Help With Scotland Deliveries

[Ribshop]

As some of you may be aware we are a company based on the south coast that specialise in service and repair of Ribs, Inflatable & Outboard motors.

A key part of the business is our online shop where we supply parts, accessories and repair products for Ribs and Inflatable boats. Recently our carrier has increased prices for deliveries to the Scottish Highlands and offshore isles; we have unfortunately had to pass this on to our clients and as this cost is now at £29.95, it has obviously had an effect on the sales to these areas.

If people require a couple of valves or other small items we can use Royal Mail and reduce the cost right down to our standard postage, however we are unable to use Royal Mail for the majority of the orders due to the UN numbers on most of our products.

The question is does anyone know of a carrier that can deliver to these areas and not charge an arm and a leg for doing so?

[Orville]

You could try:
www.freightsearch.com
or
www.interparcel.com

Don't know if Highlands and Islands is cheaper with them or not; they buy spare capacity from the 'major' couriers.

HTH

Orve.

[Ribshop]

Thank Orve

Freightsearch is looking quite good, bringing the cost down to £25 but need to check on the UN Haz items.

Any other ideas would be appreciated

[GordyP]

There's quite a few couriers that operate from Oban that must be worth speaking to, Oban Express etc. Worth a try.

[Polwart]

We've had good experience with Interparcel (don't think there is any extra cost for the highlands - but not sure they will take D.G.s).

The prices you are being quoted - is that for a next day service? or just to get it there at all. The brief time I have looked at this (we don't have many customers north of Perth/Aberdeen) it seemed that the only issue was if you wanted fast and to remote areas - if it was ok for it to take a day longer it cost no more? Of course the couriers don't shout about that!

[SeaSkills]

Have you tried Woody at Stornoway? http://www.woodys-express.com/

(Woody is a RIBster, too)

[JSP]

Sorry to steer this the wrong way a bit. But do you have the same problem with southern Island? I've sold things before now to people over there and the postage prices are very expensive! Northern island is cheaper to post too

[codprawn]

On Monday we are going live with our new Business.

Basically it is an easy to use Pallet delivery/collection business with online prices for over 35 countries so far.

We hope to add parcels later on.

It has taken us almost a year to set this up - just hope it pays off. We think we have the best prices in Europe.

You can have a sneek look here but no orders until Monday. Remeber there are a few finishing touches left. It may look simple but that's the idea - all the work went into the back end!!!

http://www.speedshift.co.uk/index.asp

I think it is ideal for people who buy and sell on Ebay - if you buy a Land Rover engine from the other end of the country it isn't such a bargain by the time you have collected it.

So many things on Ebay say "buyer collects" - the seller is losing out and so are potential purchasers.

[Ribshop]

Thanks for the response, Polwart will have a look at Interparcel, we don’t necessary need a next day service to these areas I am sure people will be happy to wait another day or two to get a reasonable price on delivery.
I have tried a lot of Scotland based firms and they all saying the cant get anywhere close to what we are paying already.
JSP, we do have a similar problem with Republic and Northern Ireland but I can almost understand there being an increase here due to third party ferry costs etc. We are looking for a firm to stock in both Republic and Northern Ireland to reduce shipping for the end user.

Codprawn good luck and we will have a look on Monday to see if you can help.

[Downhilldai]

Originally Posted by codprawn

.... all the work went into the back end!!!