Basildon Courier and Parcel Distribution

2011-09-04T03:23:00.001-07:00

Take a look at this post and tell me... how would you answer the salad question??? http://jobmob.co.il/blog/tricky-job-interview-questions-answers/

Job interviewers know about interview training and techniques and now they want to ask you something to catch you off guard. So how would YOU answer the salad question? I am still thinking on it http://amplify.com/u/a1cfa0

2011-07-19T09:58:00.001-07:00

Two shares from me today... One on clearing your desk from the lovely Yolanda Facio, the productivity expert over at Red Hot Momentum. Go take a look and embrace your pile. http://www.redhotmomentum.com/learn-to-tame-the-piles-on-your-desk/

And how do you hear your blog's community now we have so many outposts? http://bestbloggingtipsonline.com/5-listening-tools-you-can-use-to-hear-your-blogs-heartbeat/ If you have a listening tool come and share with us

Sarah http://amplify.com/u/a18k4e

Automating your blog post promotion will kill your audience

2011-03-03T13:38:00.001-08:00

URL: http://www.birdsontheblog.co.uk/automating-your-blog-po...

thoughts? Do you automate? How does that compare with your manual results?

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bsl7d

Can you use social media in an offline business?

2011-01-29T13:10:00.001-08:00

A guest post here, and in it I talk about our experience as a service based offline business and how we use social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook.

Is there a business that could not benefit from some aspect of social media?

There must be one.... there always is!

Sarah

Amplify’d from www.smallbusinessbranding.com

When people talk about social media, sites like Facebook and Twitter they often talk about return on investment and monetizing it. If I told you I invested 3 hours a week and got a significant return would you believe me? Would you believe me if I told you I was a brick and mortar business and not a social media business?

If you are a chatty helpful person then you can do well with social media too.

Set up your searches for your keywords, and talk back to people that need help.

Direct them to pages on your blog that can help and ask them to ReTweet if they found it useful.

If people are in other countries direct them to a Twitter user or blog in their own country for help. You make two new friends that way.

Nearly 20 billion searches a month are performed on Twitter so once a day Tweet out what you do and a link to your website so you are found in the searches. Mine goes out at around 4am in the morning so it can be found but not annoy my regular followers.
Read more at www.smallbusinessbranding.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/anyxi

Quantity of Backlinks you need to raise PR

2010-12-29T12:56:00.001-08:00

Wow....

Amplify’d from publisher-tricks.us

Well, I was looking on the Internet for how many backlinks you actually need to raise your PR and What PR do they need to be and I found this useful calculator.

Hope you people find it useful.

To achieve PR2 you need 101 PR1 or 18 PR2 or 3 PR3 or 1 PR4/5/6/7/8/9/10

To achieve PR3 you need 555 PR1 or 101 PR2 or 18 PR3 or 3 PR4 or 1PR 5/6/7/8/9/10

To achieve PR4 you need 3055 PR1 or 555 PR2 or 101 PR3 or 18 PR4 or 3 PR5 or 1 PR 6/7/8/9/10

To achieve PR5 you need 16803 PR1 or 3055 PR2 or 555 PR3 or 101 PR4 or 18 PR5 or 3 PR6 or 1 PR7/8/9/10

To achieve PR6 you need 92414 PR1 or 16803 PR2 or 3055 PR3 or 555 PR4 or 101 PR 5 or 18 PR6 or 3 PR7 or 1 PR8/9/10

To achieve PR7 you need 0.5M PR1 or 92414 PR2 or 16803 PR3 or 3055 PR4 or 555 PR5 or 101 PR6 or 18 PR7 or 3 PR8 or 1 PR9/10

To achieve PR8 you need 2.8M PR1 or 0.5M PR2 or 92414 PR3 or 16803 PR4 or 3055 PR5 or 555 PR6 or 101 PR7 or 18 PR8 or 3 PR9 or 1 PR10

To achieve PR9 you need 15M PR1 or 2.8M PR2 or 0.5 PR3 or 92414 PR4 or 16803 PR5 or 3055 PR6 or 555 PR7 or 101 PR8 or 18 PR9 or 3 PR10

To achieve PR10 you need 84M PR1 or 15M PR2 or 2.8M PR3 or 0.5 PR4 or 92414 PR5 or 16803 PR6 or 3055 PR7 or 555 PR8 or 100 PR9 or 18 PR10

That would be the table, M stands for Millions and, remember that it is OR, it doesn’t mean you need all of them, it is one or another.

Published by AdSense tricks
Read more at publisher-tricks.us

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/jzo6

Where does the money from our blog go?

2010-12-12T11:00:00.001-08:00

Our revenue from Birds on the Blog is quite low, too low to split between the contributers. So we put it to good use, we pay for the education of twin girls in Uganda.

A worthwhile cause.

If you visit our blog you can read more, if you subscribe to our newsletter you will get in just in time for our free Christmas gift to you.

Sarah

Amplify’d from www.birdsontheblog.co.uk

With that out of the way we headed to the school. The children put on a song and dance for the parents and it was heart warming to see. We had drinks and bites courtesy of Hastoe Housing Association staff who selected this community as their overseas project

I sneaked off and had a meeting with the Head Teacher to see how he was settling (only been with us for 3 weeks) and also met the Girls’ teacher. She gave me a sneak preview of their end of year class reports. Although they are only 5 they had to do exams, Perfect was 5th out of 80 and Princess was 12th, whilst their older sister Cycline was 5th out of 30. Their best subjects are English and Maths. I can’t tell you how proud that made me feel. I also learned that our contributions were enough to cover Cycline’s fees last year so we have have sponsoring all 3 girls!

See more at www.birdsontheblog.co.uk

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/i7y6

Blogs and the snow

2010-12-01T08:49:00.001-08:00

Gosh what a week in the UK. Yes this is my obligatory snow post :)

Earlier this year we had snow and I blogged and video'd a few snow posts. Driving in the snow is here

You can see Ken talking about his snow tyres here.

Jackie Walker shares the seduction of snow here and how she has prepared for it in Scotland.

Are you prepared for the snow?

Sarah

Sameday couriers

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/h1qp

5 Ways to Win More Business with Google Places

2010-11-22T09:13:00.001-08:00

Interesting - are you using Google places?

Amplify’d from www.toprankblog.com

With the rise of smart phone use in the US, (Google Android and iPhone are currently reporting roughly 500,000 activations a day ) it’s more important than ever to have your Google places listing up to speed because when people use voice search on Android phones, the first results they see are from Google local.

With the recent Google launch of Hotpot, Google is entering the local recommendation space. Hotpot combines Google Places, the places you like and the places your friends like making it even easier for people to make decisions about which local businesses to patronize.
Read more at www.toprankblog.com

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/fuv3

Do you have an interest in Africa?

2010-11-03T14:10:00.001-07:00

If you do, have you met Ida Horner?

Over at Birds on the Blog, we adopted twin African girls through one of Ida's charities. Ida helps African women generate business through her site Ethnic Supplies. The women make the products and Ida sells them, and the women get paid a sustainable income.

Ida never asks for herself, she has only ever asked for the women in Africa who depend on her.

Well, one of Ida's customers went bust owing her a lot of money. That puts her December trip to Uganda in jeopardy.

If she doesn't go, there will be no more work for the women involved in her projects. Communities will be affected. Families affected. Children affected. Ok, I guess it's not as big as Bono pulling our of Africa :), but people need her help, she's their hand up.

Ida blogged about it and the African community have rallied and tried to help her, they even have their own hash tag (which came about as a bit of humour in a tough situation). It's #AfricanCyberBegging. Her request is here - Airmiles to Africa

So I will ask you, do you have any airmiles, points from loyalty cards that can become airmiles. Can you help us to send Ida to Africa, so she can continue her work.

Would you consider buying one gift from her site as a Christmas present if you don't have airmiles to donate?

Please click the Airmiles to Africa link and tweet it out.

Together we can help someone, it doesn't take a lot if we work together.

Sarah

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/eit7

A week on the road

2010-10-29T06:48:00.001-07:00

This week we have blogged mainly on road safety.

We got Kevin in front of the Flip and started filming the first in a series of videos. I am sooo not impressed by the hat, and see if you notice a small change around half way through.

In the article there is mention of a handy iPhone app that can help you find the accurate pressure of your tyres! No more under-inflating and lots of fuel saved! It's a great post to check out -http://arrowlighthaulage.co.uk/arrowblog/1807/check-your-tyres/

We also talked about a dangerously more common drugged driving. Not illegal drugs but over the counter prescriptions. You can read more here - http://arrowlighthaulage.co.uk/arrowblog/1796/are-you-drugged-driving/

Doug Jenner gets creative in his writing and tells us the tale of jealousy and misery, and for the record our other woman is called Mrs Hawkins :)

http://www.blokesontheblog.co.uk/dear-mum-and-dad/

Kev also wrote briefly on shed delivery... yeah sheds :)

So that is our week on the road, in blogs.

Sarah

Same day couriers

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/e6z4

Should you work with a writing coach?

2010-10-24T10:47:00.001-07:00

URL: http://www.birdsontheblog.co.uk/working-with-a-writing-...

If you are a budding novelist, writer or blogger... should you work with a writing coach?

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/dui6

Blogging and twitter whirl....

2010-10-23T09:05:00.001-07:00

This week I felt terrible. I realised I had been neglecting my newly resurrected Amplify blog :(

So an update is in order...

Last weekend I wrote on my sandpit blog about stealing other peoples blogs. It got good traffic but no comments (I can live with that ;) )

The other day, by accident I came across a courier company who had taken one of my ezine articles and stripped my links out of it, then posted it as their own work.

So I pinged over a ‘cease and desist’ email and got a hugely patronising response back…

No need for threats here …. I’m VERY, VERY sorry and I will more careful in the future … I was just worried about who I was linking to and was lazy not to check it out … I used an article once that pointed my visitors to porn …

So Laura … could you send me the html that you would like me to add to my article and I will get it up ASAP …. or would you rather me remove the article?

Awaiting your reply …

Bruce

Well, I tore Bruce a new backside for stealing my work. The annoying thing is, he could have used it correctly and linked back and no damage would have been done. Right now I know a few things about Bruce that he thinks I don’t... Stealing other people's blog posts

So, he gets your name wrong, big deal you may think. Well this guy is trying to make a living delivering things, he should have an eye for detail or he'll collect the wrong cargo!

Over at Business on Twitter (owned by the lovely Nikki Pilkington, who lets me have a weekly column to write about twittery things) I wrote about Carol Vorderman and how she is giving away her shoes on twitter... yes really. She has kipper feet ;) (only teasing).

Is there something business related that you can give away via twitter that would benefit many?

Remember, this isn’t just Carol Vorderman giving away her shoes, she has to package them and send them, so it’s costing her money to do this. So if you are planning a series of giveaways for physical products then you need to factor in all the costs.

Does a physical product giveaway work better on twitter?

If you have an exclusive product that would benefit from great ‘Word of Mouth’ then a physical giveaway is a great idea. If it’s portable, then people will show it to other people and talk about the product. It may lead them to searching you out on twitter or searching for the product.

That doesn’t work quite so well for a generic product as the search may not lead back to you and your business.

I also wrote about twitter turning us into a nation of whingers. It seems like we have ceased to use a complaints procedure and gone full bent on moaning about companies using social media tools.

There is something utterly repellent about someone who whines all the time. Lately when I look on twitter, someone whom I am following is whining about something, if it’s not #Barclays it’s #BT, if it’s not them it’s some other big name being berated for not doing something for one of their customers.

Let’s be honest with each other here, if you were the boss of BT, how likely would you be to go on twitter? If it was me, I’d say no way, I get nagged enough at work. Does Engagement really mean answering a never ending stream of gripes from customers?

Is twitter turning us into a nation of whingers

I have wrote over at blogmistress too, my usual column about the love involved in a multi author blog :) Will make that tomorrow's Amplify! :)

I shall leave you with Chainsaws...

Getting social media - yes people who 'get it' and acting like smug marrieds have been winding me up this week. So I took a chainsaw to them. I don't get social media is here

Let's not be strangers :)

Sarah

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/dpvu

Prepping for Christmas deliveries

2010-10-05T04:11:00.001-07:00

Working for a sameday courier company means a lot of the work is ad hoc, and because it is left to the last minute it becomes a premium service. 11 months a the year that works perfectly. Except for December.

In December time seems to get shorter. As an ethical business we will not take work if we cannot complete it, although there are many national parcel companies that will take the packages and do their best, even if that means the parcel sits in the warehouse over Christmas.

We also have watched vans go out overloaded and understaffed, that also means you don't get your goods in time for Christmas. It also means when stores are cutting costs that you don't always get the service you require-

So the courier company will give the shop/warehouse several prices -

Two man team, dedicated delivery

Two man team, no fixed time

Delivery on a dedicated vehicle

Delivery on a specific schedule, a working driver

Guess which one is the cheapest? Did you say the last one? Given the choice of the 4 options, and the store knowing you have disabilities / no parking / no one home until lunch, they always go for the cheapest.

Just blame the delivery guy

As a consumer there are things you can do to prevent Christmas presents being stuck in a depot...

Get things prepped early.

Ask if there is terminology that you don't understand.

Ask if there are any expected delays

Be prepared that if you leave things to the last minute you have two options - cheap and it risks non delivery, expensive but guaranteed delivery with a same day courier. Same day couriers are the only courier services that have a 100% effective guarantee. Don't believe me? check the small print of the guaranteed deliveries...

Sarah

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/bsa2

Where do you go when a scammer targets you?

