Blog

  • Relationships built on trust

    We’d all prefer to do business with those we know already – because we know, like and trust them. But occasionally we’re required to place our business with a person or company whom we know little about, and that’s always a risk.

    No more so than in the delivery business – no job is complete, or invoiceable until it is delivered. And reputations can be won or lost based on whether or not deliveries can be depended upon. So arguably, your relationship with your delivery provider is one of the most important in your business.

    What criteria do you use to screen a new supplier?

  • Christmas deliveries - when you need a reliable courier

    It's that time of year when delivery schedules are stretched to their limits, and deadlines are at risk.

    Take away the headache of worrying about your deliveries by sending your goods via our Sameday courier service here at Courier Direct.

    From Christmas menus to Christmas trees, party bubbly to client thank you presents, trust your seasonal consignments with us so you can focus on your own Christmas preparations.

    We offer a priority service to all our account customers, so if you don't yet have an account, we recommend you open one soon. Simply email ian@courierdirect.co.uk using...

  • Valuable item deliveries - you need a safe pair of hands!

    It might seem extravagant to hire a van to deliver an item that could go cheaply via the post, but if it's valuable, or time sensitive it simply isn't worth the risk.

    That's when you need the security and assurance of sending your consignment with a dedicated vehicle for a sameday, timed delivery.

    For complete peace of mind, we use fully maintained and tracked vehicles driven by CRB checked trained drivers so you can rely on us when you need to.

    Financial documents, passports, contracts, court papers, and certificates are all entrusted to us for same day delivery on a dedicated vehicle. We carry delicate items, prototypes, valuable goods and perishables too. And because we’re in touch with our drivers, we can give you up to...

  • Sales are nothing without trust - and a reliable delivery partner

    In a recent article in Real Business, emphasis is placed on the importance of trust between a sales person and their customer. For a sale to succeed, relationships must be built with not one, but often a number of stakeholders within an organisation. Successful sales people understand that rather than approach a sale as a supplier-customer transaction, it is far better to view each customer relationship as a partnership, where you are in fact both on the same side.

    We couldn't agree more, which is why we look upon our services as a provider of dedicated same day deliveries as an extension of yours. We work in partnership with you to deliver on your promises. So, whether you are providing a bag of widgets to a factory or an entire poster campaign to a retail chain across the...

  • Don't employ your own driver until you've read this

    If you're thinking of employing your own driver you must have a need for a regular, reliable deliver resource in your firm. But is committing to a full time employee the best option?

    Add together the cost of recruitment, salary and holiday cover plus buying the vehicle, keeping it on the road and the insurance, and it does in fact soon mount up.

    And what do you do when the van is in for a service? Or even worse, involved in a bump and it’s off the road for a while – you still have to pay for your driver, and maybe the cost of a hire vehicle on top.

    But you’ll have your own van on the road – with your livery, advertising your company wherever it goes. And you’ll be in control of your own deadlines. So, what’s not...

  • Specialist courier contracts

    Not all parcels are neat, small brown boxes. Irregular consignments are our speciality – stone statues, flowers, medical supplies and even giant inflatable rugby balls have passed through our hands and been delivered safe and sound at their destinations.

    We’ve also been trained in delivering mobility scooters and setting them up for new users.

    Trust goes a long way when choosing a courier, which is why we pride ourselves in offering the personal touch in all the deliveries we make.

    Should you have regular runs that simply must be in safe hands, then please talk to us and ask about our credentials. We work overnight too, so if you’d prefer or need your consignments to be moved after dark, we’d be happy to do so.

    All...

  • Courier Bristol to London

    Don't take any chances with your precious consignments. We offer a dedicated sameday courier service from Bristol to London on your terms.

    Choose from a range of vehicles to with a size and budget to suit you. We have 20 of our own sprinter vans, three 2.5 tonne curtain siders and a happy band of experienced long-term sub contractors to cover our busiest periods, enabling us to offer a seriously flexible and efficient dedicated courier service.

    We go to London daily, often several times a day, and our drivers know the short cuts and best routes around like the back of their hand. And if you need goods bringing back from London to Bristol, call us, we may well have a vehicle nearby.

    For a direct door to door service, from reliable, trained...

  • Did Christmas delivery problems drive you up the wall?

    Now the dust has settled, there’s time to sit down and assess how well your Christmas deliveries went for you.

