If you need to deliver a parcel you probably have three choices.

1. Take it there yourself.
2. Visit a Post Office and use Royal Mail.
3. Book a courier collection.

Taking it there is evidently more personal. However there will be times when it’s just not practical – especially if your recipient lives some distance away. Imagine the time and petrol money that will involve.

You could use Royal Mail – although that would mean making a trip to the Post Office to despatch your parcel.

Alternatively you could use a courier delivery.

Simply book a courier collection and your chosen courier will collect from your specified address – whether that’s your home or your place of work. As you can see that’s a convenient service that could save you precious time.

What’s more couriers are surprisingly affordable. After all they are competing in a very busy marketplace, which means as a customer you’ll find a variety of delivery specifications, deals and prices to meet your particular requirements.

You could request delivery Next Day, within 48 hours or even Sameday if you have an especially time sensitive or unusual item. What’s more with a courier service you can even send confidently overseas meaning it’s possible to fulfil orders from international customers or just stay in touch with family and friends who live abroad.

As you can see using a courier is a simple and effective way to stay in touch and send your parcel door to door.

There are times when it’s impossible to deliver an item direct to your recipient. Perhaps you live too far away or you want a surprise package to arrive at their door.

Here are five compelling reasons why you should post with a courier.

1. You can track your parcel as it moves through the network. Great peace of mind if you need to be sure something has been delivered or if you want to check on its progress.
2. You can choose a delivery specification to suit your needs whether that’s Sameday, Next Day or a longer delivery window.
3. You can despatch worldwide. So whether your delivery address is in the UK, Europe or somewhere more exotic you can find a domestic or international parcel delivery service that is both affordable and timely.
4. Collection is included saving you a trip to the Post Office or depot to drop off your item. All you need to do is book a collection, wrap up your parcel and wait for the courier driver to arrive on your specified day. Simple.
5. It’s affordable. Which may surprise you, but given the number of courier operators on offer from a local man in a van to an international brand, prices are competitive. What’s more if you book your collection through a parcel middleman you could save even more.

Next time you need to send a parcel, remember these reasons and check out the courier services available before automatically making a beeline for your nearest Post Office.

Here’s some recent news from our Sameday partner – City Link.

Earlier this month City Link won a contract won £1.5 from JML – the consumer and household goods giant (you’ve probably seen their adverts on the TV).

The awarding of the contract means City Link will be handling all JML’s business to business, and business to consumer deliveries throughout the UK.

Business to business deliveries will involve distributing JML products to high street retailers across the UK and Ireland including Debenhams, Homebase and Asda. In comparison the business to consumer deliveries will involve the fulfilment of orders from JML Direct. Most of the traffic will be moved via City Link’s Next Day service.

City Link’s website report that JML have been pleased with the service so far. City Link highlights how regular communication and their customer services team have helped during the transitional period.

Duncan Faithfull, Sales and Marketing Director at City Link, said: “We at City Link are delighted to be working with JML in a partnership where we believe we can add real value to the business. As with all new and existing customers, our priority is ensuring we have a real understanding of their business so in turn we understand their needs and expectations of us, as their carrier of choice.”

Collectmyparcel.com wish City Link all the best with this new contract.

You can read more about this story on the following link: http://www.city-link.co.uk/press/2011/news_284897.html

HAPPY NEW YEAR from collectmyparcel.com

Great news for the start of 2012 for you as a valued collectmyparcel.com customer. collectmyparcel.com has teamed up with one of the UK’s largest courier resellers, to offer you even more top quality courier services at the best possible prices we can find.

Up to now, you have been booking directly on our website. This has not changed. Please continue to book all your parcel collection and delivery requirements through collectmyparcel.com and we will automatically and safely pass you over to them so they can fulfil your order for you.

The benefits to you are:

• More services (FedEx for international parcels with a next day service to the USA)
• Parcelforce service across Europe
• TNT services Worldwide
• Cheaper prices
• Telephone support on 0844 357 9517 (open from 08:30am to 6:00pm)
• e-mail support

Why not head over to collectmyparcel.com now and run a dummy quote through our site to see how it all works?

If you have any questions, we are still here, still providing the excellent customer service that we have become known for. We are just working differently to ensure the best possible service to you our valued customers. We are still here to help!

Note: Top-Up account users – we will contact you directly with the options available to you.

collectmyparcel.com

Merry Christmas everyone!

Whatever you do today we hope you have a fantastic time full of festive fun, delicious food, great TV and of course lots of presents (possibly courier delivered)!

Perhaps it’s baby’s first Christmas and you’ll enjoy watching those first special gifts get unwrapped, or maybe you’re relieved that finally the frenzied enthusiasm of little ones has been satisfied as Santa’s promises have arrived. Or maybe you’re going to enjoy a quiet one with close family, loved ones or friends. Whatever you do here’s to special times and special memories.

Christmas is the busiest time of the year for us and we’ve been flat out arranging courier collections for people all over the UK. So you never know, one of the parcels you opened this morning could well have arrived at your door after a courier collection was arranged with collectmyparcel.com.

We’d like to thank our courier partners for working hard to fulfil all the recent and last minute collection requests. The volume of parcels moving through courier networks at this time of year increases considerably so hopefully everything is where it should be this Christmas morning!

