External transport can be the biggest cost in many small business budgets and with trading times quite tough, these three tips will help you save money with your deliveries.

Timing is crucial when booking your courier service. The delivery window has a biggest impact on the cost of your courier. If you use a same day or express courier you will be paying an increased cost than if you used a pallet network or gave your express courier a bigger delivery window. By giving your same day courier a bigger delivery window you can gain up to a 50% reduction in the cost of delivery. That’s right, over the course of a year you can save your business up to 50% of the transportation budget just by giving the courier company more time in which to deliver the goods. A good decision that goes a long way is explaining to your customers why their delivery will take just a little bit longer because it saves them money too.

Multiple deliveries can again save you money on your courier bills. Driver off sick? instead of getting an agency staff in and taking a risk with your vehicle, consider outsourcing it to your local courier company. It becomes cheaper to hire the courier for the day to complete all your deliveries. Common sense is needed here. If you have yet to outsource your transport and your own drivers can only complete 6 or 7 deliveries a day, you will find your courier does roughly the same. There are only so many miles that can be driven in one day, and hours that deliveries can be made in. It’s unreasonable to expect your courier company to do double what a normal driver does, but some companies do and wonders why it costs them more. Savings of 25% can be made here.

Loading and unloading information is our third and final tip here. By keeping your customer informed of when to expect delivery and having them ready to unload the courier means you can avoid waiting time. Waiting time can double the cost of some deliveries where the customer is ill prepared to receive their goods. If we are collecting, the same applies. If the companies know when the courier is arriving all waiting time can be avoided. Accurate collection times can save you 20% of your final transportation bill.

Bonus Tip – get the timing off your courier. For the arrival time of your freight or cargo ask your courier what time they will get there. Not the person in the office, but the actual driver in the van who will have all the up to date traffic timing via their satellite navigation system and it’s very accurate compared to the timings given by an online routing program.

Sarah Arrow

Birmingham same day couriers that help companies save money by getting the correct courier or freight delivery service for their products.

Are you a breakers’ yard or an automotive breaking company looking to get your parts delivered around the country? Manufacturer of new car parts? The automotive delivery solution needn’t break the bank!

With some creative thinking your automotive deliveries can take place quickly and easily.

First thing to establish is size and weight. If it’s a small part like a headlight it can go via Royal Mail if carefully packaged. Remember though, if it’s worth more than £2,500 then a same day courier with a dedicated vehicle is the better option for insurance purposes.

If it’s an engine, then a pallet network may provide part of the solution depending on the weight of the engine. The condition also plays a part. All liquids must be drained from the engine. Aside from the fact that an engine still containing oil can make an horrendous mess in the back of the couriers vehicle, it can also count as hazardous chemicals and prevent a normal same day courier from moving it (unless they have hazardous chemicals or dangerous goods training). Check first with your supplier, if you are not breaking the vehicle yourself.

Engine oil / engine fluids or not? If you are not sure, ask your local courier company and they can advise you.

If your car or truck part is long but light, a parcel carrier may be the right kind of service for you. Remember though parcel networks have a height or length restriction and anything over 1.5 metres is generally a problem for them. Multi dropping the parts by hiring the same day courier for the day is an excellent option if you have lots of these sized items to be delivered to various locations.

If the delivery is non urgent then your car bonnet or bumper could via co-loading with a same day courier. This option means your delivery may take longer to arrive but you would have the advantage of a value for money service provided by a same day courier rather than the service provided by a parcel network. Please note marking your goods ‘fragile’ can be a challenge to the handlers of your package, you only have to see the footprints on some packaging to know your car parts may not arrive in one piece. Whilst the parcel couriers are insured, you will need to double check for second hand parts, as often the insurance doesn’t cover them.

If your automotive parts have to reach an ongoing trunk vehicle then a same day courier is vital to your business. Deadlines and port windows are rarely missed when booking an express delivery service. If your courier company is using a satellite tracking system then you can time down to the minute when your parts will arrive, and route around troublesome traffic spots.

Whatever your automotive delivery needs are, the solution is here.

Sarah Arrow

Same day, next day and economy couriers delivering for greener living. Trading 7 years, so the chances are whatever you are looking to move, we have moved it before. Safely, securely and to your deadline.

Twitter was originally devised for couriers said Jack Dorsey one of the founders in a newspaper report a few weeks ago. So why is the uptake of couriers to twitter been so slow?

