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I need to arrange to get a fairly fragile item picked up from a fellow forumite in Skegness, Lincs to Carlisle area. 

Can anyone advise the best courier to use.

Rgds

Rod

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Rod,

Fragile but how fragile.

Packaging is the only thing that needs to be good and personally for an item classed as fragile I would prefer to use UPS

Check costs on Parcel2Go and you can select from numerous carriers.  I use UPS, TNT, DHL and ParcelForce.  I would not use Hermes.

Neil

 

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I concur with Neil, it's the packaging that counts.  I now only every use MyHermes who over hundreds of parcels have always served me and my customers well.  But I wrap n' pack to suit the item, from vehicle instruments, to motorcycle petrol tanks, to headlamps with glass, to a dynamo's armature.  I may double pack a particularly fragile item, to protect the content from shock when thrown about in the back of van,  or else to protect other people's parcel when I'm sending something heavy with hard edges.  I've never had an issue with anything I sent out.  I've only had issues when others have poorly wrapped things via other companies. 

Personally I don't use UPS, TNT, nor Parcelforce - because they repeatedly have given poor service (perhaps that is just in this area ? ) and/or delivered damaged parcels.  I had a lengthy dispute with TNT who tried to charge me x3 value of an item in import tax & VAT because their form hadn't been completed to their satisfaction by a Chinaman. After four months of bullying and in response my telling them where to stick their bill and if they would like then I'd see them in court - they finally stopped sending me *** DEMANDS ***.  I categorically will never use them.  UPS drivers repeatedly cannot be arsed to deliver parcels to a farm house (it takes too long and their pay is based on the number of parcels delivered)  and on one occasion sent an urgent parcel back to the US.  And Parcelforce again give poor service around here, have lost a parcel or two, and I've received more damaged parcels from them than anyone (but that may of course be a numbers game).  One parcel from the US was very badly damaged and its contents smashed, and despite being fully covered by insurance - they wouldn't accept responsibility for the damage, claiming it must have happened before it came into the docks. That was never resolved - I lost out in the goods and the cost of delivery with insurance. I avoid buying from the USA now.   

Btw., this is not gossip these are my own experiences.

Wrapping ; I tightly wrap delicate items in multiple soft folds of bubble wrap and then place that within at least 1" of expanded polystyrene (either board or tightly packed pellets), I use more bubble wrap to fill any corners ..so the contents cannot shift about within the cardboard shell, which may be single or double skinned.  I don't use tissue paper or crumpled newspaper because it has no spring back. 

Just my opinion, but I hope it helps.

Pete.

.

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May I ask the advice of the experience above about shipping a large, but not very heavy item, specifically a racing seat?

Too big, I think, for the GPO or even Parcel Force, and the usual carriers, Hermes etc. get expensive when a relatively large volume item is to be transported, even if it's light.   I've suggested personal collection as best, but some potential buyers want it delivered.

Edited by john.r.davies
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John,  might I propose you give the potential buyer the option to have their parcel collection service take it.  ie., you are prepared to carefully pack it in cardboard, if they were to arrange its collection with insurance. 

On the other hand I did have a small  transport company (rather than parcel delivery) collect a couple of second-hand 16ft canoes with paddles from Wales, and deliver them (unwrapped but in good order) across to my home in East Anglia.  And I had something similarly bulky brought up from London by a very pleasant Polish chap in a white van.  Sorry I don't recall their trading names but I'm sure there are many others in different areas around the country.  In either case - they cost less than just the fuel would have been in my own car. 

Pete.

 

Edited by Bfg
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Whoever you use, it's worth checking their list of excluded items. I sold some 1960s spotlamps on ebay, which arrived at the buyer having been run over by something heavy - the buyer photographed the parcel 'as received', and tyre marks were clearly visible. Hermes refused to pay out, as glass items are on their excluded list.

Pete

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6 hours ago, john.r.davies said:

May I ask the advice of the experience above about shipping a large, but not very heavy item, specifically a racing seat?

Too big, I think, for the GPO or even Parcel Force, and the usual carriers, Hermes etc. get expensive when a relatively large volume item is to be transported, even if it's light.   I've suggested personal collection as best, but some potential buyers want it delivered.

UPS  no problem .

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