2010-09-24T04:51:00.001-07:00

Have you ever been targeted by a scammer or what looks like a deal that is too good to be true?

What do you do?

I am fortunate, I hate met and spoke to Charles at Scam Detectives. So when we got a scam email, I knew it was a scam and although my husband wasn't so sure it was a scam (but it was indeed a fraud), we forwarded it to Charles who verified, yes indeed it was a scam.

You can read about the latest courier and hauliers scam in more detail over at Charles' blog.

Hope this helps you avoid the scammers out there

Sarah

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/b2qv

Exploring the Landlord / Tenant relationship

2010-09-22T04:38:00.001-07:00

After reading an online friends plea for housing help the other day, I became interested in the relationships between Landlords and Tenants.

So I started to look at what resources there were out there, and one led me back to Tessa Shepperson's site, where I guest blogged back in the summer.

She has a good post about what the actual responsibilities of being a landlord actually means. something I am not sure all property investors understand, but soon come to learn. I know I learned real fast.

Landlord responsibilities are not the first thing most people think about when they consider investing in property. But it is important to realise that if you become a landlord, you are taking on legal obligations as well as an income stream.

What being a Landlord really means

Tessa also tackles Common Law, and what it actually means.

Non lawyers often seem to think that there is this vast body of statute which details everything, so that somewhere there will be an act of Parliament saying whether their landlord has to get rid of the wasps nest in the loft and how long their notice period should be.

Some of these things will be covered by statute but others won’t. What do you do then? This is where the Common Law comes in.

Again handy to know from both points of view.

Whilst I didn't find the solution to my friends scenario, I did realise what a great resource this site is and wanted to share that.

And my guest blog ... Moving on a budget is here if you want to take a look.

Sarah

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/axt2

Getting the best possible service from your courier

2010-09-15T04:30:00.001-07:00

Booking a courier service is not rocket science (and even rocket science is fairly simple to a rocket scientist ;) ).

There are a few things that are useful to know first though - What type of courier service is needed?, is your chosen courier allowed to transport it? and what can you do to avoid the pitfalls and stopping your deliveries from going wrong?

The right kind of courier service is essential if you are looking to save yourself money getting something delivered. If it’s fragile or high value you will need a same day courier service. If it’s low value and durable a parcel courier or the local post office are the better options.

Resource: Avoiding mistakes with your courier service

Same day courier services – For urgent items that MUST be there today. These are dedicated delivery vans and the driver that collects, is the driver that delivers. Sometimes known as express delivery courier.

Fragile deliveries are safer, much less chance of breakages

High value goods are covered by the higher insurances offered

Without transhipping – reduces the chances of your cargo or freight getting lost to zero

Reliable, fast, dedicated delivery for when it has to get there on time and in one piece

Next day courier or OverNight Courier – Less urgent cargo or freight, can be delivered overnight if required.

Parcel Courier – Services similar to the Royal Mail, they mass deliver many small parcels and packages. This type of courier service is ideal for small items that are not very valuable (less than £250).

Resource: Types of courier services

Using the right type of courier for your business will help you save money and time, so a little research first is essential.

Sarah

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/aj8v

Fuel Saving

2010-09-14T02:52:00.001-07:00

With the price of fuel due to go up (again), are you looking at ways to drive more fuel efficiently?

We have some tips, please add some as well

In my last two blogs we looked at preparation for fuel efficiency and wasting fuel on small local journeys. In this blog we’ll look at the actual driving aspect of fuel conservation.

http://www.kent-business-buzz.co.uk/saving-fuel-while-driving-part-three/

Driving greener has the much welcomed benefit of saving you money. If you have to drive, following our tips and tricks will allow you to maximise the usage of your vehicle and your fuel.

http://arrowlighthaulage.co.uk/arrowblog/52/fuel-saving-tips/

What are your fuel saving tips?

Sarah

See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/ag8d

2010-09-13T05:42:00.001-07:00

This is my first post on Amplify! Testing, Testing ... http://arrowlighthaulage.co.uk/arrowblog/1699/want-us-to-use-your-fuel-cards/ http://amplify.com/u/ad48

2010-09-13T05:28:00.001-07:00

This is my first post on Amplify! Testing, Testing ... http://arrowlighthaulage.co.uk/arrowblog/1699/want-us-to-use-your-fuel-cards/ http://amplify.com/u/ad48

Spare a thought for our troops please and sign here.

2009-11-19T05:30:00.000-08:00

Whatever you feel about war, the soldiers are the ones that pay. They pay for the decisions of politicians regarding where and who to fight, they pay for the failures on budgets, they are the ones that follow the orders.

Image by Getty Images via Daylife

When I was alerted to this, I felt real sad. My wife wanted to join the RAF, and if she'd this would have been a lifeline to us, as it is to many soldiers. Soldiers are people, with family and friends who maintain hope and keep them motivated.

Please see below a petition to keep the British Forces Post Office from closing. This means that all free post (under 2kgs) to Afghan will be stopped amongst other things.
Below is a quote from Sky News.
"When the servicemen and women of our country are fighting and dying for this government's dubious honour, it treats them with the contempt it has shown across the board," he said. "The BFPO has for decades provided a lifeline that is utterly vital in maintaining moral and now they want to cut it. "MPs have granted themselves £7,000 a year postage - but they seem to be happy to put extra costs on service families. How typical, how venal, how vile."
Please sign the petition.
http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/SaveBFPO/

Whatever you think, please spare a few minutes to add your signature to the petition.

Regards

Kevin Arrow

When choosing a courier is it better to choose cheaper?

2009-11-13T08:18:00.000-08:00

When you choose a cheaper item, you need to know why it costs less. Often in the case of clothes a cheaper item is made with lesser quality materials, with a courier the reasons that they are cheaper are often hidden.
As a customer who uses the cheapest courier service about, the only justification for that is the item isn't very expensive or worth very much.

When a courier slashes their prices, something has to give, they may reduce their insurance levels (or opt for going without insurance), downsize their vehicle or start to co load the items.

Whilst co-loading itself isn't a problem, if its done correctly, you will make some great savings. But if it's not done right, then your goods could be delivered late or damaged, both of which do nothing for your reputation as a business!

So next time you start searching for a cheap courier, ask what you are compromising on and if the item is of low value... then it doesn't matter. But if the item is really valuable (financial or sentimental) then you need to ask will you get what you pay for?

Sarah
Same Day couriers

Time critical delivery from Basildon

2009-10-24T01:14:00.000-07:00

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.

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.

Pricing for a flat rate courier job

2009-10-23T02:10:00.000-07:00

We are often asked to quote for delivering items for a flat rate regardless of size around a certain area. For example just Essex, Kent and London, just the South of England, just England or anywhere in the UK are often areas we quote for.

: Image via Wikipedia

As we deliver in dedicated vehicles (we don’t tranship between vehicles) we know our courier service reduces breakages and our service is excellent. All our drivers are paid at least minimum wage and we have up to date software and satellite navigation systems to ensure that your packages are delivered safely and securely, and in one piece!

Often companies receiving quotes are only interested in a low price, they fail to take into account the cost of redelivery or failed deliveries, fuel surcharges or overweight surcharges, so when getting a quote these need to be asked about. Read the small print of the service level agreement before you send in your consignments.

Items over 35kgs will need two people to deliver the item, it’s health and safety guidelines and our drivers follow them. So asking companies to cut the size of the team down to deliver your goods could put them in a position where they decline your work.

Getting a quote for large quantities to be delivered in one area shouldn’t be like pulling teeth and as a customer you can get the best price for higher volume. Often courier companies will have a minimum volume amount, a sliding scale of prices based on volume is a sensible solution if times are quiet for your delivery needs.This means you will not be charged for deliveries that have not been made keeping your expenditure down and your courier company happy.

One thing that is important when delivering in bulk is that the information on your delivery notes is as accurate as possible. Often sales teams will fill out the purchase order without a real thought to the delivery address or contact details being fully filled out on the delivery notes. If you want trouble free deliveries made ensure that the full delivery address is included with postcode and a contact name and phone number for your customer is easily accessible.

Arrow Light Haulage has extensive experience in this field and is only too happy to advise your company regarding reducing your delivery costs whilst still staying as environmentally friendly as possible.

Sarah Arrow
Same day couriers at a flat rate

Collecting in Basildon, delivering in London? Parking in London

2009-10-22T11:08:00.000-07:00

Today we are sharing a guest blog from @pimlico_flats, it’s something relevant to all us van and delivery drivers – parking in London.

: Image by Dominic’s pics via Flickr

It’s serialised into three parts, here’s the first.

Parking in London

Parking anywhere in London is an art that requires skills that Londoners acquire from an early age. Parking is something that you either get right, or you lose your vehicle, so here are the 3 steps to delivering in London without falling foul of the authorities.

Know the rules. A No Brainer I know – but never the less if you know what you are doing you stand a better chance of succeeding.

Double Yellow Lines – no waiting at any time
Single Yellow Lines – look for a plate which defines what times are acceptable
Loading – local regulations apply. As an example where there are no additional restrictions (kerb markings) Westminster allows unlimited 20 mins loading in residents parking bays, and on yellow lines before 11:00 or after 18:30.
Yellow marks on the kerb – loading restrictions supercede the above.
1. i. Two marks it means no loading (or waiting) at any time.
2. ii. One mark it means no loading for a lesser period as indicated on the signs, or timeplates,
Double red lines – Stopping is not permitted at any time
Single red lines – Stopping is not permitted except at the times indicated by the signs
Red route clearway – Stopping is only permitted in lay-bys (red lines are only marked at junctions)
http://www.parkingforvans.com/loading_in_london/loadingandunloading gives you the local Loading Regulations

Nick Parkin M.A., C.Eng., M.I.Mech.E., Dip.Man.Tech.

Proprietor

Pimlico Flats

Office: 0207 630 5408

Thanks Nick, please look out for parts two and three later this week.

If you would like to post a guest blog here, please get in touch with Sarah – Sarah@arrowlighthaulage.co.uk and mention guest blog in the subject line.

Time saving equals money saving when using a courier

2009-10-21T02:12:00.000-07:00

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

How to park in London and NOT get a ticket

2009-10-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

Our guest blog from Nick Parkin owner of the Pimlico flats blog and community. Something we would all need to know, how to park in London and NOT get a ticket.

: Image by sean dreilinger via Flickr

How to Deliver in London without collecting a ticket.

Make it obvious you are loading/unloading – leave an empty cardboard box in a loading place. Having said all that – I did see a joiner cutting plywood from the back of his van, he cut a piece – took it in to nail it up and came out to find he was clamped! If you are present and loading a warden will probably speak to you instead of ticketing.
For an easy life find a loading bay, or ask your delivery destination if they have a bay you can stay in temporarily.
If you have no alternative but to stop illegally – be unobtrusive. If you double bank you will stand out for as far as there is a line of sight and draw wardens in from far and wide.
If you have no alternative but to stop illegally – be inoffensive. If you block traffic, neighbours, or are dangerous, you may face more than just a ticket.
Check Doorways, the private parking wardens hide near commercial delivery points.
Keep an eye out, in busy areas you may need to see your van every 60 secs. In quiet residential areas of central London the longest you can expect to survive illegally parked without a ticket is around 15 mins.
Ask bystanders to watch your van for you, but be sure that you are within shouting distance.
You stand a better survival chance close to the end of parking restrictions, and are most likely to be ticketed at 09:00 – 10:00.

Nick Parkin M.A., C.Eng., M.I.Mech.E., Dip.Man.Tech.

Proprietor

Pimlico Flats

Office: 0207 630 5408

Thanks Nick, some great tips

If you would like to post a guest blog here, please get in touch with Sarah@arrowlighthaulage.co.u

Delivering - what to so if you get a ticket whilst unloading

2009-10-18T11:04:00.000-07:00

A guest blog by Nick Parkin from the Pimlico Flats blog and community (you know where to go if you need to rent a property in London, Nick knows all the ins and outs!)

: Image by Ange Soleil ( a.k.a Tweng ) via Flickr

What to do if you get a ticket whilst loading / unloading in London

If a parking attendant or traffic warden finds a vehicle parked on a yellow line without seeing any loading or unloading taking place a parking ticket will be issued. It is for the driver of that vehicle to demonstrate that he or she was loading or unloading, the shorter the observation period of the parking attendant or traffic warden the easier it will be for the motorist to claim that an exemption applies

It is reasonable to expect that deliveries of smaller items should take less time than those of larger items and hence there would be a greater burden on the driver to justify a lengthy absence from the vehicle. Drivers making a delivery in the course of a trade or business will, in the majority of cases, be able to produce some form of documentation in the event of a ticket being issued.

Get witnesses – I once received a ticket from a Westminster Council Warden, and quoted a Police Traffic Warden as my witness against the ticket, WCC kindly reversed the fine.

Nick Parkin M.A., C.Eng., M.I.Mech.E., Dip.Man.Tech.

Proprietor

Pimlico Flats

Office: 0207 630 5408

Thanks Nick, much appreciated.

If you would like to post a guest blog, please get in touch with Sarah – sarah@arrowlighthaulage.co.uk

In Basildon? Need your cupcakes delivered? Here's how...

2009-10-17T11:00:00.000-07:00

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.

Businesses: dealing with the Royal Mail Strike

2009-10-17T10:40:00.003-07:00

With the Royal Mail set to strike, small businesses across the country will be affected. Here at Arrow Light Haulage we have been thinking up some solutions as to how to continue business as best as possible and where a courier is essential.

Firstly and perhaps most importantly, Parcel Force is not going to strike. That means the cheapest option for sending out parcels and packages under 5kgs is still available.

