LENSFORHIRE

I meant that had anyone who used them come across a cheaper method of getting the lens back to them - other than those listed on the website. It seems as it only costs £7.50 for them to send the lens to you, but it costs £20 to send it back to them.

Surely I should be able to send it back at the same price they sent it to me.
 
You could pre pay for delivery with their own couriers?
 
Businesses negotiate rates for collection services. My day job is running a car parts business. We have a rate for delivery from our firm to someone else, but if we wish to collect a part from somewhere else and have it returned, the rate is significantly higher - although generally cheaper than the customer arranging it themselves via same courier.

Depending on the lens and its value, Royal Mail Special Delivery is often competitive.
 
andrewc said:
Businesses negotiate rates for collection services. My day job is running a car parts business. We have a rate for delivery from our firm to someone else, but if we wish to collect a part from somewhere else and have it returned, the rate is significantly higher - although generally cheaper than the customer arranging it themselves via same courier.

Depending on the lens and its value, Royal Mail Special Delivery is often competitive.
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That's exactly the situation we face. For a consignment (any number of lenses) weighing up to 5kg, our couriers charge us £9 including VAT for deliveries but £19 including VAT for collections. I don't understand why, but that's life. We just pass the costs straight through to our customers.

For parcels weighing up to 2kg, RMSD costs £8-9 and is very competitive. Over 2kg, and RMSD costs £21-24 (depending on insurance value), which is less competitive, but not wildly out of line with what our couriers charge. I think for most people the key choice will be between having to go out to post it, or having to be in for the couriers to collect, rather than the £2 or so price difference.

I keep telling our couriers that if they could get the return rate down to, say, £15, then that would be a lot cheaper than RMSD (for parcels over 2kg) and they'd get a lot more business from us. I think they acknowledge the logic, but it hasn't happened yet.

Does that help?
 
Part of the fee can be split into the collection and delivery side of things.

The delivery side is usually customers addresses, usually 1 parcel to 1 address unless its a bigger business

The collection side is picking up larger numbers of parcels from each business. Nice and simple. As soon as you start asking them to collect on your behalf from places here there and everywhere, their costs increase quite a lot - driver time, mileage etc., and they may need to lay on extra drivers to ensure that all the days collections and deliveries are covered.

Some larger couriers have drop off / collection points in local stores or post offices which are sometimes cheaper, and or if the customer could deliver the package to the couriers own local depot.
 
Here's another possible reason for the tariffs being asymmetrical. It's relatively easy to schedule deliveries efficiently, because at the start of the day you know all the deliveries you have to make. But it's not so easy to schedule collections efficiently, because most of them are booked at short notice.
 
anyone know whats happened to their site? need to arrange for a lens asap :)
 
How about splitting the delivery/collections at 13.50 both ways? Collection charge doesn't seem as harsh and you gain on the delivery if the customer decides to send back via another method.
 
wrx_dazza said:
:'( prob not paid their hosting !! or changing their server and waiting for DNS updates :thumbs:
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That's it exactly.

Yesterday our website providers (EKM) migrated lensesforhire.co.uk to a different server, to improve performance. This means that the information about the new physical location of the site needs to percolate through to all the DNS servers all over the Internet. I was told this should take up to 6 hours, so the site should have been back by some time on Friday evening. But clearly it isn't. I'm following it up with the technical support people at EKM.
 
If I'm hiring a lens from Stewart I accept it as part of the deal that I will have to add the return postage to the hire price.

It's still a LOT cheaper than hiring from anywhere else and I find the kit to be in better order and I have complete confidence in their service and that's worth paying for.

Have a look at other providers charges. There is a certain retailer in Manchester who do hire equipment........at nearly double the price.
 
razor777 said:
How about splitting the delivery/collections at 13.50 (actually it would be £14 - StewartR) both ways? Collection charge doesn't seem as harsh and you gain on the delivery if the customer decides to send back via another method.
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Not sure I'm with you here Mark.

