Posting parcels over 2kg

[JohnPW]

I'm not sure whether to put this thread in the Hand Tools section or General Chat (Off-Topic), mods?

I'm begining to sell off some of my hand tools but this is also relevant for people buying tools.

The prices for sending stuff weighing 2-3kg is ridiculous. Royal Mail's pricing for Second Class Sign For is:

"Small Parcel" up to 2kg is £4.10,

but "Medium Parcel" 2 to 5kg is £10!!

That means even a number 5 plane costs £10 to send because the actual plane weighs around 2kg or a bit less. I've weighed a Record plane 4 at 1.62kg, so with packaging that will just about go (or struggle to) under the 2kg limit.

Some weights:
Record 778 rebate plane 1.77kg
Record 050C combination plane 2.06kg

both will cost £10 to send!

I've looked at couriers, eg Myhermes is £6.90 (call it £7) so not that much cheaper and it's a worse service IME.

Royal Mail have probably gone for simple pricing but parcels weighing just over 2kg is being penalised at the expense of 5kg parcels.

 

[sammy.se]

There is a parcel service- a locker device - which goes by size, not weight. You will need to drop the parcel off. I will look it up for you

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

 

[sammy.se]

Here you go

https://www.inpostdirect.co.uk/our-serv ... lgEALw_wcB

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[JohnPW]

Thanks, I'll have a look.

 

[Inspector]

Can't say with any certainty because here the only reason for using fixed rate small/medium/large parcels is convenience. Bigger boxes also take up more room than small so you will pay more. Our system also lets us ship a parcel by a volume and weight calculation and charges accordingly. A small dense box is cheaper than a big light weight one, so we ship in the smallest we can pack with adequate protection.

So you have two choices. Price with enough factored in for shipping or price plus shipping. The buyer can decide if they want it bad enough to pay. I'm sure you have the ability to go to the online mail site and calculate shipping costs for a package just as we do without having to go to the postal outlet to check. With our distances it is sometimes costs more to take the package to the PO than the actual shipping will cost so we don't make special trips to do just that. Gets done with the other chores in town. Courier companies cost even more so never use them unless a customer specifically requests it.

In the end it costs what it costs and there isn't much we can do about it.

Good luck matching your tools to new owners.

Pete

PS. It would seem you have far more options than we do, perhaps a function of population density. So much of what I said won't have much relevance for you.

 

[pcb1962]

https://www.parcel2go.com/

Much cheaper than Royal Mail or ParcelFarce

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Hermes is £6.71 for 5kg, £7.72 for 10kg - and that's collected from you. Worth every penny if you're miles from a drop off. I don't think that's bad, and they are excellent around here.

 

[Trainee neophyte]

We have had good results using Parcel Monkey. They are a comparison site, great for international shipping, but I think they may also get you cheaper rates within the UK. Maybe. Worth a look?

 

[thetyreman]

here hermes is far better than any other postal service, never had anything recieved damaged yet

 

[Nigel Burden]

My wife uses My Hermes for sending hand knitted sweaters to Leicester, and apart from one courier, has never had a problem. She considers them to be the best.

Nigel.

 

[Geoff_S]

I've always used Collect+. Never a problem but you might not like the prices.

As a matter of interest, what would you think is reasonable for say a 5kg parcel?

 

[sammy.se]

I think the poster's point was the price increases disproportionately according to the weight, which is especially problematic for metal tools - small and heavy.

The service I posted to can ship up to 15kg, for less than £4 in some places.

 

[marcros]

I have used that one. For small and heavy, or heavy but within the size limits it is excellent value.

 

[TFrench]

I ship a lot of tools I sell on ebay. Mine is more machinist stuff so there have been some properly heavy lumps! I always use parcel to go. Take the approach that they're all out to destroy what you're sending and pack accordingly.

 

[thetyreman]

I ship a lot of tools I sell on ebay. Mine is more machinist stuff so there have been some properly heavy lumps! I always use parcel to go. Take the approach that they're all out to destroy what you're sending and pack accordingly.

they most certainly are, they have destroyed 2 things of mine and it was enough to never use them again, they didn't fully compensate me the second time and also don't take any responsibility for anything when it does go wrong, disgusting company, they still owe me money and I did consider taking them on legally at the time,

just be warned is all I'm saying, can only go off my own experience with them.

 

[TFrench]

I ship a lot of tools I sell on ebay. Mine is more machinist stuff so there have been some properly heavy lumps! I always use parcel to go. Take the approach that they're all out to destroy what you're sending and pack accordingly.

they most certainly are, they have destroyed 2 things of mine and it was enough to never use them again, they didn't fully compensate me the second time and also don't take any responsibility for anything when it does go wrong, disgusting company, they still owe me money and I did consider taking them on legally at the time,

just be warned is all I'm saying, can only go off my own experience with them.

P2Go are just a comparison site - which company was it who damaged the items? They're all equally as bad - if you read the small print for their packaging requirements its practically impossible to do it to the standard they want. Makes it easy for them to deny compensation claims. Hermes are the only ones who've smashed one of my parcels and actually damaged the contents. Couldn't get anything back from them.