Delivery costs

kweeveen86

Hi all,

just looking for some advice and help if possible please.

I'm looking to set up a business that will involve sending numerous packages on a regular basis but when I checked An Post, DPD and a few others, the average cost of shipping a 2kg package that's 20x16x12cm was over €10. That was just logging on as a regular individual customer.

I had vaguely budgeted in about €3 - 4 for this expense without doing much research in advance and am shocked by how high the costs are. Are there cheaper rates available for traders or how do other companies go about it? How on earth can some businesses offer free postage if these expenses are regularly this high?!?!

Would really appreciate some info from anyone who might know a bit about this.

Thanks in advance :-)

jimmii

We used to buy parcel labels in bulk from An Post a few years back worth checking to see if that is an option as I seem to recall we only needed to get ~20 at a time.

We're based in Scotland now i had forgotten just how expensive it was in Ireland a parcel that size is £2.95 with Royal Mail here and thats before any discounts and couriers offer even cheaper.

silver2020

jimmii wrote: »

We used to buy parcel labels in bulk from An Post a few years back worth checking to see if that is an option as I seem to recall we only needed to get ~20 at a time.

We're based in Scotland now i had forgotten just how expensive it was in Ireland a parcel that size is £2.95 with Royal Mail here and thats before any discounts and couriers offer even cheaper.

Cheapest for the size and weight above for Royal mail is a 2nd Class 3 day service for £4.10. The £2.95 you quote is for large envelope, no more than 2.5cm thick and weighing max 750g. An Post max is 500g and is €3.40, but they allow for 5cm extra width & length.

1st Class (1 day delivery aim - which is an post standard) is £6.57. The an post equivalent is €9, though an post do allow you send large parcels up to 2kg for this rate too. Royal Mail are over £10 once it is bigger than a shoebox


An Post have an option for a prepaid pack of 25 labels for up to 10kg weight that works out at €6.80 each https://www.anpost.com/Shop/Products/ACStandPL

And just like you going to your goods suppliers, if you buy in bulk, the price drops. An Post were doing a bookshop rate of €2.95 and signed for parcel rates can be under €4 for up to 20kg. DPD will go to €4 for large volumes (300+ parcels a week), but possibly Fastway are your best option as they have a satchel service that may suit you and that's about €4.

At the end of the day, no matter what your business is, or what service you are looking for, it the volume that gets you the best prices.

whippet

kweeveen86 wrote: »

I had vaguely budgeted in about €3 - 4 for this expense without doing much research in advance and am shocked by how high the costs are.

thats a business lesson right there - never assume anything about your cost base.

kweeveen86 wrote: »

Are there cheaper rates available for traders or how do other companies go about it?

In work we used to ship about 30 packages a week with DPD - the cost was in the region of €5+ VAT

kweeveen86 wrote: »

How on earth can some businesses offer free postage if these expenses are regularly this high?!?!

When setting a sell price for your products you need to factor in the cost of shipping - if you are offering 'free' shipping the price of the item goes up .. if you are charging for shipping the price of the product goes down. in reality that is all smoke and mirrors - the cost base you need to work off includes the shipping cost.

If you can't sell at the your current price and make a suitable margin with shipping costs built in you have bigger problem

kweeveen86

Thanks everyone. Some great info in the replies. Have contacted DPD and Fastway now.

An Post pre-paid bundles would be OK as a slightly more expensive last resort too. There seems to be an extra discount available on that price with a discount/promo code. Would anyone know where I might be able to find one...?

Thanks again for taking the time to reply and share your knowledge. I really appreciate it

cfeeneyinterior

kweeveen86 wrote: »

Thanks everyone. Some great info in the replies. Have contacted DPD and Fastway now.

An Post pre-paid bundles would be OK as a slightly more expensive last resort too. There seems to be an extra discount available on that price with a discount/promo code. Would anyone know where I might be able to find one...?

Would be interested in a promo code too but I assume the "advantage card" price of €170 for 25 labels would be their lowest. Keep us posted on what DPD quote you.

cfeeneyinterior

Actually, does anyone use Nightline these days and if so what would their pricing look like?. They used to be pretty popular a few years ago but DPD seem to have taken over from them.

silver2020

kweeveen86 wrote: »

Thanks everyone. Some great info in the replies. Have contacted DPD and Fastway now.

An Post pre-paid bundles would be OK as a slightly more expensive last resort too. There seems to be an extra discount available on that price with a discount/promo code. Would anyone know where I might be able to find one...?

Thanks again for taking the time to reply and share your knowledge. I really appreciate it

Those bundles are inclusive of vat, so the net price if comparing is 5.53, probably the best way to start and then you could show the volume you are getting and use real figures to get quotes

cfeeneyinterior

silver2020 wrote: »

Those bundles are inclusive of vat, so the net price if comparing is 5.53, probably the best way to start and then you could show the volume you are getting and use real figures to get quotes

Are you sure about that? Think An Post is Vat exempt

https://www.anpost.com/Terms-Conditions
"3. Charges
---(8) Services provided under these terms and conditions are presently exempt from VAT. If Value Added Tax is payable on any"

silver2020

cfeeneyinterior wrote: »

Are you sure about that? Think An Post is Vat exempt

https://www.anpost.com/Terms-Conditions
"3. Charges
---(8) Services provided under these terms and conditions are presently exempt from VAT. If Value Added Tax is payable on any"

just checked. Standard service is vat exempt. If its registered or requires a signature, vat applies.

