DHL Parcel UK - Is it worth the candle?

General
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This post is for UK customers.

The Royal Mail is not what it used to be. We get quite a lot of customer complaints, typically about how long it takes to for an order to arrive, up to two weeks, and also about how erratic the tracking is.

To try and resolve these problems, MrSnuffUK recently negotiated a deal with the DHL agent, here on the Isle of Man, to send parcels via the much more reliable and modern DHL Parcel UK service.

This promises delivery times of three days, and offers superior tracking and the ability to change delivery options even after the parcel has been dispatched.

The problem is the cost. It is a flat rate up.to 1.3kg. This is more expensive than the Royal mail until you get to above 0.5kg, then for the higher weights it is cheaper.

So far, the feedback has been negative. People notice the hike in the base price and don’t like it. I understand that.

The issue for MrSnuff is the real cost to the business. Each parcel costs us about £10 to send, so we are losing out on the deal. The original hope was that better shipping would lead to more sales, but now, even though it’s early days yet, I am not so sure.

What do you think? Do you value cheap shipping above all, and are willing to wait, or is the superior service with extra costs, for smaller orders anyway, worth it to you?

Let me know, because the decision is a tricky one, and I am not sure which way to go.

Thanks.

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Having many years of experience in online retail (now in the past) I can tell you that every customer you ask will express a preference for faster delivery. When you present an option for faster delivery at minimal additional cost, 99 out of every 100 will opt for the cheapest service.

Royal Mail certainly don’t provide an ideal service, but DHL aren’t going to shave much off a 3 day delivery. If you want to offer a single UK delivery option then make it the cheapest or offer customers a choice.I can pretty much guarantee that, given that choice, the vast majority of customers will opt for cheap if the difference is more than a £.

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If you can get it Royal Mail Tracked 48 is the way to go . Otherwise untracked post is probably more reliable than ‘signed for’ services . Their tracking is useless .

I do know I’m not routinely paying big money for DHL shipping . I just don’t have the money to spend .

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I buy regularly from Sharrow Mills and Smoke King. The usual services are 1st & 2nd class post and RM48. While I’d like orders to arrive sooner, they’re generally delivered within 2-3 days and I’ve never felt tempted to pay more for faster services.

The orders I’ve placed in the past from Mr Snuff were also delivered by RM in 2-3 days and I’m located in Northern Ireland, which probably receives no better service than anywhere else in the UK.

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I would be interested to hear your back story if you are willing to share. What is your experience?

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I sold through online marketplaces as they afforded the opportunity to evolve as competitors fought over pennies on the sale of each product you’d previously introduced. It was a dog eat dog world which I’m happy to have left behind, but those marketplaces provided a solid education through very good and very bad management.

On one hand you had the Amazon approach of under selling and over delivering, which meant delivery estimates needed to be continually manipulated to ensure potential customers weren’t deterred by unnecessarily excesive delivery estimates. On the other hand ebay would continually manipulate delivery estimates to provide unrealistically optimistic dates to potential customers, with obvious problematic results.

Obviously you know plenty about managing expectations, with that constant battle against customs to get snuff into the hands of overseas customers.

Getting back on track; I can see the appeal of more prompt delivery to overseas customers, but I don’t believe RM’s service in the UK is generally poor enough to warrant a more costly alternative - especially when the public has become conditioned to the often 2nd rate service provided by the likes of Evri and Yodel. If DHL can offer a better rate over 500g, then that is certainly worth utilising, but I imagine they have a minimum annual volume and perhaps achieving this may require all orders being routed through them. I’ve no idea what percentage of your UK orders are over the threshold which makes DHL the better option, but perhaps that data is worth exploring if it has to be an either/or situation.

I also sympathise with the issues faced when dispatching from (what is classed as) a remote location.

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Thanks, that is very useful. I will share your insights with team during our Monday stand up.

My inclination now is to ditch the new service as too expensive, but I will, as you suggest, dig into the data some more just to make sure.

I appreciate your thoughts.

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Those are just my thoughts and it may be that I’m far off the mark where your business is concerned. These days I’m back lugging tools to sites each day and charging as much per hour as I possibly can.

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Hi, new forum member but long time customer.
So having used both delivery servics from Mr Snuff.UK my experience with royal mail was that parcels allways arrived but would take a 5 - 8 days once shipping notice from mr snuff was issued. However no tracking at all from royal mail.
The one delivery i have had using DHL was recieved 3 days after shipping notice with the addition of tracking info. Accptance notice (day 1) enroute notice (day 2), we will deliver today (day 3).

