UNWRAPPING PROMIS
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We set another tough challenge for UK parcels operators this year: taking a consignment from central London to Belfast overnight. Some took it in their stride, others failed to deliver the goods.
• In Commercial Motor's sixth annual UK parcels survey, four parcels carriers who advertise an overnight service failed to deliver from London to Belfast by the next day.
The four — CATS, IML, OCS and XP — were among 13 companies who were given identical packages to take to Northern Ireland. Of the nine who did make it on time, there were big differences in price, speed and service.
Our collection point was an office in central London. To find it, the carriers had to negotiate narrow, busy streets. They had to deliver a parcel by close of business the next day to a truck dealer just outside Belfast.
The 13 companies we contacted all offer a guaranteed 24-hour service anywhere in the UK, and we stressed our consignment was urgent. Naturally, none of them was aware that Commercial Motor was monitoring its progress. We called the carriers between 9:15 and 10:47 on a Tuesday morning.
Our destination, Leyland Daf dealer GMS, is 16km from Belfast city centre and Aldergrove airport.
THE CALLS
• Albion Courtyard, Greenhills Rents is not that easy to find. With telephone
directions and an enlarged section of the London A to Z map book we still managed to take the wrong turning. The parcels carriers, we felt certain, would really have to know their onions to find this place.
Greenhills Rents is a sort of Dickensian back alley off a side road off Smithfield meat market. It appears to go nowhere, before sneaking half-right into a small triangular yard — Albion Courtyard. Parking in the area is impossible and the alley is too small for anything but car-derived vans.
We began telephoning at 09:15 with ANC, the first major name in the Central London Yellow Pages. "Maria speaking, how can I help you?" We gave the same story every time, saying that we needed to get a small light unit to Belfast as early as possible the following day. ANC said
they could get the parcel there before noon and asked if we had an account with the company. "No." There was a long pause then we were told everything was fine, that the parcel would cost £14.75 plus 58p per kilo. "That will be 25.33p in total Sir, plus VAT. Can you pay on collection?" Yes, we said and moved onto Dale Express.
Dale also asked if we had an account and then asked our address. "I actually know where that is Sir, I'm an oldfashioned courier you know." Dale promised delivery in Ireland before lunch and said the deal would cost £38.71 including VAT.
At 9:31 we called DHL but no-one answered. XP came next and the telephonist told us: "We can't guarantee delivery tomorrow morning, I'm afraid. We will get it there during business hours tome row though." We were quoted .£28.7 including VAT and the call ended with ti warning "I doubt we'll be there to colic until this afternoon, Sir."
Next we Freephoned Federal E: press through the operator. An excelle receptionist transferred us to a wonderft ly efficient hooking office. We were givE a reference number, (8370), a bookil number (8371) and a provisional accou: number (E4480). We were asked ti weight of the parcel, told that Feder Express insured the package with ft liability cover and given the name of oi booking clerk in case we wanted to m24 further enquiries.
Interlink picked up the phone at 09:, and instantly disconnected us again. V rang back — "Sorry Sir, I lost you when
tried to put you through to collections" — and then waited several minutes before getting through to the right person. Pop music was blaring in the background and the conversation was slow with plenty of "sorry can't hear you", "What?", and "You'll have to spell that". When we eventually got the address correct —
"Yeah, I've got that down" — we went through the "do you have an account number routine. "No" we replied. "What's that, nine did you say?" The music blared on and next call, to TNT, seemed a haven of peace in comparison.
TNT was smooth, efficient and friendly as usual: Did we have all the necessary documentation? Did we have the postcode in Belfast? and so on. The booking clerk thought that Belfast by 09:00 should not be a problem. We were not offered a price and told that we would be invoiced at the collection address.
Securicor quoted us £28.11p, cash or cheque on collection, and asked if they could send us all their account-opening information. "Where did you get our number frdin Sir, were we recommended?". The call was quick and efficient.
Red Star said forget it, there's a rail strike tomorrow. At 10:08 Lynx said forget it too: "We don't do collections anymore. You could bring the parcel in to us and open an account, but that will take a couple of days. Sorry."
Datapost said: "Tomorrow before 10am will be no problem at all Sir." We were given a reference number but not quoted any price. DI-1L, when we finally got through, was equally matter-of-fact, quoting £32.20 plus VAT and offering us a reference number in case things went awry.
Atlas told us they did not do Belfast overnight at present and CATS (Courier and Transport Services) said they were not sure, they would call back. IML said no problem, that will be £25.30 "all in" and "could you type out a note stating what is in the package? It will help us get through customs." Try as we might, we could not persuade them that Belfast is part of the UK, and decided to play along and see what happened.
()CS was quick and bland, offering no quote but appearing confident that Belfast would be a piece of cake for them. Parceline told us that they could guarantee a morning delivery and rang off without offering a price or reference number. It was time to sit hack, have a cup of coffee and wait for the collections to begin.
THE COLLECTIONS
DIM, CATS, IML, Dale Express and Royal Mail Datapost all arrived, in that order, before our 13:00 lunch break. Everyone was fast, efficient and polite.
The DHL driver arrived in a liveried Ford Escort van and we paid £23.35 in cash. The CATS courier arrived on an unliveried motorcycle with pannier, dressed in a non-descript grey sweatshirt. We
paid CATS ,240 in cash. Neither offered a consignment note or receipt.
IML was the only collector of the day which demanded that we open the package so that the contents could be verified. The courier seemed to think that Irish customs would require such a visual check, despite our protestations. We paid IML £25.50 in cash with no receipt. The courier did apologise however — "Sorry, I forgot to bring my receipt book."
just before 12:00 Securicor and Federal Express telephoned to ask if we are interested in opening regular accounts. We stalled them.
