lovinghands

Just wondering... until now I've always just sent parcels through royal mail, but does anyone here use anything else that's better/cheaper?

If you save your donations so you can send a big box full then Parcels2go are the people to call. You can send a box up to 50kgs for just over £8 and knitting does not weigh heavy so you can get heaps in.

You can get a quote on line, print off the label and they will collect from your door.

Before I started sending for the Portsmouth group I could spend about £5 just sending half a dozen baby cardigans and hats so the courier is superb value.

If you only have small amounts to send then I don't really know of any other method of posting I am afraid.

Hello

I've just had a look at the parcel2go website and it does look quite good. Do you use the economy service? And are they quite good at sticking to the collection date? It is quite a lot of weight in knitting so it definitely must work out cheaper!

Alison x

I use Parcels2 go and I find them great.
If you look at all the options the best, easiest and cheapest is the one where you book online after mid-day.
You can then just fill in the details width, length and height together with the weight of the box of goodies and request a quote and it comes up on screen. If you want to use the service just follow the easy instructions (must be easy cos I can do it) and then nominate a day for the box to be collected.
23 hours from my home in South Wales to Lou up in Scotland - 24kilos and it cost £7:91 not bad eh.
Cost was the same and so was the delivery time when I sent a knitting machine to Hampshire.
Hope this helps, give them a try - save up all your knitting and maybe join in with someone else to share the cost.
Love, Barbara xx

Thanks for the info barbara!

Alison xx

So far Parcels2go have always collected very quickly on the day stated. I hate waiting all day so I have devised a cunning plan I don't order the pick up until about 10.30 am on the day you want a collection because if you do it before midday they guarantee to collect by the end of the day. If you order the collection the night before then they can collect any time from 7am the next day so I find I am hovering about not knowing if I should go in the shower for fear of missing the doorbell. This works very well for me and another good point is that you can track the parcel as it wends it way up to Lou. Only once was the tracking system down which was a bit frustrating but apart from a Friday pick up the parcel gets to Lou the next day which, considering the distance from Portsmouth to Scotland, is pretty amazing all for £8 ish.

If you just keep knitting and then send everything in one large box it is far less expensive than the post office.

hi i use parcels to go and so far everything has been great. the staff are very helpful and the web site is easy to use. i can do it so it must be easy. they allways collect when they say they will and its much cheaper than the post office. they get my vote.

Even better - they have just started doing a pay by cash option for those who do not have payment cards or paypal - you can arrange your pick up and pay by cash at a paypoint in your local shop - brilliant :0)

I agree about arranging picku up on the same day - I usually do this as well - it is just about 15p dearer to do it this way as you get a discount for picku ups booked after 12.30 but if you want ame day pickup it works great. I have never had a missed collection and the drivers are lovely :0)

Thanks for the info all, that looks like the way to go then. The only problem so far is that I'm at work all day, but I should be able to take a box round to my mum's if I know that they're going to come when they say they will.

Best get knitting now then, 20k sounds like a lot!

hi, just a quick question where do people get the boxes from to fill, do they have to be a set size. probably silly question.

janette

Hi Janette

As you can send up to 50kg for the same price as 1kg then it makes sense to send as large a box as you can. My first box to Lou was, I thought, good value but she pointed out to me that I could have sent a HUGE box for the same price so we store boxes from all and sundry up in the loft until I need them. Most local grocery shops will be pleased to let you have a box if you ask before they flatten them.

No special boxes needed.

Hope this helps

Lynn

I am now going off to search the office for the biggest box I can find...

I even tape two large boxes together sometimes if the weight fits in - it is up to 1 metre long and 25 kgs in weight so I try to use as much of that allowance as I can - after all it is LH money I am using to pay for it not my own (most of the time unless we run out :0).

Hi everyone

I'm definitely going to give this site a go I have two boxes from my local shop ready to be filled!!! 4 mens/boys hats, 3 pairs of mens socks and some items for the shoe boxes so off to a good start.

Do you wrap the boxes in anything after they are filled? I was thinking of black plastic i.e bin bag material then sticking the labels on this would this be ok??>

Alison x

Nope - I just seal them and then wrap the parcel tape around the two boxes together and pull tight :0) Mark - the delivery guy who picks up from here says he never knows what he is going to be presented with when I answer my door to him - but we are kind and usually there are some family members around who help him load the parcels up :0)

I sent 4 books of toy patterns down to England from our local post office last week in a small cardboard box and it cost me £7.50! I do feel vexed when I get packages in from members and they have paid nearly £10 to send just a normal parcel. Must be my scottish blood - I do hate to waste money :0)