Best Shipping Option for 2Ks worth of equipment

[Solar B]

Hi Folks 

I'm wondering given the current situation what would be the best way to ship some gear 

back to a supplier it's not that heavy about 8.5kg s but the P.O. were quoting almost 

£100 for the pleasure , the box is about 70cm long so was out with their SD option.

Thanks .... Brian 

[Stu]

I have used both the DOD local service and UPS recently for U.K. and international shipments. If you drop off rather that have the parcel collected then the prices are much lower. That’s assuming you can still choose that in today’s restricted situation.

https://www.dpdlocal-online.co.uk

[Solar B]

Thanks Stu , I filled out the form and put its value in and it came out almost the same 

cost unfortunately ! so I'm still at square one 😑

Brian 

[Stu]

4 minutes ago, Solar B said:

Thanks Stu , I filled out the form and put its value in and it came out almost the same 

cost unfortunately ! so I'm still at square one 😑

Brian 

That’s a shame. I found it to be significantly cheaper in my instance.

[Solar B]

Really weird it's actually coming in at near on £130 all in !!

Brian 

Ah but I've no drop off option 

Edited May 18, 2020 by Solar B

[RayD]

Cheapest way, generally, that I've found is usually MyHermes, but performance can be a bit hit and miss.  Still signed for etc. but delivered by local people in their cars rather than full time employees.

[Second Time Around]

Are any of the contents made of glass?  If so are you looking for insurance for loss and/or damage?

The reason I ask is that when I was helping my wife with a business sending expensive glass paperweights all over the world it took ages to investigate all the small print in the terms and conditions of the various carriers and brokers. There was a huge variation! 

To cut a long story short, the only carriers that gave total coverage for glass were Royal Mail and UPS, though with the latter only by booking direct rather than through a broker.

[johninderby]

Very recently most couriers are only accepting telescopes as at your own risk and will not insure them for breakage and there are stories of some of them refusing to pay for loss either. Some won’t accept telescopes at all now. ParcelForce still insures them but only for loss not breakage.

Becoming a real pain to ship a telescope by regular courier now. There are specialist fragile goods carrier though.

[fwm891]

I've used UPS and DPD to send musical instruments overseas and across the UK. Bit like glass most won't insure musical instruments. Something to think about is insuring the object(s) via a temp upgrade to your other (house) insurer. 

[Astro-Geek]

I've bought quite a few items secondhand via Ebay, often quite bulky and quite heavy, (observatory seat/step ladder, steel pier, etc..) and the Parcelforce and Royal mail quotes were quite impractical.

I then discovered third party courier agencies, like https://www.parcel2go.com, where you enter the dimensions and weight onto an online form and then it instantly returns quotes from most of the main carriers, ( Parcelforce, DPD, UPS, Hermes, etc..)

These are then dramatically lower than approaching those companies direct, 50% or less.  (Amazing that they can quote so much cheaper when they presumably have to give a commision to an agency).

One consignment did get lost (out of about 20 successes so far), and it took about 4 weeks, but I did get a full refund of the insured amount, (with the ebay transaction proving the value).

The only big problem, is that anything with glass is uninsurable for damage.

[Solar B]

Thanks Astro-Geek that's the one that I was after as I have used this service before 

a number of years ago 👍

Still as expensive to insure unfortunately 😑

Brian 

Edited May 18, 2020 by Solar B

[johninderby]

Parcel2go and Interparcel have have added a lot of extra restrictions in the last month or two. Things that you could send just months ago are being refused now. Things seem to be changing every week now.

Also at lot of the couriers have size restrictions at their drop off points or even collection. DPD seems to be the worst for this. You might not be able to ship a scope unless it’s small. Not a problem with Parcelforce though

Edited May 18, 2020 by johninderby

[LukeSkywatcher]

DPD would be my preference. Great service. 

[Astro-Geek]

I usually use Parcelforce, purely because the local delivery guy is really dependable, leaves anything in our "safe place" if we're out, whereas some of the others don't actually call on the expected day and yet enter the tracking as customer not in....

I hadn't thought about the Covid situation screwing up courier services too, I guess their extra precautions have made things difficult at drop off locations.

I've had some ludicrously heavy and bulky items delivered quite cheaply by Parcelforce via Parcel2go, right up to their 28kg single item limit.

[Solar B]

The crux of the matter is insuring it for 2K and everyone's the same at this level ...

so I'll just have to bite the bullet.

Brian 

[fozzybear]

would this be a returned item in the UK not knowing where you live and the recipient maybe strike a deal  on the cost and you drive it there a lot cheaper... just a thought..  £100 quids worth of fuel gets you a long way there and back and you know the kit is in good hands "subject to you doing it in the same day" Daily exercise...…. etc etc...

Edited May 18, 2020 by fozzybear

[garryblueboy]

You can get specialist insurance on line for telescopes it not to bad I’ve used a couple before now when sending glass abroad Secureus is one 

[Second Time Around]

On 19/05/2020 at 13:56, garryblueboy said:

You can get specialist insurance on line for telescopes it not to bad I’ve used a couple before now when sending glass abroad Secureus is one 

Now that is very interesting!  Thanks for the heads up.