shop: options for getting it home

It is not uncommon when out in an antiques district or browsing an auction room to
wish you had a van or at least a big estate, you may be lucky enough to know
someone who does but you still have the issue of not just transporting antique
furniture but keeping it safe.

Items you buy could be major investments so it doesn?t make sense to ring up the
cheapest man in a van from the local phone book: using a specialist courier is
probably going to be the best option to get your purchases home safely. Look out for
a courier who is well established and specialises in not just furniture but specifically
antiques.

Some antique stores and auction rooms offer delivery options of course, they are
likely to know what they are doing and be fully insured but with you as a captive
audience they may charge a little extra than a courier you find yourself and with
auction rooms when an auction finishes there may be a long wait to get your items if
everyone wants to use the service they are offering.

A shop or auctions room will also often have a certain radius they will deliver in:
which is often as little as 5 or 10 miles so even if you have gone to a shop in the next
town or city you may need to organise your own transport to get your purchases
home to you.

A same day courier could be ideal then, ideally one based locally or with local
drivers who can come to you straight away to collect items and then bring them to
you. With a antique shop they will of course normally hold on to a item for a day or
so to let you collect it or have it collected. At an auctions you may only have 24
hours or less to collect your purchases though so the best thing may be to have the
courier come straight away show them which items you are collecting and then have
them leave at the same time as you to get to your property. It is also worth checking
that the courier you choose will be able to help you get items safely inside rather
than dropping them off and leaving you to struggle and potentially cause damage
yourself.

One of the main differences between a same day courier who has experience in
moving fragile and valuable items and one used to moving only pallets and pre-
packed boxes is that the experts will usually have a good range of packing materials
on board to ensure that your new antique furniture is not only stowed securely but
that surfaces are protected from dirt, scratches, heat and substances such as oil or
water.

For smaller antique items as well, even those you could transport in your own car, a
courier will be able to pack them in the best possible way for you with years of
experience to know the best way to safely move items such as paintings, glass, gilt,
ceramics and varnished woods, all of which need special consideration.

Some business people seem to take the view that the more they can do themselves,
or at least with their own staff the more efficient they will be, others take the view
that you should let everyone do what they do best: but which is right and
specifically which is the right point of view when deciding whether to use an
external courier service or handle things internally?

First off what about the expense, it is a little like renting premises or buying them,
buying everything to run a courier service involves initial outlay but you could
potentially end up spending more long term with a courier company, though this
could take some time if you don?t send out much.

Considering how much you actually send is important then to consider if it is
worthwhile; what you send and where you send it is also important. Florists usually
have their own transport to courier flowers to people immediately, they know that
time is important and that with their own van they can get flowers out quicker than
with a courier, unless they happened to be next door and even then a courier won?t
always have instant availability.

For most things you are going to want to send though time is less important, though
not unimportant; if you are selling from a shop you may have customers who want
items delivered, especially with furniture, antiques and other large bulky items. If
you do these deliveries then you will either have to wait until your store closes, use
staff from your store or employ a delivery driver, employing someone as a delivery
driver is only generally going to make financial sense if they will be delivering
constantly. A courier company you can use on an as needed basis and they can
collect from your store at a suitable time and deliver to a customer at a time to suit
them during the day, even the same day with a same day courier.

How large an area you will cover is also a major consideration, if most of your
deliveries are going to be within a town or small city then you could carry out your
own deliveries, over a larger city or wider area though you could find your self
having to drive a long way to make deliveries or having long distances between
deliveries. By paying a courier company making deliveries across an area anyway
they may be able to charge you less than the cost of your fuel as they will be making
other deliveries for other customers as well so can be more efficient.

Of course if you are sending a large number of items all across the UK or
internationally then using a courier service or number of couriers makes sense and
even the likes of Amazon do so.

The processes and difficulty of running a courier service efficiently is often
underestimated by companies who decide to do it themselves, dealing with peaks
and troughs can lead to often having too many deliveries to make and leaving
customers frustrated when deliveries are not made on time. Using an established
local, national or international courier can leave you to focus on what parts of your
business you already do well.

furniture and valuables home

It could be in Brighton shopping in the Lanes, or in London along Portobello road,
you could be on a weeks vacation or away for a weekend but if you choose to go
shopping around furniture shops, antique shops and other places such as collector?s
markets and auctions you will come across items that you fall in love with and want
to buy and take home but assume you can?t.