So if you are a business that sends out one or two parcels a day, and send your invoices by email and pay your customers by Bacs, you will be in a strong position to carry on business as usual.

Until the 14th of October, if you click the link above to book your parcel delivery through Parcel Force and type ‘new’ at the checkout, you will receive a 15% discount.

Secondly, as mentioned above. Use bacs to pay suppliers instead of posting cheques, it’s greener and far more efficient. If you are sending invoices, send them by email too. If like us you have to send additional documentation, scan and email that too. Again it’s greener, faster and far more efficient than the Royal Mail.

For companies that use direct mail for their marketing campaigns, have a look at other methods such as an email mailshots – think of the benefits to your carbon footprint as well as the traffic to your website and the ways to reach customers that may not respond to direct mail. If you need support for this we recommend business consultant Jeff Nutbeem, he can be found via his website – Small Business Consultant

You could be really old fashioned and pick up the phone and call the customers direct and send them a tailored email afterwards. More time consuming perhaps, but may have better results. If the Phone isn’t your thing then talk to an expert, we recommend Shaun Gisbourne at Phone for Business

More importantly, when to use your courier.

Use them when you usually do - for same day deliveries, for urgent items, for fragile items. You may think you need to use one for your every day mail service but the truth is, you can do a lot of it now via email, fax and instant messenger. These are often secure and safe, and if it really is that confidential you will already be using a courier to deliver it.

Sarah

Same day couriers in Essex

PS if you need to send birthday cards either send them with a present, arrange friend to do it if they live nearby, send a video via email – think a bit creatively! The chances are this won’t be the last strike and we can find ways not to let it affect our businesses or personal lives.

Please note, we have used an affiliate service to obtain the codes and links for the Parcel Force discount.

Three tips to save you money with your Basildon same day courier

2009-08-23T03:09:00.000-07:00

External transport can be the biggest cost in many small business budgets and with trading times quite tough, these three tips will help you save money with your deliveries.

Timing is crucial when booking your courier service. The delivery window has a biggest impact on the cost of your courier. If you use a same day or express courier you will be paying an increased cost than if you used a pallet network or gave your express courier a bigger delivery window. By giving your same day courier a bigger delivery window you can gain up to a 50% reduction in the cost of delivery. That's right, over the course of a year you can save your business up to 50% of the transportation budget just by giving the courier company more time in which to deliver the goods. A good decision that goes a long way is explaining to your customers why their delivery will take just a little bit longer because it saves them money too.

Multiple deliveries can again save you money on your courier bills. Driver off sick? instead of getting an agency staff in and taking a risk with your vehicle, consider outsourcing it to your local courier company. It becomes cheaper to hire the courier for the day to complete all your deliveries. Common sense is needed here. If you have yet to outsource your transport and your own drivers can only complete 6 or 7 deliveries a day, you will find your courier does roughly the same. There are only so many miles that can be driven in one day, and hours that deliveries can be made in. It's unreasonable to expect your courier company to do double what a normal driver does, but some companies do and wonders why it costs them more. Savings of 25% can be made here.

Loading and unloading information is our third and final tip here. By keeping your customer informed of when to expect delivery and having them ready to unload the courier means you can avoid waiting time. Waiting time can double the cost of some deliveries where the customer is ill prepared to receive their goods. If we are collecting, the same applies. If the companies know when the courier is arriving all waiting time can be avoided. Accurate collection times can save you 20% of your final transportation bill.

Bonus Tip - get the timing off your courier. For the arrival time of your freight or cargo ask your courier what time they will get there. Not the person in the office, but the actual driver in the van who will have all the up to date traffic timing via their satellite navigation system and it's very accurate compared to the timings given by an online routing program.

Sarah Arrow

Basildon same day couriers that help companies save money by getting the correct courier or freight delivery service for their products.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Sarah_Arrow

Using a courier and diminishing your chances of corporate manslaughter

2009-07-30T08:01:00.000-07:00

Image by rodneylibraries via Flickr

Does you company have an item that needs moving or delivering regularly? Do you need to make a deposit at your bank or collect change? Delivering contracts that cannot be faxed? Tender documents that must meet a strict deadline?

Have you thought about what it costs you as a business when you get a member of your team to do it instead of booking a same day courier service?

You may be thinking “Bank/ post office not very far, get the receptionist to do it or one of the admins, they can do it…” Sure, the phone may get unprofessionally answered to your potential new customer, no biggie but you having a staff member drive their own vehicle to the bank / post office / customers office could cost you big time – corporate manslaughter anyone?

If they have an accident, you may be liable and they may not be insured for business use.
Expenses – 44p pence per mile, the hour and a half out of the office, the parking costs…
What about their work? Whilst they are doing something to save you money – who is doing their job?
What if the job over runs?

Getting it right is tough for any business, and for a one off getting a member of the team to do it once is a decision you have to make.

When it starts to happen on a regular basis, then you need to think is it actually saving you money to use a staff member and more to the point what happens and who is liable if it goes wrong.

For example when delivering a tender document, it may need to be delivered out of hours. It may need someone to wait for the bid writing team to finalise the last few touches, and a member of staff is sitting waiting to do this instead of going home. After leaving at 7pm 2 hours after their normal finishing time, they drive (a little angrily) to the office where the tender is to be submitted, they are feeling a little tired and cannot wait until their day is finished and they can go home. The deliver the document at 9pm that evening (would have been sooner but they don’t have a sat nav and wasn’t expecting to use one!) and the deadline has been met.

Well, it’s cost you 4 hours of pay so far, their mileage and now they are on their way home. The get home at 11pm (2 more hours of pay) and have their dinner, shower and bed. The next day they arrive in work tired and snappy. An accident could happen at any point whilst out driving or the next day with a tired employee and the cost could exceed far more than what a same day courier would cost.

When you are next compiling your risk assessment, have a look at how many hours additional driving your staff are doing. You could be in for a surprise.

Sarah

Same day couriers for documents, banking and many other things!

Delivering to builders

2009-07-08T13:50:00.000-07:00

One new courier delivery service we have started to provide is collecting and delivering items for builders who just don't want to wait for the builders merchants.

Two or three days for delivery when you are on a tight project build can make all the difference and if you want it urgently, we can help get it to you, on your schedule.

Items need to bagged or palletised for ease of movement and the driver will help unload if you let us know at the time of booking.

We have also found that the last few months that we have had enquiries from the domestic market for this service - this is far cheaper than hiring a van for a one off job. So if you have sack of cement, sand and hardcore that need moving give us a shout and we can see what we can do.

Sarah
Same day couriers for building services

Couriers to deliver your furniture

2009-06-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

Do you need a furniture courier? do you have items of furniture that you have bought from a store, free-cycled or ebayed?

Sofa

Chairs

Antiques

Sideboards

Dressers

Beds

Cabinets

Desks and other items of office furniture

Arrow Light Haulage the Essex based same day courier company are happy to quote to move your items. Whether they are high value or sentimental value, we look after them as if they are our own.

All our furniture deliveries are wrapped in felt blankets if they are not packaged already, then strapped to the vehicle - so they don't slip and slide in transit.

Whether it's one item or a houseful, we can offer you help and a two man team if items are really heavy.

Kevin

0844 884 3331

Same day courier

Awkward courier delivery

Same day delivery in Basildon

Delivering to Deadlines in Thurrock

2009-06-07T10:49:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the collecting part isn’t a problem but the fact that the forwarders are not 24/7 like us means you cannot collect your goods yourself (losing a days pay from work or having to take a days holiday). Time is money and it can be as equally frustrating to sit and watch it being wasted.Sarah & Kevin Arrow, West Thurrock & Dartford Courier and parcel services, Jun 2009Sometimes the collecting part isn’t a problem but the fact that the forwarders are not 24/7 like us means you cannot collect your goods yourself (losing a days pay from work or having to take a days holiday). Time is money and it can be as equally frustrating to sit and watch it being wasted.

We are based in Essex near Tilbury port, a drive from Harwich & Felixstowe and are 10 minutes from the M25, in other words we are real close to your goods. You no longer have to wait - if you want your goods we can collect on your authorisation and deliver.

After waiting for your items to reach the UK you may just decide to cut out all the hassle and ask us to be your courier and collect and deliver for you.

Give me a call on 0844 884 3331 to discuss your courier and delivery requirements.Alternatively send me an email and I’ll get a quote back to you. I’ll need to know the collection postcode, the delivery postcode, the item size and description of the item. If you are unaware of the service you will need, just say so and I can give you a price for each option.

Regards

Kevin Arrow

Basildon couriers and delivery services, same day, next day, every day

Basildon same day courier services - vehice sizes

2009-04-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

If you are looking to book a same day or next day courier service, you need to know what size vehicle you need. Your van depends on the size and the weight of the items of freight or cargo, here are some guidelines -

*Small Van - up to 500kgs

*Transit van - up to 1000kgs

*LWB Transit / Sprinter up to 1500kgs

*Luton - up to 1100kgs, mainly used for bigger bulkier items.

(Both our Luton's have tail lifts)

Booking a vehicle that is too big is a waste of resources, but booking a vehicle that is too small may mean your items do not get delivered!

Call us and we will happily advise you 0844 884 3331, local rate wherever you are in the UK.

Basildon same day courier services

2009-03-08T11:10:00.000-07:00

Ever thought about what your same day courier company actually looked like? are they really going to throw your freight around? Are they really as honest and reliable as they sound?
Well, here we are Basildon, Essex same day couriers on video.

Sarah

Same day delivery in Basildon

2009-02-23T01:55:00.000-08:00

When something is urgent and has to get there to a deadline, the best option is to use a same day courier service but what exactly does that entail?

A same day courier uses a dedicated vehicle to collect your goods and then goes straight to the delivery destination. Now here's the tricky part, some people say they do same day but actually co load your cargo with another customers cargo. Nothing wrong with that until you have something smash because its fragile and should not be transported with anything else. Oh yes, and you will still pay premium price...

When booking make sure you specify that goods cannot be co-loaded and if they can and they are non urgent, tell that to your courier too. Of course when you book an express or same day courier, you are booking a premium service and the price reflects that level of service and urgency.

We are happy to collect and deliver same day urgent goods in the Basildon, Pitsea and Wickford areas, to all over the UK. We don't co load and we don't miss a deadline. Priceless really ;-)

regards Kev
07816 528421

2009-01-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

Often we buy things and then when we move house we have a near cardiac arrest about how we are going to move them! A Trampoline is one of those items, a shed/ gazebo is usually the other one

Generally speaking to move a trampoline (if applicable) you would first removed the supports for the safety net, You would not necessarily have to dismantle all of the poles and neither would you have to remove the net ties.

Once removed this can them be strapped together and easily lifted by two people onto your removal van.

The main body of the trampoline may or may not have to be dismantled depending on the size of the removal vehicle. Having said this I would strongly recommend removing the canvas and the protective paddings to prevent damage during transit, thus leaving only the metal frame.Moving in Essex? You need Essex Removals, Jan 2009

If you need any help, or are reluctant to do it yourself, we can always do it for you you. Just give us a call or drop us an email.

Sarah

The Most Expensive Delivery in The World?

2009-01-01T11:43:00.001-08:00

Seriously how much for delivery… $42 million dollars if it was a Nasa space shuttle. Nasa are planning on selling their old ’stock’ delivery / shipping and handling is $42 million dollars.

Why so much? Moving a wide, heavy load is expensive. A fully loaded shuttle can take up to three hours to move one mile. Now in this instance it will not be carrying the fuel so it should be able to move that bit faster. Banksmen and other technical and non technical support is also required. You cannot just through a shuttle on the back of a lorry and hope there will need to be police escorts and co-ordination with the highways agencies etc. It could be split down and sent by road and air but most likely it would be shipped.

If you can afford to buy one, I am sure the delivery charges are not a problem the good news is decommissioning fees are also included!The Most Expensive Delivery in The World?

What would you say if Nasa called and ask YOU to deliver a shuttle? ;-)

Kevin

Delivering big, awkward, bulky items but most certainly NOT space shuttles

The Pope’s courier

2008-12-23T10:58:00.001-08:00

I have just been reading this fascinating article in the Guardian about the Pope’s Courier. On average Thaddeus Kühnel does 150,000 miles to collect and deliver gifts from the Pope. This year he has collected his favourite German Sweetmeats (a carload full!) and a footwarmer.

With the Vatican issuing guidelines regarding environmental issues and encouraging their congregation to be greener, I felt they could have been a bit greener themselves. They could have used the secure (diplomatic) postal systems to deliver his items. Looking at it in more detail, I realise the safest, most secure option for him would have been a dedicated courier which is exactly what he used

When security is of the utmost importance a dedicated courier is the very best option, I hope that Thaddeus Kühnel has his vehicle tracked in case of hijack and remembers to secure his vehicle every time he leaves it. I am sure he uses up to date software to plan his routes - so that they are the most efficient. I know he will be co-loading whenever possible to keep costs down and make the fuel go further…

I also hope that Mr Kühnel has changed his vehicle since this article was published, as he could now become a target. It’s vital to keep things confidential as a courier and unless you have your customers approval, discretion is a must. Especially when your client is a religious world leader.

Infallible Christmas gifts: Pope’s courier reveals secrets | World news | The Guardian

Kühnel drove from the pope’s home state of Bavaria to the Vatican yesterday to personally deliver this year’s boot-load of food, as well as five Christmas trees that were strapped to the roof of his car.

Lebkuchen honey and spice biscuits, stollen German Christmas cake, and chocolate were among the treats, Kühnel told German media. Of the trees, which came from the pope’s home town, Marktl am Inn, Kühnel said: “One is for the Pope’s living room, and two are for private chapels.”

