Month: October 2009

New feature: minimum bids

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We have introduced a significant new feature to help transport providers when bidding on shipments. Our new automatic bidding system makes bidding convenient so you don’t have to keep coming back to re-bid every time a competitor places a new lower bid.

How Does It Work?

1) When you place a bid, you can now set the minimum bid amount you are willing to go to. The user and other transport providers do not know your minimum bid, this is hidden.

2) If your current bid price is beaten by a competitor Shiply will automatically place a new bid for you which is based on the new current low bid. Shiply will bid only as much as is necessary to beat this new current bid, but without exceeding your set minimum bid.

3) If another transport provider places a bid which is below your minimum set bid, we’ll notify you via email so you can place a new one if you so wish. Your minimum bid is kept completely confidential until it is beaten by another transport provider.

Helpful Tips, Notes & Call for Feedback

For your future reference, your own minimum bid price will be listed under the Bid Details section of your bid on each shipment page. Importantly, this is viewable only by you and is hidden from all other Shiply users and transport providers.

We hope this new feature will really help with reducing the time requred to manage your Shiply account on a day-to-day business, reducing the need manually re-adjust bids on an hourly or daily basis. If, however you would prefer not to use this feature, this is not a problem, it is an optional field, so please feel free to simply leave it blank!

So, more time on the road, with nice full vehicles and less time in front of the screen we hope! As always, do let us know your feedback, either in the comments below or the feedback tab.

Sneezing while driving, how dangerous could it be?

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After reading the news about a lorry driver found guilty of causing another motorist’s death by dangerous driving after he sneezed, we started looking to find out how dangerous it could be if you sneezed while driving.

Some interesting facts about sneezing:

  • Sneezing can be triggered through sudden exposure to bright light, a particularly full stomach, or viral infection.
  • People sneeze on average 3 times a day.
  • People sneeze at a stratospheric speed of 650 mph – roughly 85% the speed of sound!
  • In some Eastern Asia countries such as Japan and Vietnam, it is a cultural belief that if you sneeze, it means somebody is talking behind your back.
Sneezing in slow motion

Coming back our main discussion, while sneezing in general is not a dangerous activity (well it can be a fiasco in some rare cases like sneezing on a wedding altar), sneezing while driving can be fatal. According to a research commissioned by a car insurance company, sneezing fits cause about 2 million incidents of dangerous driving on UK roads.

And it’s not just the drivers who need to worry about sneezing, in-car passengers were found to contribute to an estimated 670,000 incidents, with sudden sneezing distracting those behind the wheel.

Sneezing while driving can be very dangerous

Imagine how a person sneezes and you will sure understand why it is so dangerous when drivers sneeze while on the road. Let’s say if you sneeze while driving at 70mph (a normal speed on UK motorways), it means travelling almost 300ft with your eyes closed, which can potentially lead to a fatal accident.

To reduce the chance of sneezing while driving, these are the top tips you can use:

  • Wear wrap-around sunglasses or glasses when driving.
  • If possible, avoid going out in the early evening when the pollen count is usually at its highest.
  • Regularly check your vehicle’s ventilation system to ensure a clean air flow.
  • Vacuum your car frequently, especially in summer months and clean all surfaces with a damp cloth to reduce the amount of dust.
  • Don’t travel pets in the car as exposure to allergens such as animal hairs can exacerbate sneezing.

Have you ever sneezed while driving? Do you have any tips to share with others? We are sure everybody will be very interested to know.

Watch out for cows stealing trucks!

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When you park your truck or your car on the road, please keep a careful eye on the cows, especially the oxes as they might be very interested in stealing your vehicle.

Hope you will enjoy the video and have a great weekend!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YpI0q52wHxg]

Royal Mail strike could turn your Christmas presents into New Year gifts

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Or worse? We still don’t know as the result of the ballot on a national strike which Royal Mail’s Communication and Workers Union (CWU) proposing is due next week.

However, what we know, is if this strike goes ahead (either in the last ten days of October or early November), there will be severe delays in Royal Mail’s Christmas post. At the moment, many people and businesses are thinking about sending Christmas postings now to make sure they arrive on time.

Taking into account the information CWU claimed that up to 25 million items of post in London alone were getting delayed in posting, it has been advised that it might be worthwhile to consider alternatives when sending your Christmas gifts.

Royal Mail’s depots can’t even shut their doors as mails mountain up

According to the latest update from Royal Mail, members of CWU are taking industrial action at Glasgow G13-14 office today (5th October), affecting deliveries in those postcode areas. Peterborough and Bristol are following later this week while on Friday and Saturday (9th and 10th October), staff at most units in London will be taking industrial action, affecting the collection, processing and delivery services across most of the capital.
We bet you are thinking whether you should send your Christmas presents right now after reading this blog. Well, Royal Mail says that delays for mails are expected to be about 3 – 4 days compared to normal schedule but for larger items you probably expect more. So let’s say it depends on your luck as your Christmas gifts might arrive too soon (too merry for Halloween), at the right time (well done) or too late (not so bad, a New Year gift).