Flightcase Courier

[martinkings]

I need a courier service to pick up 2 lights which are flightcased in Suffolk and drive them down to Kent - can anyone recommend a cheap courier service.

 

Thanks

[Joe Bleasdale]

Interparcel - Google them. I have been using them for 2 years now, they have shuttled consoles from Scotland to London and back. All over the UK, very good service. Only thing is, if you want insurance you have to pay extra of course. They take up to 50kg so I don't know if your going to be all right, depends if your posting Mini Macs or Mac III's I guess!!

 

Give it a try anyway. If that doesn't work, try your regular lighting companies, they sometimes have trucks going where you need to go - purely by luck though.

 

Thanks,

[niclights]

Try some local pallet companies. I've found them much cheaper and more suitable for this kind of thing.

[ImagineerTom]

If it's over 30kg then look for any of the (many) "pallet freight networks" (Pal-ex, Pallet-link, etc) as the going rate for shipping something the size of a pallet (1x1x1m approx) weighting up to 1ton is about £75. Let them know it's smaller / easier to manovure / can be picked up and put on top of their other stuff and they'll do you an even better deal. All the big networks operate just like parcel couriers so you can have online tracking, GPS, delivery slots and everything else you could possibly need. We ship our empty cases back to the warehouse using the local rep of one of the networks and I've never paid more than £45 to get something back from the arse end of the country.

 

 

[J Pearce]

I've found the small local courier services very amenable, there's not much difference between a box and flightcase, except a flightcase has handles!

Be honest about weight, and some are happier (and more flexible with pricing) if you can load it/unload it (or guarantee a second pair of hands at either end).

[TomHoward]

Try http://www.shiply.com/ - you can list details and local / national courier firm submit offers. We had a 100kg pallet moved Manchester - Suffolk for £20, on a florist's lorry that was going that way.

[BungalowJumper]

Mind and make sure you have adequate "Goods in Transit" insurance though, the standard courier payout for loss/damage is usually on a per kilo basis and things like intelligent lights aren't particularly heavy but are rather expensive... (coming from a bad experience... a couriers' truck caught fire with a pallet of motors on board... Lodestars aren't cheap but at least chain is heavy)

[AHYoung]

Get intouch with your local independant courier and ask them if they are part of the courier exchange. This is a national organisation of independants where you list jobs and bid for them, the point being that when you deliver a load, there is no point running back empty, so it allows independants to offer a competitive national service by taking advantage of all the potentrially empty vans and on the other side make some money rather than nothing on the trip back. It works on a dutch action basis so if its a busy route and the timings flexible deals are there to be had. You also have to be a proper company with commercial insurance to join the exchange so it shouldnt be too risky. Recently go a customer of ours edinburgh - london door to door then back a week later with a van full of props, set and gear for 600 all in inc vat which in my book is super cheap thanks to a mate that runs a small courier co.