Butchers in Marktl am Inn began selling Ratzinger sausages in his honour when he became pope in 2005.

There was also a present from the pope’s brother, Georg, 84, a retired priest. Kühnel would not reveal what it was, but said “usually they give each other practical things, like wristwatches and electric foot-warmers”.

Kühnel said he had already clocked up around 250,000km 150,000 miles in his car, delivering goods to the pope that he had personally requested, along with presents from his old friends, staff and distant relatives. “I deliver all the things he misses about Bavaria, including fruit nectar, Bavarian sausages from his favourite restaurant, advent wreaths and German sweets. He has a very sweet tooth,” Kühnel said.

“The first thing I brought to Rome, in my car, was a paschal candle, as well as some fruit from Adelholzen and mineral water. He likes the Christmas cookies that women from Bavarian parishes bake at home as well as those made at certain monasteries. He also likes the chocolates made in Aachen.”

The Pope’s courier, Dec 2008

It's not an easy job delivering goods from food stuffs to presents, but having a happy customer is very rewarding.

Merry Christmas

Sarah & Kevin

10,000 hours and you STILL want someone else to deliver?

2008-12-22T01:09:00.001-08:00

This week I have been reading articles about someone called Malcolm Gladwell and the Outliers, and in these articles research by a chap called K Anders Ericsson is quoted.

In the early 90s, the psychologist K Anders Ericsson and two colleagues set up shop at Berlin’s elite Academy of Music. With the help of the academy’s professors, they divided the school’s violinists into three groups. The first group were the stars, the students with the potential to become world-class soloists. The second were those judged to be merely “good”. The third were students who were unlikely ever to play professionally, and intended to be music teachers in the school system. All the violinists were then asked the same question. Over the course of your career, ever since you first picked up the violin, how many hours have you practised?

Everyone, from all three groups, started playing at roughly the same time - around the age of five. In those first few years, everyone practised roughly the same amount - about two or three hours a week. But around the age of eight real differences started to emerge. The students who would end up as the best in their class began to practise more than everyone else: six hours a week by age nine, eight by age 12, 16 a week by age 14, and up and up, until by the age of 20 they were practising well over 30 hours a week. By the age of 20, the elite performers had all totalled 10,000 hours of practice over the course of their lives. The merely good students had totalled, by contrast, 8,000 hours, and the future music teachers just over 4,000 hours.

Now, I am not quite sure where this quote comes into play with Mr Gladwells book (ok, maybe it’s about genius ), but I do know that having worked at least 48 hours a week for the last 6 years delivering cargo, freight and the odd sofa or two we have clocked up at least 10,000 hours. Thats in just our own business, Kev has another 14 years experience in doing this for other companies. So, that makes us an expert apparently…. and we certainly do know all the tips and tricks to get the best out of your delivery.

So, would you rather see the local schools piano teacher or Maksim? Well, I am sure they both have their place in life, and you choose what is appropriate. If Maksim was looking to move his grand piano, would he use Joe Blogs from down the road who had been trading 5 minutes or would he use a professional piano mover? He would use the professional piano mover of course.

We often get phone calls about Freight / Cargo deliveries that have gone wrong, and the most common these people have used someone who are cheap. They have no experience or wisdom to pay for, and then the customer gets upset when it has gone wrong. We get upset too, why didn’t they come to us first? It would have been the far more cost effective courier option10,000 hours and you STILL want someone else to deliver?

Sarah

One charge fits all for your local courier?

2008-12-22T00:54:00.000-08:00

When you book a parcel courier do you read the small print?

Last week we took on a new customer who had read the ’small print’ and found it not to his liking until he came to us. When doing his research he found that he would often be charged a ’surcharge’ for delivering to a private address rather than a business address - between £3-£5 extra. He would also be charged a 5% fuel surcharge, and if he went over weight by even just a kilo, he would be charged an extra £3.00 as well.

He started to add it all up and realised the £8.95+VAT he was being charged for delivery wasn’t that cheap once the ’surcharges’ had been added, if fact it could double the initial price for a parcel!

At Arrow Light Haulage we believe in a transparent pricing system - that the cost is determined by the items weight, and thats it. The only extras we charge for are items such as packing and wrapping materials, again this is optional.

So, if you have a parcel to collect in Basildon, Chelmsford or West Thurrock & Dartford give us a call on 0844 884 3331 we are a flat rate courier, no surcharges unless of course you want us to charge for them

Regards

Kevin

Basildon and Pitsea couriers and delivery

Light Removals in Basildon

2008-11-24T06:03:00.001-08:00

What is a Light Removal and why use a courier?

A Light Removal service is a service for people who wish to move small amounts in and around Basildon. They may not wish to use a removal company or cannot afford to use one. They may want to move out of hours or over a weekend, it could be many reasons and cost comes into it in these tougher economic times.

A courier service charges for the distance travelled and time, whereas another company might charge for additional things such as packing materials, crates etc. Most couriers carry felt cloths to cover furniture and straps to secure items.

It's not just domestic customers that use a light removal service, it's also businesses such as cleaning companies who wish to move machinery.

If you would like a light removal quote then please call us on 0844 884 3331

Sarah
Same Day Courier and Light Removals

Less bucks = more bang

2008-10-20T12:37:00.001-07:00

Delivering fireworks.....Fireworks are generally not allowed to be delivered by couriers. Quick quiz: If you are a professional truck driver, a good thing to haul is…

a) jelly doughnuts
b) bunny rabbits
c) designer shoes
d) highly explosive fireworks

You need specialist training to deliver fireworks, and if you are using a courier to do this, check the small print before suggesting they do not need the training… if you wrongly suggest they can deliver the fireworks and they have an accident where do you stand with your corporate manslaughter liabilities?
Be very careful not to get caught up in the small loads small print of 8.2.3 of ADR Link how VOSA and other agencies interpret may be different from how you do. To be quite blunt, a white diamond symbol does not mean you can transport and deliver fireworks as a courier.Fireworks: Delivering without the bang!There are no fireworks int he uK that can be carried by road for hire and reward without the courier in question having at the very least ADR 'awareness training!

Delivering your pool or snooker table

2008-10-13T01:19:00.001-07:00

As a discerning Snooker or Pool player, you have decided to buy yourself a table to practice on. You cannot wait for the shop to send it (sometimes a 30 day wait!), or you have grabbed a bargain on Ebay, and now you would like the item delivered.

Firstly, the Pool or Snooker table will be wrapped in soft felt furniture blankets and then loaded onto the vehicle via tail-lift. It takes two people to do this, sometimes three. We can supply a two man team or you can help (this is the money saving option ).

The Pool/Snooker table will be laid flat on the bottom of the van. It’s important that your courier does not try and co-load items with this, as items put on top may crack the slate bed. For the same reason, it’s best not to use an economy service courier, because they again co-load items, and this can cause some nasty damage.Same Day Courier Delivery for your Snooker Table

At the end destination, we will happily help you unload your table and take away the packaging, if any. We like to recycle the packaging, it helps keep things greener.

Sarah

Same Day Courier

My Technorati Post

2008-09-21T13:27:00.000-07:00

Claiming my blog from Technorati

Technorati Profile

Basildon couriers, there is one that makes the difference

2008-09-18T09:48:00.000-07:00

Another little gem on the internet, this time from a website that deals with consumer issues. It's a very good read, the link is at the end of the quote. The article goes on to make some suggestions on what can be done to make things easier for the consumer when expecting delivery...

* Companies that offer "delivery within 2-3 days" - Well, which is it? And does that include the weekend?

* Companies that say "your order has been dispatched", but not how it's being delivered (Royal Mail, Courier, 24 hours?)

* Companies that let you order when there's no stock, but don't tell you that it's back in stock and they shipped it - the first you know is when you get the "we tried to deliver but..." card

* Failed deliveries where the little boxes aren't ticked so there's no clues - so you drive to the sorting office to get a bit of junk mail that the kind postie didn't want to fold or leave outside, when you were expecting to be picking up your hi-fi.

* Couriers that aren't flexible. "We can't deliver to your work address. We don't deliver on Saturdays. You can't collect from our depot"

* Couriers websites that let you view online tracking... that's a day out of date

We all have to work, and it's not always possible to take a day off work waiting for the knock on the door. I've lost count of the number of days I've either:

* Waited in for a courier that didn't show

* Faffed about with parcel-tracking websites and "we called but..." cards

* Spoken to a courier's head office to arrange redelivery - and got very frustrated

* Tried to get a number for the courier's depot (not the call centre)

* Driven to a depot on a Saturday to collect something a courier wouldn't send out at a weekend

Help with mail order deliveries and couriers.

As a courier company, we are happy to delivery out of hours and on a Saturday, or even a Sunday. Parcel deliveries we do Monday to Friday, and any delivery estimates do not include Saturday or Sunday when it comes to the parcels.

Parcels we will try and deliver three times, and always leave a card with contact details on.

Same day or Express deliveries, we can tell you within 15 minutes what time your items will arrive, and we call our customers an hour prior to delivery, so if they have to nip up the shops for a pint of milk, they can do so without worry.

When looking for a courier service that understands what customer service means, look for someone local. Bigger is not always better when it comes to delivering your goods.

Sarah

Basildon, Chelmsford & West Thurrock Same Day and Parcel courier

.

Delivering your Plasma or LCD screen TV

2008-09-18T01:15:00.000-07:00

By Same Day courier? By the parcel network? overnight delivery? Lots of choice, but which one is the best to courier your Television?

The Parcel networks, although the cheapest option, cannot take the weight of TVs. Even the new Plasma / LCD style screens come in over the cubic weight that a parcel carrier can take.

Another option is a overnight pallet service, where your TV would be strapped and shrink wrapped to a pallet and loaded, and transhipped several times before reaching you or your customer. This increases the chance of damage, and you never know for certain at what point that damage happened.

We recommend that television collection and deliveries are an item that can be co-loaded onto a vehicle. This means that the vehicle has other items on it, there is a small risk of damage from the other items, but in the case of a correctly packaged TV set, that is minimal. We have never damaged one this way yet. Depending on the style of TV, depends on whether a two man team is needed. Our vehicles are equipped with sack barrows and tail lifts, so that only a huge boxed TV set would actually need two men, the rest can be delivered by our well trained drivers.

If you have bought a Television set from ebay in the Basildon or surrounding areas and require us to package it for you, we can do that easily. We use recycled packaging, and we are happy to collect and deliver those large items like TVs and white goods, that are often just collect in person.

So, if it needs lifting and shifting, give us a call even if it's just for free advice 0844 884 331 or 07816 528421.

Sarah

Essex Television delivery

Posting something precious this Christmas?

2008-09-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

Christmas is a very busy time of year for all the parcel carriers. With a little planning, you can make sure your loved ones that are far away get their gifts on time, and in one piece.

Christmas parcel delivery tips

Don't leave it to the last minute
Make sure you use a company that gets a signature on collection
Make sure you use a company that will redeliver if they are not in
Package the item securely, we are happy to advise you if you are not sure
If the present is very heavy, consider sending it in two parcels so you don't incur an overweight surcharge
Check that you can legally post the item
Check the item is covered by courier insurance
If in doubt, ask us - 0844 884 3331

We will happily collect from your doorstep, all the parcels and packages you need delivering to your loved ones, give us a call and we can book you straight in.

Sarah
Basildon same day and parcel couriers

How a cheap courier can affect your business

2008-09-16T11:51:00.001-07:00

Obviously companies want to save money and ‘labour’ is one area where people think they can cut back. Care needs to be take, because it can put you in a position where your company breaks the law.

What I have always said to companies that use cheap and cheerful couriers is, do they treat their drivers ethically? do they pay the minimum wage? Whats the price of being associated with a company that doesn't do what it's supposed to do?

When you want an 'above the board' courier, and your goods safe, you have to use companies that don't take shortcuts, and that may mean asking awkward questions and keep on doing so, until you get the answer that satisfy you. You risk your goods being impounded if you don't. Is that worth it just to save a fiver here and there? And what would you tell your customer?

I have been reading this from The Courier Shop Blog:

Kent courier business Beeline Sameday has had its licence revoked and its boss disqualified after failing to observe drivers’ hours and tachograph rules.

VOSA analysis of tacho charts revealed driving and tachograph offences, missing kilometres, excessive driving and insufficient daily rest. Three drivers had been convicted of 16 drivers’ hours offences and the firm pleaded guilty to 10 counts of permitting these offences at Medway Magistrates’s Court in July. The company was fined £1,800.

Beeline Sameday failed to report driver convictions from 2006 and 2007 to the Traffic Commissioner’s office, and TC Christopher Heaps found that the company had effectively operated without a transport manager for years. He even pointed out it was unclear if the nominated transport manager, John Crook, was still alive.

The TC said that although Harvinda Pasricha was listed as the sole director, “by reference to her body language, I find that she is not, and has not been the director de facto. She does not even know her own salary.”

Kent courier disqualified for hours offences - 15/09/2008 - RoadTransport.com

Kent courier disqualified for hours offences, Sep 2008

It seems now, more than ever courier companies need to look at their systems and procedures when it comes to drivers hours.

Sarah

Basildon Same Day and parcel company

5 things that go wrong with other couriers

Ashford, Tonbridge and Sevenoaks Courier & Parcel deliveries

Stanford Le Hope, Tilbury and Grays parcel and courier services

Getting quotes from Couriers

So you want to be a freelance or self employed Courier?

So you want to be a freelance or self employed Courier?

What is trans-shipping?

