No they don’t. If they’re genuinely LQ – contained in closed boxes with LQ markings – then they’re outside the scope of ADR.
Whether your insurer agrees that they’re not hazardous maybe another matter.
Posted under Hazardous Goods - ADR, Insurance for Couriers
Posted by Alec at 1:09 pm, March 19, 2007
If you’ve got 10 vehicles or more (including cars) you can register for the fleet scheme. You get charged automatically every time a vehicle registered on the scheme enters the zone. The charge is reduced from £8 to £7 per day BUT there’s a £10 admin charge per vehicle per year and you have to make a pre-payment of 2 months anticipated charges. Fleet Scheme Brochure http://www.cclondon.com/downloads/FleetSchemeBrochure.pdf
Posted under Tolls, Charges & Fines
Posted by Alec at 11:41 am, March 17, 2007
www.carbonite.com
- daily continuous backup of last file version – about £30ish pa for unlimited storage.
www.sosonlinebackup.com – scheduled or continuous backup of just about everything. I ran the trial and then bought the lowest level service and it gave me 50GB storage for <$5/month – should have been $90/month according to their rates.
I’ve got both services running now as well as a daily manual backup of vital files to our own webspace.
Posted under IT & Technology
Posted by Alec at 12:16 pm, March 14, 2007
I’ve a vague idea of a scam that goes like this – the bank have up to 6 months to reverse fraudulant transactions – so someone pays you by BACS – you refund the money to the bank details that you’re supplied with and then 5 months later the bank reverses the original fraudulant transaction. Advise your bank of the mistake and ask them to reverse the transaction and refund any charges. Do it in writing, get proof of posting and keep a copy of the letter.
Posted under Courier Financial Issues, Courier Scams
Posted by Alec at 7:23 pm, March 12, 2007
Martin – AIUI the RJ ‘matching system’ notifies you of jobs in a ‘corridor’ that widens depending on how far from home you are. It’s not anywhere near perfect but it’s a vast improvement on what it was like not so long ago.
Al*** – believe it or not people aren’t only interested in jobs that will take them towards home – which is why you’ve got a ‘Go Anywhere Option’ on the RJ entry screen. What did you think that was for? Today I’ve had someone from Weston-Super-Mare who was dropping in Cardiff do a job for me from South Wales to Heathrow, someone from Ipswich dropping in Luton do a job for me from Harrow to Heathrow, Someone from South Wales dropping in Basildon do an Ilford to Clapham, Someone from Windsor dropping in Wiltshire do a Somerset to Southend, I could go on. Quite often ‘Network’ isn’t used in quite the way you may believe.
Posted under Courier and Freight Exchanges
Posted by Alec at 4:14 pm, March 9, 2007
Chris, have you just sent the invoice through the courier ’Network’ system or have you posted it to them with a hard copy POD as well?
There’s apparently very few of us that accept an invoice sent through the ‘Network’ system – you really need to ask at the time whether it’s acceptable or just assume that it isn’t. Ring them tomorrow to confirm that they’ve received your invoice and that it’s been processed for payment. If it hasn’t then ask if they will accept a faxed invoice and POD and send it to them straight away.
Strictly speaking you could now impose a £40 late payment charge on them but you’d be better to try and get them to pay up quickly without that.
Thanks to Mark & Paul for your comments – and for being there when we need you.
Posted under Courier Basics, Late Payment
Posted by Alec at 9:29 pm, March 8, 2007
Why is it relevant to anyone whether another member has the correct Motor or Employers’ Liability insurance?
Personally I think that knowing the actual legal entity behind a business is far more important than knowing they’ve insured themselves.
Posted under Insurance for Couriers, Legal Issues, Uncategorized
Posted by Alec at 4:09 pm, March 8, 2007
Printing them on your invoices is a bit of a waste of time really Warren. They’re unenforceable unless you can prove that they were made available to the customer before the contract was formed. It’ll help if there’s a problem with subsequent jobs but it achieves nothing on the first job you do for someone.
For the first job you’re best to email the customer an agreement form, including your Terms & Conditions and your payment terms, and have them sign it and fax it back to you.
Posted under Courier Basics, Legal Issues
Posted by Alec at 5:11 pm, March 7, 2007