Suppose you are living abroad somewhere without your family, and you need to send some really important papers back at home or you are an online business owner, and you need to deliver your products overseas to your customers. In both these cases, it is essential that you find a courier delivery system that will do the job in a timely manner and without costing much.
Though the required characteristics are different from business and consumer perspectives, yet there are some basic things that both a business and a consumer finds in a courier company.
Here are some of the major components of a good international courier company.
Delivery on time
Sometimes time is crucial for shipping items abroad. One day delay in the delivery procedure can cause some major damages. So while selecting a delivery system for a parcel most consumer and companies consider how timely the courier company executes. They gather information from online or from the previous collaborations with the company. The company that claims they deliver within ‘x’ working days and actually do, generally places itself at the top of the clients’ preference list.
Proper packaging & address
Packaging is one of the most important parts of the process, especially if you’re sending something valuable. Wooden crates as a self-supporting structure, work splendidly for fragile items and lightweight shipping. Again, unclear address, this seems like something very simple and straightforward, yet there are a huge number of undelivered packages all through the year due to poorly written addresses and postcodes. If you’re dealing with a high-quality courier, they may be able to handle your packaging and warehousing needs as part of the service.
Cost effectiveness
Courier shipments are generally more costly than standard postal services. The courier companies claim to deliver some specialized services that they ask the extra money for. But costly doesn’t always mean most efficient. You need to research before paying for a premium quality service to a certain courier company. There are mostly specific areas on what the companies charge the extra payment for. Ask before you pay.
Secure & risk-free shipping
One of the worst case scenario while shipping parcels abroad is to send or receive a damaged product. If you are shipping goods to your client using a courier company the chances of facing a loss because of damaged shipment increases more. In situations like this, you need to find a company that takes the liability of that damaged goods via effective insurance policies. Also, the methods the company uses to ship parcels overseas are well tested and secure enough for shipping confidential documents and parcels.
Local vs. global services
You need to identify your need first. Whether you are sending a parcel within the border of one country or you want to send it across the borders. Some global companies have local delivery services, but if you are sending goods to the country you are in, it’s better to stick to the local courier delivery companies. Local companies tend to be more effective and less costly than those global ones in such situations.
Tracking technologies
Tracking the parcel is a must while sending it overseas. Check up with the company you want to deal with to see what kind of technologies they use to track the parcel. Some companies provide tracking numbers to their clients, however, when the client tries to use the number, the website just shows nothingness. You want to make sure this will not be the case with you. You are looking for a courier service that actually lets you see the current location of your parcel so that your parcel doesn’t get lost.
Besides these 6 major things, you may want to know more about the logistic systems used by the courier company, the modern technologies they use in various aspects of parcel delivery process, the availability of the company, who are their partners in the destination country etc. Now you can pick your efficient international courier delivery service with confidence and relax after the shipment is done successfully!