Our method:
* delivery = £9
* delivery and collection = £28
* save money on the £28 if you can return it for less than £19

Your suggestion:
* delivery = £14
* delivery and collection = £28
* save money on the £28 if you can return it for less than £14

That doesn't sound like a good deal for our customers!
 
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I've just returned a 10-22mm lens and two filters back to Stewart using Royal Mail Special Delivery Next Day Before 1pm. It cost me £9.50.

Great service from LFH as usual too. :)
 
StewartR said:
Yesterday our website providers (EKM) migrated lensesforhire.co.uk to a different server, to improve performance. This means that the information about the new physical location of the site needs to percolate through to all the DNS servers all over the Internet. I was told this should take up to 6 hours, so the site should have been back by some time on Friday evening. But clearly it isn't. I'm following it up with the technical support people at EKM.
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Temporary workaround:

www.ekmpowershop20.com/ekmps/shops/lensesforhire/index.asp
 
It has been working OK for me for the last hour. It must now be down to DNS propagation.
 
StewartR said:
Not sure I'm with you here Mark.

Our method:
* delivery = £9
* delivery and collection = £28
* save money on the £28 if you can return it for less than £19

Your suggestion:
* delivery = £14
* delivery and collection = £28
* save money on the £28 if you can return it for less than £14

That doesn't sound like a good deal for our customers!
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Sorry, I thought it was 7 pound delivery and 20 pounds pick up. The way I see it is that it could be 14 quid each way so basically the delivery is part subsidising the cost of the pick up if they use your courier to pick it up. This would reduce the temptation by perhaps some customers to return it 'cheaply' (read as no / low insurance) in an attempt to beat the 19 pounds charge. 14.00 doesnt seem such a bitter pill to swallow. In real terms it not that much at all anyway (the difference) but I get customers all the time complaining about our flat 7.50 charge even though its fully insured.
 
StewartR said:
Yep. It's working on my phone, but not on my desktop. So the DNS propagation process has at least started...
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Glad it was nothing serious Stewart...

Sounds like a great service you provide !

looking forward to using you boys soon :)

:thumbs:
 
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razor777 said:
The way I see it is that it could be 14 quid each way so basically the delivery is part subsidising the cost of the pick up if they use your courier to pick it up.
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Nah. Asking some customers to subsidise other customers isn't something I feel comfortable with. I'm sure it distorts the market too, but I can't remember enough of my economics theory.

Plus, we don't make any money on the postage (or insurance, come to that), so we can offer unbiased advice to our customers. Whichever delivery method they choose, or whether or not they want insurance, we really don't mind from a financial point of view. The only thing that matters is what's best for them. If we switched things so that we made a profit on some types of delivery and a loss on others, there would be an awful temptation to recommend what's best for us. Not good.
 
I've always used RMSD 2kg £1000 for my returns. That's £9.50 at today's rates.

Obviously, larger lenses could cost more but I would have thought many could be returned for £9.50.

I don't see the cost of the return as an issue. If you can afford to hire a stonking huge lens then you can expect to pay a little more to return it.
 
Aaaaah the joys of living down the road from lenses for hires drop off point. Total cost for returning lens - £0, unless i stop for a coffee in Costa on the way, and then RMSD would be cheaper:lol:
I must also say, anyone who hasnt used lenses for hire and are considering it, do it, they are a great bunch of guys (and gals), questions are only an email away and are normally answered pretty quickly. And the price......well the website speaks for itself.
Dean:)
 
Just as an update I returned a 70-200mm f.28 RMSD (2.5k compensation) at a cost of 24.50 so it makes sense to use LFH return service at 20 quid.
 
Im glad LFH have good reviews on here. Ive just ordered a couple for the end of the month. I plan to return them via DHL, it only costs £6.50 from work, but I do need to check the insurance cover on that.
 
Vicki M said:
Im glad LFH have good reviews on here. Ive just ordered a couple for the end of the month. I plan to return them via DHL, it only costs £6.50 from work, but I do need to check the insurance cover on that.
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I dont think DHL covers lenses especially if it was via Parcel2GO.
 
Oh ok, I will definitely get that checked then. Thanks,
 
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