    Did you have nightmares or no worries at all?

    We often receive calls from people at this time of year to say they never want to experience another December like the last one – full of problem deliveries, missed deadlines, lost consignments and late collections from their regular courier.

    So here’s the thing; why not trial another courier to see whether you can receive a better service? Put us to the test at Courier Direct, we’d be pleased to step up to the challenge for you.

    During January, we are offering 10% off your first 5 deliveries if you open an account with us. We offer a dedicated same day service across the...

  • Xmas shoebox donations welcome here!

    We’ve teamed up with SLS – Street Sarnies, a Facebook group across Bristol and Wales supporting hostels and outreach teams tackling homelessness.

    Their Christmas shoebox appeal is well under way and we’re delighted to offer our Bristol depot as a hub for collections.

    So, why not extend the appeal to your office or place of work and give hope to those less fortunate than us at Christmas.

    Street Sarnies would like the box to contain:

    Packet of gorgeous biscuits

    390g bar of chocolate

    Body spray

    Bright and fluffy socks

    Packet of tissues/wipes

    Packet of sweets

    Pack of cards or buzzle book and pen

     

    Label the box male or female and please don’t seal...

  • There’s a lot more to logistics than a man with a van!

    You’ve seen the advert - Man with van! – what more could you want?

    Well, if your consignments mean something to you, if your deadlines need to be respected, and if you’re keen to ensure your drivers aren’t breaking the law when on your business, it’s worth using the services of a well respected, reputable provider.

    Take a look at some of the considerations – all of which we have covered here at Courier Direct:

    Our vehicles are

    • Safe and suitable for the roads
    • Regularly serviced up to date models
    • Fuel efficient for more cost effective journeys
    • Clean, professional and liveried
    • Have tracking to monitor progress and delivery times

    Our...

  • Print deliveries made easy

    Print is precious - we understand that - it's taken a lot of hard work, graft and money to create it. All you need is it to be delivered in one piece, safe and sound, dry, intact and on time - right?

    We've been moving print since we started in business, and that's over 20 years ago now. We know that quite often, as soon as the last box is sealed, you want it on its way to the customer, without delay. That's why we're happy to be there for you, on demand, providing a fast and efficient print delivery service that's on a dedicated, well maintained sameday vehicle.

    We've enjoyed long standing partnerships with print firms in Bristol, Bath, and the South West, and would be happy to let you talk to them if you need to check us out for real, just...

  • Courier Direct support the Capella Foundation

    Niki Barat and her team

    We were pleased to support the incredible efforts of Niki Barat of Bunzl, and her team, in their quest to complete the 24in24 challenge on behalf of the Capella Foundation.

    The Capella Foundation was born to help increase awareness of medical complications during pregnancy, increase the support available to those affected, and to raise as much money as possible to directly fund medical research into advanced treatments.

    Courier Direct were proud to sponsor Niki and her team who worked incredibly hard to keep going throughout the 24 gruelling hours. Challenges included an 8km loaded march at hour 23,...

  • It’s a long road ahead…

    Well, it’s finally arrived, the PM has triggered article 50 and we’re on our way out of the EU. Whether you’re happy or horrified, the reality is nothing is going to change soon.

    And that includes the service you’ll receive from Courier Direct. We’ll still be here taking a keen interest in the timeliness and security of your deliveries, no matter what.

    In fact right now we are delivering more goods into Europe on dedicated couriers than we have in a while, so it’s not all bad news for the UK.

    We’ve been transporting lots of print too this month, it’s seems it’s the season for special promotions, shows and exhibitions. If you’d rather your driver not get caught up in the queues to deliver...

  • Dedicated Sameday service from a large, reliable fleet

    When you’re choosing to send your goods by sameday courier, you don’t want to wait – after all that’s why you’re choosing a sameday rather than next day service.

    Only a courier company with a large fleet has the capacity and flexibility to respond quickly, with the right size vehicle, when you call.

    And beware – not all sameday services are the same. Some services may be sameday, but consignments are often collected and delivered in groups so whilst your parcel may be on its way at 9.30, it may not reach its destination until much later in the day. When checking prices for sameday services, make sure you are comparing like for like.

    For a direct door to door service, you need a dedicated sameday courier and that’s the...

