So you have a great gift idea and voila, you think you are sorted? Back up there for a minute, let’s just run through this check list to ensure your parcel is courier ready and then you should be good to go.
Is your gift destination friendly?
Always check with your courier, they will have a list of certain items that cannot be sent to different destinations, especially if you are shipping further afield than Ireland. This can also depend on which courier service you use.
Delivery times
We have seen over the past twelve months that shipping throughout Europe by road is taking longer by a couple of days, up to a week sometimes, so check with your courier about the estimated time frame. To be safe, always add a few days on top just incase your parcel gets mislaid or held up in customs. Remember, delivery times estimated are only taking into account working days, so the weekends cannot be counted as the days unless you pay for that service.
If you want a faster delivery we would advice using DHL or one of the larger courier services as these can be shipped by air and can even have next day delivery. Bear in mind you will be paying a higher cost for this service.
Remember to factor in the time of year you are sending your gifts, as over the busy Christmas period time frames for the couriers are even harder to keep, so gift early and ship early to avoid any disappointments.
Any custom requirements are met by you
Especially since Brexit, we are experiencing a mine field of paperwork if you are looking to ship to the UK or vice versus and other countries outside of the EU. You will need to know the commodity code or EROI number for each item you are sending and multiple copies of customs forms for each gift sent. Not to worry, the courier service you choose to use will be able to help and advise you with this.
One notable problem we have come across is that when sending a gift you do not want the recipient to have to pay a customs charge when it is delivered. This can be charged back to you through some of the couriers. DHL do offer this service, but again you will have to pay for this.
Getting your addresses correct
If you are bulk shipping it is a laborious task having to manually type in every address, email and phone number and then checking it twice! Remember your courier will need an email and phone number of the recipient for every parcel being sent. For lots of addresses you can upload a file but this has to be meticulously correct as any missing numbers from postcodes (which you must have) or addresses put into the wrong line will fail to upload.
If you are using An Post be sure to attach a discreet return address label somewhere on the box incase it gets misplaced and needs to be returned.
Tracking your parcel to its final destination
Once your courier has collected or you have dropped off your parcels, you will be able to track their process through the courier’s tracking system and check whether they have been delivered.
Hope this information helped, check out our blog post here on making sure your gift is packaged to perfection and turned into that parcel ready for delivery.
