The last few months have been quite trying regarding postage of films sold. For a start, the prices have clearly gone up, and gone up a lot.
There are now quite a number of courier's i will never use, top of the list is myHermes, what i would ike to say about this cowboy company would get me kicked off here, so that should give you an idea, Yodel, pretty much the same and DPD. I dont know about the other two as its been a very long time since i used them, but Hermes decided to cut all human contact off so no one can speak to them on the phone or live on line. As someone recently said to me, these are cheap for a reason.
So my recent ale was for a parcel measuring around 30cm x 30cm x 4cm and weighing 1.2KG, which comes under the 1-2kg category. The cost for UK mainland with UPS insured to cover the £40 value is £8.39. When i advertised this i put the postage as £8 which once listed looked a bit high i thought, clearly i was almost spot on.
The problem with all of this now is who do you trust these days with your films in the courier services? For now, i am using parcels2go which was recommended to me some years ago when i sent my projectors for repairs and servicing. But £8 for two 600ft spools?? I think listing films from mid November to end of December is the biggest risk for obvious reasons, but if courier companies have to employ monkeys who dont give a dam, then what chance has the customer got? Take a look at this,

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaqb5TRX...annel=DailyMail
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUZKfIIG...channel=AlRakki

These are just tow of hundred's, and not just Hermes, but these are the worst and i wish i viewed these a year or two ago.

I guess at the end of the day, if you buy cheap, you get cheap, so from here on it does mean my postage charges will have to go up but then people will only bid if they accept the charges. Its all very well offering free postage but with these charges that then becomes a question of whether its worth the hassle at all.

Tom,

As I told you I only ever use Royal Mail (the minimum signed for in the U.K.) and UPS for anything really heavy (Projectors etc.), and I've had (touching Wood now!) relatively few problems, the prices may be a little hire with these companies, but you do get assurances and help if needed, and I would say 99.99% of parcels arrive at destination!

Thanks Barry, today i did use UPS so i know it'l be fine. When i sent a 16mm print to Thailand before Christmas i also used UPS but for some reason it got 50 miles up the road to the Exeter depot and then the paperwork got messed up at their end. I thought i was going to lose it but fortunately a fellow collector and friend did assure me they would sort it and to be fair, they did so for now il stick with ups and RM.
While i know many use global shipping for sending overseas, i used it for the first time after eBay parted company with PayPal and they lost it. They told me it wouldn't due to technical problems they were having then, two months later it turned up at the customers in Spain. The hassle i went through to get eBay to pay me back has made sure i wont be using that service again unless i am buying.
I surely cant be the only person on here to have postal problems.

I've not sold anything for a while so I'm a bit out of touch with postage but I have used Parcel2go without any issues, I tend to use Royal Mail 99% of the time, I think it's Russian roulette with postal companies as you get caught at some point and I have in the past, it's a bit like buying films, a few good ones come along but it's only a matter of time before the crap comes.

Talking of sending films out, I'll get the trailer sorted soon Tom, I'll be in touch for your address, keeping on topic, hope it gets there OK and isn't crap either!! Ha Ha Mark

Thanks Mark, please let me know cost etc, as long as myhermes is out of the picture i think things will be fine.

Regarding the costs, and just to keep things in perspective as we seem to see so many different variations in postal costs. I recently posted off two 200ft spools, 2nd class recorded royal mail and 1 400ft super 8 in a hard plastic case. All three were well wrapped and in padded jiffy bags, the 400ft was in a thin, but well padded jiffy, then, in a larger one for extra protection. The two 200s were posted within the UK and were £3.23 each. The 400ft was sent to the states, tracked via Royal mail was £20.85. While we can all go online and put in the size and weight, these three do give a good indication off price for these size spools and films on 8mm. My only problem is that normally, when sending abroad i pack my films in well padded boxes which then become parcels rather than small or large letters so the prices go sky way quite a lot.
I will keep feeding back actual costs on this thread as and when i post