Most people think about trucks as huge, powerful and noisy machines…
But this video will make many of us change our minds. Hey, trucks can be elegant too!
Have a great weekend everybody!
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUJOK-o_32w]
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Transport provider turns a truck pink for daughter’s birthday
Normally, if we see a truck on the road, it can come in different sorts of colour: black, white, red, yellow, blue, green, mixed etc. but very rarely in pink!
So it must be special if a truck is in pink and in this case it is indeed very special. To express his love for his daughter Isabelle on her birthday, argicultural haulage driver Edward Robinson has ordered a brand new pink cab just to make her happy.
Isabelle must have been the happiest girl on her second birthday whilst other little girls might get a doll or a puppy for their birthdays, Isabelle’s special present was a huge Mercedes Actros tractor unit bearing her name and painted in her favourite colour pastel pink.
Edward and happy daddy’s princess Isebelle besides her birthday presentWhilst Edward is now a heroic father in Isebelle’s eyes, he seems to consider the birthday present as very normal:
He said: “I was pleased with the price and the product looks very good. And of course Isabelle absolutely loves it.”
What a great father he is! We hope Edward is doing well with his haulage business and makes Isebelle even happier in her birthdays to come.
Another reason for Royal Mail postal delays
We have just found out that industrial action was not the only thing which caused Royal Mail delays. It seems that being a postman is not a boring job as people say.
Hope you enjoy this and have a great weekend.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=quRTusTKjfM]
Listing made easier with suggested categories
Here’s another feature to make your life even easier when listing a shipment on Shiply.
Previously, the first step when you listed a shipment was to select a category for your items.
The previous listing layoutFrom lots of feedback and testing we understand that sometimes it can be a bit difficult to find the correct category for your goods. So, we have developed a new tool which suggests a category for you. Much easifer and faster, we hope!
The new listing layout with Find a category feature
So far with our intensive testing the feature has worked great. However, if you think there needs to be some improvements to make it better, do send us feedback!
Have a great weekend.
New feature: minimum bids
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?
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 motionComing 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 dangerousImagine 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!
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
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 upAccording 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).
Motorcycle Transport Tips? Not so sure….
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_7jsYMrCdb8]
Sainsbury’s drivers are the slowest on the road
Sainsburys have made the decision to limit the speed of its lorries to 50 mph. So from now on don’t be surprised if you see this on the road, after all, they are just following the company policy:
50mph and no more…Whilst Sainsbury’s has yet to answer calls about its reasoning behind the speed limit introduction, its drivers had no such shyness in expressing their opinions.
Jon Garner says: ”I was being overtaken a hell of a lot, which you can understand, and on three occasions I had to drop down to around 45mph to enable people to enter the motorway network. Have they set the limiter too low at 50mph? I don’t think having to drop down to a speed of around 45mph to keep the road running smoothly is safe.”
Further more, a Sainsbury’s agency driver reckons other lorry drivers think they are ‘messing around’ and are cutting in as closely as possible.
In our opinion, whilst this speed limiter may be good for fuel saving and CO2 emissions reduction, Sainsbury’s may end up putting their drivers in constant frustrations on the road, which is a contributing factor to road accidents.
So will this policy do more good than harm? We are frankly not very sure.