2008-09-11T13:31:00.000-07:00

Trans-shipping occurs when you courier moves your parcel onto another vehicle and it completes it's onward journey on a different vehicle to which it started.

(the video below may take a few moments to load depending on your internet speed)

If your parcel is fragile or valuable, trans-shipping isn't suitable. So a Same Day or express courier is needed. This is the more expensive option, but rarely do goods get broken, lost or damaged in transit.

If you would like to have a chat about our parcel services, this year we have 100% successful, unbroken, undamaged deliveries, we will be happy to advise.
We can be contacted on 0844 883 3331 or 07816 528421.

Sarah
Basildon parcel courier and same day delivery

Mothercare mucking up their deliveries...

2008-09-09T04:03:00.000-07:00

Tailoring your service to fit your customers needs is something you would think quite natural for Mothercare. The chances are if you are having a cot, pram etc delivered that the person signing for the goods will be pregant, quite healiy pregnant in some cases.

This is not the situation to abide by the rules, this is a situation for common sense. Here's what one disgruntled Mothercare customer has to say...

They were delivered on time, but in an appalling state. Some of the boxes and goods (things like a bouncer chair and the blankets) were delivered to me wet and in damaged packaging. The man dumped a heavy box in my hand to carry up the stairs. Im 33 weeks pregnant, and this was totally inapproprite. He refused to let me have the cot, and said the whole order had to be returned.

When I called up to complain the customer service manager was very rude with me, she said I was lucky they were delivered so quickly and was short, unsympathetic and totally unhelpful. she refused to put me through to a manager, or let me know when my goods would be redelivered.
I was made to feel like I was lucky there were there at all, and that my complaints were not taken seriously at all. I was spoken to very ruidely.

Mumsnet Discussions - mothercare are awful (Pregnancy)

Whatever problems there are at the depot, the customer shouldn't be getting wet and damaged deliveries, this is unnecessary damage to the Mothercare brand, it doesn't show any care at all. When choosing your courier, you need to brief them, and the courier driver needs to be aware that they may need extra lifting equipment or a two man team to deliver to pregnant women (this also counts for delivering to the elderly, and the physically disabled).

Mothercare are not the only company to neglect the needs of their customers. A birthing pool company have done the same in the past, refused to help a 38 week pregnant woman take the wooden pool upstairs as it "wasn't his job". When the mum-to-be waddled down, he was overcome with remorse and struggled with it and delivered it safely up two flights of stairs, in this instance a two man team should have been used. If the common had thought about it, they would know the likely recipent of a birthing pool is a heavily pregnant woman.

So if you are a company looking to deliver items to women who are heavily pregnant...

Do you brief your drivers?

Do you send out two man teams?

Are you busy trying to save money?

How much money would you save if you injured a pregnant woman through inconsideration?

Can you afford the negative publicity?

Can you sleep at night knowing a few quid off the bottom line, a few more quid in the shareholders pocket is actually causing pain and suffering to the customer base you are targetting?

Sarah

Couriers and delivery, for when your customers welfare actually matters to your business.

5 things that go wrong with other couriers

2008-09-09T02:14:00.001-07:00

I was thinking about the major players in the courier industry today. How they do the little niggling things like ring the doorbell for 1 minute on a Saturday morning delivery. That made me wonder what else they do wrong

They don’t re-deliver. You go out, miss delivery and they leave a card to collect from the depot thats 30 miles away and you cannot get it for another week…

They tell you any time between 9 and 5pm for delivery, and you wait and wait and wait… you call the depot at 5pm and ask about the delivery only to be told, they couldn’t find you.

The courier arrives three hours late for the collection, offers no reason or apology for wasting your time

The courier decides it’s acceptable to throw items in and out of the van

The courier doesn’t use safer, greening driving techniques and pulls away in a cloud of black exhaust fumes..

Top 5 things other parcel couriers do wrong…

Here at Arrow Light Haulage, we take excellent care of your goods that we deliver, we treat them like the’re our own.

We give you fast, accurate collection times. When you use our dedicated / epress same day services you will get an accurate time for delivery. We don’t leave your goods on the doorstep if you are unable to bring it in yourself (although we are not obligated to). For an all round better, faster, greener, effective courier service just give us a call on 0844 884 3331.

Sarah

London Couriers, delivering to and from London

Do you work in the City?

Delivering your dining table using a Basildon courier

Kerbside to Kerbside delivery - what exactly does it mean?

Delivering your dining table using a Basildon courier

2008-09-07T14:10:00.001-07:00

Couriers are often seen to be the most expensive options when it comes to deliveries, a dining table and chairs can be quite awkward and heavy to move. When you start to weigh up the cost of actually doing the job yourself, fuel, van hire, you begind to realise how a courier can actually save you.

These are generally too heavy to be delivered by parcel services. Depending on what they are made from, I would check with your courier company first. If it’s possible, the furture should be dismantled and packaged securely before collection, this reduces the cubic weight and makes it more likely your items can be delivered. Remember to package them carefully to prevent damage.Collecting and Delivering a Dining Table and Chairs by Same Day Courier

Pallet Networks - You dining is palletised and collected with other items and sent to the hub (usually in the Midlands) then put on a vehicle that will deliver to a depot and then on to you, the end destination. Your pallet may be ‘ugly freight‘ or oversized and this would be more expensive. There is high risk of damage using these services and it’s very difficult to establish where in the chain it happened.

Overnight / Economy courier - Your dining table is collected and loaded onto the vehicle, with other goods and delivered at some point in the next few days. The routes are as fuel efficient as possible, less chance of damage than a pallet network, but your item could risk some damage if the courier company does not secure their loads or protect your dining table and chairs correctly. We always secure our items and wrap them for added protection.

Same day or express courier - you item is the only item on the vehicle, it is secured and delivered in one piece, the only method likely to result in the least amount of damage.

When you decide which type of courier you need, you also need to ask some other questions about timings and help unloading. You will also need to advise on parking restrictions etc.

If you need any advice, please don't hesitate to call us on 0844 884 3331 or 07816 528421

Sarah

Basildon, Essex couriers collecting and delivering on your time

They call it "Ugly Freight"...

Delivering in complete confidence

Using a Basildon courier to deliver a bicycle

Packing tips for sending items by parcel networks

Packing hints, tips and tricks

Need a new parcel carrier in Basildon? Citylink and Amtrak no longer working for you?

The Basildon School Run Increases Traffic

2008-08-30T04:21:00.001-07:00

Sarah has been blogging about the school run today, and in doing her research she found that the school run puts 20% more traffic on the roads from 8.30am to 9.15 am and 2.30pm to 3.30pm.

The Institute of Advanced Motoring has some tips for tackling the school run.

• Avoid taking the car if you can. Walking, cycling and public transport are all better options, not only for children, but also the environment. Children cycling to school should be proficient and wear a helmet, with bright, all-weather clothing.
• If you have to drive, offer to car share with other parents and take it in turns rather than add to
congestion around schools. When you have an informal arrangement, set an example by
attending a defensive driving course such as that offered by the IAM.
• Allow plenty of time for the journey. Crashes cause delay and are normally caused by drivers
going too fast and driving too close to the car in front. Leave five minutes earlier to reduce
stress.
• Drive well within the speed limit. Maintain a sensible safety gap - remember the “two second
rule”. At 35mph you are twice as likely to kill someone as you are at 30mph. Yet within the
car, this feels hardly any different. The school approach presents many hazards - including
children not concentrating fully as they cross the road.
• Park considerately and safely. Never double park, block driveways or simply rely on the
footbrake to keep the vehicle still as children climb out of the car. Consider parking 100 yards
or so away from the school gate and completing your journey on foot. This gives you an
opportunity to teach children about using the road and reduces congestion at the school gate
itself.
• Never stop on the yellow “zig zags” by the school gate, even briefly. Always ensure you let
the children out on the pavement side (or if there is no pavement, the side away from the
traffic).
• Do not drive on the pavement in an attempt to allow oncoming vehicles to pass. Wait until the
way ahead is clear rather than risk injuring a pedestrian.The East London Ex-Pat’s Guide to Essex, Aug 2008
Whats this got to do with courier services? Sometimes it's more cost effective and safer to have our driver sitting in the traffic, than one of your own.

Give us a call on 0844 884 3331 if you think we can help, we can deliver everything except your kids, to school.

Kevin

Need a new parcel carrier in Basildon? Amtrak no longer working for you?

2008-08-27T14:32:00.001-07:00

We have an excellent ‘account’ free parcel delivery service.

What does account free mean? It means you pay as you use our services, so you don’t have a minimum spend and there is no maximum spend.We are an Essex based express courier and parcel company within easy reach of West Thurrock and Dartford, and we can collect and deliver your parcels and packages all over the UK.Sarah & Kevin Arrow, West Thurrock & Dartford Courier and parcel services, Aug 2008

What does that mean to you, the customer? It means you don’t have any unexpected shocks when the invoice hits the mat, no fuel surcharges, or overweight charges (you know those nasty charges that mean you pay an extra £5 or £10 because you have gone overweight by .5kgs). Account free of all the hassle associated with other parcel and courier companies.Give us a call on 0844 884 3331 (local, no matter where you are) or 07816 528421 (mobile and out of office, yes we really are 24-7).

Sarah

Deliveries gone wrong - delivery destination

2008-08-27T03:35:00.001-07:00

I writing about deliveries that went wrong on Sunday:

Delivering a boat, a luxury one included, can be done safely by land. Only last week I delivered two boats for very happy customers, although I have no idea of the value, in these cases the customers insured the boats themselves for delivery.When deliveries go wrong…delivering by powerboat

and that got me thinking about the other ways that deliveries can go wrong.

Quite often the problem can be in the venue the item is being delivered too. Doorways can be too narrow for sofas and beds redulting in the removal of a window to get the item in the house.

Sometimes its climbing 7 flights of stairs with a very large sofa - a cup of tea is always welcome at the top!

Pianos can be a pain too, I read about the piano they had to be removed from an upstairs flat by crane! I wondered how they got it in to the flat in the first place.

Informing your courier of potential venue problems is a good thing, it means they can plan with you how they can help, if they can help at all.

If you do find you have to remove a window to get items of furniture in, a window fitter is a good option and doesn't add that much to the overall cost, a local one may even help out of hours so you don't have to take the day off of work.

For no obligation advice on preventing your delivery going wrong, just give us a call on 0844 884 3331 or 07816 528421

Sarah

Deliveries gone wrong

2008-08-27T03:33:00.001-07:00

I writing about deliveries that went wrong on Sunday:

Delivering a boat, a luxury one included, can be done safely by land. Only last week I delivered two boats for very happy customers, although I have no idea of the value, in these cases the customers insured the boats themselves for delivery.When deliveries go wrong…delivering by powerboat

and that got me thinking about the other ways that deliveries can go wrong.

Quite often the problem can be in the venue the item is being delivered too. Doorways can be too narrow for sofas and beds redulting in the removal of a window to get the item in the house.

Sometimes its climbing 7 flights of stairs with a very large sofa - a cup of tea is always welcome at the top!

Pianos can be a pain too, I read about the piano they had to be removed from an upstairs flat by crane! I wondered how they got it in to the flat in the first place.

Informing your courier of potential venue problems is a good thing, it means they can plan with you how they can help, if they can help at all.

For no obligation advice on preventing your delivery going wrong, just give us a call on 0844 884 3331 or 07816 528421

Sarah

Kerbside to Kerbside delivery - what exactly does it mean?

Putting items into long term storage in Basildon?

Do you need to use a courier?

Do you work in the City?

2008-08-24T04:16:00.000-07:00

And have a requirement for a home office?

In the ever evolving workplace, it's quite common to have a workstation facility based at your home address. If this is the situation you find yourself in having ordered your office furniture, but have no time to collect or assemble said items, then we can help.

At Arrow Light Haulage we have furniture installers that can collect, deliver and assemble your flatpacked items with the minimum amount of disruption to you and your families routine.

As a professional courier and company, we are capable of meeting all your delivery requirements with short notice. We can deliver out of office hours if that suits you better.

So, whatever your home office courier and delivery requirements are, just give us a call on 08444 884 3331 or 07816 528421 wqe are happy to help and advise without obligation.

Regards

Kevin
Basildon parcel and courier delivery

SAfer ways to transfer data, instead of using a courier service

2008-08-22T03:04:00.000-07:00

Thinking about this blog post, I made earlier today:

PA consulting is the private sector company that has lost this round of confidential information. The transfer of further data to PA Consulting on the project has been suspended pending the investigation. This on the surface appears quite harsh, after DHL lost 25 million child benefit addresses, and as far as we are aware still delivering government documents.The Essex courier and parcel delivery company, Aug 2008Is there any tools or gadgets that could actually help the government?

I found an interesting looking secure data pen on a blog by Don Cooke, who specialises in remote team working. This led me to think, why is the data being transported via a memory stick anyway? Why isn't it being encrypted and uploaded to the research companies? Don't tell me it's more secure this way...

Even if your courier is insured, what exactly is being insured? the replacement data stick? or the data on it? and how do you put a price on that data?

Is it time for the Data Protection act to be reviewed? a SME would get huge fines for non compliance, I think there should be some sort of fine to the government, perhaps suspend MPs expense accounts until they can get it right?

For confidential delivery services, with 100% success rate (so far) then look no further than your local Basildon and Wickford confidential courier company, Arrow Light Haulage.