Could it be they don’t understand what twitter is for?

Twitter for many is targeted marketing. For me it’s conversation marketing and relationship building with potential new customers. For some that’s hard work but if the truth be told, it really isn’t that hard.

Even if you have an account, what on earth do you tweet? How many times you have drove around the M25? not very interesting – but what about where the M25 hotspots are? Would you follow someone who could tell you with high accuracy where to avoid traffic trouble?

One of the interesting things that I have been told about twitter and couriers is that the couriers will only follow each other. Great! more opportunities for backloads and working collaboratively. Have you got a load you can’t cover – then tweet it out and see what comes back.

Recently I needed a 7.5 tonne vehicle to go to the Midlands from Essex. It was 4pm on a Friday afternoon, all the usual subcontractors had sloped off and I thought “I wonder what will happen if…” and I did. I tweeted out my request. Several of my followers who know what I do, re-tweeted my message and several sent direct messages offering assistance. My load was covered, I gained a new sub contractor after vetting and my customer was very happy.

So fellow courier companies, if your business is running perfectly you have no need of twitter, so please don’t bother with it. If you have lots of customers, please don’t bother with it. If you are wholly incapable of getting to know someone via social media, then just don’t bother with it.

Leave it all for me.

Sarah Arrow
Author of the ebook Twitter for Couriers the great advice book for making the most from twitter, for couriers and those that drive for a living.

There are some same day courier companies that can help you organise the most challenging and logistically awkward deliveries you can imagine! Their knowledge comes through experience and is invaluable when moving sensitive or awkward goods.

If you buy or sell high value items or have a difficult timing schedule a same day courier can add extra expertise that can only come from doing the job and getting it right. An inexperienced courier may cause thousands of pounds worth of damage to your freight or cargo by loading incorrectly or co-loading without prior confirmation, something that experienced couriers just won’t do.

Good couriers will pay attention to the details ensuring your goods are loaded correctly, wrapped and strapped where needed and work safely. Your freight arriving safe and sound is a matter of pride to them.

A new courier may strap your goods too tightly causing damage that isn’t covered by goods in transit insurance. No amount of wrapping and strapping will protect the cargo if it has been poorly packaged at collection points. Whilst this is essential for both parcel and an inexperienced courier, it’s not essential for an experienced same day courier.

A new courier may have the enthusiasm for the most challenging of deliveries, but it’s the experience that will get it to your door in one piece. It’s not cost effective or green to continually deliver the same items over and over to a customer because your courier does not take the time to listen to what you have to say.

There is an art to delivering the goods and like all art, it takes time to learn. A new courier will only learn by becoming organised and completing these style of jobs, but is it your job to train that courier?

We think not.

Sarah Arrow

Experienced same day couriers, based in Essex and Birmingham delivering all over the UK safely and securely.

One of the problems same day couriers face every day is how to load their vans. They quickly become experts in ‘what to put where’. For those that sell white goods such as fridges, freezers, washings machines etc this is a life-saver! It means their deliveries get wrapped, packed and dispatched in the fastest possible time.

But how do you know if your courier is able to deliver your goods?

First of all you need to enquire about vehicle size. A small van may fit a washing machine. It won’t fir a fridge-freezer in, and if they tell you their small van can then you are in trouble. Why? A freezer when laid on it’s side triggers an internal mechanism and will rarely work when plugged in on delivery. So you happy customer with their “eBay bargain” is not so happy. The fridge freezer you thought you had sold, is back in your garage and you are stuck with paying a courier that did exactly what you asked – they delivered the freezer.

Asking questions before you book your same day courier service is an invaluable way of determining whether your auction goods will arrive in one piece. Quite often the buyer is so obsessed with delivery price, the think the saving of a tenner is a big thing. They won’t be so happy if their goods are not working!

Quite often customers ask about insurance. How many couriers tell you they are insured? have you stopped to ask what for? Many insurance policies don’t cover second hand goods. Others don’t cover good that are not damaged in transit. What that means to you is if your white goods are damaged by the driver inadvertently whilst unloading, they are not insured. Many couriers are only insured in the goods are damaged whilst the vehicle is actually moving.

A bit of preparation can save you from buying an online auction nightmare.

Sarah Arrow
Same day couriers that deliver from Essex all over the UK and back again.
She is happy to advise all on your delivery needs.
Article (C) Sarah Arrow 2009