Best courier to post lens

steunited

steunited

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Just sold my canon 100-400 lens and wondered who to use to post it.
RMSD,parcel force or another
 
RMSD, any other courier will outright refuse to cover glass or similar. I think most companies get around this by relying on third party insurance so it doesn't really matter which courier they go with but that option isn't there for most people.

It's not absolutely guaranteed, I seem to recall their terms are a bit flaky on glass cover so you'll need to make sure it's adequately packaged etc.
 
RMSD for me too. I use couriers for my business and I wouldn't trust any of them with a lens.
 
Successfully delivering the lens in one piece relies far more on the quality of the packaging over your choice of courier.
 
2blue4u said:
Successfully delivering the lens in one piece relies far more on the quality of the packaging over your choice of courier.
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Quite right - I bought an expensive lens from eBay years ago, it arrived rattling around loosely inside a crushed very flimsy cardboard box only protected by a 9" square of thin and previously used bubble wrap.............. and the seller wondered why it got damaged in transit!

Couriers will take the stance that if an item gets damaged it's because it was not adequately protected in transit ;).
- packaging guidelines say to place your items in a rigid cardboard box with sufficient (50mm all round) protective internal packaging such as polystyrene chips, polythene foam, bubble wrap or crumpled paper to prevent movement in transit.
 
DPD are by far the best courier from the point of view of anyone receiving a parcel - you get text updates to confirm it's on the van and again with a 1-hour time slot when it will arrive.

Poster tubes (large diameter heavyweight type) are by far the best packaging I have found for lenses (with a small enough diameter, your 100-400 may be too large) and bottles. Cut to length they are extremely rigid and it's then a matter of getting enough bubble-wrap around the item to prevent movement within the tube.
 
Ed Sutton said:
RMSD for me too. I use couriers for my business and I wouldn't trust any of them with a lens.
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I own a courier business and would trust every single one of my drivers with a lens.

Parcel carriers on the other hand...not a chance.

TNT. APC UPS DPD etc etc are parcel carriers.
 
mattyg said:
I own a courier business and would trust every single one of my drivers with a lens.

Parcel carriers on the other hand...not a chance.

TNT. APC UPS DPD etc etc are parcel carriers.
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Pedant.:D
 
Wrapping.....always use air filled bags taped around the lens.

You can buy these or simply use some from the kitchen, blow them up and tie in a knot. Place two or more bags on either side of item and tape in position. Ensure item is surrounded on all sides.

To test the theory, wrap a fresh egg variously in:-
1. cardboard,
2. plastic,
3. newspaper,
4. air filled bags,
5. crumpled brown paper in a larger box.

Then drop from 1st floor window to see how they perform. (checking firstly there is nothing or anyone beneath who it could fall on).

You may need more than one egg!
 
Remember business sellers can "afford" to cut the odd corner with couriers, RMSD gets costly as soon as your box tips over 2KG (jumps from £11 to about £27), so savings to use the couriers suddenly become £15-20 a parcel instead of £2-3. Send a few hundred parcels a week and you can affectively insure yourself against the odd loss with the savings made by a different courier. Still DPD & their sister company Interlink Direct are rated amongst the better ones.

As above, use plenty of packaging, ensure it doesn't 'rattle'. Air filled bags are great for lighter items but they're relatively crap for heavier items. Any large bump and they just pop and suddenly no protection, so tend to use lots of small bubble bubble wrap.
 
Never had a problem with RMSD. I've al;so found DPD to be good.

Whatever you do, don't use MyHermes. I had a lens delivered by them from John Lewis last week. Needless to say I sent it back!



Box%203.jpg
 
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I rate myhermes highly for cost and effectiveness. however, they do not insure glass, so I would not use them for lenses unless it was low risk
also look at the insurance brackets. If the parcel is lost and you only have £250 of insurance, then that's not helpful for a lens which is double that to source.
 
Ed Sutton said:
Pedant.:D
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I know, but it feels like proper "Couriers" get labelled in with MyHermes and Yodel and some of the other muppet parcel carriers.

If you want it to get there safe it'll cost you upwards of £1 per mile. If you don't mind risking it then about £7 quid will get it from lands end to john 'o groats.

If people understood what actually needs to happen for your parcel to get from one end of the country to the other they wouldn't mind paying a fairer package rate

£7 doesn't buy you alot of care
 
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DizMatt said:
I rate myhermes highly for cost and effectiveness. however, they do not insure glass, so I would not use them for lenses unless it was low risk
also look at the insurance brackets. If the parcel is lost and you only have £250 of insurance, then that's not helpful for a lens which is double that to source.
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But what if the glass is intact and just the mechanicals broken? It takes a lot to smash glass, but a lot less to muller the small bits and pieces.
 
they will claim that the product contains glass and it's vulnerable.
I would not test their ability to fob you off should that be the problem
 
shreds said:
Wrapping.....always use air filled bags taped around the lens.

You can buy these or simply use some from the kitchen, blow them up and tie in a knot. Place two or more bags on either side of item and tape in position. Ensure item is surrounded on all sides.

To test the theory, wrap a fresh egg variously in:-
1. cardboard,
2. plastic,
3. newspaper,
4. air filled bags,
5. crumpled brown paper in a larger box.

Then drop from 1st floor window to see how they perform. (checking firstly there is nothing or anyone beneath who it could fall on).

You may need more than one egg!
Click to expand...


Haha

If I post anything that can be easily damaged, I wrap in copious amounts of bubble-wrap, ensuring it doesn't `rattle` around in a sturdy cardboard box, then also wrap the outside of that in bubble-wrap, before putting it in 2nd larger box & adding even more protection between the boxes to stop any movement.

Paying for the extra weight is preferable to the time spent messing about trying to claim for damages imo.
 
well i sent it RMSD for £26 now to decide where to buy a tamron 150-600 lens from
 
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