But most importantly we’d like to thank all our customers for your continued support over the year. You’ve followed us on Twitter, liked us on Facebook, read our blog, gave us great feedback and of course booked thousands of parcel collections through our on-line service.

So this Christmas we hope we’ve saved you a little bit of money with our cheap parcel delivery service.

Enjoy the rest of your day, and a very Merry Christmas from all the team at collectmyparcel.com

Are you a business with freight to deliver?

Then read these ideas for getting your parcels to their intended destination efficiently as well as saving you money.

Perhaps you usually use a courier service and book direct.

But have you considered using a courier middleman?

These on-line courier-booking services enable you to arrange freight collections with a range of different courier providers. What’s more you could save money for two different reasons:

1.  On-line middleman can often offer a price that’s cheaper than going to the direct. That’s because they book collections on behalf of thousands of people and pass some of their bulk-buying discounts back to you.

2.  On-line courier middlemen can book collections with a range of different providers. As you know different couriers offer different prices for different delivery products and specifications. Book with a middleman and you’ll be able to choose which courier company offers the best deal for the freight items you are sending.

In addition on-line middlemen like collectmyparcel.com offer a CVS bulk shipping upload tool.

This simple to use spreadsheet based tool is ideal if you’re bulk posting or despatching lots of parcels with different collection and delivery addresses. It saves you time and you will also be able to check the information in your shopping cart before paying.

So next time you have some freight to send simply visit www.collectmyparcel.com and see what deal you get.

Do you need to send a parcel internationally?

There are many reasons why you may need to send a parcel overseas. Perhaps you have an on-line retail outlet and you need to fulfil international deliveries. Or perhaps you have friends and family living in different countries and you’d like to courier them presents or a parcel.

Whatever your reason, it’s now easy to find a worldwide parcel delivery to suit your needs. Here are two options.

1.  If you’re posting to Europe a good product for you is DHL’s Euro Plus. This product has a delivery specification of 2-5 working days and will transport your parcel out of the UK by road.

2.  If you need a faster service, or want to send you parcel outside Europe then choose DHL by Air. This product will get your parcel to Europe with 1-2 working days and within 2-4 working days anywhere else. What’s more you’ll benefit from on-line tracking as well as a signature to show when your item’s been delivered.

What’s more it’s easier to access worldwide parcel deliveries than you may have thought. In fact some courier companies will even let you print the waybill on your computer which makes parcel preparation that much easier.

Finally here’s a reminder.  When sending a worldwide parcel delivery just check you haven’t sent anything prohibited, and beware of customs requirements and regulations. If in doubt, browse this useful link www.hmrc.gov.uk, which contains lots of detailed information.

Happy posting!

With the doors of the advent calendars into double digits it really is nearly Christmas! But don’t worry if you haven’t packed up all your presents yet because there is still time left to send your parcel.

Here’s an easy way to send a parcel and save money.

1.  Google cheap parcel delivery and click on a parcel middleman service like collectmyparcel.com.

2.  Use the quick quote service. Simply enter your parcel’s collection and delivery details along with the size and weight dimensions of your parcel.

3.  View quotes from a range of big named parcel courier companies like City Link, DHL, Parcelforce Worldwide and Yodel.

4.  Choose your courier provider. By picking the delivery specification and price that best suits your needs.

5.  Book and pay for your collection with the parcel middleman.

6.  Relax! Once your parcel is packed up and ready to go you can sit back and wait for the courier to arrive. The parcel middleman will do the rest for you.

What’s more if you send a parcel with a parcel middleman you’ll save money too. That’s because middlemen book collections on behalf of thousands of people. They qualify for a bulk-posting discount and pass some of these savings back to you. It means you pay less than going direct.

Merry Christmas!

With Christmas approaching it can be helpful to know what options are available to send parcels and presents to family and loved ones. If you can’t take it door-to-door yourself some alternatives include Royal Mail or a courier.

Using a courier service to move parcels has many advantages such as:

1. Electronic tracking so you can follow your parcel through the network.
2. Lots of choice so you can find a delivery specification and price to suit your needs.
3. An efficient service that you can use with confidence.

Indeed a courier is a reliable, affordable way to move a parcel from door to door at this time of year.

In addition it’s easy to access a courier. Simply book a collection, pack your parcel and wait for the courier driver to collect it. Your parcel will then be moved through the courier’s network before being delivered to your recipient Next Day (or within your chosen delivery specification).

What’s more when you book through a courier middleman you can send a single parcel and there’s no need to open an account. You can even arrange for a door-to-door delivery going abroad.

Also did you know a courier could even take your parcel directly to your recipient? If you book a Sameday service such as City Link’s Sameday product, your parcel will be collected and taken straight to your delivery destination. That’s parcel collection and delivery performed by the same man in the same van – a true door-to-door service.

If you need to post a parcel this Christmas, it’s worth giving couriers a look.

Last Christmas Posting Dates 2011 – Christmas Parcel Delivery Times & Christmas Delivery Dates 2011

As Christmas day is getting closer and closer, many of us may have finished our Christmas shopping, yet some of us are only just starting.

The sooner you can purchase, wrap and organise the delivery of your Christmas gifts, the better.
We have already had a few bouts of snow, and the weather caused lots of problems last year for many of us; including the courier industry. Roads were closed and the bad weather caused huge delays to the transportation network. Don’t get caught out this year, here are our Latest Recommended Posting Dates For Christmas 2011