Avoid >>> Parcel2go.com UK Ltd = Landmark Global

[boywundyrx]

For some items or size of parcel, couriers are a more cost-effective way of exporting items than the mail service (or also in the U.K. Parcelforce) especially when using a broker such as Parcel2go or Parcelhero. Which couriers not to use becomes a matter of experience. Once a parcel goes over 2kg for international packages, a sender is forced to use a courier if the parcel cannot be split into smaller ones. 

There are quirks. For example, Royal Mail hands tracked or signed mail to the EU to its EU delivery arm GLS, which in Germany I find cannot reliably deliver a parcel. It’s a courier and therefore outside the normal German postal system, can’t use Packstation addresses (PO boxes), and most recently lost three parcels from me (two of which were actually returned months later with labels covering the return address so the boxes had to be opened to find an address on the invoice). So now I don’t use tracked or signed mail to Germany so that everything goes via Bundespost. I guess that’s another “don’t use a courier” argument, except that it’s sold as a postal service and I suspect a number of senders don’t realise this. GLS seems to function OK in my experience elsewhere in the EU.

In the U.K. I won’t use Yodel or My Hermes unless a customer gets good service from their particular drivers. Mine here on the Island have proved reliable. I did for a while offer a cheap My Hermes option for delivery but only one person ever opted for it.  Nowadays, they’re the desperate measures considered in the event of a postal strike.

For me it is handy knowing about Landmark Global. I’d never come across it before, and now I’ve seen the TrustPilot reviews and read about the experience here, I’d not use it.

From a Canadian recipient's perspective, and I think this applies to the US, the chief difference between post and courier is that with post we *might* get hit by customs (really the application of our national tax), plus a $10 handling fee.  The "might" part varies, it seems to depend on the value listed but is otherwise just random.  Sometimes it seems like 10% of my parcels get hit with it, other times 30-40%.

With a courier though, we *always* get hit by customs, and the handling ("brokerage") fee is variable but always more than the $10 we'd get hit with by Canada Post/customs.  And it's out of scale to the work done, from UPS I'd expect about $20-30 as the brokerage fee (which is also taxable as a service), Landmark seems even more.

So in the end, regular post, with "signed for" if needed, is reliable enough and without mysterious end user costs.  It's a gamble with customs, but it's better than always getting held for ransom by a courier service.

Chris

[WitchfinderGeneral]

For example, Royal Mail hands tracked or signed mail to the EU to its EU delivery arm GLS, which in Germany I find cannot reliably deliver a parcel.

Yes, GLS in Germany sucks. But not much more than most other couriers (DPD, Hermes).
Do you know since when it is that way? I'm sure I received RM tracked & signed by Deutsche Post DHL in the past, I was surprised when my package last week was handed over by GLS. Especially since the non-tracked packages are still delivered by DHL, this seems odd.