Regards

Sarah

London courier services and dropping in the city

2008-08-20T02:20:00.001-07:00

I was thinking about this blog, that I posted a few days ago

London can be a very time consuming exercise for a courier company! At certain times of the day it can take you 2 hours to go 10 miles! This means most courier companies like to collect or drop their goods as early as possible.Sarah & Kevin Arrow, West Thurrock & Dartford Courier and parcel services, Aug 2008Driving in London can be very distracting for me, thankfully Kev and the other drivers deliver into London, as I would be holding up the traffic, hanging out of the window looking at the sights.

When you drive in places that have interesting sights do they distract you?

Sarah

Business ethics and the need to know

2008-08-19T13:47:00.000-07:00

I found this interesting blog today:

There has been a lot of hype and noise surrounding Steve Jobs' appearance at the WWDC conference and not just because of the new iPhone launch either. His gaunt appearance started a furore amongst the tech analysts and journalists as to how his health was, it was material they claimed.Sally Church, Oncology Market Trends, Jul 2008The whole article is a good read, and having met Sally on several occasions, I know where she is coming from.

Couriers need a lot of information and if the truth be told, if a companies transport was going well, would we be in there collecting and delivering?

If we knew the health of one of our main customers, would it affect the service we gave them? Would we still be available?

I know we would be.

In business, others don't think that way and does knowing all the minute details make a difference? To them it does.

So, what exactly does being ethical in business mean?

Sarah
Ethical, greener efficient deliveries

Delivering crockery safely!

2008-08-19T07:34:00.000-07:00

Packing crockery for safer courier delivery can be done fairly easily, the problem lies in the weight. Like most parcel companies we are bound by HSE rules that say we can only lift 25kgs at a time.
So, you may need to pack your plates etc into two packages, depending on the size of your dinner service.

When you have a lot of items, bubble wrap can prove expensive, so think about using corrugated paper instead. Place shredded / scrunched up paper around the edges and around cups to stop them chipping.

Then weigh the box, if it comes in under 25kgs, then tape it up securely and give us a call on or 0844 884 3331 or call Kevin on 07816 528421 and we will come and collect it. We deliver to mainland Uk destinations starting from £9.99+VAT and we collect in Basildon, Pitsea and Benfleet as well as other Essex areas.

Be sure to check you parcel company's terms of business, often glass and second hand goods are not insured.

Happy packing!

Sarah
Chelmsford Courier and parcel delivery

Dagenham, Ilford or Romford Courier?

2008-08-19T07:24:00.000-07:00

Arrow Light Haulage is a professional and Romford, Ilford and Dagenham delivery company. We collect and deliver time critical goods and deliver them anywhere in the UK. We are part the UKs biggest transport network, so even though we are based in Essex we have the resources to collect from anywhere within 60 minutes or 30 minutes (premium service).

Our drivers are polite and well trained, they know your reputation is in their hands.

We do the job right the first time, so the need for re-deliveries at your expense comes with using a cowboy not a professional courier. You get what you pay for, next time you get a cheap quote for a courier you need to ask why its so cheap...

Do they pay their drivers at the least minimum wage?

Are they insured?

Do they have the correct equipment to complete your delivery?

Are their drivers helpful, clean and polite?

Quite often you won't find out until something has gone wrong and then its too late!

Email for a quote by clicking here

What our customers say about us...

Courier testimonials

We also collect and deliver for private customers. Items such as rare guitars bought from Ebay, the new owner didn't want to entrust it to a parcel company, he didn't want to take the chance it would be broken in the warehouse or in-transit.

We have even offered the government the use of our services, they certainly wouldn't lose valuable data when they used our services.

Our parcel and delivery services for packages up to 15kgs is just £9.99 plus Vat for our blog readers, thats 5kg more than Interlink or DHL give you! (throughout the UK, certain parts of Scotland are exempted but can be covered by our Express Delivery Services). Don't forget, there is no Fuel surcharge, excess weight surcharge, or too awkward surcharge!

If its just Essex to Essex, we can do your parcels overnight for £7.99 plus Vat up to 15kgs, again more than the other local parcel companies offer.

So for all your parcel and express courier deliveries from Romford, Ilford or Dagenham, don't hesitate to give us a call on 0844 884 3331 or call Kevin direct on 07816 528421.

Regards

Sarah

Parcel and express courier deliveries from Romford, Ilford and Dagenham

Aveley, Purfleet and South Ockenden Parcel Delivery

2008-08-19T07:10:00.000-07:00

Arrow Light Haulage is a professional Purfleet, Aveley and South Ockenden Courier and delivery company. We collect and deliver time critical goods and deliver them anywhere in the UK. We are part the UKs biggest transport network, so even though we are based in Essex we have the resources to collect from anywhere within 60 minutes or 30 minutes (premium service).

Our drivers are polite and well trained, they know your reputation is in their hands.

We do the job right the first time, so the need for re-deliveries at your expense comes with using a cowboy not a professional courier. You get what you pay for, next time you get a cheap quote for a courier you need to ask why its so cheap...

Do they pay their drivers at the least minimum wage?
Are they insured?
Do they have the correct equipment to complete your delivery?
Are their drivers helpful, clean and polite?

Quite often you won't find out until something has gone wrong and then its too late!

Email for a quote by clicking here

What our customers say about us...

Courier testimonials

We also collect and deliver for private customers. Items such as rare guitars bought from Ebay, the new owner didn't want to entrust it to a parcel company, he didn't want to take the chance it would be broken in the warehouse or in-transit.

We have even offered the government the use of our services, they certainly wouldn't lose valuable data when they used our services.

Our parcel and delivery services for packages up to 15kgs is just £9.99 plus Vat for our blog readers, thats 5kg more than Interlink or DHL give you! (throughout the UK, certain parts of Scotland are exempted but can be covered by our Express Delivery Services). Don't forget, there is no Fuel surcharge, excess weight surcharge, or too awkward surcharge!

If its just Essex to Essex, we can do your parcels overnight for £7.99 plus Vat up to 15kgs, again more than the other local parcel companies offer.

So for all your parcel and express courier deliveries from South Ockenden, Aveley and Purfleet, don't hesitate to give us a call on 0844 884 3331 or call Kevin direct on 07816 528421.

Regards

Sarah

Parcel and express courier deliveries from South Ockenden, Aveley and Purfleet

Pitsea, Canvey Island & Benfleet parcel and courier services

2008-08-18T14:02:00.001-07:00

Do you need a courier in Pitsea, Canvey Island & Benfleet? To collect and deliver items that are urgent or confidential? Do you need specialist courier services? Pharmaceutical? moving lots of car parts around the UK? Shipping bulk parcels and packages?

"More details of these services can be found on our website -Specialist Courier Services
Sarah & Kevin Arrow, Basildon Courier and Parcel Distribution, Aug 2008"Delivering the goods is just part of our excellent courier services, we also have friendly, professional drivers who understand the meaning of time critical, and know they are upholding your companies good reputation.

For professional deliveries in Pitsea, Canvey Island or Benfleet make us your first phone call - 0844 884 3331 or 07816 528421

Regards

Sarah

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Do you need to use a courier?

Stanford Le Hope, Tilbury and Grays parcel and courier services

2008-08-18T12:21:00.001-07:00

Based in Stanford Le Hope, Tilbury or Grays and need a courier to collect and/or deliver your parcels and packages?

Then have you thought about using the services of Arrow Light Haulage?

You love the fact that this year we have had 100% successful deliveries, the same as last year and the year before, and the year before… We deliver in 1-2 days, mainly overnight to all of UK mainland destinations.The Essex courier and parcel delivery company, Aug 200
There are many courier services that are tailored to your needs...

*Pharmaceutical Courier

*Legal Courier

*Medical and Dental courier

*Manufacturing courier

More details of these services can be found on their website -Specialist Courier Services

Regards

Sarah

Student moves to / from Kent universities

Maidstone, Dartford & Canterbury Courier and parcel services

Getting quotes from Couriers

Delvering Jet ski and other sporting equipment

Chandeliers by courier or post?

2008-08-18T06:08:00.000-07:00

Firstly, I wouldn't send a chandelier by post unless I really, really had to, with a high value, fragile item I would always opt for a dedicated courier vehicle. Often glass isn't insured, and chandeliers are made of glass / crystal.

A courier has higher insurances and have nothing else on the vehicle except for your item, making it less likely to get damaged.

Sometimes, you need to send it via the post or Basildon, Essex parcel company such as Arrow Light Haulage. So to get it there in one piece, find a box big enough for the chandelier and the packaging. You will need to remember if the item is over 25kgs it will need to be lifted by 2 people - HSE rules.

Wrap all the loose parts with bubble wrap and tape securely. Place gently onto a polystyrene base and then fill with polystyrene chips or popcorn. Place another polystyrene bad gently on the top of the Chandelier, taking care not to damage the item. before you secure the box, check that the item isn't ratting around in the box, if it is add more chips and perhaps pad out with scrunched up balls of newspaper.

When the Chandelier is secure, tape the box closed and write on the box in marker pen, the address. Why not a label? because a label may get torn, or damaged and your item may get 'lost' in the system.

If you don't want to pack it yourself, we can do this as part of our premium services. Just give us a call on 07816 528421 and we will discuss how we can help you.

Kevin
Courier and parcel delivery services in Basildon Essex

Basildon Couriers, parcels and package delivery

2008-08-18T03:09:00.000-07:00

We are happy to collect parcel and packages from Basildon to deliver throughout the UK.

We deliver in 1-2 days, mainly overnight to a lot of UK destinations.

As our customer you like the fact we have no fuel surcharges, no overweight charges and no out of the blue charges.

You love the fact that you don't need an account and can pay as you go, again eliminating a lot of the hidden extras you can be charged with an acccount.

You love the fact that this year we have had 100% successful deliveries, the same as last year and the year before, and the year before...

Our prices start at just £9.99 for up to 15kgs, and you love the fact that we will happily package items on your behalf for a little extra.

Just give us a call, we are happy to advise if your parcels need packing and wrapping. If your item needs strapping we are happy to quote for same day and next day delivery.

Regards

Kevin

Basildon Couriers, Parcel and package delivery

Basildon freight forwarders / shipping agents...

2008-08-16T13:06:00.000-07:00

Do you need a Freight Collection and Delivery Service?
Whether for your business or personal needs, Arrow Light Haulage offers one-of-a-kind freight courier services to help ease the pick-up and delivery process for large items.

We are available per job or per day, and are fully flexible to your needs. We will work with you and your shipping / fulfillment company to arrange collection of your freight items throughout the UK. Our freight delivery services are an affordable and time-saving alternative to coordinating pick-ups and deliveries on your own or through your shipping agent or freight forwarder.

Just give us a call, and we can talk about how we can help you deliver to your customers 0844 884 3331 or 07816 528421.

Regards
Kevin

Basildon based ebay seller? we can do your deliveries!

2008-08-16T13:02:00.000-07:00

Image via CrunchBase, source unknown Add our details to your listing!

Why?

Because it helps sell bulky and awkward items easier, oh and we give you a referral bonus or discount as well.

If you have an antique, awkward, fragile or bulky item to sell on ebay, then just add the following piece of code to your listing, by cutting and pasting.

<a href="mailto:sarah@arrowlighthaulage.co.uk?subject=Chelmsford Courier from Ebay listings!">Email for a free no obligation delivery quote by clicking here</a>

It will add a line of text just like this:

Email for a free no obligation delivery quote by clicking here

People are more likely to buy an item if delivery isn't going to be a problem, and it isn't a problem when you use Arrow Light Haulage, we'll help you sell more of your large, bulky or awkward items on ebay!

Regards

Sarah
Chelmsford, Basildon and West Thurrock couriers

IT deliveries from Basildon, a modern fairytale?

2008-08-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia Once upon a time, Byte and Bit Server manufacturers needed to have one of their servers delivered to a customer. They had decided wisely that a courier should deliver the server units, as with the credit crunch and economic downturn, they would save money by no longer having their own delivery vans and drivers. They were saving a small fortune until they employed Breakit & Bashit couriers, the cheapest company in town.

They rubbed their hands with glee, they were certainly going to save money here! They called B&B in, and they had the wrong size vehicle booked, the booking clerk didn't take the correct details, not to worry, they will send a new correctly sized vehicle. They did 4 hours later, but that was ok, they would still just get it to their important new customer on time.

The server had to be laid down, and the van didn't have carpet on the floor, so it had to be pushed onto the van carefully or the outer casing of the unit would get damaged through the packaging. B&B also had some furniture on the van and shoddily wrapped pallet of ball bearings.
The driver didn't seem to bothered about this, so Byte and Bit and didn't worry after all, they were in the hands of the professionals.

The driver took the paperwork and set off on his journey. On the M25 he did a lot of violent braking and fast accelerating, and the pallet of ball bearings burst through the poor packaging and spilled all over the interior of the van.

After the customer had waited 2 hours past their business closing time, the delivery was finally made, and the server delivered just to the kerbside. The client of Byte and Bit wasn't very happy, and didn't have a good impression of Byte and Bit.

They installed their server, but it didn't work, several ball bearings had got into the casing. Engineers had to be sent at Byte and Bits expense, and then a replacement unit was delivered.

This is a fairy tale right? Sadly no, only the names have been changed to protect the not so innocent!

By using Arrow Light Haulage to deliver their server units Byte and But wouldn't have been late, they wouldn't have created the wrong impression and they wouldn't have had to redeliver a perfect item to their customer to replace the damaged server.

You get what you pay for when it comes to delivering your goods, and if you want to create the right impression then you need to use the right courier from the start.

Just give a call to discuss your delivery needs on 07816 528421, we will even wrap and pack for you as part of our premium services.

Make sure your deliveries end with 'happily ever after' by using the Basildon based courier company that delivers safely, nationwide :-)

Kevin Arrow

Putting items into long term storage in Basildon?

