Parcel delivery in the UK is becoming an increasingly precarious. Royal Mail strikes are occurring more frequently, and horror stories of packages going missing regularly appear online. However, other options are available to the UK public and businesses looking for a parcel delivery service. Parcel delivery need not be a gamble, and there are some major benefits to using a courier service or a parcel delivery service.

Firstly, using a courier service can save you valuable time. You can order your parcel delivery online, pay for it and choose your timescale for pick-up and delivery of the parcel. A representative from the service will pick up your package, take it for delivery and it will be at its destination in the given time frame, which obviously depends on the size of the package. This eliminates several stages of standard delivery services, such as driving to a depot or post office and then sorting out weighing and payment. The process of simply completing the order online or over the phone is far more time efficient.

Courier services are generally reliable - without this, they wouldn’t have a business model. You can track the majority of your orders online and always have the back-up of calling the courier provider, citing your reference number and they will tell you where exactly your delivery is up to.

You will often find that using a courier service is comparable in price to using standard delivery, particularly for medium sized items. Whilst a package with standard delivery using Royal Mail can be priced on weight, it is more likely that a courier service will price it on size. So for bulky, light parcels, a courier service could even be less expensive.

The use of a courier service can be incredibly efficient. If cost, reliability and time are compared, overall a courier service will come out on top. So, with Royal Mail struggling to meet customer satisfaction, do private courier services have the edge at the moment in the parcel delivery market? This is something that time will only tell.

At the moment, the options for selecting a courier service are numerous. For short distances, bicycle couriers are the trend. For longer distances in the UK, van train and air courier services are all options. Which mode is used will depend on the speed you require the delivery of your package. For pan-European and International delivery, obviously air delivery is used.