  • Safe, secure sameday deliveries

    Not all courier drivers are the same! Some believe that if you own a van you are by default a courier! However, when it’s your precious parcels, consignments and urgent documents in transit, you’ll want to know that they are in safe hands.

    Drivers at Courier Direct are vetted, trained and tracked, so that we know all goods in transit, from the moment of collection to the moment of delivery are safe, secure and protected from damage. Drivers are CRB checked and every one of them must have a clean driver’s licence.

    We have an impeccable track record for delivering goods on time and in perfect condition. Our checking process at collection includes packaging, weight regulations,...

  • Flexibility, versatility, compatibility – qualities of a courier partner you can trust!

    We’re not exactly kicking back here and enjoying the sunshine as July rolls on into August. We’ve been called upon to travel the lengths and breadths of the UK and beyond on missions to help our customers deliver for their customers.

    It’s always a pleasure, and no more so that at this time of year when the countryside is at its best.

    So, just a few words this month about our approach to providing you with the best possible service you can expect from a courier company – well, 3 in fact:

    Flexibility: We’ve never had as large a fleet as we have right now. From nifty little Vivaros for nipping around town, to our reliable sprinter transits, perfect for print, POS materials, engineering parts, steel, building materials,...

  • What would success for the Brexit leave campaign mean for your business if you send goods abroad?

    Whether you export goods on a grand scale, or send a transit or two full of goods to the EU a year, you’ll no doubt be watching the great British Brexit debate with interest.

    What strikes us here is the lack of detail surrounding the practical impact a vote to leave might have. We’re not writing this article to persuade you to vote in any particular way, more to discuss the affect it may have on the way you may need to change your delivery arrangements, should the leave campaign be successful.

    If we do leave the EU, the open borders and free movement of people and goods will come to an end. And that means that we’ll revert to the old system of presenting additional papers...

  • The versatility of a sameday courier

    No two days are the same here at Courier Direct. We’re often required to move the weird and wonderful for an eclectic mix of clients. And we don’t just move goods within the UK, we take trips over to Europe too, regularly, and across the sea to Ireland and the Isle of Man.

    Come rain, shine, hail or high water, our dedicated vans of all shapes and sizes are on a mission to deliver whatever our customers request, to any destination of their choice.

    Here’s a selection of the more weird and wonderful consignments we’ve been asked to deliver:

    Ed’s Stone – do you remember at the height of the general election campaign...

  • 2016 budget – how was it for you?

    There’s been much controversy over George Osborne’s budget last week. And while the debate rumbles on over the fairness of cuts to disability benefits, with talk now of a U-turn in this policy, we’ve taken a look at some of the measures to see how they impact the courier business.

    First of all we welcome the fuel duty freeze for 2016-17. We were worried that low oil prices and cuts to prices at the petrol pumps would give George Osborne a window of opportunity to increase fuel duty. Any such rise has a direct impact on the costs of our operations, so this freeze enables us to keep offering competitive prices to our customers, so they can keep control of their costs too. Good news...

  • Where would we be without technology?

    It’s not that long ago when we were using handwritten dockets and checklists to schedule our workload. I remember back in the 1990s writing out delivery instructions for the daily influx of parcels that passed through our depot.

    The phone would be ringing off the hook with customers wishing to place orders or requesting PODs, and life in the office was generally mayhem! Organised mayhem of course!

    As mobile phones were very expensive still, we used in cab radios, difficult to hear due to interference, and less convenient for the drivers to use.

    Things have moved on a lot since then and a lot of the arduous manual tasks are a thing of the past. Thank goodness! I wonder now how we coped and managed to get every parcel...

  • An incredible £6000 raised at The Castle fun day

    We’re delighted to say that no less than £6000 was raised by locals and friends of the Castle Inn, Caldicot for 2 worthy charities at the weekend.

    The pub in played host to a family fun day, to raise funds for The Motor Neurone Disease Association and St David’s Hospice.

    And our very own Kevin Larkin played his part – even spending time in the stocks so all his friends (and foes!) could take a pop at him with wet sponges – some of us paid a lot of money to see that and it was worth every penny!

    “We had a great day”, says Kevin, “the sun shone, there was a barbecue, music, stalls, games, a raffle, tombola, face painting, hook a duck, and of course taking centre stage were the stocks”.

    “It...

  • Specialist courier services – credentials matter

    Abnormal loads, time critical deliveries, and fragile goods – they’re just some of the requests we receive on a daily basis.

