Do you currently pay a fuel surcharge on your courier services?

As you may have noticed over the last 7 months the cost of fuel has risen steadily. For us couriers that means an unavoidable increase in our operating costs.

How some couriers deal with the higher fuel prices is by adding a fuel surcharge to you bill, this can be an extra 5 or 10%.

Over the course of a few weeks this can significantly increase your transport costs.

So what do you suggest we do to make your deliveries more cost effective for you?

We don’t charge a fuel surcharge, as our services are bespoke courier services, each price and quote is tailored to each delivery. As a customer that means you only pay for what you need and use :-)

We recycle packaging for our customers too, and can return it to their depot and save them significant amounts in packaging costs.

Our drivers drive safely and as fuel efficiently as possible, and that makes a difference to our fuels bills. There is no need for us to charge extra for any fuel consumption with the price increases.

So when booking your same day courier service, remember to ask about the fuel surcharge before you get a shock when the invoice comes in!

Kevin

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Where’s the marketing in your delivery?

When you have a product delivered to your customers, it can be the first physical impression they have of your company. Often if selling goods that need delivering, the customer may not meet the business, it’s owner or  a salesperson until a sale has taken place. Back to impressions – You need to make sure it is the right one. You also need to make sure it is consistent with your marketing message. If you brand your business as a premium product or service, how do you look if you use a second rate courier service? or even send the item with ‘a mate who is going your way…’

Parkins Independent Trading Co
Image by gregwake via Flickr

If your products, that you carefully make, are collected and then delivered in a scruffy, battered van, then you can imagine what your customers will think when they see it. Then we have the driver. If the driver is scruffy, unkempt and cannot recall when they last had a bath, they are not creating a good impression of your company. The delivery aspect is so often overlooked, but if a customer is paying a premium for your product, you are not very likely to gain repeat business by having it delivered by someone who couldn’t care less.

Whats more worrying is if the courier service in question doesn’t care about their own image, how can you be sure they will care about your product? If your goods are fragile, how will you know they are looking after them? You may not think this matters as your business gave the customer great service, and a great item that they needed. Many people will have helped make the sale, and now one scruffy driver, who couldn’t care less has blown it for you.

If you are less than confident in the courier service that is completing your deliveries, then you may find you are calling them more often to find out what is going on, where they are and how long they will be. You may find that you worry more about the delivery than the work you should be doing, because the trust just isn’t there.

If you are sending items to high calibre businesses you need a courier service that understands what this means. You will need one with smart, tidy vans and drivers that are motivated and well treated. They are the drivers that will deliver your items as you intended them to be delivered, with courtesy and respect. They are the ones that will be polite and well mannered to the receptionist of your clients company. They are the ones that will make sure the right person signs for the item, and will carry out your instructions so that the delivery is reflective of the overall service that you provide. They will continue to see your marketing message and brand values are delivered in a manner that reflects positively on your business.

Knowing how much it costs to win a client, can you afford to use a courier service who delivers less than what it should?

Sarah

0844 884 3331

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Wanted: Vancouver based courier companies – pls RT

If you are a courier company based in Vancouver, would you like to meet for coffee?

My wife and I will be over for the opening of the Olympic Games. In 2012 we have the Olympic games coming to London, and if you have the time, we would love to meet you and talk about business, in particular if yours has benefited from the Olympics being held locally.

The Olympic Flag flying in Victoria, British C...
Image via Wikipedia

The Olympics is the biggest non war related movement of people across the globe, and we are thrilled to be coming to your city to see them.

We would also like to meet local couriers (and my wife would love to video you for an interview on this blog, but I can take the batteries from the Flip ;-) ) and talk about the challenges in order to understand them and to prepare our own business.

Also too exchange best practise, ideas (we are continents apart, so look at things differently – I bet a little bit of snow doesn’t bring your business to a standstill)  and legislation. We are green and ethical in our business outlook and it would be pleasant to meet similar minded people.

So, if you are a courier company in Vancouver, please drop us a line in the comments or email sarah@arrowlighthaulage.co.uk and we can schedule a coffee.

regards

Kevin

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It’s a matter of urgency

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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Our new Tradespace site

Over the last two years or so we have used BT Tradespace as well for our blogs and packing/transporting tips. The weekend just gone, they have had a facelift and the new site is very visual.

A glimpse of our Tradespace

A glimpse of our Tradespace

It’s well worth taking a look at. The most frequent cry I have heard in the past is the site is too slow, well things have now sped up. We are zipping around the site at superfast speed. It is a bit like driving blind at the moment – I am not really sure where I am going. So its time to hand it over to my Missus and get her to look at it and add what we need to add and to do to make our same day courier business more visible.

I will make her tell us what she thinks via video… Sarah has spent some time playing with her new flip video. She has filmed a few clips here and there, done some interviews and generally experimented with it. Yesterday I managed to take it out of her hands for 5 mins and this is what I filmed. Something to reassure customers who may be worried their courier sleeps on the job…

David Attenborough can sleep safer knowing I am not going to be stealing his job ;-) and Spartacus is the only member of the team that can sleep on the job, when he is on duty at the warehouse.

Regards

Kevin

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