2008-08-16T12:46:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia With space at a premium, and the loft overflowing, more and more people are putting items into long term storage.

If you have established what type of access you need at your storage place, you will need to pack the things that you are most likely to need, last. This means they are at the front of the unit when you need them

Put a dust sheet on the floor before you unload your items onto it.

Put your most filled and heaviest boxes in first.

Store sofas and mattresses on their ends.

Stack safely back to front, and don't put fragile items on the bottom and heavy boxes on top off them!

Make sure sharp blades of garden tools are covered, and make sure garden equipment is cleaned before storing.

We are happy to collect and deliver into both commercial and domestic storage units.

Just call us on 07816 528421 or 0844 884 3331 for a quote.

Kevin
Basildon courier, parcel and delivery services

Student moves from Basildon?

2008-08-16T05:19:00.000-07:00

Are you a student looking to move closer to Uni, in the term time?

Well, you have some options and the most popular seems to be hire a van, and do it yourself.

Alternatively you can hire a courier company, like Arrow Light Haulage to do it for you. A courier is usually paid on the distance moved and not the amount of stuff that needs moving.
The have different insurance from a removal company, so it can be a cheaper option to use a courier for your light removal, than to use a removal company.
Using a courier may not suit your circumstances, so it's best to check first and see what you get for your quote.

Arrow light Haulage are happy to collect at several destinations, so it may suit you to split the cost between two or three people, that way everyone saves money!

So, if you are looking to go back to halls of residence or rooms closer to Uni, have a look at the alternative student movers too. You may well pick up a bargain.

Regards

Sarah

Sending fence panels or trellis by courier?

2008-08-16T01:54:00.000-07:00

A further installment to our series of blogs on how to package awkward things and send them via our Basildon and Pitsea based parcel collection and delivery services.

Trellis is awkward because of its size and weight per panel, it just comes in under the maximum that we can collect and deliver and be Health and Safety compliant.

The trellis, if it has fancy woodwork , should be bubble wrapped on this part and then shrink wrapped.

It can then be wrapped in recycled brown paper ready to be collected. Don’t forget to write the address on it and tape this securely to the package.

If you are not sure about it, we can package the trellis or fence panels for you as part of our premium services.

If you are not sure on how to package anything, then feel free to give us a call on 07816 528421, or 0844 884 3331 we are always happy to advise you on how to package your items.

Sarah

Arrow Light Haulage - Celebrating 100% successful deliveries this year, last year, the year before, the year before....

Packing for safe delivery by your Basildon parcel courier

2008-08-15T12:28:00.000-07:00

So you have just sold some great items on Ebay or manufactured something fragile and precious, you now need to get it to your customer as quickly and efficiently as possible.

The item has to be packed securely, as not all parcel companies are as careful as Essex based courier company, Arrow Light Haulage.

Think carefully, a parcel could get thrown around as its loaded, it can bump about on conveyor belts and it can even get heavy items placed on top of it.

With that in mind, bubble wrap fragile parts, and consider putting shredded papered or paper scrunched up in balls around your item. Secure any lids with tape. Secure any loose parts with tape. Brown tape, parcel tape, or even tape branded with fragile. Just make sure it's secure.

Lift the box and gently shake it, if it sounds loose then you need to add more paper around the item. When you are happy that its safe and secure, seal up all the edges with tape.

When addressing your package, write directly onto the box in large clear letters, if you place a label there is the possibility it may get ripped off and your package gets 'lost' in the system.

Don't forget to put your return address on the back.

Then weigh your item, remember a courier is bound by HSE regulations that say they must not lift over 25kgs, so even if you can lift it, you still need to check its weight!

Then give us a call on 07816 528421 we deliver throughout the UK from Essex, Kent and East London for just £10 plus VAT for items up to 15kgs.

Regards
Sarah

Email for a Basildon Parcel or Express delivery quote by clicking here
Basildon courier and parcel delivery services | Basildon Courier and parcels blog | Chelmsford Courier and parcels delivery | Driving for a living blog | West Thurrock and Dartford Courier and parcels collection I
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Using a Basildon courier to deliver a bicycle

2008-08-15T11:44:00.000-07:00

This is another in our series of blogs on how to pack awkward items for safe delivery by couriers. In this instance via Basildon parcel couriers. Suitable if you are looking to send many as you are a retailer, or just the odd one or two as you are an ebayer.

If the bike is already assembled, remove pedals and handle bars. Wrap the paintwork with bubble wrap. Wrap the pedals and handle bars with bubble wrap and attach them with tape to the frame.

If you have a box to hand, great place the bike in the box and secure it, its ready for transportation.

If you don't have a box, then wrap in recycled brown paper, and tape securely with duct tape. Ideally you would keep the item safe, using the packaging material, and if you don't package the item correctly and damage happens, you will have no recourse with your parcel carrier.

You can mark the paper with Fragile, so the parcel carriers are aware its fragile.

Any questions? then don't hesitate to give us a call on 07816 528421 or send us an email
or send us an email, we are happy to help where we can

If you are a bicycle manufacturer who would like to talk to us about our delivery services, please give us a call to discuss what we can do for you too.

Regards

Kevin

Delivering it yourself? then save some money...

2008-08-15T11:23:00.000-07:00

Image by St Stev via Flickr If you deliver your own goods and decide not to outsource your Basildon, Wickford, Pitsea courier work to us at Arrow Light Haulage, then read on for greener driving to help you save some money.

Driving greener has the much welcomed benefit of saving you money. If you have to drive, following our tips and tricks will allow you to maximise the usage of your vehicle and your fuel.

:-)On your marks....

* Avoid overfilling the tank when refuelling. Spilled fuel evaporates and releases harmful emissions into the atmosphere and just plain wastes money.
* Make sure that your tyres are inflated to the correct pressure. Under inflation by 7psi will waste half a gallon of fuel in every tank. Inflating to the vehicle manufacturer's guidelines -which are based on cold tyres, so use the petrol station nearest your start point to avoid your tyres warming up and being inflated to the incorrect psi.
* Service your car at least every year. Get the engine tuned, the wheels aligned and catalytic converter checked, and the air con regassed if you insist on using it.
* Reduce weight, and fuel consumption, by removing unnecessary items from your vehicle that do not need to be there for a particular journey. This can include buggies, golf clubs, tools, footwear and all those things you keep 'just in case'
* Check your windows, screenwash and lights – ensuring that your windows are clean and your lights are working will make your journey safer. nothing more environmentally unfriendly than an accident.

:-)Get set....

* Take off roof racks and trailers if they’re not use.
* 61% percent of journeys are under two miles and arguably a waste of fuel and money. short journeys – walk or cycle them instead.
* Engines will be colder on short journeys, and this can double fuel consumption. Do you really need to complete that short journey?
* Planning - as many jobs as possible in one trip saves you money. Aim to get as much as you can out of the journey. Three jobs in one trip is better for the environment than three individual trips!
* Sitting in queues costs money and wastes fuel. Avoid congestion by checking the local news or trafficmaster for delays before you set off. If you hear of delays and jams, route around them.
* Only travel in the rush hour if you absolutely have to, this is more for your sanity as well as fuel conservation.
* Do you know where you are going????. Motorists waste 350,000 tonnes of fuel per year getting lost! You can plan your route on the AA website, it's free too. Alternatively, buy a Sat Nav system, worth their weight in gold and safer than a map.
* Idle your engine during its initial start for no more than 30 seconds. An idling engine produces 80 percent more pollution than when the vehicle is moving. Modern car engines warm up faster when they are in motion.

:-) Go....

* Drive smoothly – pulling away fast can use 60 percent more fuel.
* Slow down. Drive at the speed limit. Driving at 70mph can use up to 30 percent more petrol than driving at 50mph.
* Think ahead to avoid sharp braking - it just throws away energy and money.
* Avoid using the air conditioning, open the air vents instead! Air con uses 15 percent more fuel than the air vents. All on board electronics are also using extra fuel, the rear screen heater for example adds 5 percent to the fuel consumption. Switch them off if you don't need them.
* Change gear between 1,500 and 2,500 rpm – this can save up to 30 percent of fuel. Listen to your engine.
* It's better to switch your engine off when in stationary traffic. You use more fuel with the engine idling for 60 seconds than if you switched off and restarted 60 seconds later.
* Did you know..... traffic lights are programmed to change according to the speed limit. If you are stopped at one red light but then drive on at the correct speed you will usually find that by the time you reach the next few sets of lights, they will be turning green for you. Try it and see.
* Careful motorway driving will improve safety and traffic flow. The concertina effect caused by one motorist breaking sharply often results in traffic slowing to a near stop due to the delayed reaction of drivers behind. If we drive pro-actively, and try to observe the car three or four ahead. Then we can give ourselves some distance from the car in front. We can anticipate and judge the necessary speed. When you see a car up ahead start to brake, simply remove your foot off the accelerator. By the time you get close to the car in front the chances are that they will have accelerated and moved further on.

Sarah
The greener Essex Courier company

Packing tips for sending items by parcel networks

2008-08-15T11:16:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia Need to send items using our Basildon / Wickford /Pitsea based parcel network? or a parcel carrier? or by post?
Sick of them arriving in pieces and with footprints all over them?

When you book your courier or parcel delivery services, you need to bear a few things in mind, to ensure safe delivery of you items. If you pack the item correctly you will have very few breakages.

* Choose the size of the packaging according to its content. Overloaded boxes may burst; under-filled boxes are likely to collapse.

* Whenever possible use high quality materials for your shipments. Things to consider with your wrapping supplies are strength, cushioning, and of course durability.

* If you can choose boxes made with corrugated cardboard, and good quality outer lining. Use heavy-duty double-layered board for your most valuable items.

* Make good use of cushioning materials, these can stop your items from moving. I can personally recommend popcorn. Seriously, cheap efficient, and packs it tight and leaves your item unable to move.

* Put fragile goods in the centre of a package; ensuring they don't touch the sides. If your item is well cushioned on all sides it has more chance of arriving in one piece.

* Liquids must be stored in leak-free containers, packed with a lightweight, strong, internal material- Styrofoam is a good choice, and sealed with a plastic bag. Remember that bad packaging may cause damage to surrounding items.

If an item is both fragile and valuable, then consider using a dedicated or express courier.

We are happy to advise where possible, just give us a call on 07816 528421 or Email for a parcel quote by clicking here

Regards

Kevin

Email for a Parcel or Express delivery quote by clicking here
Basildon courier and parcel delivery services | Basildon Courier and parcels blog | Chelmsford Courier and parcels delivery | Driving for a living blog | West Thurrock and Dartford Courier and parcels collection I
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Blog Catalog link

2008-08-14T10:31:00.000-07:00

http://www.blogcatalog.com/directory/business

Basildon parcel distribution by courier

2008-08-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

It's fast approaching the time of year where companies think about gifts to send their customers and suppliers.

At Arrow Light Haulage, we are happy to undertake the delivery of such hampers. Our smart, uniformed drivers take care to ensure they arrive safely and unbroken. There is nothing more likely to give the wrong impression than a bottle of wine or Port, smashed and soaking into all the other goodies. It really sends the wrong message about a gesture of appreciation.

If hampers are out of your companies range this year, we are happy to deliver fine wines and other wines and spirits through our parcel network.

Again these are delivered by smart, uniformed drivers and a signature obtained on delivery, so you can be sure the right person has got their gift.

This service is also ideal for Basildon Ebayers and Basildon shoppers who have to send Christmas presents throughout the UK, and it's only £9.99 plus VAT for up to 20kgs (volumetric weight).

So, if it's important enough to send, it's important enough to do it right the first time, so use Arrow Light Haulage for all your delivery and distribution needs.

Email for a parcel / distribution quote by clicking here

Regards

Kevin
Basildon courier and parcel distribution
Courier business start up

Couriers delivering kerbside to kerbside?

2008-08-14T09:59:00.000-07:00

Often when you book a courier you are told it's a 'Kerbside to Kerbside' service. What does that actually mean?

It's a term most commonly heard when delivering furniture or large items that require a two person team.

As a customer it means your goods are not delivered to your doorstep, but onto the kerbside. The driver is under no obligation to help you move it through the garden gates or even through your doorway. This can leave you feeling pretty miffed off at the delivery company and the company where you bought your sofa, Aga or fridge freezer.

At Arrow Light Haulage, the Basildon based courier company, our drivers will help you decide where you want your products delivered to. We also deliver at a time convenient to you, even if thats after 6pm or at weekends, we don't mind - we know what it's like, taking a day off of work. Waiting, waiting and when you ring up you are told it's either AM delivery or PM delivery, and you are left wondering whether you have time to pop up the shop for a pint of milk...

We phone all customers the day of delivery and give them an estimated time of arrival. The driver will them call or text your mobile an hour before the delivery is due, so that you can get home (if you work nearby) or pop out for that pint of milk.

Our drivers are not insured to enter your house when making a delivery, but if you are happy for them to assist you, then they will help. They would not dream of leaving your new sofa on the kerbside, unless you wanted them to.

When you buy a large item, whether it has 'free' delivery or is charged, be sure to ask where it will be delivered to, and whether the driver will assist you. If the answer is no, then give us a call or drop us an email, and we will be happy to collect and deliver on your behalf.

Email for a parcel / distribution quote by clicking here

Regards

Kevin
Basildon courier and parcel distribution
Courier business start up

Moving a piano in and around Basildon?

2008-08-14T09:57:00.000-07:00

Moving a piano is something for a specialist piano removal company.

If they are to expensive for you, and you feel that you can work around getting it re-tuned etc, then a courier may be a possible solution.