Now onto the price increase for me the addtional 63p for a small parcel is worth it for a quicker service with tracking.

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Hi @Millivanilli, welcome to the forum :handshake:

Your experience with the Royal Mail is typical of the sort of customer service reports we get, and yours is the first feedback regarding the DHL service itself. It seemed to work for you as intended, so that is good news.

Going against it are:

  1. It was a monumental pain getting it all setup, and there are still teething problems with Northern Ireland and the remoter parts of Scotland.
  2. Its more expensive for us because we swallow the variable fuel surcharge they add on top of the sticker price.

Going for it:

  1. Its a better service (and you are confirming that) so that is good for reliability and reputation
  2. Better service means less customer service overhead

So yeah, I still don’t know :thinking:

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I never had any problems with royal mail myself. But now the prices are higher for postage I will just have to leave my orders longer to order more at a time to justify the postage cost as some times I make smaller orders but that’s put me a tad if I’m honest.

I’d give people the option of who it’s shipped with.

Normally takes 3to4 to get to me I don’t mind that.

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I’ve done a lot of trade with Mr Snuff over a bunch of years . I have never had any issues with your parcels sent by bog standard Royal Mail . I didn’t think much of the ‘signed for’ service you switched to recently . It worked the one time I’ve used it but I know it can be problematic .

My address is about as rural as it gets , no streetnames , house numbers , even roads are in short supply . :smiley: My postbox is a mile away downhill from my home .
Out in the Boonies , Royal Mail have a distinct advantage because they actually know where you are .So parcel services like Tracked48 are pretty much flawless . You always know where it is , you know when it’s coming , you know it’s arriving at the right address , you even get a little photo when it’s arrived.

A decent courier like DHL is sending a van up from 60 miles away . They’ll always get you your stuff but they have to find you first . DHL is a top tier courier . They’ll ring you up if they get lost , bend over backwards to get you your parcel , good tracking, but they often won’t get it done on the first try .

Sketchy couriers like Evri are dumping off your parcels to a local self-employed car owner for delivery…and they aren’t too fussy about who they use for the final leg of the journey . That’s just a bloody lottery .

Parcelforce are the worst of the worst . You’re better off just throwing the stuff out your window and relying on the kindness of strangers to get it there . :stuck_out_tongue:

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That’s spot that… Could not have said it any better.

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I have just been chatting with our AI overlords, and apparently the RM tracked48 service is a flat rate of £6.10 from 0.0kg to 2.0kg.

The service profile is equivalent, or better, than DHL Parcel UK, so I will definitely look into that.

Thanks

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I would pay that for the seamless service . You’d lose that cost over a 4-500 gram mixed order

It’s a shame there isn’t a budget letter post option for small orders , but nobody seems to be doing that now .

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When Mr Snuff was in Northern Ireland , it was embarrassing . Some people in the US were waiting weeks for their parcels . I had next day delivery as standard :smiley: . The ferry must dock just up the coast or something because it was unnaturally swift .

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I’m not enjoying the DHL experience.

As an example, yesterday’s delayed delivery did not take place, despite their claiming to have come to my door. They didn’t - we have a Ring doorbell and I was sitting in the living room at the claimed time, next to the front door. Absolutely no sight of DHL at all, despite their claims.

They are - they claim - going to deliver it today. We’ll see.

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They ain’t as fast as royal mail for me so far lol. It drives me crazy when I do a little haul and they want £7.50 for say a £20 order that don’t weigh 0.5kg. Just means I leave my orders longer now to justify paying the shipping.

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Update: no delivery today, despite their claiming that they had come to my door. I was sitting 6’ from the door and no-one arrived. I checked the Ring footage again - no-one. With this delivery so far they have:

  • Delayed it by almost 1 week from the original stated delivery date
  • Claimed to have tried to deliver it yesterday, but didn’t
  • Claimed to have tried to deliver it today, but didn’t
  • Promised to deliver tomorrow (but I’m not holding my breath)

I never had these problems with RM who aren’t, by anyone’s standards, a great company. And I’m paying more for the privilege.

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I hear you.

We are going to switch back to Royal Mail as soon as we can get it organised. Its not entirely straightforward unfortunately.

Kay and I are off on our holidays in a couple of days. so we will get right on it when we get back.

One thing to check @cjm - if you download the DHL Parcel UK app you can check if DHL think you have changed your delivery address. We had that happen to a guy yesterday.