Delivery Charges - UK

[Moglet]

Greetings Forumites,

I'm curious about the differences between carriage charges for UK mainland deliveries vs. deliveries to Ireland. I'd welcome any input on what you chaps and chapesses across the water typically pay for materials deliveries (moulding and mountboard).

[Roboframer]

Simons standard 3 day is £7:50 and I don't remember what their carriage paid order is! But sometimes it comes next day anyway, sometimes the day after, rarely the next.

I dunno what Arqadia's is but I do know that if you order by email the carriage paid is less than if you ring it through. (I should pay more attention but I get blasé - my prices are based on what I would be paying if I were paying more for the mouldings)

Nielsen I don't have to worry about - van.

Glass & Mirror ditto.

Anyone else I only use when I'm stuck and it's usually my fault so I just swallow it.

[prospero]

Last order from Rose&Hollis: £42.00 overnight. That was for 13 heavy packs though....

Last order Frinton mouldings: £0.0. Very reasonable.

Last order Arqadia: £0.0. ditto.

[RobinC]

Arqadia free carriage if order is over £100 and placed via their website I think it is £125 if the order is placed by phone. Delivery usually arrives the next day, sometimes the day after. The website suits me fine as i can place my order on a Sunday, find out about out of stocks and get delivery on the Tuesday. At busier times (Nov & Dec) I often place 2 orders a week rather than 1 larger order, which means I don't keep my customers waiting for their framing and I get paid more quickly!

We always try to place orders over the carriage free quantity, its not always possible, but by reducing the number of suppliers to those who give us the best overall service we keep this extra cost to a minimum. We used to use 3 moulding suppliers but when Scharfs went bust we looked around for a third supplier, but eventually put more business to our other 2 (Arqadia and Simons) and it has worked very well.

On sundries, again we used to use a few suppliers, but as Lion have increased their range we have found that we can buy all we need from one place, which means our orders are usually well over their carriage free amount.

Print suppliers are more of a problem. We used to stock a wide range of open edition prints and posters which worked well for 15 years, but we kept getting discount shops opening selling cheap framed posters. We would also get problems with people ordering a cheap print for framing, and then take it away unframed - result to us, next to no profit. We now concentrate on limited editions and originals with fewer suppliers. We get better service from those suppliers we deal with, less reps to deal with, less chance of buying prints on impulse that are the following years sale stock and less carriage charges. The downside is we now have either very bad days or very good days. This month we have had the best ever Saturday business we have had in 20 years and also our worst ever Saturday - all in the space of 15 days! I am finding it quite frustrating and keep being tempted to go back to low price items just to boost the customer flow to stop us getting bored! Overall, the business is stronger but on a much lower customer base, so we wil persevere. The other upside is that customers tend not to complain about the frame price if the print they have bought has cost a few hundred pounds - when they had bought a £3 Mainstone print they used to complain about having to pay £10 for the frame. If our customers now want an open edition print our prices now include the full carriage charge, and if they don't like it they can buy off the internet.

[foxyframer]

We always make sure we order enough to get carriage paid; £100 - £150 is the general range. Very low, considering the rising cost of diesel. All those £8.50's or so can add up over the year and bite into the bottom line.

It's so easy to lose track of stock levels, pick up the phone at the drop of a hat without thinking first after an 'oh shit' moment.

Customers are generally happy with a week turnround; bit longer on some jobs. No one's gonna die because their frame wasn't made yesterday, and if they buy their prints off the internet Robin, it'll cost 'em top whack and they will have to wait way over a week.

Foxy

[Moglet]

Thanks for your replies thus far, people.

Another couple of questions: If a supplier is out of stock for (say) 2 of 10 mouldings on your order, what's the general rule in the UK vis-á-vis:

1. their preparedness to put the out-of-stock items on back-order?

2. carriage charges for delivery of back-orders?

[foxyframer]

Mogs

Most will put 'out of stock' items on back order.

No further carriage is paid on following back orders, no matter how small the amount. Some will phone and ask if you have anything else to add, but no pressure.

Foxy

[Roboframer]

Nielsen automatically put OOS itens on back order - but there is no minimum quantity required - it just goes on back order and comes later - this 'auto pilot' system has caused many problems - like I've chosen an alternative with the customer and then the un-required back order turns up. Carriage not an issue - van.

Arqadia have a minimum metre (18?) amount for back orders and that causes big problems. I want 12m of ref 123 456 000 - it's far more than I NEED but less than their minimum back order - so I wait until the date they have given me for the moulding to be in stock, to find it's still out of stock, probably due to other framers meeting the required back order quantity.

Simons don't do back orders - but if they did ...... (Carlsburg) .........

I thought - but actually they do - as per usual, if you ask. £100 will do it - I came close to testing that system but cancelled it in favour of a guaranteed delivery from A&T.

This season - apart from wearing no underpants - ('The Fast Show' fans - relate) I am mostly taking to asking customers to pick an alternative with some suppliers from Bedford.

[Moglet]

Thanks to all for your replies. The information has proved very useful!