Over the past few days, after a dreadful experience with FirstFlight during Naga’s LCD shipment , which took 21 whole days to get delivered , i decided its time for a change, another reason being FirstFlight deciding to shoot up the rates by around 75% :S
So in search of a better courier , i talked to DTDC ,as well as BlueDart for my Shipping needs. I got their contract rates to compare , and by god, they are now charging us ridiculously. The basic rates seem fine, but , i need to compulsorily insure all of my products @ 2% of the value, minimum payable insurance being Rs 200 , which takes the cost of shipping a Rs 6000 Graphic Card to Rs 400 at least. This is the same for both DTDC as well as BlueDart.:@
Surface still seems cheaper from BlueDart’s side, but again the same thing there, all things have to be insured. Shipping of light items can be done via the Document modes, which is turning out to be Rs 70-100, still IMHO high. My local franchisee is giving me the insurance optional for air cargo rates, but then he is not budging from the fact that i will have to get charged for a minimum weight of 3KG ,irrespective if its 2kgs or 100gms. there again, not at all feasible.
Is this the case in all areas? Any suggestions for the same will be appreciated. Need to decide quickly, as many of my orders are on a hold as of now .
EDIT : Are there any other courier companies even worth looking into ? Some people gave me a suggestin of BlazeFlash and GATI
Well in regards to books we get it direct imported from amazon distributors and more where books and magazines are as expensive as 800-9000 rupees as retail. We used to have problem with blue dart since they got a import wet. dhl is no issues but i wouldnt be suprised if they expensive in regards to domestic shipment.
Insurance @ 2% is what will spiral the costs. For GATI they have a service for upto 4 kgs if i remember correctly and it was 200 all incl :)…so still with the insurance will end up costing arnd 300 min or so.
may be DTDC w/o insurance is the chepest option but not the safest of course. What you can do is leave it to the buyer to decide whether to have the insurance or not :)…if not you can use DTDC ( which is like 120 rs per kg)..otherwise you can use Blue Dart
Tell them that you will quit, they usually dont charge you for it,
If you have notice within the letter they have said that they have cost shoot up of almost percent & hence they are forced to increase the rates by 50%
But if you notice they have charges almost more than 50% of the charges,
We had recieved this letter, & when I had told them I would be looking for a new courier serives, they now charge me at the old rates, ofcourse it could be a one of case, since we have been with FF since almost 8-10 years now!!
Try your luck!!!
Else you can keep insurance optional for your customers.
lol…wtever it mayb i remember the Rashi ahmd courier source they did it with JTC-Jamnagar transport co. For 20buxx they shippd a package weighin more than 1kg frm ahemdabad to baroda…n tht too in good condition…
I prefer DTDC they sufficed my needs…n decent pricin in baroda…60buxx for a kg frm baroda to mumbai.
Dude… if you wanne insure the products then its gonna cost you … no matter which courier you use…
I really prefer BlueDart… They do charge 200 bucks for a package under 500gms delivered to any Metro or Tier Cities… a little on the higher side… but the package gets delivered the very nxt day… so its worth it…
I don’t know why… but I really don’t like DTDC… they take too much time to deliver my goods… :@
Coz every other courier except Bluedart is unreliable… and if we insure the product the insurance goes to 2% of the package value which would be like 200/- Minimum so that again expensive.
Also BlueDart on the other hand is expensive on itself coz they have their own planes and therefore charges like 55% of Fuel charge on the Courier amount so if they charge us 200 rs per kg + 55% + 12.5% service tax just imagine..that we cannot afford coz the Customer needs…
Asi said before and i will say it again , i have no option to leave out the insurance. I COMPULSORILY HAVE TO INSURE ALL packages whose worth is above Rs 5000/- (duh) . Insurance if it was optional , then i wud have kept it as a optional part for the customer to decide on, but with the compulsory part , it becomes an unviable option now.
very true abt DTDC, thats y i zeroed in on BlueDart and DTDC , as they are the most reliable companies in this field…but u TE guys tell me…for eg , i have the 9600GSOs up for sale @ Rs 6400/- , if u have to pay Rs 400 for shipping it at least, who all will buy it ? bear in mind that for most of us , we will take the no insurance option in most cases
no , its the courier company.they hav put a compulsory insurance clause, either on our side or via the courier company . Even tho its a good idea to insure the products ,its unviable for us to do it for every single products, maybe for stuff we send via Surface line is ok , but via air , it becomes out of the question.
Give the option to end user. If he wants his items insured, insure them. Otherwise dont. Get a decent cams. Click 3-4 pics of product being packed and final package ready to shipment, send it to user if he does not want to pay for insurance. From that point on, its his responsibility.
If he wants to be safe. he will pay for insurance. Simple.
DTDC service within mumbai is pathetic. Items shipped outside get delivered in 3-4 days flat.
Firstflight has degraded horribly these days. I faced almost 4 days delay on 1 shipment where buyer insisted I use firstflight over DTDC.
BTW GATI will not touch unsealed IT goods these days.
again , **INSURANCE HAS BEEN MADE A MUST , COMPULSORY **, from the couriers side. IF i go ahead with them , i cannot give an option for the customer not-to select the insurance part, he has to pay for the insurance whether he likes it or not. This is the main trouble. If i had DTDC/BlueDart with the optional insurance part, i wud have gone ahead with my eyes closed. But now , i am confused and pissed