Even if you are on holiday with a car most furniture as well as other bulky and odd
shaped items simply won?t fit. You may be able to safely wrap fragile items and
transport them in your car but if you are travelling by train or other public
transport, or even if you are some distance from your accommodation, trying to
transport fragile items may be a bad idea; taking an ornate hall mirror on the
London Underground or having your new vase stowed with the baggage on a coach
is going to end in disaster.

What you really need is someone to collect items from the shop and deliver them to
you, in some cases a shop will offer delivery but usually only within a small radius
though you may be able to offer them more for a greater distance. Usually though a
courier will be better value and there are many who specialise in transporting large
and fragile items such as furniture.

Of course if you are not going to be home for a number of days you may need to
arrange for the courier to collect the item in a few days time, most furniture shops
and antique shops are happy to look after items for a few days once you have paid.
The alternative if they won?t, or with smaller shops short on space can?t, do this is to
use a courier who can collect an item and store it safely for you for a number of days
until you are ready for it to be delivered.

Other advantages of using a courier include actually getting the item bought into
your home for you, you may want to check when you book a courier that they are
happy to bring an item into your home and to the right room for you, though you
may need to get back in time to rearrange things to make space first.

While large national and international courier chains usually offer only a set service
that may not allow for the complications of picking an item up from a shop,
potentially storing it and then not just delivering it but moving it into position for
you; smaller local couriers are generally much more flexible, and don?t have the
same strict schedule to keep to that large chains give their drivers.

Next time you are on holiday and find the perfect chest of drawers, kitchen table or
antique bookcases then don?t walk on thinking ?if only I?d seen that in a shop back
home?, call a courier and bring it home.

courier can ensure delivery on time’

You may think if you are sending out something for free those receiving it should
have no right to expect a quick faultless service and should be happy they are
getting free samples to review or consider for buying at all. Then again you are
looking for something in return whether it is a good review from a magazine or
website or an order from an important buyer.

Don?t forget these people get samples all of the time and won?t even trial a lot of
them: if you have arranged to send a sample and they have set aside a time to trial it
then you better make sure the sample is there on time or your opportunity can be
lost.

Even if you haven?t promised to get a sample there straight away but you have
spoken to someone on the phone about it the sooner after that conversation the
sample arrives the more they will remember of your sales pitch and the more
interested in trialling your product they should still be.

A same day courier may seem expensive compared to other courier and mail
services but think about the value of the order you could potentially get or the
amount of sales and exposure a positive review in a magazine or busy website could
get you and your apprehension should fade away.

Believe it or not delivering samples quickly and on time may make a difference to
any reviews you get. A reviewer may feel irritated if a delivery is late and this may
cloud their judgement of your offering, a quick delivery should impress them and
show you are a business who strive to offer good customer service, this may also be
the thought of a buyer who will see a prompt delivery of a sample as a clear
indication you take timeliness seriously and will deliver orders on time as well.

If you not only sell your products wholesale but have your own online shop selling
your products then your courier service takes on another dimension: as a reviewer
will be considering whether they should recommend you to their readers and may
decide not to if a delivery service is late, delivers items in poor condition or has poor
customer service from the driver, such as them not waiting long for an answer or
simply dumping deliveries outside.

You need then not to just choose a courier who says they are good and will provide
same day or next day delivery but one that you can be fairly sure will actually do
this. Starting up as a courier is relatively easy, however staying in business requires
real attention to detail and the ability to deliver on promises every time, the most
reliable courier services therefore come from experienced courier drivers including
independent couriers and small courier companies with a few core drivers. As well
as checking up on how long a courier company has been around though it is also a
good idea to do some basic due diligence online, searching for reviews and
comments of the courier you are considering.

Speed of delivery matters to differing extents to different customers but there are
very few products that you can safely say no customer is time sensitive about and in
a great number of cases customers may be much more time sensitive than customer
sensitive: so don?t assume that the cheapest price will always get you the sale.

