Time and time again the question is asked why couriers are so expensive. The following article puts a clarification and justification forward to the prices that you are quoted so you know that in reality the price you are given might actually be very cheap.

With the majority of couriers, prices are quoted based on the miles covered between delivery and collection. This is quoted normally as Pence Per Mile and varies mainly due to the size of vehicle required to accommodate your request. For example the price of a small van to move say a small office desk will be cheaper than a large van having to move several large desks.

For a courier to operate effectively and to remain profitable they must be able to cover their outgoing costs but for a courier these can be very expensive. A courier must have a van to use (ok a bit obvious), fuel, and insurance. On top of this there will be the drivers’ wages, consumables for the vehicle plus other expenses like stationary and utility bills. All of the above are factored in when you get a quote.

Another factor to consider when booking a courier is you are paying a premium for a service of a dedicated man or woman, van and their time. The dedicated courier will turn up at your collection address then go to the delivery address in the quickest (legally allowed) time possible.

So what tips are there for obtaining a courier quote?

1. Make sure you have all the delivery and collection details to hand.
2. If you see any delays in loading or unloading the vehicle let the courier know in advance as a courier may and possibly charge for waiting time if there are any delays in loading or unloading a vehicle.
3. Be clear about what you want to moving and if possible the dimensions to hand. If you think it might fit in your choice of van size and it doesn’t then you might end up paying more than you anticipated for a bigger van to attend.
4. If you need your goods moving the same day you need to be prepared to pay a premium for it. The same can be said for weekend or Bank Holiday.
5. If you don’t need it moved the same day how about being flexible with delivery and/or collection dates. Some (not all) couriers will map out their work days sometimes weeks in advance and could offer a slightly reduced rate if they are able to do your request along side someone else’s. It is logistically more difficult to achieve but it can reduce the costs if you believe that the same day route is too expensive.

Finally, don’t expect a dedicated courier to be anywhere near as cheap as Royal Mail, DHL or any other parcel carrier. The above companies operate in a totally different way to a same day courier and operate based on volumes of items moved at any given point. Calling a courier and asking for your newly purchased bargain from eBay to be delivered from London to Glasgow for £10 will be generally met with a bit of light laughter and then the phone going dead.

Royal Mail disclosed recently that in the 12 months to the end of March, just 87.9 per cent of First Class mail arrived on time. This means almost one in eight letters arrived late. The national postal operator blamed the poor performance on the bad weather at the beginning of this year and the postal strikes last Autumn which had considerable impacts on the postal system.

Only 7 out of 8 First Class mails arrived on time last year

Royal Mail's "quality of service" figures were based on 960,000 sample letters, parcels and packets sent to thousands of test addresses throughout the year.

So, apart from the "test" letters, it prompts the question, "Just how many more don't get delivered on time that Royal Mail are simply not aware of?"

One more reason to use a dedicated courier service like CID Couriers to ensure your precious delivery gets to it's destination both on time and intact!

Online GPS vehicle tracking!! Why do I want or need online tracking?

That was my first thought, and then after a little consideration, I came to the conclusion, why not?

So what benefits will this bring to the customer, myself or the plain nosey? Well, of course, it will make it easier to find out where I am, and more importantly to the customer, where their goods are, but is that it. Hopefully not, as an ever increasing number of independant couriers are looking for ways of reducing fuel use and eliminating unnessessary journeys, what better than to have information on hand about vehicles that could possibly be used instead of them going home empty or adding another vehicle to the road making a similar journey.

With modern smartphones employing GPS receivers and mobile data, tracking has never been easier. Here at CID couriers, along with a few other couriers, we are working towards tracking each others movements as a way forward in reducing fuel waste while at the same time giving customers that little bit extra info.

A major flood at a BT exchange in Paddington, London has affected broadband and telephone services across the UK.

In a statement BT said it could not predict when either service would be restored. "Tens of thousands" of customers have been affected, said the firm, with the majority in north and west London. "A lot of traffic has been re-routed, There's a lot of work going on".

BT confirmed that some mobile phone services may be affected by the incident, which also caused a fire. London Fire Brigade attended the scene at 7.30am on 31 March. The flood was caused by an electric fault.

Customers as far afield as Potters Bar, Hertfordshire and Nottingham were reporting problems with Pipex UK broadband coverage. Pipex UK's parent company TalkTalk said that its service had been affected by the incident.

BT has published a list of 437 exchanges across the UK it says have been affected. Managing Director Dr Peter Gradwell told the BBC that some of the company's 45,000 Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telephone customers had also reported problems.