Deliveries to and from Tilbury Port and the Docks?

Delivering into ports and docks is something that we enjoy doing here at Arrow Light Haulage, when  delivering or collecting from a port it is something thats easy when you know how. We are local to Tilbury docks / port and a short drive to Felixstowe and Harwich. Docks and ports are areas that our drivers are familiar with.

Image by Danny McL via Flickr

If you don’t do it correctly then you will hold up the collection or the delivery and in some cases you may fail to deliver or collect.

Failing to collect or deliver from a port is a serious issue for a courier, it is something that incurs port fines (and we have heard that customers really don’t like this).  This is something that needs to be taken into account when pricing for this type of work. This isn’t the type of work that can be co loaded and needs just dedicated vehicles.

A few years back one of our bigger customers were feeling the pinch, so they went to a cheaper courier (or so they thought) the cheaper courier had no inkling about how to deliver into a port and in the space of a month racked up £30k in port fines for missed slots and deadlines. Our customer came back to us and the cheaper courier was fired because the reality was they were far more expensive.

It’s not just port fines that cost, its days of missed production if your component doesn’t reach its ship in time, the down time for a factory waiting for a new piece of kit.  All this needs to be taken into account if you are shipping goods abroad, if not done in the correct manner, can cost you a whole heap of money before they have even left the country.

Kevin Arrow
Same day couriers

Do you drive without business insurance?

Do you or your staff drive goods and items without the right insurance?
The money saved from having a member of staff deliver an urgent item or package, rather than a same day courier, is often wiped out if they have an accident. In fact it can cost a whole lot more.

People are often insured for their journeys too and from work, but not for work related errands that they may carry out. If they have an accident (their fault, or someone elses) then the items are not insured and neither are they. It's essential if staff are going to deliver anything work related, that you check that they have business insurance.

You may think its more expensive to use a courier service, and truth be told even if you were aware of the facts about insurance, corporate manslaughter and your liabilities / responsibilities, you would still choose to make the false economy or sending your staff to deliver the goods.

Kevin Arrow

5 things you need for an accurate courier quote

When you need a quote from a same day courier, there are some things you will need to know before they answer the phone!

1. What is the item to be transported?
2. How heavy is it?
3. What are it’s dimensions?
4. Collection Postcode
5. Delivery Postcode

Often we get calls saying “how much for delivery” but prices are worked out on the type of goods and services required. If you know the above 5 things, you will get your quote quicker.

Sarah

Same day courier delivery company

West Thurrock Office Moves?

The only thing more stressful than a move according to psychologists is death and divorce. In this blog we are going to share some tips to make your small business move more efficient and less stressful.

Unlike a house move moving the location of your business, if not done correctly could cost your business money. Virtually all offices moves can take place over a weekend so there is no disruption to your day to day business.

Image via Wikipedia

A well planned office move would include booking your office removal service with plenty of notice. It should be treated like any other large project carried out by your company. The relocation experts treated as project managers as that is what they are for you. Once you have assigned this you move should run smoother and together you will assess whether you can do a staged move.

Every office has non essential equipment that may be able to be moved or placed into storage before the main move or prior to your lease expiring. This allows you actual move day to receive priority attention.

Check what equipment your office movers have, for example an electric stair climber would be very useful if you your office furniture has to go up and down lots of flights of stairs. The right type of crates can make all the difference and you will need to check that your moving company has crates or will organise their hire on your behalf.

Sometimes a few jumbo transits is far more time effective than one large 7.5 tonne vehicle. What this means is a vehicle can be loaded and sent to the new premises and the next vehicle loaded whilst that vehicle is unloading instead of waiting for one large vehicle to be packed and loaded.

Whatever you do decide to do to move your office make sure you have several quotes so you can compare the services offered.

A well planned move needn’t be stressful it can be as simple as leaving one office on Friday and going to a new office on Monday.

Good luck

Kevin

Couriers: time saving and cost effective?

Courier delivery services can save time for either individuals or businesses.There are times throughout the year that we need either a local or long-distance deliveries for gifts or other time sensitive packages. These types of delivery services can ensure that your package arrives on time, as agreed. You’ll find that these services will provide you with the comfort of knowing that your package is safe, and in good hands.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

Even if there is plenty of time, talk to your courier service about getting the items delivered sooner. Last minute planning puts a premium on these kinds of courier services.Depending on the company you choose, it could be a large operation, right down to a one-man and his van. Furthermore, you can have regularly scheduled pick-ups and drop-offs to specific locations (known as multi-drop), or to drop off points that are predetermined by the delivery service. These predetermined drop-off points will more likely be less expensive than the latter.Such courier services can provide companies the financial assurance they need with reduced costs when compared to well-known big name courier services. In fact, if you require their services on a regular basis, it is easy to strike a deal with them. That would save you or your company money.

