They might end up doing this!

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

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

Whilst to many people, earning money through riding your bike might seem like a dream job, being bike couriers does have some obvious downsides such as dealing with the unstable weather and potential risks of serious injury while carrying out their work.

Being a bike courier is not as easy as people might think

To appreciate the contribution of the bike courier community, the London Courier Emergency Fund has planned to organise a Bike Courier Appreciation Day today, Thursday 26/11/2009.

Free coffee, home-made cakes and other freebies will be provided to bike couriers at the junction of Shaftesbury Avenue and Bloomsbury Street from 9am until supplies run out.

At Shiply we think this is a fantastic idea to show couriers how valued they are and should be expanded to other cities in the UK as well.

Recently we learned that in some parts of the UK the price of fuel has risen by more than 5% per litre in the last month alone. Bearing in mind the increase in VAT from 15% to 17.5% on the 1st of January 2010, this might lead to a considerable increase in fuel costs for haulage companies.

Fuel is amongst the main costs of haulage companies

The Road Haulage Association commented on the fuel price increase: “This seems to be an absolutely ridiculous situation, bearing in mind the last time the price of diesel was this high, the price of a barrel stood $20 dollars higher than it is today.”

Mulgrew Haulage, a haulier based in Dromore, announced a 14% rise in fuel costs since 2008 and said haulage companies may soon be forced to increase their prices for customers in order to stay in business.

Since fuel is one of the main expenditures for couriers, we believe the fuel price increase does have considerable impacts on your business.

So what is your opinion about this? We’re sure everyone is interested to know.

As you might have heard on the news, Cumbria has been facing the worst rainfall on record which has caused devastating floods. We thought you might want to know how Cumbria’s couriers have been tackling the situation.

Haulage companies in Cumbria are amongst those worst-hit by the floods as many roads were closed due to rising water levels.

Eric Nicholson, director of EW & PA Nicholson in Cockermouth said:”The major road in West Cumbria has been closed, and our major problem now is we cannot get to Workington. We are obviously trying to keep going.”

The floods have created massive difficulties for Cumbria’s couriers

Andrew Burridge, another haulier, shared his thoughts:”We are trying to get into West Cumbria, but have had to take much longer routes than we normally would. This means that in some cases we have to travel 150 miles to do what would normally be an 80-mile journey.”

The Environment Agency figure stated that 314.4mm of rainfall was measured in the area in 24 hours from Thursday to Friday last week, a record amount in England.

He would never have to travel this empty!

Enjoy and have a great weekend!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ao2ggBSyc7I]

Renae Wauhop, a former roofer and truck driver in Perth, Australia, is on the way to become the first time trucker to win Miss Universe Australia.

Renae (far right) with other Miss Universe Australia finalists

Explaining her reason to ditch the road and enter the beauty contest, Renae said: “I’ve always been a tomboy, I love camping and fishing but I’m bored of seeing all these models being in it – what do they do?”

Renae is not the only out of the ordinary contestant in this year Miss Universe Australia. Stephanie Bentvelzen (second to the left in the picture), a former detective has also joined the competition for the new beauty queen to “learn something different”.

Throughout the year, Christmas is always the busiest time for transport and courier companies with an estimated one billion Christmas cards, eight million Christmas trees and millions of Christmas gifts being sent during this festive period.

However, recent research has shown that after Christmas and New Year, couriers and delivery companies will be kept busy with yet more huge demand: unwanted Christmas gifts.

An estimated 8% of Christmas gifts are unwanted

Every year Britons spend on average £435 buying Christmas presents but it is calculated that £36 of that will not be appreciated. This has led to recent increase in people selling their unwanted gifts with eBay’s figure of 2 million unwanted Christmas items listed last year. This year, this figure is expected to be even higher.

Last Friday 13th November 2009, Shiply were awarded with Startups Awards Green Business Of The Year 2009.

Amongst 12 award categories we were nominated for two – Green Business Of The Year and Best Use Of Technology.

The award ceremony was professional, well organised and we had a great time meeting entrepreneurs from different parts of the country. Amid the current recession, it is really great to see that many small businesses with great ideas have emerged and are growing strongly.

This award is particularly important to us as it recognises the contribution Shiply has made to society and the environment through our business activities. And needless to say, our achievement could have never been this great without you all. So thank you very much!

At Shiply’s office today, we were also told that Robert Matthams, our founder, was announced as one of the Future 100 Young Entrepreneurs Of The Year 2009. So, more good news to share with you!

We find this story from Dubai very interesting and we think it could be a potential business idea for couriers in the UK.

After the Dubai Metro was launched in September, courier company TSC Express Worldwide has been using the train to beat the extremely busy traffic on Dubai streets.

TSC Express Courier company using the Dubai Metro to deliver important parcels

With this new delivery method, TSC Express has saved a lot of time as well as money on finding and paying for parking. Parking tickets can cost up to Dh 200 (£32) whilst a return trip from the nearest station to the company depot to city centre costs just Dh 4.60 (75p).

Mohamed Robel, the head of marketing for TSC Express said: “It’s a good difference and there are no parking charges and we are mainly paying for parking fines”.

Customers are also benefiting from the service too, as the courier has improved its delivery service times. Recently TSC Express has delivered a package from its depot to city centre in just 25 minutes.

With the scale of rail networks in the UK, we think it is highly possible to deliver mails and parcels expressly through the tube or train. It is also more eco-friendly than using cars. However, reliability wise, we’re not so sure!!! Signal failure on the district again, oops, sorry!