Alternative to Royal Mail

[anngypsygirl]

Can anybody recommend a carrier that is cheaper and more reliable to Royal Mail. Certain items are no problems but larger toys and things of this nature cost a fortune to use this service. I know on the whole they can be reliable but their prices now are awful. I did post about this once before but nobody felt inclined to reply. Hope somebody can help.

[kazeran]

My Hermes, cheaper and in my experience reliable.
Whatever you do don't use Parcel Hero, they are worse than Royal Mail, in my experience.

[sherlock07]

Not used them yet, but collect+ looks reasonable.

[cornishmaid1961]

I've been using MyHermes since the postal hike and so far so good all my items have got there O.K. You just need to warn your customers when you mark as shipped that they usually take about 3-5 days to deliver. The only drawback is that they don't deliver to the Channel Islands.

[emdiecast]

I use both Collect Plus, for my big models, and Hermes for my smaller ones. Hermes are slower delivering, parcels take about 3 days on average, Collect Plus do deliver quicker but are slightly more expensive.

[emdiecast]

Cornish is correct, in that they don't post to the Channel Islands. I had an order from Jersey and had to send it via Royal Mail. It was a parcel that fit the 16x16x16 Royal Mail size and it weighed less than half a kilo and it cost £4.10 for 1st class recorded delivery. With RM Jersey is classed as a European address.

[kreativebargains]

I use both Collect+ and MyHermes..

I use via Parcel2Go as I pay in £100 at a time and get a 5% discount. The only drawback with that is that you have a contract with Parcel2Go and they have a contract with the courier, so if there are any problems then information has to be passed down the chain. I had one problem with a MyHermes delivery and it did get sorted, though it was slightly frustrating for a while.

In addition to Channel Islands the couriers do not usually deliver to Northern Ireland.

[moonwitch]

I would give MyHermes my vote.

So far...I have had no trouble with them.

Difference in price...I recently sent an eBid Brolly with MyHermes (a bit below £3.50)

with Royal Mail via Parcel Force it would have been just below £11.50

You need to read the list of items they don't handle as the list is rather long.

My pamper boxes have to go with Royal Mail as they contain liquid in bottles and sometimes fragrances but other parcels are sent with MyHermes

[rokins_toys]

I have started using myHermes for medium sized items that are not far too expensive to send with royal mail or royal mail will no longer accept and try to force you to use parcelforce. I know a lot of people have mixed experiences with myhermes but I have used them a couple of times without any issues so far, but myHermes know I am a proper business so they will not mess me about or they'll be dealing with the regulator.

I would recommend you offer your customers a choice on what medium size parcels royal mail do accept, make sure your customers can see the choice of 1st and 2nd class for medium parcels with royal mail as well as the cheaper alternative with myhermes (if you decide to use them), that way the customer has a choice of which service they would prefer to use. I currently do this and let the customer decide and most are opting for royal mail 1st class still on a medium parcels. At least this way, the customer chooses and can see the difference in postage costs and can CLEARLY see royal mail is the problem with their excessive price increases. There are some items I have listed that royal mail will no longer accept despite being a medium size parcel and it would cost my customers £15 (parcelforce) to have a £30 item (TIE fighter for action figures)shipped to them which is ridiculous so I only have the myhermes option.

Just offer a choice of shipping options and let the customer decide which one they wish to pay for.

[Maelbrigda]

myhermes prices are set to rise on june 15th i think. they dont deliver to the isle of man either