Couriers for semen

AndyPandy

AndyPandy

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Just been let down by Royal Mail with a shipment of chilled semen going to Wales... Special Delivery before 9am... "delayed somewhere in our network".

Luckily, this stallion's semen has a great lifespan when chilled. Unluckily, I don't think the mare will wait until tomorrow, when the semen will allegedly be delivered.

Who do you guys use to transport your semen? Have you had similar problems with Royal Mail? Keeping in mind that this is probably only about the 50th chilled shipment I've done so far this year, that's a 2% non delivery rate!

Any suggestions?
grin.gif
 
Good luck trying to persue RM...bloody useless at times. We run a mail order company and unfortunatly have to write off about 3-4% of packages as either not delivered or returned to us. You should see the state some of them come back in. I think they play football with them.

None of the phone lines go to the right place, they won't give out numbers and are generally useless. Unfortunatly our company is very small so using a different postal company isn't an option
 
When I used TNT for importing from Holland, both deliveries were very late and one had been sat on the dashboard of the delivery car all day on the hottest day of the year and was useless. They also give no refund for lateness of problems.
 
I run a mail order & wholesale business so courier companies are the bane of my life, especially nearer xmas when agency drivers seem to go on a nicking spree.

The bad news is that royal mail seem to be the most reliable! Do you use the consequential loss option for extra compensation? I know people have had success claiming wasted vet trips etc. using this.

Otherwise, the courier companies we have found most reliable are business post in the UK & Interlink Express for European shipments. However, unless you are sending out a lot with them, they may be more expensive than royal mail & offer a lot less insurance than the special delivery services unless you pay extra. Feel free to PM me if you get some quotes & I'll let you know if they are trying to take the P!
 
Now although I don't work with semen, I do work with a lot of vital human lab samples that get shipped around europe ambient/chilled and frozen and by far the best courier I have had the pleasure of dealing with is a company called Marken.

Avoid TNT like the plague.
 
I know alot of people don't think much of TNT but I all I can say is that they haven't let us down at all. Our local depot even put our semen deliveries at the top of the delivery order so that they don't sit around in the van all day while the driver does other drops -can't ask for anymore than that, can you?
 
We also use TNT for sending out our semen. More expensive than royal mail but pretty good service most of the time and you can specify delivery time.
When we have had a problem they have been very helpful and refunded any transport costs.
You can buy subcription notes - as few as 10 at a time.
Although they can be expensive for same day service but will always try to match the cheapest courier quote we get.
Always make the telephone operators laugh when you tell them it's stallion semen!!
 
It's a question of TNT being the best of a bad lot.

There are two ways with couriers. It either goes perfectly or horribly, there is no middle ground.

The biggest contributing issue is in fact clients who don't put in the order until after 10am (11am central European time). That immediately puts pressure on the system.

Mare owners need to get their vets under control and get mare scanned by 9am.
 
Luckily it was insured, so I will be claiming for consequential loss for my time & services, the mare owner's time and the vet's fees.

Very true, Ken. I get a huge number of "we need semen by 9am tomorrow" during the early afternoon... not helpful. The stallions I collect from aren't at a collection centre - they're in training at various yards all over the country; so it means I have to rocket across the countryside, collect, pack and ship it in a real hurry.

For the price, I don't think RM provide a bad service; but it's interesting to hear people's opinions on other couriers.
 
We have always used business post and have never had any probs, we always collect at around 3pm and post from the local PO they often stay open later for us if they know we are on our way but running late, fab service. Value for money at around £14 be it to Cornwall or Northern Ireland.... The courrier services seem to have a much higher percentage rate of excuses and a much higher rate of failed deliveries..... be it national or overseas.
 
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