    And they require specialist attention, specific dedicated vehicles, additional communication, careful planning and so on, to ensure our customers receive the best possible service.

    We’d like to say it’s all in a day’s work, and in many respects, it is; however it takes an experienced team to make it all happen as seamlessly as it appears.

    Which is why we’re proud to be entrusted with fragile items, from giant sculptures to bespoke furniture, wine...

  • Ed's Stone replica prize delivered by Courier Direct

    Subject of possibly more speculation post election than the leadership contest of the Labour Party, the whereabouts of the much maligned Ed's Stone has been hot news.

    But we can reveal that we know the whereabouts of a life size replica, given as a prize by the Sun on Sunday at the weekend.

    Because Mr Kevin Riley of Horley won it in the competition and we were entrusted with its delivery from the manufacturer in Bristol to its new home.

    And we were entrusted with the story too, not to reveal anything, until the announcement was made in the newspaper last weekend.

    We are a company of utmost...

  • Why can't Bristol have trams?

    Manchester has them, Nottingham has them and Birmingham has got in on the act too, so why can’t Bristol have trams?

    It seems like we’re the poor relation when it comes to transport systems, and whilst other cities press ahead with slick, attractive trams for mass movement of their citizens Bristol is being left behind.

    People like them, they prefer them to buses, because they’re cleaner, more reliable, and they simply appeal to the modern commuter.

    But scouring recent reports online, there’s a lot of discussion about missed opportunities, having to cross council boundaries, and basically too much procrastination by the...

  • Choosing a delivery partner? Choose well!

    In a recent survey, 99% of those surveyed said they would end a business relationship if that business failed to build trust.

    Delivery – it’s the end of the chain of events before you send out your invoice – and the last thing you want is for it all to go wrong, and your customers to be let down!

    So, how do you choose the right delivery partner, someone you know, like and trust to act responsibly as an extension to your business?

    A good courier company provides more than just a driver and…

    • Will build close relationships...

  • Dancing shoes delivered

    Had a call to the office to collect and deliver 2 pairs of dancing shoes for Strictly Come Dancing's Brendon Cole and Sunetra Sarker.

    They'd had their shoes sent via an overnight courier and sadly they were lost in transit.

    So, we were happy to oblige with a swift collection to fast track their vital equipment to their dance studio.

    When you're considering whether to choose an overnight service or a same day dedicated courier, it's worth considering the consequences of what happens should your overnight parcel fail to arrive.

    High value, fragile, oversize or time critical parcels just aren't worth trusting to the overnight networks. And they form the bulk of the items we carry here at Courier Direct.

    For...

  • What's in a name?

    Your company name – it says a lot about you – or at least it ought to.

    And we were just talking in the office this week about some of the names of our clients, and how they came about.

    And then we started to talk about more famous names – like Virgin, Revolver and Chemical Records – they have an edge to them that we quite like.

    Then there are other companies choosing names that can’t be pronounced, or are often misheard over the phone – how much time is spent by staff just spelling their company name each time they talk to someone?

    Of course we all want to be different, to stand out from the crowd and have a name that no one else thought of. But...

  • Thinking of employing your own driver?

    It’s tempting to employ your own driver when your business involves making regular deliveries. It keeps control of costs and delivery schedules.

    But is this the best option?

    Add together the cost of recruitment, salary and holiday cover plus buying the vehicle, keeping it on the road and the insurance, and it does in fact soon mount up.

    And what do you do when the van is in for a service? Or even worse, involved in a bump and it’s off the road for a while – you still have to pay for your driver, and maybe the cost of a hire vehicle on top.

    But you’ll have your own van on the road – with your livery, advertising your company wherever it goes....

  • Why partner with a South West courier

    Bristol – a booming city at the heart of the South West. And situated at the intersection between the M5 north to south, and the M4 East to West - it’s the perfect location for a courier partner in the South West.

    • Keep your own drivers in your area
    • Use couriers who know the local roads, short cuts, and how to avoid the jams
    • Save money with back load rates
    • Quicker deliveries for more remote locations
    • Faster response times for collections in the South West
    • Regular shuttle runs to South Wales and major towns in Cornwall and Devon

    Have we convinced you yet that this all makes perfect sense?

    Of course, you need a partner you can trust, and that involves...