People want to know when they are going to get the goods, no information at all is
worse than having a long delivery estimate and people are often unwilling to go
through the process of adding products to a basket and going half way though the
checkout process before they know when they will get an item.

So put up your delivery schedule and try to give a hard and fast timescale as well, as
estimates can put customers off, ?get this by Tuesday? is a much better offering and a
call to action to drive sales.

Your other competitors online may have similar delivery timescales to you of course
and you may therefore assume that you aren?t losing out on sales through a delivery
time of a few days to a week.

Don?t forget though that if people go to a store they can get items straight away, the
hassle may mean they would rather wait and order an item with next day delivery
but failing this they may go to a store if they need an item fast or simply ?want? an
item fast: remember that for those customers who are less price sensitive œ5 extra
for next day delivery may seem like great value. By offering next day delivery as an
option you stand to boost sales and many online stores even offer same day delivery
or before 9am next day within a certain radius of where they are based.

For businesses speed can be even more valuable, it isn?t just that they can afford to
pay more for fast delivery but that they can put a value on quicker delivery be it for
a new projector bulb ahead of a presentation to a potential client or a new toner
cartridge to keep the photocopier working.

There are also sales you could lose out on where people who can?t get items fast
simply won?t buy them at all, people with immediate problems they need solving:
such as what to wear out the following night when they are going to be working all
day and not make it too the shops; if they can?t find something suitable online in
their lunch break that they can get straight away they may have to simply wear out
something they?ve worn before and hope no-one notices!

Of course you shouldn?t offer what you can?t provide and not keeping to delivery
schedules will lose you customers and get you a bad reputation but for a lot of
customers speed really does count and with the right courier there is no reason why
you can?t ask a little extra for a quicker delivery time, even if you add a little extra on
to the true cost for your inconvenience as well.

It?s good of Fedex to put their brand so clearly on their uniforms and on their vans, it
makes it very clear that in the Youtube video ?FedEx guy throwing my computer
monitor? Fedex may be best avoided, a lot of people have seen this video now but
what if this hadn?t been caught on film and what about smaller local and national
couriers? How do you know what service you will receive, or more crucially the
service your customers will receive from the courtier you choose to deliver to them
from you.

Your customers expect you to perform due diligence on a courier company before
choosing them to deliver packages and it is not just the condition that a package
arrives in but also whether it arrives on time and whether goods are insured during
transit, though insurance usually affects you more than your customers.

Videos on Youtube are just one way to find out about other people?s experiences
though and it must be remembered that for large international couriers they each
have probably one or two videos on Youtube of rogue delivery drivers.

Having said this of course if you work with a smaller courier company then you have
a good chance of getting the same driver each time and the chances of getting a
driver who doesn?t have adequate respect for your packages is low.

Smaller local couriers and self employed couriers are also much more likely to be
given the time to do a good job; as has been discussed the reason why the Fedex
driver threw the monitor over the guy?s fence is probably at least partly due to the
tight schedule he was expected to keep to. Whichever courier you choose looking for
information on how strict s company?s deadlines are online is worth doing, which
could be comments from employees and former employees of the couriers
themselves.

It is interesting still though to look at forums online to see who other business
owners recommend, or recommend you avoid. The most relevant opinions for you
will be from those with a similar business and similar products to send using similar
courier services such as same day delivery, next day delivery etc. Try searching
forums aimed at businesses like yours then and look for existing discussions but if
none exist start a topic and ask your industry associates for advice.

Another option is to do some research on Google: for smaller less well known
couriers especially you may find it easier to get feedback this way if there is a
company you are considering. Don?t just rely on the testimonials on a company?s
own website of course, they may be worth browsing but negative feedback will have
been filtered out.

With small courier companies you may also want to check who you are dealing with,
an established company is a good sign, it shows though small they must do what
they do well to stay in business, check on Companies House to see if a company
really has been going for a long time, a full credit and referencing cheque will reveal
if the company has ever had legal action taken against it, if it has recently changed
hands and also if it is in financial difficulty: this could suggest they may suddenly
stop trading and let you down.

What you also have to consider though is what your customers think of the courier
you use, Fedex have suffered a lto of bad publicity as a result of videos on Youtube
and even if you find that these were one offs using Fedex could put certain people
off ordering through you. As for local couriers they may not have heard of this will
generally have a neutral effect.