If the OP is not vat registered, then this will be cheapest initial option as they won't be able to claim back vat on fastway or dpd

fattymuatty

I buy the labels from an post at the minute for 6.80 each. This is a limited Covid offer. I spoke to Fastway about a discount on delivery and they offered 5e a package plus VAT I think, this was for small packages less than 1kg. That is if you send a certain number of packages weekly and they were saying how they would be monitoring how many I sent and if I fell below it then they would take away the deal. Tbh I don't need that pressure right now so I buy the an post ones and drop the packages to the depot. For the an post ones you are supposed to sign up for an advantage card which is free to do but they never actually look for the advantage card number when you order from them.

manor

You budgeted right by you need to do large volumes to get that rate

jimmii

silver2020 wrote: »

Cheapest for the size and weight above for Royal mail is a 2nd Class 3 day service for £4.10. The £2.95 you quote is for large envelope, no more than 2.5cm thick and weighing max 750g. An Post max is 500g and is €3.40, but they allow for 5cm extra width & length.

1st Class (1 day delivery aim - which is an post standard) is £6.57. The an post equivalent is €9, though an post do allow you send large parcels up to 2kg for this rate too. Royal Mail are over £10 once it is bigger than a shoebox


An Post have an option for a prepaid pack of 25 labels for up to 10kg weight that works out at €6.80 each https://www.anpost.com/Shop/Products/ACStandPL

And just like you going to your goods suppliers, if you buy in bulk, the price drops. An Post were doing a bookshop rate of €2.95 and signed for parcel rates can be under €4 for up to 20kg. DPD will go to €4 for large volumes (300+ parcels a week), but possibly Fastway are your best option as they have a satchel service that may suit you and that's about €4.

At the end of the day, no matter what your business is, or what service you are looking for, it the volume that gets you the best prices.

Not that it really matters but small parcel is a lot bigger than you seem to think and its £2.95 for 2nd class (although I did say not including discounts but there is an online discount).

https://send.royalmail.com/send/youritem?compensation=20&country=GBR&format=SmallParcel&service=OLP2&weight=2000&weightUnit=G

jimmii

Is parcel2go or any other courier comparison sites a savings option over there?

silver2020

jimmii wrote: »

Not that it really matters but small parcel is a lot bigger than you seem to think and its £2.95 for 2nd class (although I did say not including discounts but there is an online discount).

https://send.royalmail.com/send/youritem?compensation=20&country=GBR&format=SmallParcel&service=OLP2&weight=2000&weightUnit=G

Small parcel is about the size of a shoe box. max 18" length, 14" width and 6" deep. If the OP was in the UK, their parcel would get this rate is they were happy with a 3-4 day service, untracked.

If the parcel was slightly over 2kg, the cheapest Royal mail rate is £8.79. Again that's a 3-4 days service untracked.

For the OP, ringing around and asking for rates is best, but if only starting off, then the advantage book (6.80 for up to 10kg) is probably the best option and then the OP can go to companies and say "I ship xx items a week" and get a rate based on verifiable figures rather than "I hope to do" figures

btw- the delivery companies get a huge number of people calling saying they are setting up and expect to be sending xxx number a week, then when they set up, they wonder why orders are not flowing in at a rate of knots. It is hard, it is slow and it can be painful to get things to a stage of decent volume. Hence the advice for the advantage pack, concentrate on getting customers and then spend time wrangling rates from various couriers

kweeveen86

Have had a reasonably good quote from Fastway. For anyone who's interested....

Flat rate of €5.20 + VAT, 'pay as you go' style - i.e. no specific weekly/monthly volume to hit to avail of rate, max 30kgs, 2.1m length.

silver2020

kweeveen86 wrote: »

Have had a reasonably good quote from Fastway. For anyone who's interested....

Flat rate of €5.20 + VAT, 'pay as you go' style - i.e. no specific weekly/monthly volume to hit to avail of rate, max 30kgs, 2.1m length.

If you get to decent volumes of 100+ a week, expect that rate to drop to €4

cfeeneyinterior

kweeveen86 wrote: »

Have had a reasonably good quote from Fastway. For anyone who's interested....

Flat rate of €5.20 + VAT, 'pay as you go' style - i.e. no specific weekly/monthly volume to hit to avail of rate, max 30kgs, 2.1m length.

How did you get on with DPD?

emilyward14

Hey,

Just wondering what/who you went with in the end? Were currently in the same position. DPD is quoting us 7E with no pushing on the price. Its just too high to charge our customers. Did you go with an post in the end and if so are you happy with the service they provide?

Also.. Do an post do pre paid labels for shipping in Europe? Cant find any information on there website other than how much the labels cost.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Emily

RUDOLF289

cfeeneyinterior wrote: »

Actually, does anyone use Nightline these days and if so what would their pricing look like?. They used to be pretty popular a few years ago but DPD seem to have taken over from them.

They are now part of UPS .....