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A. strings

°Hacked

For this year's CM parcels survey, we picked 12 courier firms and asked them to deliver a package from Volvo truck dealership Princes Commercials, just outside Southampton, to Liverpool—a 235-mile journey—by close of business the next day. Each 230x180mm package contained three truck rear-view mirror glasses, weighing around 1kg and worth about E33 in total. With such a straightforward assignment, we supposed there would be little to choose between the carriers. Not so; our survey found huge differences in quality of service, price and speed of delivery. The dearest firm charged almost three times the amount of the cheapest; one failed to collect the parcel on time; another tried to give the business away to a competitor; one lost out because it did not confirm it could do the job on time; only three would give us insurance for the package and one refused to take the job because it contained glass...

We began our calls first thing in the morning and asked for the package to be collected by 17:00hrs. Our other condition was that we had to be able to settle the account that day, preferably by paying the driver by cash or cheque.

As in previous parcel surveys, many of the companies were let down by the appearance or attitude of their drivers. That might seem unimportant to a busy transport manager, but it's a detail that can badly tarnish the image of a courier company and stop customers using it again.

• THE PHONE CALLS

We started our phone calls at 09:06hrs with Red Star, the former British Rail parcels arm. Red Star has previously been among the most expensive carriers, but privatisation seems to have done wonders for its rates. It was also one of the few firms which offered insurance for our delicate package.

Red Star wanted £21.15 which included £15 worth of insurance. The operator advised us to write "fragile" on the parcel and to wrap it carefully.

We contacted City Link at 09:17hrs. The company said the job would cost .E12.93 and the package would be insured, except for consequential losses. It promised a driver would arrive to pick it up between 15:00hrs and 17:00hrs and it too suggested we wrap it well.

Next on our list was Amtrak Express Parcels at 09:34hrs. The employee who answered seemed to be the only person in the office—we could hear another phone repeatedly ringing unanswered in the background.

He seemed a bit rushed and did not want much information, advising us to give delivery details to the driver. The price was £12.87, but there was no insurance cover. The employee told us the package probably would not break.

We called Parcelforce at 09:40hrs and rather quickly got tangled in some frustrating red tape. The person who answered said the delivery would cost £12.30 (without ‘AT), but we had to phone another, freephone number to make the booking (she could not transfer us).

The second employee could have done with a lesson in politeness, snapping at us to "wrap it up as you see fit" when we enquired about how to prepare the package. The job was zero-rated for VAT because Parcelforce is part of the Post Office.

TNT was next at 09:51hrs but the line was engaged so we phoned back at 09:55hrs (we would have called a competitor if we hadn't been conducting a survey).

TNT had a problem with us paying the driver and wanted to invoice us. But the operator put us through to the local depot to see if it could take payment by cheque on the spot.

We were passed from pillar to post and the whole episode took 13 minutes. Eventually TNT agreed to take a cheque for £13.45. There was no insurance.

We reached Delta Air & Road Transport at 10:10hrs. The Delta employee warned us that the company did not specialise in overnight delivery and, for a one-off cash job such as ours, we would be better off contacting TNT. But he said the company would take it and, for the purposes of the survey, we accepted.

The price was /21.20 (without insurance). This was ex-VAT as the courier who was collecting was not VAT-registered.

We contacted Interlink Express Parcels at 10:20hrs, Interlink's employee quoted us 112.91 without insurance. She helpfully explained that the driver would be with us about 15:00hrs and said that the package would be safe if it was bubble-wrapped.

We called Securicor at 10:27hrs, but it refused to take a package containing glass.

NFC subsidiary Lynx picked up the phone at 10:33hrs. We had to hang up and call head office because we wanted to pay by cash or cheque. Lynx then told us it would have to contact a local franchisee to see if he could do the job, but no one came back to us. We called again at 12:25hrs and Lynx told us it was still trying to contact the owner-driver. Don't bother, we said, it was too late.

At 10:40hrs we called Bee Line (Southern) Express. It quoted £27.62—the most expensive of the lot—and wouldn't insure for glass. But it did promise a driver would be with us in half-an-hour.

ANC was next at 10:52hrs. A pleasant woman told us the package would fit an ANC EasiPak and cost 114.09, but the company wouldn't insure glass. She phoned us back to tell us a driver would be with us by 17:00hrs—our deadline.

