Wednesday, January 6, 2010

Do You Know What Type of Courier You Need

By Sarah Arrow Platinum Quality Author

Often when a customer needs a courier what they actually mean is they need a parcel courier or parcel delivery company. Time and money can be saved by establishing what kind of courier you need before you even pick up the phone and start getting quotes in for the delivery.

If you have many items that are small and relatively low value, then a parcel courier is what you need. You have the choice of using the mail service or using a parcel carrier.

Each type of service has its own benefits. For example a parcel carrier will do guaranteed delivery times such as before 9am, before 12pm or just next day. The downside to the parcel carriers can be that their depots are far out of town when it comes to collecting a missed delivery where as the local post office can be local to everyone and allow parcels and packages to be collected with ease.

If you have a high volume of packages a discount may be negotiated and that is the main advantage of using a parcel carrier over the mail service. Both have their pitfalls when it comes to making a claim if a parcel goes missing.

Parcel couriers whether the mail or a private company have limits as to what they can actually carry through their systems. You are not allowed to send food or liquids through either of their systems. Explosives and narcotics, are not allowed through their systems either. To expand a bit more on narcotics, that is prescription drugs that you may want to send.

If the item is unable to be delivered by a parcel company as it is a restricted item, then you need to look at other options. One of these options is a same day courier service but even a same day courier has restrictions too. If for example you need to have large quantities of chemicals that need moving, you would need a delivery service that has hazardous goods certification. Quite often you would need an experienced hazardous goods trained courier for even a small amount of chemicals that need moving as they cannot be delivered through the postal or parcel systems.

Highly dense products may not be able to go through the postal or parcel system either, they may be too heavy to be lifted by one person. Equally a large but light product may not be able to go through the systems as it would be too awkward to lift by just one person.

So when thinking "I need a courier", expand the thought further and explore what type, it can save you many fruitless / pointless phone calls, and time is money after all!

Sarah Arrow works for Sameday courier services from Essex, Kent, London all over the UK and back again. Their blog can be found here: http://www.ArrowLighthaulage.co.uk/arrowblog where packing and delivery tips are regularly posted.

She is happy to advise all on your delivery needs and if you have any questions please call 0800 917 7084

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