Many people when they first setup an e-commerce store don?t realise how much
hard work it can be but being organised is vital especially when it comes to sending
out orders.

It is understandable that a lot of store owners want to try and keep things simple
but sometimes customer service can suffer where you try too hard to simplify and
streamline your site and as a result you can lose sales.

One mistake that a lot of stores make is to assume that the customer is always going
to be price sensitive and as such offering the lowest price possible is important,
including free or very cheap delivery costs.

For a certain number of customers free delivery is important and could gain you
business that would have otherwise have gone to another site, often people looking
for free delivery will only glance at the delivery time estimate and as long as it isn?t
ridiculous they will go ahead and order.

For others though price is less important than the delivery time, don?t forget that as
an e-commerce store you are competing against physical stores local to a customer
as well and a long delivery time can see a customer choose to drive to a local store
rather than order from you, if however you could offer quicker delivery, maybe next
day or even same day, that customer might prefer to pay extra and avoid the hassle
of going out.

What delivery should you offer then? You won?t find one size fits all and so offer a
few options; Amazon in the UK offer about 5 different delivery options on their
products: the more you pay the quicker you get your products and if you?re willing
to wait you get free delivery: this way they have the right option for everyone.

Next day delivery and same day delivery can be particularly valuable to customers
and not least business customers: in a business time is money and so their may be a
cost to them of waiting for something they need, be it new ink cartridges, stationary
or spare parts. Don?t assume then that the cost of next day or same day delivery will
put people off, there will always be some consumers as well who want something
fast and have no problem paying more to get it as they aren?t price sensitive.

While many online stores offer next day services where a courier will come and
collect products and deliver them, same day courier services are rarer meaning if
you can offer them you have an instant advantage over your competition.

With same day delivery of course you need a cut off time for orders but a next day
by 9am service is also worth offering. Of course you have to be able to get a product
ready at short notice and arrange collection but to succeed in e-commerce it is this
kind of dedication that will set you apart from competitors including those who run
their stores on a part time basis.

get your aircraft spares fast

A bright sunny day, perhaps a Friday with work done and somewhere to get off to
for the weekend but what if having carried out checks on your plane or helicopter
and a part needs changing?

Having your own aircraft gives you an incredible amount of freedom whether you
just go up for the view and the peace and quiet or you are getting away somewhere;
safety is paramount though and if a part has a chance of failing it needs replacing
and simple parts such as oil seals can often hold up your plans.

If you are able to change parts yourself or even if there is a mechanic at the airport
this is little use until you get the part, many people faced with this situation would
give up on their plans but with a same day courier or even a dedicated courier you
can get your parts fast.

It may well be that a parts supplier within a reasonable distance has the parts you
need but only send out on a next day delivery at best and you may have missed the
deadline for this if it?s a Friday afternoon.

Just because a parts supplier doesn?t offer a same day delivery service though
doesn?t mean you can?t arrange one and arranging for a courier to collect should be
no problem at all as long as you pay for parts in advance over the phone and get a
reference number to give the courier or even just your name.

A dedicated courier can then bring the part to you straight away; in less of a hurry a
non-dedicated service may be cheaper but will take longer as the courier will have
other deliveries to make.

By choosing a courier based close to the parts supplier or who have drivers in the
vicinity you can get parts in about half the time it would take for you to go yourself
as you would have to go there and come back and your weekend plans can therefore
be saved.

The courier you choose is important though, many aircraft parts are fragile and any
damage such as scratches or excessive pressure could render them useless, or cause
damage that only manifests itself later.

There are specialist couriers however who specialize in transporting fragile and
valuable items, they may be a little more expensive and won?t be as fast as
motorcycle couriers, but are generally going to be much better value for the specific
task of getting hold of aircraft parts.

The service upon arrival is important as well of course, you ideally want a courier
happy to bring the parts right to your aircraft, especially if they are heavy and
cumbersome. While some couriers have strict deadlines to keep to others, especially
small and independent couriers, will be happy to fit in with your requirements if you
tell them what you need in advance, which may include spending some time getting
through security at the airport and being allowed to drive up to your plane or
helicopter.