The biggest time savings when using a courier or van delivery come in the the form of saving you hours arranging quotes and chasing prices.

Quite simply an excellent service will save you hours on the phone, hours that you should be using to generate sales in your business and elsewhere. Often a courier company will get a quote into a company and a company will ring round trying to save two or three pounds on a delivery. An hour later they call back and book the service – in that hour they have called lots of people for quotes. The cost of the phone calls and the cost of the person making them is far more expensive than the saving made.

Sarah
Courier deliveries throughout the UK

At Arrow Light Haulage we are happy to endorse

Great for smaller parcels and smaller volume, say 5 -10 a day.

worldwide-parcel services

For all your Europe and other international destination parcel delivery.

The Cupcake Courier for Essex...

Over the last few weeks we have been in talks with various companies that produce cupcakes, and how to deliver

Image via Wikipedia

them. Up until recently, the safest and most secure way of delivery has been via same day courier, as it’s the only way to guarantee the cupcakes won’t be turned upside down during their journey to the customer. Sometimes the baker plain mistrusts the courier to complete safe delivery, and wastes valuable baking time delivering!

Unfortunately all that makes delivery very expensive for the people who hand bake and ice the cup cakes. For example, we would charge £15 per delivery / drops of cupcakes, minimum of 5 orders. This can make it too expensive for customers to buy.

Obviously there are still the marketing companies and companies who understand the powerful message that delivery by express courier send, but they have yet to embrace sending out baskets of designer cupcakes to their clients and potential clients….

The problem is, by sending the cupcakes the cheapest method possible means sending them by Royal Mail, and that means they may get bashed, and rotated a number of times before they arrive on the customers doorstep.

The solution is to prevent that, and the way to do that is through the creative use of packaging.

Cupcakes by Courier

The original ‘cup a cake’ container was devised in the US for holding the cupcakes, their icing and keeping them fresh. Last week, I spoke to Kim at the Cup a Cake company and she said the containers can be shipped to the UK for around $100 to $150

So if you are looking to ship cupcakes around the UK, here is the solution for your airtight cup a cake containers. The cupcake company may have to take a deposit from the customer, and the customer promise to wash and return the empty containers so they can be re-used.

A small investment in the right packaging, and you can deliver cheaply and safely to your long distance customers.

Kim Fuga from Cup A Cake can be contacted via kfadmin@cupacake.com

Delivered safe, even upside down

and as you can see from the image, they stay in place upside down.

Kim’s website is here http://www.cupacake.com/default.asp

We hope that helps with the safe despatch of your cupcakes, we suggest you try it out with one or two local postings to be sure the method works to your satisfaction.

Here at Arrow Light Haulage, we have enjoyed getting creative and thinking outside the box (and right back in it) to solve your courier delivery problems with cupcakes.

Alternatively, you know where we are if you would like an express delivery quote.

Sarah

safer cupcake deliveries

PS, if you found this blog useful, please leave a comment – it helps us to know what are the right things our readers would like to see from us.

Time critical delivery from West Thurrock and Dartford

Courier delivery services can save time for either individuals or businesses.

There are times throughout the year that we need either a local or long-distance deliveries for gifts or other time sensitive packages. These types of delivery services can ensure that your package arrives on time, as agreed.

You’ll find that these services will provide you with the comfort of knowing that your package is safe, and of course in good hands.

Image via Wikipedia

Even if there is plenty of time, talk to your courier service about getting the items delivered sooner. Last minute planning puts a premium on these kinds of courier services.

Depending on the company you choose, it could be a large operation, right down to a one-man and his van. Furthermore, you can have regularly scheduled pick-ups and drop-offs to specific locations (known as multi-drop), or to drop off points that are predetermined by the delivery service. These predetermined drop-off points will more likely be less expensive than the latter.

The biggest time savings when using a courier or van delivery come in the the form of saving you hours arranging quotes and chasing prices.

Quite simply an excellent service will save you hours on the phone, hours that you should be using to generate sales in your business and elsewhere. Often a courier company will get a quote into a company and a company will ring round trying to save two or three pounds on a delivery! On one hundred packages, that’s a big difference but on one item?

An hour later they call back and book the service – in that hour they have called lots of people for quotes. The cost of the phone calls and the cost of the person making them is far more expensive than the saving made!

Sarah Arrow

Same day couriers that deliver from all over the UK and back again.