Local company Cl ift Couriers—with one depot in Eastleigh, Hampshire, possibly the smallest business in our survey—was remarkably efficient and helpful. When we called at 11:02hrs, Cliffs employee said the driver should be with us by 14:00hrs. The price was an extremely reasonable 111.75 without insurance.

At 11:10hrs it was the turn of Panic Link, which told us the delivery would cost £9.40 because it would fit into a Datalink bag. Although Panic Link could not insure, it said the consignment would be fine if it was well wrapped. The employee called us back to say the driver would pick up between 13:00hrs and 14:00hrs.

• THE COLLECTIONS

Before we had a chance to complete our calls, the first driver from Delta arrived at 11:10hrs in what appeared to be a rented L-reg van—it was liveried with the words Pitter Self Drive. Wearing a smart yellow Delta polo shirt, the driver wrote a receipt and whisked off our package without fuss.

Fifteen minutes later, still in the midst of our calls, an Express International-liveried Renault van turned up. It was Bee Line, which had told us it was "gradually" changing its name.

The chirpy driver gave us a receipt and sales literature, a useful marketing tip for firms keen to rope in new clients. Parcelforce's driver came at 11:50hrs looking a bit scruffy. However, while he was waiting for the parcel Bee Line he filled out a receipt without being asked.

Red Star followed at 12:041trs in a van with the new company livery, He seemed very knowledgeable about Red Star's recent changes and was friendly, but his slapdash appearance let him down.

Eleven minutes later, Direct Link made an appearance in a M-reg unliverial Citroen Champ. The smart and extremely efficient driver handed us a pre-typed receipt.

City Link's driver turned up at 12:45hrs wearing the company's rather garish bright green uniform. We had to ask for a receipt and he went to the van to get one.

TNT's P-reg Iveco Ford Cargo truck drew into the yard at 13:27hrs. The polo-shined driver had not been told that we had arranged to pay him directly, but he accepted the cheque and filled in a receipt when asked.

It was almost an hour before our next driver, from Panic Link, appeared at 1423hrs. The rather scruffy employee gave us a receipt when requested.

Another hour had passed when ANC and Cliff arrived

almost simultaneously (always a potentially awkward moment in a GM parcels survey) at 15:25hrs. ANC's driver was wearing a boiler-suit style uniform and handed us a receipt without being asked. Cliffs driver waited patiently for us to finish. Friendly and wearing a smart uniform, he gave us a receipt after prompting.

At 15:55hrs, Amtrak's driver asked us which county Liverpool was in and how to spell Merseyside. He asked us to make the cheque out to Concorde Express but didn't know what the connection was with Amtrak.

The last driver to pick up, from Interlink, missed our deadline and gets a major black mark. We had said that all firms must pick up by 17:00hrs and, for all they knew, the office could have shut by then. He was smart and not unfriendly, but did not apologise for being late when he eventually arrived at 17:20hrs. 27.62

• THE DELIVERIES

None of the delivery drivers asked for the addressee. Either the label did the talking or the fingers did the walking as the driver pointed to the name. Sometimes the driver was unable to tell who the package was for because the details were sealed inside a protective bag. Only two carriers left a consignment note.

First to arrive was Parcelforce at an impressively early 08:00hrs, an hour and 20 minutes before the second delivery. Now that's what we call getting up early in the morning.

Second to arrive was the Amtrak parcel at 09:20hrs. The white 1..-reg van was in good condition, the driver was friendhy. cheerful and well-dressed in a smart uniform. There was no paperwork to sign.

The smartest and most impressive driver of the day was Mick Hughes from Swift Delivery. No uniform but very smartly dressed, complete with name-badge and photograph. He was there at 09:25hrs and the Lreg van was in very good condition, if slightly off-white.

He was pleasant and presented an APC Overnight delivery note which had been fixed to the parcel inside a plastic window Unfortunately, neither APC Overnight or Swift were the specific names listed on our original list of carriers so, sadly, no points.

The Interlink driver makes regular drops here and knew the form. He was in and out of the parts department while the Swift parcel was being checked in at the service department. It bore an Interlink label and receipt was recorded at 09:25hrs, delivered by a smartly-uniformed driver in a G-reg vehicle. It was as white as they seem to come in Liverpool.