(& remembering the real value isn’t always the hardware)

It could be your personal computer equipment and you may be moving home or
perhaps putting equipment into storage while you are away for a prolonged period
of time. It could also be that you have computer equipment for a business that needs
moving, which is more likely and surprisingly frequent, whether you are moving
equipment from one room in your offices to another or moving it to new premises
or to other premises you need to be careful and the potential damage isn?t always
caused as you would think.

It is a good idea to have insurance for your equipment while it is in transit of course
but insurance can only pay to replace hardware and there will be no way to restore
your data unless it is backed up.

Data backups are best done with software designed for the job but a lot of people
simply copy and paste files onto other disks or upload them into the cloud,
professional software can make sure no files are missed and keep the latest versions
of documents stored off site.

If you do have backups on other hard drives and optical disks though it is a good
idea to store them separately and transport them separately as what causes the
failure or damage to one disk could affect them all.

It is of course best to avoid any data loss to begin with, even with files backed up the
amount of time it will take you to reinstall your software and restore your system
will have a significant cost and in a business could mean extended downtime.

Couriers who have experience transporting computer equipment could do the job
for you of course on a same day delivery basis. While a removal company might take
your computers and wedge them in amongst desks and other office furniture an
experienced courier can come equipped with suitable packing materials and safely
pack your computers for you while being aware of potential causes of data loss
including drives being damaged simply through rough handling but also strong
magnetic fields and electric fields can erase data from a hard drive and make it
useless.

Another big problem with desktop computers is that in transit wires can come loose
due to rough handling and sudden shocks. Loose wires can cause problems other
than simply stopping a computer from starting up, with certain wires coming lose a
computer will start but without fans running that can cause serious damage to
motherboards and processors.

Computer peripherals can easily be damaged too if not transported properly and
properly packaged with monitors being the most commonly damaged computer
components: often a few pixels on flat screen monitors will fail following knocks or
excessive pressure on screens during transit but complete failure is also likely.

By using a professional courier not only do you have a good chance of everything
being delivered as it should be if anything does go wrong your courier should have
insurance, whereas you may not be insured while you are moving your equipment
even if it is insured at your office or home.

We may all like to think that we are better judges of a company or a product or
service than to assume the more something costs the better it will be: but research
shows most of us do use price as an indicator of quality. While you can achieve a
reasonable hit rate using this method with wine or coffee, courier services are a
little different.

Courier services are much more complex than wine or fast moving consumer goods
for a start, it isn?t just a core service of getting something from a to b it is all the
other features that go with it: some of which are down to the amount spent by a
company to provide the service and therefore impact directly on price: things like
use of tracking and the size of delivery vans, other things are down to how well run
a courier service is and how good drivers are at their jobs.

You may think that a more expensive courier company probably pays more to its
staff and therefore will have better staff who take more care and will put themselves
out to help customers, for example by bringing heavy packages indoors for them;
you may be right to some extent but not always. Some courier companies do try to
keep costs down by paying less and expecting drivers to get deliveries done in
sometimes quite unrealistic amounts of time, leaving them no time to be helpful and
attentive.

However large courier companies have to satisfy shareholders with dividends and
there are a lot of support staff relative to the number of delivery drivers so what
they save doesn?t always have a direct impact on price. Also large international
couriers may spend a lot of TV ads and other marketing to make sure that they are
the go to company and have a reputation that means they can command a higher
price, the marketing itself also ads to their costs.

As a result the higher prices of larger courier companies with a powerful brand and
reputation may be artificially high and a similar or even higher level of service may
be available from a local courier. With a smaller courier company or even a self
employed courier you may perceive you are taking more of a risk, UPS Fedex and
DHL in contrast are seen as a safe bet and people pay more for this safety.

By researching whether a smaller courier company offers as good a service though
you may be able to save money, with the expense of your time of course. If you are
sending one parcel one time then perhaps you will just go with a company whose
ads you remember seeing recently on TV, and they rely on this so they don?t have to
compete on price. What small couriers know though are there are plenty of
businesses out there though who will shop around and find the best value service
and that a lot of these businesses will be long term customers looking for a reliable
service and who are keen to build a strong business relationship.