Shipping to Oz courier

[taximan]

Can anyone please recommend courier to ship from UK to Australia.

Thanks in advance   

[gsxbarmy]

It varies taximan as to what you are sending. I've sent a few bits out down under, some large - like a complete exhaust system with main stand to small things. It can take a while just to go through the options.

What I generally start off with is putting all the details into Parcel2Go ( https://www.parcel2go.com/ ) to check who gives the best price and options. I also check against Royal Mail ( https://www.royalmail.com/ )    as well (generally sign and track). Having found what I believe to be the best prices, I then check against that couriers own website to see if there is any better deal (sometimes insurance is cheaper).

Most times its been either the DPD International or Royal Mail which have given the best prices. Varies depending how much insurance you may or may not want, and how quick you want it to arrive. Normal delivery is circa 7 days to reach down under.

Of the two, I have to admit I prefer DPD, as its more trackable - with Royal Mail, tracking is good until it gets i-country in Australia and then the tracking works - but oh so slowly. DPD generally is more for the larger packages, Royal Mail for smaller.

If you want to pm me details - size of package (Height, Length, Depth) and weight - I'm happy to have a look around based on what I've done before to assist.

Hope that helps.

[taximan]

Thanks so much you are a super star Barmy. I will PM you in the am
Cheers
Gary

[VladTepes]

with Royal Mail, tracking is good until it gets i-country in Australia and then the tracking works - but oh so slowly.

Yep because once its here the tracking is done by Australia Post and they are both slow AND useless.
If I send a parcel domestically it shows on tracking as 'lodged' and updates to 'delivered' maybe a day after the person has got it...

[Batkwaka]

What can I say Vled, I spend hours every day finding homes for poorly addressed parcels, apparently if you send something to WA from international, you just put "Perth" on it. Anywhere from Albany to Broome it will have Perth written at the bottom and I end up with it.
Thing is, no one cares, they received their parcel. If that parcel doesn't get delivered though, we get hammered for it. Not saying we don't make mistakes but we fix far more than we fuck up instead of just returning it to sender as we are entitled to do.
Tracking is still something Australia Post is working on, it is a huge difference from what was and whilst everyone bitched about his pay packet, Ahmed Fahour was the driving force behind the scanning of articles instead of a Posties Regi Book.

[grog]

22 hours for a golf bag from Perth to my house. No complaints.

[VladTepes]

Batkwaka - yeah mate I don't have it in for people who work at AP, but there is some systemic problem somewhere,,,,


Not sure if I mentioned before but I once had parcels of similar size (both riflescopes) posted to me on the same day. One from Sydney and one from the middle of nowhere,, USA.


The item from the USA arrived in 3 days. The one from Sydney took nearly 2 weeks.  Something wrong with that picture...


Oh and yes scanning is a good idea, but it's hardly an original idea.  So good on old what his name but his pay packet was still ridiculously overlarge.  Many more times what the US postmaster general (same role) earns.

[Batkwaka]

I don't think any CEO is worth over $1,000,000 but the screwed up system we have allows it. Our CEO prior to Ahmed however sat on his hands for 20 years waiting to retire whilst the Internet was slowly killing us. Ahmed at least gave Post a direction. The last year he was here we probably saved around $100,000,000 in losses due to implemented changes in policies and delivery. The new CEO is on about $2,000,000 per year. People said Ahmed was getting 10 times the Prime Ministers salary but then the Prime Minister isn't worth 10 times an average worker either.
Scanning is straightforward but you should try and implement it. It was a nightmare obligating posties to use them, training them to do it right and then monitoring performance. It is not a new idea but it has to be intergrated into all the programs we are already running.
I will tell you this though, I wouldn't be surprised if our Express Post Service goes the way of the Dodo. Two years running our WA service standard is getting worse because we cannot get it here from over East on time.

[Irish in Oz]

Isn't it all contacted out now, so they screw the little people for the money.
Used Australia Post all the time in business especially overnite express when I need it.

[Sweaty]

I have been using express post satchels for work on a weekly basis for 18 years now & have not had 1 problem that I know of so far. AP do get a bagging, I think it's just a natural Aussie thing, but in all honesty, I can't complain at all.

[grog]

i love aust. post now. my job used to include fixing flat tyres on c110 postie bikes. i was very good at it. now someone else does it. my wait time was b4 40 mins, now they tell me 2 to 3 hrs. no wonder post is slower. i like it as i dont change flats anymore.

[VladTepes]

Isn't it all contacted out now, so they screw the little people for the money.

I believe that's the case for parcel delivery, but posties as such still work for AP.
Or at least that's my understanding.


My deadbeat ex brother-in-law (still lives with my sister, long weird story) has just got a postie job.. He has to sort his mail before heading out but reckons this'll be easy and a way to "while away the time".  He probably thinks he can take as long as he likes and gets paid by the hour if he takes longer.   


He also thinks he's an awesome bike rider.. but he doesn't have a bike licence to my knowledge and has never owned one. 


Predicting postie bike crash in 3... 2... 1...


And I reckon within a month max, AP will be receiving complaints re a badly reduced mail service in that area...

[Batkwaka]

All the medium to large Parcels are delivered by Contractors who are paid by a varying amount per parcel to deliver or attempt deliver and yes that is exactly where the problem lies and at my office at least we do deal with dodgy subcontractors that occasionally appear.
Posties now deliver the ever dwindling standard mail as well as many Small Parcels. The problem there is the Postie cannot lock mail away so cannot leave the Bike unattended to deliver into apartments or multi-level dwellings and business address'.
The Express service in the Eastern States in fine but WA has the least impact on service performance, which meann "who cares". Now everyone is running around like headless a chook because of the new Amazon contract. I shouldn't complain about it though, it keeps me busy at work.

Vlad your undesirable acquaintance will be in for a rude shock if he wants to be a sponge. His Indoor time will be measured and his Outdoor time monitored. We also send new Motorcycle Riders to a Honda Ridecraft course specifically for Posties and if they cannot demonstrate competence they will not be riding. It isn't foolproof but it does weed out the drop kicks. They are also trying to use Electric Pushbikes instead so he may get stuck on one.