Deal with An Post?

LadyUmbrella

Hey, just wondering if anyone knows if its possible to get special shipping rates with An Post? I hope to sell t-shirts online and may have to send them all over the place (or that is the plan anyway) so was just wondering if An Post offer any sort of discount if I'll be sending lots of stuff..if they don't any ideas about who might be able to give me a deal for cheap postage?

Cheers...

blobert

Am looking for similar information myself.

They definitely do discounts for bulk mailings:

http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/Business+Customers/Wizards/Send+high+volume+of+mail/Discount+For+Volume+Mailers.htm

That said, I'm not sure if you get discounts for high volume regular postage of mail, maybe something along the lines of this:

http://www.anpost.ie/AnPost/MainContent/Business+Customers/Managing+Mail/Ceadunas.htm


Let me know what you find out about this. I know in the UK you can get good discounts based on the volume of mail.

It would be good if you could just have a licence/barcode that you printed on your postage label, the ammount was then removed from your account with An Post and you would not have to worry about franking machines etc.

Does anyone know if this is possible?

LadyUmbrella

Well, thats not too promising, 350 mail minimum to get a discount..Ye, would be nice if it were possible to just create an account with them like you said..

Hopefully someone has gone through the process before and has some first hand insights..

Tav

Hi,
I would recommend FastWay as there reliable and cheap enough. Next day delivery is a winner too.

LadyUmbrella

Ah, Fastway...cool, thanks

mcaul

I'll second Fastway and as your parcels will be small enough to fit into their satchels, the price will be 4.95 door to door.

LadyUmbrella

Price sounds good and door to door is nice...I may also have sales outside of Ireland though, any recommendations for international postage?

Tony255

DPD are fairly reasonable for international shipping

TheWaterboy

Hi Guys - sorry for hijacking the thread but do Fastway collect your parcels from you or do you have to drop them to a depot.

I think it might be worth your while ringing An Post regarding getting rate reduction as I know that postal services are down a huge amount in the recession so extra business on their behalf might be welcomed.

jimmmy

LadyUmbrella wrote: »

Hey, just wondering if anyone knows if its possible to get special shipping rates with An Post? I hope to sell t-shirts online and may have to send them all over the place (or that is the plan anyway) so was just wondering if An Post offer any sort of discount if I'll be sending lots of stuff..if they don't any ideas about who might be able to give me a deal for cheap postage?

If sending a lot to the UK, it can work out a lot cheaper to post from just north of the border...I know a few firms who do this...it obviously depends on your volume + proximity to the border.

Tony255

TheWaterboy wrote: »

Hi Guys - sorry for hijacking the thread but do Fastway collect your parcels from you or do you have to drop them to a depot.

They collect from your door and drop it to your customers door, I use them a lot and my only gripe is the time it takes them to upload the tracking information to their site other than this they are great.

Tav

Tony255 wrote: »

They collect from your door and drop it to your customers door, I use them a lot and my only gripe is the time it takes them to upload the tracking information to their site other than this they are great.

In addition you can drop the parcel yourself if e.g. you missed the courier. They also deliver to UK but the rates are high

suey71

Do Fastway supply the boxes/packaging, and if they do, is the price included in their advertised rates. If they don't supply the boxes/packaging, then where is a good place to get them and what do they cost.

Sorry for sounding green.

Tav

The don't unless you buy a sachel (only for small parcels like e.g. t-shirts )

Good place to buy all your packing supplies is Budget Greeting Cards in Park West Industrial Estate, Dublin 12. They have great choice and prices are right!

You can also find plenty stationery/office supplies on-line.

VO

I use wheels couriers and find them efficient and compettitive . Give Les a shout tehre and he will sort you out.

01 855 0100

www.wheelscouriers.ie

mcaul

Tav wrote: »

The don't unless you buy a sachel (only for small parcels like e.g. t-shirts )

Good place to buy all your packing supplies is Budget Greeting Cards in Park West Industrial Estate, Dublin 12. They have great choice and prices are right!

You can also find plenty stationery/office supplies on-line.

Budget are good for fancy packaging. For boxes /bubble wrap / tissue paper try www.discountpackaging.ie - based in clondalkin.

For larger quantity of boxes ace corrugated in cavan are extremely cheap as they are manufacturers - minimums are 500 - 1000 depending on size of box.

suey71

Thanks mcaul,
Thats exactly what I was looking for.

antoinolachtnai

If you plan on having any sort of scale and/or deal with the UK, and you have any choice, locating North of the border would probably be a better deal for operating a consumer-oriented business. You would benefit from better postal rates and lower vat. Overall this could make a difference of 4 or 5 percent to your margin.

jimmmy

antoinolachtnai wrote: »

If you plan on having any sort of scale and/or deal with the UK, and you have any choice, locating North of the border would probably be a better deal for operating a consumer-oriented business. You would benefit from better postal rates and lower vat. Overall this could make a difference of 4 or 5 percent to your margin.

plus its quicker from there, plus overheads eg minimum wage, electricity, insurance are only two thirds of here.

BarryM3

My company does a complete pick, pack and ship solution. Delivering anywhere in world.

Irish rates start at €6.50 for small items, €8.50 for regular cartons

www.storageplus.ie

formosafashion

Hello There,

We have been through this whole process, with every shipper in Ireland, UPS, FEDEX, DHL, TNT, An Post, Nightline, DPD etc ...

We are an online retailer of designer clothing.

Our solution is a little mixed:

An Post are the best rate you will get in Ireland for parcels up to 30KG - they offer a flate rate of 5 Euros to 26 Counties only. You need to do 2,000 parcels per year, but they will sign the contract with you and worry about that later.

For NI and UK, we had been previously using the post office, they charge a minimum of 7.25 for registered post then a little more depending on weight.

The rates we have for NI is: 7.50 for less than 5KG, and 10 Euro for upto 20KG.

For UK the rate is 8 Euro for less than 5KG and 12.50 for upto 20KG.

it costs a little more than the post office perhaps 20 cent for the lighter packages, however its much more cost effective taking into account the pickup direct from our office etc.

An Post use FedEX to deliver in the UK so they are very reliable.

Sean Byrne Account Manager in An Post will help you out - 01 8090982.

Any packages over 5KG in the UK we use GLS, their prices start at around 8.40, but as the weight goes up the prices get better, for example a 50KG package to the UK costs between 14 and 17 Euros ...

For Europe An Post are way too expensive as are GLS unless you are shipping over 5KG - so for Europe and the rest of the world we still use the post office.

Packaging - we use Mail Lite Gold padded envelopes, they are expensive enough but do the trick for smaller items.

Shipping in boxes looks good at the customer end, but can be very expensive to have custom boxes made - we are in the process of doing this at present as our branding is becoming important - but it's very expensive.

for larger items such as leather jackets etc, we use polythene mailing bags and bubble wrap - and sometimes boxes ... we buy all our boxes from Smurfit Kappa --- but unless they are stock boxes it's 300 boxes minimum per model.

Hope this helps and good luck!

FF