On the back of Richard's discussion about Parcel deliveries in France, it came to light that Parcels Please used by many SFN members have had a significant price hike. As a regular PP customer I needed to find out why. So as I have added to Richard's post but I feel given the importance of PP to many of us - it justifies it's own post & awareness. Here's what I put:
Supersluth Suz has got to the bottom of the parcels please issue. Basically UPS have withdrawn their discount services from Parcels Please because they didn't want them selling the 'company to company' discounted rates to the general public online. So as a result currently parcels please can only use DHL and the £70-£125 rates being quoted are DHL rates.
Parcels Please informed me that they are looking to find other cheaper options (as obviously this will have hit them hard) and I enquired about the business rates. Basically to ship at the UPS lower rates you would need to have a limited company, put £200 a month of business through UPS and more than 50% of your deliveries have to be to non-residential addresses - your cafe, shop, hairdresser!) But who ships £200 a month...not me!
I've applied for a business account anyway (as I have a UK limited company) to see what deals I can get...I'll keep you all posted. But for now...unfortunately for many of us - parcels please is out of the question for this years Christmas presents/puddings etc!