Whether you’re just starting out or your business is growing, when you have orders to send you’ll could be faced with the question of whether to have your orders collected or to drop them off yourself.
For many businesses it often comes to down convenience and cost. Both options can work for any size business and it can also come down to your location. But ultimately it’s a fine balance between what you’re willing to spend your money and time on.
What is Drop Off Delivery?
For both of these services the clue is in the name. However to avoid any confusion, drop off involves taking your packaged, often prepaid parcels, to your local depot or ServicePoint.
In almost all cases you’ll book your delivery online and during the checkout process, you select the Drop Off option. This then means you can take your parcel(s) to your depot or ServicePoint location in your own time and when you’re ready. But be sure to check opening times when you plan your visit so the depot or ServicePoint is actually open.
Why Choose Drop Off?
The biggest and possibly main reason you would choose drop off is the cost saving you’ll make. By making the trip or journey yourself you’ll save costs on your parcel delivery. Think about it from the courier’s perspective. They’ll have to allocate time and account for fuel costs by making a trip to your business. So if you only have one parcel to send that day it would be more cost effective to use a drop off service.
If however, you have hundreds of parcels a day, well then drop off might be a bit too much effort vs reward.
What is Parcel Collection?
Parcel collection means a courier will collect your parcels from your home or business. In general collection is more convenient, especially if you have lots of parcels going out at any one time or you are unable to visit a depot or ServicePoint.
A courier will come to your chosen address, on the day you choose and you’ll be given a 1 hour window. So there is no need to wait in all day either.
Why Choose Collection?
The great thing about parcel collection is the fact you can book your slot and get on with running your business or going about your day. It’s cost effective, convenient and saves you having to wait in any queues at the Post Office.
Your parcel will be collected and can be out for delivery the very next day. With the growing expectations of consumers, being able to offer a next day delivery can really help set your business apart from the competition whilst delivering your products to your customers quickly and reliably.
The Differences Between our Collection & Drop Services
Here at DHL eCommerce UK, we have a few different options when booking your parcel and below we’ve outlined what the main differences are so you can choose the most suitable one for you.
Collection – Our DHL eCommerce UK driver will collect your parcel from your home or work address. Select the day you’d like it collected and we send you a 1hr time window, no waiting around.
Depot drop off – If you’re close to one of our 50+ DHL eCommerce UK Depots you can take your parcel to the depot. By taking your parcels to the depot you’ll save money too, great for small businesses looking to keep costs down or one-off senders.
ServicePoint drop off – we have 3,500 DHL eCommerce UK ServicePoints up and down the UK and these shops are often open early and close later than our depots.
Fun Fact: 90% of the UK population live within 10 minutes of a DHL eCommerce UK ServicePoint.
When it comes to choosing the best option the main things to consider are the costs and the time it takes. If you save time by dropping the parcels off that’s great, but did it take you away from doing other important business related jobs? If you’re starting out you might only have one or two parcels a day or even a week, if that’s the case dropping them off would be a cost effective solution.
As your business and needs change it’s important to review your parcel delivery methods, taking 100+ parcels to a depot might save you some money but it’s not very practical. So be sure to consider this when you’re looking at the growth of the company and adapt your operations as the business continues to evolve.
Sending 100’s of parcels a week? Looking to reduce your costs and get a competitive rate on your parcel delivery? At DHL eCommerce UK we support businesses of all sizes offering competitive parcel delivery. Why not get in touch with us today to see how we could help.