What type of piano are you trying to move? Moving upright piano's is more common than being asked to move a grand piano.

One person on their own should not try this, and it's not uncommon to use 4 or 5 people to lift and maneuver it.

Starting with four 'helpers' place two at each end of the piano. You do not need any other assistance - don't let anyone other than your movers touch the piano (ie mums, dads, children or granny).

Cover the piano with a protective plastic sheet and make sure the lid is down and locked.

Most of the weight of an upright piano is located toward its back. It does tip over very easily. When moving it away from a wall, be absolutely certain no one is standing behind it.

Lift the piano on a heavy-duty dolly. Carefully. This will preserve tuning. It will also help keep movers from damaging the piano or your home. Remember to lift and roll the piano endways NOT sideways. Be careful of not exerting to much pressure on the front legs.

Keep hold of the handle behind the piano all the time it is moving. Watch out when rolling the dolly over thresholds/doorways and steps.

Move slowly so the piano won't tip over by being pushed too fast. It's easier to move over obstacles if moved slowly.

It helps if the vehicle you are loading it onto has a tail-lift, and then see that the piano is blanket wrapped and strapped to the van.

When moving a grand you must make sure to lift slightly to take some vertical pressure off the legs. If you don't the legs could get damaged or even break under the extreme pressure through lifting onto a dolly.

Most grand piano's have casters, but very few would roll on carpet, this makes it important to lift some of the weight off the legs when moving. Upright piano's also have castor's and again, it's very difficult to move them across carpet.

Email for a parcel / moving something awkward quote by clicking here

Regards

Kevin
Essex courier and parcel distribution
Courier business start up

Bought a car, van or lorry engine on Ebay?

2008-08-14T09:48:00.000-07:00

Thought about delivery? Here's how to do it...

Whilst there are no specific requirements when moving an engine, it helps to prepare the engine first. In theory you could remove it from a vehicle and 'throw' it in the back of a van and it would get to it's destination in one piece.

It's advisable to remove all liquids, prior to engine removal.
That includes all coolants and oils.
When it's removed, using soft rags plug the holes left by the hoses and pipes - this prevents residues leaking in the van and staining / damaging the van floor.

Where possible place the engine onto a plastic pallet, this is so that it if there is any spillage it can be easily removed and the pallet used again. A wooden pallet in this instance isn't re-usuable.

It may be worth wrapping the engine in recycled plastic sheeting for it's journey.

Secure the engine to the pallet using metal or plastic straps.

Be very careful if you are looking to co-load an engine with food, cardboard, any porous materials as it can contaminate and damage other items in transit.

Sarah
The greener Essex Courier company

The Basildon courier ebook sucess!

2008-08-14T09:46:00.000-07:00

This month we have had some amazing success! Our ebooks are winging there way around the internet!

We have been able to upload the sample Complete Courier Guide ebook instead of just the contents pages!

Hope this makes it easier for our potential customers to make a decision, and if it doesn't and you want to speak to me, then please feel free to call me on 0844 884 3331.

Regards

Kevin
PS, I almost forgot - For more information, and a downloadable sample of Linda's superb book 'Calling all Couriers- Win Keep and Grow Customers, please visit Sales Success at the Courier Shop.co.uk

Basildon parcel and same day couriers
Sales success for couriers

Bed deliveries from Basildon

2008-08-14T09:08:00.000-07:00

We often collect large items of furniture from the warehouses in the Basildon retail parks, often beds. Because we are flexible on our delivery times, we can collect and then deliver when you are home from work.

So, back to delivering the bed....
Unless a bed is flatpacked and only a single or double, a two man team is required.
There are many types of mattress, and the memory foam kind is popular but it needs to people to lift on, and lift off the vehicle as it's so heavy.

The beds we collect are often wrapped in plastic sheeting, which we are happy to recycle if you give it back to the driver.

As part of our premium services we can even install the bed for you, please order this service at the time of booking, it is very popular.

So, if you have bought a new bed or even a bed from Ebay, we can help deliver it for you when it's convenient, we can recycle the wrapping and we can fit it together if it comes flatpacked or needs installing.

Give me a call on 07816 528421 if you have any questions.

Regards

Sarah
Email for a Parcel or Express delivery quote by clicking here
Basildon courier and parcel delivery services | Basildon Courier and parcels blog | Chelmsford Courier and parcels delivery | Driving for a living blog | West Thurrock and Dartford Courier and parcels collection I
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Are your pallets ugly?

2008-08-14T08:54:00.000-07:00

Image via WikipediaAt Arrow Light Haulage, we love ugly pallets.

Ugly freight (sometimes called non-compatible or obscure loads) means your freight is not suitable to be delivered in a standard pallet or parcel network.

It could be because it’s too late, too precious, too urgent, too fragile, or even two man. ;-) .

It could need some assembly or installation on delivery. We are happy to do that.

As our customer you may like us to break a pallet for you, and re-wrap into smaller individual consignments then dispatch through our parcel network (we have had 100% success rate in our first year, this year). We are happy to do that for our customers.

You may like us to store it and then deliver it at a later date. You've guessed it, we are happy to do that too.

If it’s a problem for pallet networks and other couriers, it’s no hassle for us.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and your ugly freight is beautiful to us.

Kevin

Basildon, Chelmsford & Dartford Courier

How Basildon businesses find a courier...

2008-08-13T06:43:00.000-07:00

Image via Wikipedia

I recently conducted two pieces of market research independently of each other, about how people source their couriers. The idea being from the results, I would determine where to focus the advertising budget for the business this year.

The first piece I surveyed a cross section of the business community about how they sourced a courier. In the second piece I asked new customers how they found our services.

The results I think are quite interesting.

92% of people in the first survey said they would use the Yellow Pages to source a courier should they need one. They would ask around for recommendations second, after they had used the Yellow Pages.

In the second survey 75% of our customers found us through a search engine on the Internet. The rest came from a mixture of leaflets and recommendations. Not one mention of a telephone directory, on line or offline.

This confirms my belief that advertising should be a mix of mediums and not focus on just one specific area.

What was also interesting was the business community clearly stated they did not buy on price alone, every customer who used us in the second survey stated we had the best value for money service. The whole package that we offered was better than just getting a price, the care in delivery was exceptional.

Quoting one customer.... 'You delivered a glass display cabinet over 300 miles without breakages. Upon collection your driver dismantled it, wrapped it and then at my delivery address, carefully unwrapped it and re-assembled it. It looks perfect. No-one else would do the job as the cabinet was made of glass and not easily transportable without breakage. I really liked the way you worked on transporting the cabinet rather than telling me how hard, how difficult and it couldn't be done. I will definitely use you again. I don't know why more retailers don't use you, you certainly are a well kept secret.'

Boy, that was good to hear!

Regards

Sarah

Basildon courier and parcel deliveries

Are you a Basildon company looking to save money by outsourcing?

2008-08-12T05:12:00.001-07:00

Are you a Basildon business looking to save money?

Are you a Basildon based company looking to outsource your transport to make big time and money savings?

Then look no further than your local Basildon courier company, Arrow Light Haulage.

Did you know the average delivery driver earns between 15-18k per year? Plus holidays and pensions, add in the cost of your van, whether you buy or lease, you are looking in the regions of another 5k a year when you add in servicing, insurances etc.

Do you really think you need all the drivers you have? As a company you can make significant savings but cutting back on your own transport and outsourcing the remainder.

Example, you have two delivery drivers that cost your company £40k a year. By having one and outsourcing the other you could save 7k by using Arrow Light Haulage to deliver on your behalf.

Find you are using a lot of agency staff?

Quite often its cheaper to use a courier as you don’t have to train the driver, induct them, or show them how to use your paperwork/trucks/equipment. An Agency driver can cost you as much as £220 (inc VAT) a day, then they don’t get as much done as a regular courier would.

Just because you have a vehicle sitting their doing nothing, it doesn’t mean you are saving money by getting in a temp.

If you are a business based in Essex, Kent, Herts or London who wants to make significant savings on their costs, then give us a call now on 07816 528421

Regards

Kevin

What is the biggest item I can send by parcel?

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The maximum length is 2.1 metres for a parcel, if its longer/bigger then it would need to go by our express courier services.

Weight restrictions apply to the parcels, it can be no heavier than 30kgs as thats what H&S regulations deem the heaviest a person can safely carry on their own.

We collect and deliver based on cubic weights, this is a fair system that gives us the volume of a package.

If you don't know how to work this out, just give us a call on 0844 884 3331.

We are happy to advise you and offer a no obligation quote.

Regards

Kevin

I want to set up my own courier business, how?

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Want to become a successful self employed courier? Start your own courier business?

Click on the image below to read about our successful ebook for starting up a courier business.

Regards

Kevin

PS we also have a companion book for growing sales for existing couriers, visit us at The Courier Shop for more information.

Basildon companies are you looking to outsource your vans /own transport and deliveries?

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Looking to save money? Looking to outsource your transport to make great time and money savings?

Then look no further than your local Basildon, Essex courier company, Arrow Light Haulage.

Do you really think you need all the drivers you have? As a company you can make significant savings but cutting back on your own transport and outsourcing the remainder.

Example, you have two delivery drivers that cost your company £40k a year. By having one and outsourcing the other you could save 7k by using Arrow Light Haulage to deliver on your behalf.

Find you are using a lot of agency staff?

Just because you have a vehicle sitting their doing nothing, it doesn’t mean you are saving money by getting in a temp.

If you are a business based in Basildon, Essex, Kent, Herts or London who wants to make significant savings on their costs, then give us a call now on 0844 884 3331 or 07816 528421

Regards

Kevin

Moving a Shed, Gazebo or Summerhouse from Basildon?

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or to Basildon in Essex? Then look no further!

There are two ways of moving your outbuilding, erected or dismantled.
An erected building will be quicker and easier to move, but would need specialist transport. It would need to be moved on a flat-bedded vehicle with HIAB facility.

Apart from cost, you would need to take into consideration two other factors

1. Would the building survive by being lifted in one piece
2. Is your Shed, Gazebo or Summerhouse close enough for vehicle access?

If the answer is no, to either of the above then it’s not possible to transport your outbuilding in one piece. It needs to be dismantled.

When dismantling make sure you have at least one helper, make sure you have all the correct tools before you start. It’s also advisable to have a box or plastic bags to keep all your nuts and bolts etc safe in one place.

Under normal circumstances you would start with the roof and work your way down.

If you cannot do this, we can organise assistance as part of our premium services.

Once dismantled ensure all doors, widows and air vents are secured. A good courier company (like us ) will make sure all glass is covered to reduce the chances of breakage in transit. Remember glass isn’t covered by many insurers.

One last thing to consider, when booking your courier service make sure you have the measurements, and the dimensions of the largest parts.

To book the wrong size vehicle can cause all sorts of problems, too big and it’s going to be expensive and too small, well it’s not going to be delivered in one piece….

We are happy to advice and give you a no obligation quote call me on 07816 528421 or email me.

Regards

Kevin

Basildon courier and delivery services

Couriers, free lancers? Self employed? need more business?

Looking for courier in Basildon?

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Then look no further, Arrow Light Haulage has all your delivery needs.

Arrow Light Haulage is a professional Basildon and Wickford area courier and delivery company.

We collect and deliver time critical goods and deliver them anywhere in the UK.

We collect from local towns in Essex and Kent such as Basildon, Wickford, Stanford Le Hope, Pitsea, West Thurrock, Brentwood, Maidstone, Canterbury and Sevenoaks.

We are part the UKs biggest transport network, so even though we are based in Essex we have the resources to collect from anywhere within 60 minutes or 30 minutes (premium service).

Our drivers are polite and well trained, they know your reputation is in their hands.

We do the job right the first time, so the need for re-deliveries at your own expense comes with using a cowboy not a professional courier.

You get what you pay for - next time you get a cheap quote for a courier you need to ask why its so cheap...

Do they pay their drivers at the least minimum wage?

Are they insured?

Do they have the correct equipment to complete your delivery?

Are their drivers helpful, clean and polite?

What happens if something doesn't go according to plan?

Quite often you won't find out until something has gone wrong and then its too late.

Email for a bulk parcel collection quote by clicking here

What our customers say about us...

" I thought I would go cheaper after all it was only delivering clothes to a deadline, how hard could that be? I went with another courier and in a month I was billed £30,000 in fines from missed deadlines and port fines. I learned my lesson, professional couriers make the difference and are worth every penny and are not that much more expensive..."
Paul - Lightning Despatch

"It got there in one piece with Arrow Light Haulage, for the first time in months we don't have customers complaining about late deliveries or breakages,

Brenda, LCS

We also collect and deliver for private customers. Items such as rare guitars bought from Ebay, the new owner didn't want to entrust it to a parcel company, he didn't want to take the chance it would be broken in the warehouse or in-transit.

We have even offered the government the use of our services, they certainly wouldn't lose valuable data when they used our services.

Our parcel and delivery services for packages up to 15kgs is £9.99 plus Vat for our blog readers, thats 5kg more than Interlink or DHL give you! (throughout the UK, certain parts of Scotland are exempted but can be covered by our Express Delivery Services)

If its just Essex to Essex, we can do your parcels overnight for £7.99 plus Vat up to 15kgs, again more than the other local parcel companies offer.

Did we mention...

With NO Fuel surcharges and no hidden extras! The price we quote, is the price you pay.

Email for a parcel quote by clicking here

Ebay deliveries, yes, we can do those too....

Thinking of becoming a freelance or self employed courier?
Click on the image to find out more....

We look forward to hearing from you :-)

Regards

Kevin

Email for a parcel quote by clicking here

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