Case Studies
On a day-to-day basis when it comes to packaging, our next day and same day courier services tend to be for straight forward parcels and pallets; however, we often get requests to collect and send - awkward shapes, delicate items and many things that we are just handed and asked to package suitably for sending, all over the world! Wherever possible we try to recycle clean and reusable packing materials from customers parcels to try an help reduce the volume of waste going to landfill. This type of consignment tends to be for transit in our parcel network but we do offer dedicated same day services when items just need to be moved “as-is”.
Below are some of the interesting tasks we have undertaken on behalf of our clients.
Guitars & Amps
It’s not often we receive these items in cases or their original packaging, so a tremendous amount of care is required to ensure that these types of item are securely packaged before entering. Fortunately we have ready supply of foam and sponge which enables us to pack things safely whilst protecting the delicate areas of these instruments. When it comes to amps, they are often quite heavy and need packaging to make sure they don’t burst out during transport. This can involve strengthening corners and edges to prevent splitting whenn jostling with other parcels.
Mammoth Tusk
This particular shipment involved transporting mammoth tusk based paintings from Europe to the USA. Due to the nature of the material, we felt a duty of care to check that such items were legal in the area for delivery and although they are not in some states, it was fine for our client’s locale. This additional research meant that these items could be carefully packaged and shipped to the USA without issue.
Speakers
A delicate Samsung speaker was passed to us as part of an Ebay sale. Unusually shaped, a bit like a vase/urn, this required some angled foam cutting to support the speaker and allow it to be packaged as a more regular shape. This was safely delivered with a happy sender and receiver to boot.
Brochures
Travel brochures like a lot of printed material, create heavy dense loads and with brochures in particular they often need delivering to specific stands within exhibition or conference centres. We often arrange collection and delivery to multiple stands at venues across the country. We also store until required and then provide timed delivery straight to the desired location.
We’ve recently transported a huge horizontal farming unit. Not very heavy but it had to be transported in one piece and with delicate lighting attachments. Specialist lifting equipment was arranged for each end of the journey so that the item could be carefully handled on an off the vehicle. The customer was extremely pleased with the whole service and the way in which their item was taken care of. These types of parcel are the unusual ones and most arrive with us ready to go. If you are packaging up your own parcels, please take a look at our Packaging Tips to see the various options available for items of different shapes and sizes.
Difficult Loads
Incoterms
Incoterms refer to who is taking responsibility for the requirements of international parcel and pallet transport, in particular the duties and taxes that may arise. It is really important to establish this between the sender and receiver as we recently had a consignment were the sender asked for the load to be sent on the basis that the receiver pay the fees due, commonly known as DAP, but this had not been agreed with the receiver. Consequently they refused to cover these costs and the goods were returned by the carrier at additional cost to the original sender.
Packing cases
A lot of overnight parcel networks don’t like unboxed items such as packing cases e.g a Pelicase. Often things like test equipment, demo gear or samples are moved around by companies themselves, but when they need to be sent elsewhere the networks aren’t keen. We work with a partner who will handle these items so we have recently sent some demo microscopes in their protective cases without having to box them. This makes complete sense as they are extremely robust and designed for transiting these valuable items.
Toys
We don’t get many requests for this but we’ve had the odd large toy item come in e.g. a toy garage, and they require a bit of TLC. Usually these come to us in their built state and types of item are bulky but light, so they need a lot of padding and end up as quite large parcels. This means that they have their weight calculated by volume rather than dead weight so can be a little more expensive to send, but you are safe in the knowledge that they are insured and fully tracked and signed for.
Glass Items
Carriers often will not carry glass or if they do it will not be insured. We can work on the latter but we also provide a packing service to give your glass items the best chance of surviving the rigors of the overnight parcel network. As an example this year we have already shipped 20 bottles of wine or spirits. 12 went as one large box with all items bubble-wrapped and the box lined with foam. The other load was broken down into boxes of two, again with bubble-wrap and lining, giving a consignment of six items. All were delivered successfully and undamaged.
Christmas Deliveries
As you may expect, the Christmas period becomes extemely busy when it comes to parcel and pallet deliveries. Most of the carriers have plans in place for this but it is always worth trying to get your goods moving as early in the season as possible, particularly as we enter the last working week. Typically, and you can check our yearly schedule here, parcels and pallets will be collected on the last working day. Parcels delivery and collection then tends to resume in the days between Chtistmas and New Year, whereas the pallet networks tend fire up again on the first working day of the New Year. This is usually a day later in Scotland due to their additional bank holiday. Same day deliveries tend to run all over the holiday period but with limited capacity. If you have any questions around parcel or pallet collection/deliveries over the festive period please do get in touch for advice.