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Most suppliers offer free carriage over set amounts.

This is not free for them so to recoup money they charge well for non carriage paid orders. Anything premium before 10 Sat delivery etc all cost a lot more.

Between November and January i would not recomend posting anything first class only, even recorded delivery I have between 2 and 20 parcels just disappear

every year due to the strain on Royal Mail.

I always make my orders carriage paid and make sure I know the costs if I don't and pass them onto my customer.

 

 

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On 11/7/2023 at 2:07 PM, grahamparker said:

Most suppliers offer free carriage over set amounts.

This is not free for them so to recoup money they charge well for non carriage paid orders. Anything premium before 10 Sat delivery etc all cost a lot more.

Between November and January i would not recomend posting anything first class only, even recorded delivery I have between 2 and 20 parcels just disappear

every year due to the strain on Royal Mail.

I always make my orders carriage paid and make sure I know the costs if I don't and pass them onto my customer.

 

 

Speaking of which are you finding Royal Mail even worse this year?

I've just gone through a period of losing 1-3 items a week plus slower than normal delivery and it wasn't even busy yet! (I send 5-10 items a day so that ratio is not good).  Broke the camels back when a special delivery took 5 days to turn up to a customer.

I've now got an account with fedex and raised postage prices slightly plus item prices slightly to cover the costs but at least the items get there. (£7.20 per item. Fully tracked, next day delivery with collection. Inc VAT and variable fuel surcharges).

One thing I despise is redoing work that simply didn't turn up.

 

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I've just been charged £9.95 by UMarq for a small parcel that should have cost no more than £3.99.............:evil:

A few weeks back, I was charged £6.95 by Dav-Burg for a small bag of keys to be sent out.

Time to find somewhere that isn't blatantly ripping off their loyal customers.

This company only charge £1.95 to post out any size key order:

https://www.trade-keys.co.uk/

Don't get me started on Royal Mail....................:-({|=

Rick.

Edited by kobblers
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I think that's bollocks Keith. If us ordinary folks can send stuff out at realistic prices Why do you big companies need to charge so much other than trying to make a bit more money out of us. So going back to my original opening post you think that is reasonable do you?

 

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That is shocking, there are a few who have high postage so just try not to use them and then charge a premium if it's only them that can do it. Best to shop around, plenty of other suppliers. Most of the big suppliers are signed up to the big couriers and in doing so get massive discounts on parcels anyways. 

 

If you are looking for cheaper ways to send then we use Parcel2go and the yodel and fedex services they offer at very good prices. Small parcels are nearly £1 cheaper than royal mail business rates and you get insurance and full tracking. So far 300+ parcels in and zero lost. Shame there is no competition for large letters and letters.

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21 hours ago, Gray said:

I think that's bollocks Keith. If us ordinary folks can send stuff out at realistic prices Why do you big companies need to charge so much other than trying to make a bit more money out of us. So going back to my original opening post you think that is reasonable do you?

 

Firstly. we are not as big as you think we are. Since Covid, we are a much smaller enterprise.

Secondly, our margins can be very slim, we have to stock many more parts than you can imagine and in order to do that we have to invest heavily in stock, often thousands of pounds in the hope that you might buy a part once in 5 or ten years.  We are often criticised for the high cost of stitcher parts for instance.  Having items like this made, specialist items, in small batches, for old machines, is very costly, most of you have no idea how much it costs to have these parts made in small quantities, yet you often complain at the cost or lack of availability when your stitcher stops working! You can't have it always, next day part at silly money, it's not commercially viable.

Lastly, I do think the cost in the OP is excessive, given what the items are.  We use UPS as our carrier as they are reliable, trackable and reflect the high cost of the parts sent, you wouldn't want the Post Office carrying a £300 part which would be unlikely to get to you the next day to get your stitcher working with 8 pairs waiting to be stitched!

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Keith i'm with you. Carriage has always been a huge annoyance to me I hate paying it so always make my orders to carriage paid.

If a customer wants something quickly i find out the cost and pass it on, never overcharge just recharge the same ammount to my customer.

I do think Gray also has a point that in his original post £13.95 is a little over the top.

 

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