At 10:00hrs precisely the next driver arrived carrying the Bee Line parcel in a Business Post vehicle. The yellow N-reg van was the cleanest so far. The parcel was sealed in a plastic bag emblazoned with the carrier's distinctive yellow logo, marked "for the attention of" with the addressee's name on the outside. It was the only one marked with an additional "fragile" label. The driver was polite and smartly dressed.

Express lnternational/Bee Line can be assured of the quality of the service that Business Post provided on this occasion.

Red Star produced a curiously impressive performance. Its driver arrived at 10:20hrs in a well-preserved blue Mercedes 240 I) saloon. The P1W number plate was probably worth more than all 12 consignments of mirrors. The driver wore a Red Star logo-coloured red shirt, smart navy blue slacks and smiled a lot. He even waved goodbye as he drove off. However the vehicle was unmarked.

The driver in the united colours of Panic Link arrived at 11:02hrs in a casual outfit of contrasting greens to match the H-reg van livery-which was the cleanest van of the day. The parcel arrived after having been checked through the "world's most advanced automatic sortation system". It had sealed the parcel and the name of the specific addressee in a distinctive Panic Link-embossed protective bag. Carrier

ANC Bee Line Parcel Force Panic Link City Link Arntra lc

Red Star TNT Interlink Cliff Direct Link Delta The second Parcelforce "Datapost 12" courier pack arrived just before noon at 11:53hrs, a clear winner of the best condition van category. The driver was smartly dressed and had a nice manner. The parcel was bagged and clearly marked as being sent by Princes Commercials, while the only failing was the absence of an addressee's name on the outer protective packaging.

The TNT driver's familiarity with the branch layout almost outwitted us for the eighth and ninth deliveries. We watched the well-travelled truck drive through the gate just before 12:40hrs, but having ensured that the reception, parts and also the service entrances were covered, delivery was made to the goods inwards point at the rear of the premises.

There was a delivery note for each parcel and it was clear they had come from Princes Commercials. One note even had the consignee's name on it. However, although one of the parcels had a TNT label affixed to it, there was no way of identifying the carrier which had employed the company to take the other one.

The City Link driver wore a smart green uniform and drove a P-mg yellow van which arrived in a very presentable condition at 13:30hrs. The carrier's label, which had been affixed to the parcel, included the addressee's name and-of those which did-it was the only one not handwritten. The driver was very pleasant.

The final delivery was made at 13:45hrs by ANC. The driver was friendly and smart in a blue uniform. The parcel was sealed in one of ANC's plastic protective bags, marked for the attention of the addressee and clearly sent by Princes Conunercials.

Like the TNT delivery earlier, this parcel also came on a truck and, of the two, was the clear winner in the best-turned-out truck category.

SERVICE • CONCLUSION

For the first time in three years every parcel despatched was received well within the next-day deadline, with twothirds received before noon, even though we had only specified a requirement for delivery by close of business.

Despite the fragile contents, there were no breakages. A very good performance by all concerned, no doubt improved by the exclusion of DHL from this year's survey which failed to make the next-day deadline for the last two years running. Sadly, three packages arrived where it was impossible to identify the original courier so Clift, Delta and Direct Link lose out in the final running.

Once again, price is a major issue with the most expensive, Bee Line, costing three times as much as the cheapest, Panic Link. Many couriers did not include insurance or would not offer it for a glass item. But as the consignment was not worth a great deal, this factor might not deter a customer with a similar package. However, nervous consignors could choose Red Star, City Link or Direct Link.

So who is the overall winner? Panic Link should be offered congratulations for providing the cheapest price and still pursuing a high service standard well within the agreed deadline. But in the end it was a close call between two outstanding performances by ANC and Parcelforce.

On the day ANC offered the best service, was moderately priced but was among the last to arrive, albeit well within the 17:00hrs deadline.

It seems only fair to offer this year's accolade for best all-round performance to Parcelforce which produced the fastest delivery, the second strongest service standard and was third cheapest.

Once again, the survey proves that there are bargains to had for those who shop around and that most UK couriers (this year 100%) provide a next-day service which meets its promise. Just as importantly, they take care of the packages in their trust and do not deliver damaged goods at the other end. What a pity that a few make it impossible for the consignee to identify them.

Eby Juliet Morrison and Steve McQueen.

Commercial Motor would like to thank Volvo Truck dealers Princes Commercials in Nursling, Southampton and Thmas Hardie Commercials in Liverpool, for providing parcels, office space and plenty of time for this year's parcel survey.