Sending parcels this Christmas? Don't panic, help is at hand!

• Friday, 27 November 2009

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Sending parcels this Christmas? Don’t panic – help is at hand!

Top ten Christmas packing tips from SendingParcels.com (www.sendingparcels.com)

Sending parcels at Christmas is a potential nightmare – do you queue up in the Post Office with armfuls of packets, or go online and have to take the day off work while you wait for the courier to collect? Now, happily, there is another way. SendingParcels.com combines the speed, convenience and nice prices you’d expect from an online service with the ease of being able to drop off your parcel at a time to suit you, at more than 100 dedicated UK locations staffed by experts who are there to help.

It’s a service that is proving highly popular in the run-up to Christmas, says SendingParcels.com customer solutions executive, Emily Phillips: “In these days of postal disruptions, and with the recession impacting on our ability to travel to friends and family this Christmas, people are looking for the best way to send their parcels. Our customers love the speed and convenience of booking and paying online, and being able to drop off their parcel when it suits them is the icing on the cake.”

Here are Emily’s top ten tips for packing your parcels safely:

• Pack your items securely within the box to prevent them moving while in transit. This is the single biggest cause of damage to contents.

• Don’t overload your boxes. Stick to a maximum of 30kg per box.

• Seal heavy boxes with a fabric tape rather than brown tape for maximum strength.

• Balance the weight within the box – an unevenly packed box is more likely to suffer damage due to instability.

• Allow at least two inches of packing around breakable or fragile items. Use polystyrene ‘peanuts’ and bubble wrap.

• Use a big enough box to allow space for internal packaging, which will better protect your items. As weight and/or value increase, move from ‘single wall’ to ‘double wall’ cartons.

• If you are sending several items to the same address, spread out any valuable items amongst the packages, instead of putting all of them in the same carton.

• Place some cardboard under the final seal of each box, to protect items in case a knife is used to open the package.

• Seal the edges, too. This adds stability and reduces the risk of snagging and tampering.

• Write the address clearly on the box - labels are fine but can come unstuck. Protect any labels by using clear tape. Include your own full address both on and inside the carton in case of returns.

Finally, remember the last date for sending your parcels to UK destinations at the Post Office is 18 December 2009. For last-minute parcels to all UK and worldwide destinations, go to www.sendingparcels.com or call 01608 649238.

ENDS

For media enquiries, expert comment or spokespersons, call Emily Phillips at SendingParcels.com on 01608 649238 or email emily@sendingparcels.com.

Photography

Photography of a woman balancing armfuls of Christmas parcels is available – please contact Emily if you would like us to email it to you.

Information for editors

SendingParcels.com - send it your way

SendingParcels.com is an online parcel delivery service with many years’ experience in the parcel carrying industry. A privately owned organisation, SendingParcels.com works with the major international couriers, UPS, FedEx and Parcelforce Worldwide, to offer customers the best delivery solution at the most economic cost – pretty much anywhere in the world.

SendingParcels.com is unique because it offers a network of more than 100 dedicated UK locations where customers can drop off their packages, staffed by experts who are there to help - there’s no need to wait at home for collection.
Online needn’t mean impersonal. Unlike some other discount delivery websites, SendingParcels.com backs up its fast, convenient service with excellent customer care. SendingParcels.com aims to make the online experience as straightforward as possible – customers are not overwhelmed with choice because the right service for each consignment will be selected on their behalf every time, with top-name, reliable carriers. Plus, if they have any questions during the booking or payment process, there’s a real, live person at the end of the phone.

SendingParcels.com is perfect for busy working people, small businesses, home workers, eBay sellers and purchasers, students, ex-pats, tourists or anyone wanting a quick, easy online delivery experience backed up with personal service and a unique drop-off facility.

This press release was distributed via Response Source, a service from Daryl Willcox Publishing, on behalf of Albany Communications. For more information visit http://www.dwpub.com/pressreleasewires