Probably all of us are familiar with the “Sorry You Were Out” cards from Royal Mail. However, recent research conducted by Consumer Focus, the official postal watchdog has revealed that 55% of Royal Mail customers believe they have been misled by their postmen who left the “Sorry you were out” cards when they were actually at home.

Royal Mail famous “Sorry You Were Out” card

To make the matter worse, the research also found out that some postmen, in order to cut down the time to finish their rounds, were leaving parcels at their sorting office and taking out “Sorry, you were out cards” instead.

Heena Kankali, a student in Aston University, had to travel across Birmingham to the city’s Newtown depot to pickup a crucial textbook after it was not delivered to her home.

Heena said:”The postmen don’t even have the parcels with them. They just come to our halls and post the ‘Sorry’ slips through our letter boxes.’

Consumer Focus suggested that Royal Mail and other courier companies should make it easier for people to collect their parcels. This could include extending the delivery offices’ opening hours or setting up banks of secure lockers, a successful system used in Germany.

Despite various complaints as well as the postal strike, the watchdog’s research found that three quarters customers felt they had received a good delivery service from Royal Mail.

This might be how they make an U-turn!

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

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Yesterday Chancellor Alistair Darling has decided that the government would opt to keep the escalator in fuel duty, despite the haulage industry describing the devastating effects this increase has already done in the UK.
According to the Chancellor’s pre-Budget report, the fuel duty rise next April will be the fourth since last December, during which time the duty has risen by 16 per cent in as many months.

The Road Haulage Association (RHA) has expressed strong disappointment with Mr. Darling’s decision.

RHA Chief Executive Geoff Dunning said: “This has been a stunning series of increases in the depth of a recession. Duty amounts to a 25% tax on the operation of this essential service and will drive up transport costs for UK industry and retailers, reducing UK competitiveness and increasing prices for the general public.”

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) also joined the RHA in calling on the government to stop the planned increase in fuel duty but to no avail.

FTA chief economist Simon Chapman claimed that the government’s positioning of the increase in fuel duty as a “green tax” is nothing more than a “revenue raising tool” in an industry with “relatively inelastic demand.”

We believe this planned increase in fuel duty will have a strong effect on couriers on Shiply so we are very interested to know about your opinions.

As a part of its eco logistics plan to reduce their carbon footprint, Sainsbury’s have purchased 50 Smith Electric 3.5 tonne vans to operate from stores in London.

This decision follows the two year trial of 20 electric vehicles using either zebra or lithium-ion battery technology. In terms of long term cost, such electric vehicles will have lower cost than equivalent vans running on diesel.

Simon Bond, Sainsbury’s delivery operation managers said: “Once you calculate the factors such as the congestion charge, lower fuel costs and maintenance costs the higher purchase cost is absorbed.”

All these new eco friendly transport vans have a restricted speed of 40 mph and the drivers must be trained carefully before operating these vehicles as they are quite different from regular vans.

After the initial introductions of these vehicles, Sainsbury’s is expecting to roll out more electric vehicles in other major UK cities in the near future.

Upon reading this news, we were wondering whether there are many courier companies who also are using electric vehicles in their fleet on Shiply. If you do, please share your story and experiences below, we believe everybody is interested to know.

In recent years there has been an increase in the number of consumers shopping for their Christmas gifts online. Whilst it is convenient and cheap, there is the important question: will your Christmas shopping arrive safely?

As Christmas is the busiest time of the year of courier companies, you can expect Royal Mail, DHL, TNT and other courier firms to be full of Christmas items.

Kate Clipstone, a council payroll assistant from Rhayader, Mid Wales, bought a £50 hamper from Marks and Spencer’s online store for her mother. When receiving the package, she found that it was left under her garden hedge and completely ruined. After several phone calls to Home Delivery Network, the courier company which delivered her package, Kate got nowhere and received no compensation.

Kate shared what she had to do: “I couldn’t afford to waste £50 so I dried out the hamper and scrubbed off the mud, then unpacked the contents and repacked everything, replacing the damaged items. I was very unhappy giving it to my mum.”

Recent research showed that 7 per cent of people ordering online are unhappy with the delivery service. And at this time of the year, the problem seems to deepen with millions of items ordered online on a daily basis.

Probably this is the time when people need to really consider switching to local couriers for their online shopping. Remember with Shiply, all transport providers are feedback rated regardless of the time of the year!

To celebrate the announcement of its most powerful truck FH-16 700, Volvo has released this game so you can have a go with it whilst waiting for the real truck to be produced.

So far the best score at Shiply office was 172635 but we believe you can do much better than that. If you can beat 220536 (current record) then you’re the best player in the world!

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

The Freight Transport Association (FTA) has advised truckers to not just rely on satellite navigation instructions whilst driving on the road, but also pay extra attention to road signs.

The FTA believes that haulage firms should also use sat-nav units purposely designed for commercial vehicles as they have better capability in directing trucks on the road. These units, such as the TomTom GO 7000, enable truckers to avoid narrow roads, low bridges and unsuitable routes.

West Berkshire’s rapid response team has received a gift – a brand new Volkswagen car from a local courier company – Swift Couriers.

This will now enable paramedic Paul Michell to respond to emergencies across the district.

Mr. Michell said: “People know if they dial 999 I can go out if the ambulance isn’t close enough, and they also know if they live in our community they can knock on my door, so this is really important to me.”

Today the superlorry, which is 24ft longer than a bendy bus and weighs merely 60 tone, has been taken to the road for the first time, despite Government warning.

Dick Denby, 74, owner of Lincoln-based haulage company Denby Transport, will risk his license and potentially his liberty by exploiting a legal loophole which he claims allows the super heavy, double-articulated truck to be used on Britain’s roads.

You might have received an email recently about our Feedback Lucky Draw for users leaving feedback on Shiply.

After two months and more than 10,000 feedback comments left, we have got a winner! Sue Lambert (Shiply username: keithandsuelambert), of Cheshire, was the luckiest out of 10,000 Shiply users and has received the prize of a brand new iPod Nano.

Sue shared her excitement with us when receiving the news: “Is this for real? I have never won anything like this!”

Let us thank you all for leaving your valued feedback on Shiply and congratulations to Sue on her win!