Dale Express arrived on a motorbike, we paid £.38.71 and got a receipt/ consignment note. Just as Dale sped away, a uniformed and very polite Datapost driver arrived, gave us a consignment note and said "don't worry, we will
invoice you in due course."
()CS rushed in and out at 13:34 asking for no payment and offering no receipt before a uniformed and very professional Securicor courier called at 13:52 demanding 228.11 cash giving us a proper consignment note and detailed receipt in return. More or less simultaneously, a Parceline courier walked through the door, having arrived in a liveried van at 13:52 saying don't pay now, we will invoice. We did not get a consignment note. XP was quick and calm at 13:53, and again we got no receipt.
Feeling somewhat dizzy after three pick-ups in two minutes, we then waited virtually an hour-and-a-half before two casually-dressed Interl ink couriers rolled up at 15:14. We signed their pad, got a receipt and waited another five minutes for Federal Express to arrive. This was
easily the best and most professional collection of the day.
Federal Express gave us our own booklet of liveried address labels, rolls of Federal Express tape and a relaxed and very charming driver gave us a soft-sell sales pitch. We paid nothing and then signed and received a copy of the consignment note before being assured that a Federal Express account salesperson would be in touch at a later stage to come round and discuss "how we can help you in the future". The company kept its promise. The driver was dressed in a Federal Express uniform and was a firstclass front man for the operation. He even tried probing us a little on what we did and how often we sent express packages.
ANC and TNT called at the end of the day, at 16:48 and 16:57 respectively, and neither demanded payment and neither did anything remarkable or memorable. It was late afternoon on a stifling hot day in central London. The traffic was getting hopelessly heavy and with a British Rail train strike looming the following day, people were heading home in a fractious mood. We wondered how well our couriers would fight their way through the city's choked streets.
THE DELIVERIES
The first to arrive was Royal Mail Datapost at 8:40. The postman was uniformed and driving his red Post Office van. The package was labelled and in good condition, and we were given a delivery note.
At 9:10 Federal Express turned up in its own 17-tonne liveried lorry. Again, the driver gave us a delivery note, the parcel was labelled and in the same shape as it was sent.
Local carrier Countrywide Express — the franchisee for Interlink and Parceline — arrived with both these carriers' packages at 9:55. We signed for them separately; both were in good condition. At the same time, TNT turned up in its liveried van. This time, the parcel was
very slightly bashed, but not enough to damage the consignment. We were given delivery notes for all three.
Next it was the turn of DHL, again in a company vehicle. There was no label and the package was dented, but not seriously. So far, all the drivers seemed brisk, friendly and efficient. Nothing to criticise.
Courier Company of Belfast came with Dale Express' parcel at 11:45. Its service was the best of the day. The parcel was labelled with extra handle-withcare stickers and brown sticky tape.
The noon watershed passed. Although we were waiting all day for deliveries, we had requested a drop as early as possible the next day, and carriers were winning points for being prompt.
ANC did not miss it by much. Its local franchisee arrived at GMS at 12:20; the parcel was labelled and we were given our delivery note. There was a long wait for our last delivery, Securicor, at 16:25. It arrived in a local van marked McCausland Van Hire. It was labelled, but there was no paperwork.
Two local carriers arrived the following morning. We have discounted these as we specified a next-day delivery. As far as we were concerned, a late delivery was counted as a non-delivery.
CONCLUSIONS
We have awarded points to carriers on service, price and speed. With service, we took note of telephone manner, dress, attitude, vehicle and the state of the package when it arrived. We have awarded one automatic bonus point if the parcel arrived on time and in good condition. An extra mark was given if carriers added extra services, as Dale Express did with its brown tape and stickers.
On the delivery side, all carriers scored at least three out of five. Marks were lost for not labelling the package, failing to provide a delivery note, or damaging the parcel — no matter how slightly. We also preferred employees being smartly uniformed and in clean, liveried vehicles. Points would have been dropped for unfriendliness or unhelpfulness on the part of drivers, but standards were reasonable.
We have only recorded the speed of carriers which made our deadline. Datapost was fastest from time of telephone call to time of delivery by half an hour; Parceline and Federal Express both made it within 24 hours.
TNT, Interlink and DHL all recorded reasonable speeds of between 24 and 25 hours. Dale Express, one of the lesser known companies we picked, excelled on service and made a respectable 26 hours, 20 minutes.
ANC's time of 27:05 was fine, but Securicor's, with a delivery close to the end of the working day, was less impressive. Among the companies which did not make the delivery in time was XP, the newly-acquired TNT subsidiary. Perhaps TNT has some slackness to probe there.
Prices varied greatly. Cheapest was Datapost at 220.50; dearest was Federal Express at 265.19. It seems odd that two companies with large networks should differ so much on price for providing such a similar service.
Interlink, TNT and ANC, along with OCS which never made it, lose marks for not providing us with an invoice six weeks after carrying our parcel — no bill had been received from any of these companies at the offices of the firm we used in central London as we went to press.
THE WINNER
Datapost is the clear winner of our 1989 UK Parcel Survey for combining the fastest delivery with the lowest price and a high level of service.
It is hard to find a runner-up. Dale Express gave a consistent service in all three categories; Parceline was quick, reasonably-priced and had good standards. Federal Express was fast and friendly, but its price let it down. TNT was speedy and did well on service, but its invoicing was poor.
The four companies which failed to deliver will have to fight it out for booby prizes. CATS were dear and did not excel on service. IML scored worse on service, although the delivery, had it made it, would have been cheap. XP and OCS did better on service, but OCS's invoicing and delivery network are a problem.