Couriers to Praise, or Avoid

[glend (Glen)]

I have sold a fair bit of gear over the years, and used a variety of courier and transport companies to ship the gear to IIS buyers. Generally speaking they are mostly pretty reliable. For small parts it is hard to beat Express Post, or Registered Parcel Post. For big stuff like scopes, I have found TNT to be excellent, and I normally use Interparcel to book simply because they show me all sorts of options, arrange insurance, book the pickup with the carrier, send me pdf files for Waybill and address doco, and provide excellent precise tracking.
Just to give one example, I sold my 8" f5 Newt to a member in SEQLD. I booked the pickup with Interparcel (for TNT) at 9am, at 11am TNT was at my door to pick up the scope. Now I should explain that I do not live in a big city, in fact technically my area is still considered Rural. More amazing still was that by lunch time following day my buyer in the Gold Coast hinterland had received the scope - that is overnight basically, without paying an express premium.
On the other side of the coin lies a carrier like Couriers Please, who have soured me on ever booking a job with them. Poor to no tracking, impossible to contact other than through a one time only online enquiry form with no followup, no accountability, and the worse product reviews (on the Product review website). So why do some retailers book deliveries with Couriers Please? Because they are the cheapest available service, and that can be important when they are offering free shipping. My advice is to ask who the carrier will be when buying, and offer to pay to get a better quality service.
For overseas, import stuff, I swear by UPS, as they provide an international door to door service, with outstanding tracking, customs clearance service including GST payment online with no other parties involved. Sure UPS is not cheap, but chances are that scope your importing is worth it. International postal services to Avoid, the budget USPS offering, and any service out of China, you can wait months, literally I have.
And you, what is your experience?

[Nikolas (Nik)]

Originally Posted by glend

For overseas, import stuff, I swear by UPS, as they provide an international door to door service, with outstanding tracking, customs clearance service including GST payment online with no other parties involved. Sure UPS is not cheap, but chances are that scope your importing is worth it. International postal services to Avoid, the budget USPS offering, and any service out of China, you can wait months, literally I have.
And you, what is your experience?

UPS Australia use idiots as drivers
They delivered to my School after work hours, When delivering to a school they have to let their drivers know about office hours which is around 4.30 NOT 5.30 then not eliver for another 48 hours. DHL have been pervfect

[Camelopardalis (Dunk)]

Fastway / Aramex are anything but fast. I just had a package delivered that had been "express" from Sydney and took 5 business days

I'd called them on Friday to find out WTF happened to my parcel, since the tracking showed nothing after the pick-up scan in Sydney.

[Imme (Jon)]

Aramax (previously Fastway).....my experience over the last 6 weeks.

Had 4 x parcels sent from same supplier on same day (mid Oct) and only 3 x turned up (3 days later). Parcels were matching under tray ute tool boxes. I asked driver on delivery day where 4th one was....they said they didn't know.

Company claimed black and blue all 4 were delivered until I produced CCTV footage showing only 3 were taken out of the van by driver.......had to provide them with 15 minutes of footage spanning period before driver arrived to after he left.

A month of me sending daily emails demanding they investigate further the toolbox turns up in a different box than the others (last thursday)......mounting holes drilled in top, few scratches inside and out and pretty dirty. Obviously it had been stolen by someone internal in transit and they had mounted it to their car until the heat became too much and they had to take it off and return it

Company sent a single reply saying 'records now show it has been delivered' and wont reply to any other emails.

....definitely one to steer clear of!

[DavidU (Dave)]

With my job I courier expensive items often for decades.
I'm happy with TNT and E-go. Perfect !

[Outcast (Carlton)]

I've used E-Go to ship guitars, basses, amplifiers, telescopes & not had a single problem. I've also had several telescopes shipped to me via E-Go & again, not had a single problem.

Their rates are exceptionally good & if you can arrange depot to depot service with the vendor/purchaser you can save 30%. Of course, that depends on proximity of the depot which you can find on their website.

E-Go is my 'goto' freight company... I don't bother looking elsewhere these days.

[PCH (Paul)]

Definitely e-Go for me. They were recommended by someone on here years ago and for the few things I’ve sent, they have been perfect in all ways.

Reasonably priced with a variety of ways to keep it cheap, prompt pickup, and reasonable transport times both across country and intra-WA.

So I haven’t tried anyone else, and nor would I based on the service I’ve had from these guys

[glend (Glen)]

Funny I have never heard of E-go, are they actually a national or regional carrier or just a booking service like Interparcel?

[Outcast (Carlton)]

Originally Posted by glend

Funny I have never heard of E-go, are they actually a national or regional carrier or just a booking service like Interparcel?

Actually, that is a good question Glen & the answer is - I'm not sure.

I think they are more than a booking service but, I don't think they have their own trucks either...

For example, up here in Cairns they use Express City Couriers as their drop-off/collection point but, in other states, other depots are all different carriers...

Hopefully, clear as mud...

[PCH (Paul)]

Nope, it’s e-Go that will rock up and collect your parcel - at least here in Perth that’s been my experience so far.