UPS Prices via Interparcel or Parcel2Go - WTF IS GOING ON - April 7th

guitars4you

I've used Interparcel for ages for my UPS shipping be it the UK and Europe (plus the odd one further a field) - cheaper then actually booking and having an account with UPS for the level of business and parcels I send

However noticed the last 2 UPS parcels have gone up in price via Interparcel - so just done a quick check with Interparcel and Parcel2 Go - same dimension of a Fender oblong box 116 x 46 x17 cm - same weight 14kg - same service - same destination - same next day service - both without any insurance - so identical service etc

Interparcel are now £20.40 inc vat - was £11.46 inc vat
Parcel2Go are now £13.90 inc vat

robinbowes

Worth knowing - I'll be sending a guitar soon.

R.

Whitecat

I've found that all these various intermediary services pricing can fluctuate, sometimes a lot. I wonder if their discount is based on volume done within a certain time period or something. It's usually wise to compare a couple when you need to ship something.

TimmyO

Dagnabbit. Guess who I used recently... 

guitars4you

Whitecat said:

I've found that all these various intermediary services pricing can fluctuate, sometimes a lot. I wonder if their discount is based on volume done within a certain time period or something. It's usually wise to compare a couple when you need to ship something.

UPS themselves will offer a contract based on quantity but they still need a reasonable commitment to get to the prices that Interparcel used to charge - spoke to a UPS contact about this an a potential account - as ultimately the same driver is collecting, the same firm is delivering but cheaper via a 3rd party agent than it is via the prime source

However Interparcel and Parcel2Go don't offer any quantity deals as such based on a level of business that you offer them

I was just alarmed today at a nearly 100% price increase and thought I'd made an error on the paperwork - just spoke to Interpacel and they applied the same parcel details and the same post codes and confirmed the new price - so all correct - They commented that UPS have put up prices, but that does not look like it applies to other booking agents - Furthermore, going back to Interparcel, then UPS are far more expensive than Parcel Force or TNT again for the same service - But DPD are no longer an option via Interparcel - Parcel Force, and TNT are the same prices on Parcel2Go and Interparcel

Just some good info for those that use them

Whitecat

Yeah, what I meant was that if Interparcel wasn't doing enough volume with UPS then the prices have to go up and the rise obviously gets passed down, whereas if Parcel2Go or whomever was still maintaining their levels of spend with UPS then the discounts remain the same. Not so much whether the end user gets a discount with the freight aggregator by spending lots (only way I know of to do that is to prepay a cash account - you get a 5% discount on every £100 added, which could be useful if you do high volume as a business.

guitars4you

Whitecat said:

Yeah, what I meant was that if Interparcel wasn't doing enough volume with UPS then the prices have to go up and the rise obviously gets passed down, whereas if Parcel2Go or whomever was still maintaining their levels of spend with UPS then the discounts remain the same. Not so much whether the end user gets a discount with the freight aggregator by spending lots (only way I know of to do that is to prepay a cash account - you get a 5% discount on every £100 added, which could be useful if you do high volume as a business.

sorry - I'm with you now

andrewaward

That's good to know, thanks for that................Am I right in saying insurance with P2G is more expensive than Interparcel?

dindude

I may be wrong, but I seem to recall a key difference was that parcels2go won't insure a guitar for much more than £50, whereas via inetrparcel they will (albeit you have to pay handsomely for the Priveldge). Obviously irrelevant if you have your own business insurance. 

guitars4you

andrewaward said:

That's good to know, thanks for that................Am I right in saying insurance with P2G is more expensive than Interparcel?

I think you'll find P2G will allow you to insure the guitar to a higher value than Interpacel - I have a dedicated insurance policy that is a blanket policy for all my shipments, so I don't insure them on a 1 to 1 basis so not sure about that

RiftAmps

I use P4D, another intermediary. As they are local to me I can drop the parcels down to them and pay £8.39 inc VAT for UPS up to 30kgs. Their collection option is only an extra few quid. 

Kylef

Cheers for the heads up, I'll be using them soon. 

Whitecat

Make sure you read the fine print on the insurance - repair can be insured up to a certain level but replacement is often much lower. And they usually require a hard case, so shipping in a gig bag or with nothing at all is a gamble. 

Personally I've never had UPS damage a guitar, but they did damage a mic preamp I sent to Holland once. The insurance claim was with Parcel2Go who were quick to payout, so that was good. 

martinw

I can recommend Parcelbroker too.

Dan

I recently had to send a high value guitar (3K) and used UPS direclty just purely for the insurance as everyone else wanted £80+, UPS did it for £46 odd which I thought was reasonable.

guitars4you

RiftAmps said:

I use P4D, another intermediary. As they are local to me I can drop the parcels down to them and pay £8.39 inc VAT for UPS up to 30kgs. Their collection option is only an extra few quid. 

just checked them out so thanks- cheaper than Interparcel but just a tad more than P2G on a collection basis - enjoy your Epi

thomasross20

I sent that PRS to mags with UPS via P2G (they were cheaper than Interparcel who I've previously used). Got there next day for about £120. Instruments aren't covered by anybody for damage.. ?

gavin_axecaster

guitars4you said:

I've used Interparcel for ages for my UPS shipping be it the UK and Europe (plus the odd one further a field) - cheaper then actually booking and having an account with UPS for the level of business and parcels I send

However noticed the last 2 UPS parcels have gone up in price via Interparcel - so just done a quick check with Interparcel and Parcel2 Go - same dimension of a Fender oblong box 116 x 46 x17 cm - same weight 14kg - same service - same destination - same next day service - both without any insurance - so identical service etc

Interparcel are now £20.40 inc vat - was £11.46 inc vat
Parcel2Go are now £13.90 inc vat

Strange that parcel2Go charge less through their own site than their UPS dedicated site
https://www.upstoday.com/

(UPStoday is owned/run by parcel2Go, which may explain why they get a better rate than Interparcel - I suspect they pre-book 100,000s deliveries a month.)

guitars4you

gavin_axecaster said:

(UPStoday is owned/run by parcel2Go, which may explain why they get a better rate than Interparcel - I suspect they pre-book 100,000s deliveries a month.)

was not aware that UPS own P2G - clever - bit like Reverb owned by a big USA Guitar Dealer

IvisonGuitars

Thanks for the heads up Mark. I've always used Interparcel but using Parcel2Go seems a no brainer now. As long as it's UPS, then it works for me, they've always been great.

andyoz

Another one I've used is  https://parcelbroker.co.uk/index.php
This is mainly because the others mentioned above no longer allow UPS from Nth Ireland to England.