Hi there.
I wish to ask the community if there are cheaper options than Auspost for small satchels less than 1kg. I am averaging around 100 parcels per week and on the mypost Business band 5. With such high volumes, I hope to have a cheaper option. Tried talking to Auspost to no avail.
Anyone have any experience or recommendations? Thanks
I agree. If it's anything important or something I need quickly (delivered on time) without too much stuffing around, I'll avoid using sellers that ship via those dodgy couriers (Fastway/Aramex/CouriersPlease). If it's something less expensive, not as urgent such as coffee beans, then I don't mind.
Yes, I bought some facemasks 2 1/2 weeks ago. No mention of CP/Fastway. A week later a tracking note comes through linking to Aramex, which I knew would take forever. Sure enough, took 2 weeks.
If you sell small (in volume not weight) items, increase postage charged but give a discount for multiple purchases since you can now put as much weight as you want in the small satchels as long as it physically fits inside. Cheaper for you if someone orders 3 things that all fit inside one satchel than the three things in separate orders
I work for a business that has branches across Australia and we primary use TNT. I checked our price on a satchel at 1kg from Brisbane to Sydney and received a price of $11.65. Not sure what you're currently paying but that is for an overnight express. We don't get the option for 3 day shipping or anything. I have always had pretty good experiences with them.
TNT are not the cheapest, but they are the most reliable. It's rare something goes missing or is damaged with them. Similar experiences with Startrack/AAE, and being owned by AusPost, can deliver to PO Boxes/Parcel Lockers.
TNT were about the cheapest I could track down but we hit a hurdle in they will not collect from a residential address. Explained our residence is the registered address for our business, we have an ABN etc, but still no go
Damn, I bet if they were picking up 10 parcels a day, they would change their mind???
It's also a matter of how far yo are from a nearby customer of their's as well?
Looks like you might be stuck with CP/Aramex?
TNT charges a crazy amount of fee's on top of their base rate, you wont notice the fees until you pay the invoice. Overall great couriers but they charge a residential fee(5-10$), petrol fee for rural areas (5-10$) and then if no one is home they will charge a redelivery fee. These fees make it very expensive to ship to end users (that are not business's). A standard end user is not going to pay $15 for a redelivery attempt, the business will just have to pay that. I have seen a 2kg small box cost 45$ to ship from Melbourne to Sydney. Also TNT insurance is crazy expensive as well.
If you ship large parcels with TNT, the fees get even worst. Anything over 1.2m cubed will be hit with a 45$ handling fee. Even if the shipping cost is 20$, you could easily spend another 50-60$ in fee's.
Get a fixed quote for TNT from Transdirect. I routinely send this way with TNT, always a good price, always reliable, never any surprises.
I think I looked into transdirect, about 10 years ago and they seemed reasonable. I wasn't sure who they used, but I was looking at a pallet of supplies.
When considering alternatives, consider how many customers use parcel locker or PO Box for deliveries.
Also, I'd recommend you stay away from Fastway/Aramex/CouriersPlease as they make me miss the terrible post service I had in my country, years ago. After having to deal with Fastway/Aramex/CouriersPlease, the score for the "terrible post service" from my country jumped from 2/10 to 6/10. I couldn't imagine couriers could be this bad anywhere in the world.
I've used Sendle dozens of times (private eBay seller) and so far I've had great experience. Parcels usually arrive quicker than Auspost and are often cheaper.
Worse experience was parcel taking over two weeks to arrive at buyer's address. It did arrive eventually so not too bad.
Some ozbargainers have had much worse experiences so YMMV
I work for a Major retailer, and send things out daily. We use Shippit, as the booking service, but the interface is good, and works with our software.
I mainly send via AusPost, who have pretty much replaced Fastway as our preferred option. If something goes missing with Fastway, they are horrendous, to claim money back from. You have to provide a copy of your Invoice, and the customers Invoice. They then pay, the lowest of the 2 amounts, minus the 10% GST. So then you have to wait till tax time, so you can claim the GST back. Not good if you are an SBO. It also can take 3 or 4 months to process/Investigate etc
Prior to this I have had several items go missing, so I just don't use them now. There seems to be so many holes in their system, especially going between Depots.
One thing they have started promoting is their Blu Couriers service, which is like UberEats for parcels.
I use CP as a backup, however, their network is not as strong, and gets handed to a 3rd party. They cannot supply their details to you.
There are some areas not serviced and sometimes you don't find this out, until the customer contacts you, or the parcel is returned. Then if you contact CP, you go through to a helpdesk located in Malaysia?
It's a shame we don't get the same rates as Amazon, Banggood, AliExpress or anything from China.
Have you looked doing business through Amazon?
Using them to fulfil/handle product?
Aramex, also have a similar system, but take @ 1 to 2 weeks (as I mentioned above)
You should try shipit portal as they compare various couriers for pricing. You could get from $6.50 per satchel..
A bit hard to answer the question without knowing what you’re sending etc but…
Couriers are cheaper, but worse. I’ve noticed a few online sellers using Sendle and Shippit these days (which is generally a combination of Fastway and Couriers Please) - but be warned many buyers will simply abandon their cart when they see either of the above. Whatever way you choose to proceed may I suggest you keep AP as an option, even if it is for an additional cost.