is usually decided by the client but it’s also the matter of confidentiality. In the past we have delivered evidence for court cases, its had to be delivered in confidence and to strict deadlines. It cannot be sent by mail, if it gets lost there is no case. Our vehicles are unmarked and have no sign writing, some may think we are missing an advertising trick but we are actually blending into the background – there is nothing to say we are a courier, nothing to indicate what we have is confidential or high value, nothing to indicate who we work for.

Delta Airlines Delivery
Image by The Rocketeer via Flickr

Our customers quite like this, it means their customers don’t need to know about any warehouse staffing issues or that they have had to get a courier in for the day to deal with their surplus, it’s all done confidentially. They love that our drivers provide great customer service on their behalf, something they don’t get when they have agency temp workers.

Back to urgency, how urgent is urgent delivery?

If it saves lives, it’s urgent.
If it saves a considerable amount of money, it’s urgent.
If the delay is going to cost you a considerable amount of money, it’s urgent.
If the your client is unhappy, and it could cost you their business, it’s urgent.

And you can always give them the option – “I can get it delivered to you within a couple of hours or I can have it delivered overnight, what suits you best? How urgent is it?” and in giving them the choice, you are building the relationship further and they can see how far you are willing to go to meet their requirements. When you have your answer, you only have to ring your same day courier and make the arrangements.

How do you deal with your urgent deliveries?

Kevin Arrow

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Filed Under: Courier Business, General, Packing for transportation, Sameday Courier Tagged With: , , , , ,

What do you want your courier to do?

October 22, 2009 By

Everyone wants their business to run smoothly. They understand the need for excellent customer service and a speedy response time, they like to manage their overheads and keep costs low, but profits high. Yet time and time again they use a courier so inappropriately, it’s often not worth using one at all.

Fragile parcel courier
Image by John Linwood via Flickr

Firstly many companies waste valuable time ringing too many companies for a quote, for a service they do not provide. Then they hit upon a courier company that does have the service they require, they then start to haggle over the price! Often making several phone calls and wasting even more their staffs time. Often the saving is so negligible, it has cost the company more money in wasted time than money saved by shopping around.

The goods get collected and dispatched and everyone is happy. Except for the customer, parcel companies tend to only deliver in office hours and the customer was at work, and missed the delivery.

The business didn’t think to ask if it could be delivered to the customers workplace, they didn’t get all the details in place at the time or order – they were busy making sure everything ran smoothly elsewhere. Only a lack of information gathering has meant that the customer has had to drive 20 miles to an out of town depot to collect their goods from the courier. The customer isn’t very happy, he doesn’t think very much about the company they have ordered off of, and he wants his delivery charges refunded as they have the hassle of driving out of town when they shouldn’t of had to .

The business likes to keep their customers happy, and likes things calm, so they refund the delivery charges and the customer is happy too, but he doesn’t forget his experience and who knows who he might tell.

Research is often an underrated tool in business, but some research before time wasting would have saved the business money and kept the customer happy at all times. With a tougher business climate can you afford to lose business

  • By booking the wrong type  courier service?
  • By not communicating with your customer properly?

Do you ever leave the office at the end of the day wishing your business didn’t need a courier service?

Sarah Arrow

Call us for a no obligation quote on 0844 884 3331

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Filed Under: Courier Business, Moving awkward /fragile goods, Packing for transportation Tagged With: , ,

Moving freight into the UK?

October 21, 2009 By

If you have to relocate to the UK you will need to get all your items moved in one easy trip. The best way to do this safely and quickly is to use a UK based freight delivery or courier company. A good company will advise you on how to pack for shipping or even arrange for someone to do it for you.

Mini Freight Pallet for same day couriers
Image by ECOSOSLOG via Flickr

This is a very simple process when you choose a professional courier service that has excellent connections within freight movement industry. You can get your entire household packed up and loaded onto a ship and this will travel across the world to a port in the UK. Once here you can get it unloaded and taken to your new home or storage facility.

Usually delivery experts will have offices in various countries around the world, or they will work in conjunction with another company who does, so that when there are clients moving overseas there is a professional to meet the cargo or freight on the other side.

If you choose a UK freight delivery company you will get all your large items and small items delivered just as you left them. An alternative but more expensive option is to buy brand new items when you get to the UK which is very expensive in comparison to the cost of taking your goods with you.

It is not a huge hassle because you will have experts doing it all for you. All you have to worry about is getting all the items wrapped and packed. You should sort through your items and get rid of those things that you really don’t need, those non essentials just to make the packing process a bit easier.

When you have to move overseas there will be a lot of stress as you move your entire life / family to a new location. The last thing you want to do is have to worry about getting your things there.

Sarah Arrow

Please call if we can be of any assistance – 0844 884 3331

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Filed Under: Courier Business, Moving awkward /fragile goods, Packing for transportation Tagged With: , , , , ,

A bad courier experience, how to recover it

October 20, 2009 By

Often a business will only find out how good their same day courier service is, when something goes wrong.

This blog is seven tips on how to survive a bad same day courier experience.

Courier customer service
Image by krystianmajewski via Flickr

1. Accept that its happened. From a late delivery or non collection, denial resolves nothing.

2. Gather as much information about the problem as you can as soon as you can.

3. Clarify whether the courier made the delivery or whether you need to get someone else in to complete it.

4. Ascertain the status of your goods, ask the driver to take photos on their mobile phone and send them across to you.

5. Remember – another courier may be reluctant to assist if the cargo is damaged in transit and may need reassuring that the business has no intention of claiming from the new courier companies insurance.

6. Inadequate packaging is not the couriers fault and if they thought it was inadequate they should have verbalised this to you at time of booking (many good couriers carry blankets and wrapping, just in case).

7. Remember traffic can cause infinite problems, and no traffic jam lasts forever (although when approaching a deadline it may seem like it!). Communication with your courier and your customer can make a huge difference to the successful outcome of the delivery.

Communication is the key.

Keeping your customer informed is essential to prevent the bad courier experience costing you the customers business. Remember that the negatives can be turned around to show your capability in dealing with tough and awkward situations, that your communication and customer service are second to none.  If you do this, the chances are your customer will not even notice the potential delivery disaster.

If you find you are constantly on the phone to your courier, if the smallest of jobs are not completed to your satisfaction then it’s time to look at new same day courier services. When comparing costs, always remember to factor in what the cost of the hassle caused by the bad courier service.

Remember – A small saving on price is not worth the inconvenience to your customers.

Good luck with surviving your bad courier service because if you don’t do something about it, your customers will – they will move to a new supplier.

Sarah Arrow

Call us for a no obligation quote on 0844 884 3331

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Filed Under: Courier Business, Moving awkward /fragile goods, Packing for transportation Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,
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