Logistics news and updates

Bank Holiday: China

From October 1st to 7th, China celebrates "National Day Golden Week". Basically everyone is free from work, this week. Please take into account that transit times can be longer for both your incoming and outgoing shipments.

SHIPPING TO PO BOXES AND MAILBOXES

Please mind: not every carrier supports shipping to a PO Box or mailbox. Please provide the shipping label with the phone number of the receiver. This will reduce the risk of your package being delayed or returned.

LIMITED HOLIDAY SEASON SERVICE: PRINT YOUR SHIPMENT LABELS WITH SELECT COURIER

To help you save more time organising your holiday season shipment project, you can ask us to print your shipment labels. When ready, we will send the labels to you. If you want to know more about this service, you can contact our Customer Service: +31 (0)10 223 7006.

FOR YOUR SEASONAL SHIPMENTS: BULK UPLOAD

If you have lots of extra shipments during the holiday season, you can use our Bulk Upload function in your account. With Bulk Upload, you are able to arrange a large amount of shipments in one click. Download our sample file and add your bookings. When finished, upload the file in your account - our system will provide you with the best shipping solutions. 

PRE-SHIPPING SEASON NOTIFICATION

Lots op shipments during the festive season? Excellent. Our Bulk Upload function is going to save you an enormous amount of time. Of course, you can also contact us for your holiday season shipping projects. Feel free to contact us for a price indication.

QUESTIONS ABOUT SHIPMENT DOCUMENTATION?

sIf you have a question about what kind of shipment documentation is required for your shipment, we would like to recommend you the very useful European Market Access Database.

You can look op any information about your shipment, based on the destination of your shipment and the type of product you are about to ship. In addition, you can look op highly detailed information about shipment regulations, tariffs and other conditions concerning your consignment.

API UPDATE: DIRECT LABEL PRINTING WITH YOUR THERMAL ZEBRA PRINTER

New in our API: direct label printing with your Zebra Printer. You can print a label for one shipment or, just as easily, a whole batch in one time. If you want to know more about, please contact us. We gladly provide you with our API Manual. 

SELECT COURIER PRESENT AT DUTCH INNOVATION DAY

Select Courier is present at the Dutch Innovation Day, on which the SME Innovation Top 100 is announced. The event takes place on the first of October and is organized each year by the Dutch Chamber of Commerce. Innovation Day presents an overview of the most innovative companies at this moment. The innovative booking platform of Select Courier was nominated in the Top 100 in 2012.

REDUCING YOUR TRANSPORTATION COSTS WITH SELECT COURIER

In the second quarter of 2015, transport prices have increased with 10.4%. According to the Transport Market Monitor by Capgemini, prices have never been higher. Our customers, however, still save on their transportation costs. Through your personal account, you have free access to our all in-rates. Not signed up yet? You can sign up here – completely free of charge.

UPDATE CALAIS: STILL POTENTIAL DELIVERY DELAYS FOR YOUR SHIPMENTS TO AND FROM THE UK

At the time of writing, the problems in and around the tunnel to the UK are still potentially causing delays in the delivery of your shipments. In the meantime, the situation has also affected shipments done by air. Please take this into account when booking new shipments to the UK.

TAKING OR RECEIVING

Does the driver take or receive your shipments? The driver receives your shipments. This means that the sending party is responsible for proper packaging, documentation and the way in which the shipment is handed over to the driver. Our advice is to make sure the shipment is packaged securely. Also, check the documentation well before you give your shipment to the driver.

Please note: The Tax-ID

If you send your shipments to either business or residential customers in Brazil or Russia, provide a tax-ID (Taxpayer Identification Number) with your shipment. You should add the Tax-ID to the commercial invoice and the bill of lading.

This will speed up the handling of your shipment by customs. Also note the often high import duties that must be paid in both countries. Do you have questions about this? Please don’t hesitate to contact us.

How to prevent measurement and weight differences

Carriers measure your shipments using calibrated laser equipment. For example, if there is a piece of tape sticking out, measurement and weigh differences may occur. The consequence of this is that you may be confronted with additional costs. You can reduce this risk by accurately specifying the dimensions and weight of your shipment.

Pay your invoices online

From your Select Courier account, you can easily pay your invoices. Select Courier offers multiple payment solutions that you access from your invoices-overview. 

READY TO USE: OUR MAGENTO EXTENSION

We keep developing our smart API-solutions. Our latest addition is a Magento Extension, which enables your customers to access an enormous flexible range of delivery services. Want to know more? We have a manual available. If you have questions about the possibilities of our extension, please contact us.

POST NL SERVICE POINTS

By using your select courier account you can also make use of POST NL’s service points. After you have booked a shipment, the integrated Google Map shows which service points are near.

WANT TO BOOK THE SAME SHIPMENT AGAIN? REBOOK!

If you just organised a shipment that you want to book again without having to provide the shipment details all over again, you can use the rebook-function in your profile. This will save you a lot of time. Of course you can still completely edit the shipment details, if needed.

NEW SERVICE: DOOR-TO-AIRPORT FOR HEAVY SHIPMENTS

Planning to arrange some heavyweight shipments (+100 KG) to, for example, Australia, China, The United States or South America? Please let us know! We offer some new, attractive rates for heavy shipments to these and many other destinations. You can check our other services, too, of course.

CHINESE NEW YEAR

The second new moon after the winter solstice of 21 December is just around the corner. Meaning: Chinese New Year is approaching. This year, the year of the goat, the feast will take place on February 19th. Your eastbound shipments may take just a while longer to arrive.

SHIPPING BATTERIES? WATCH OUT!

Does your shipment contain batteries? Watch out! Due to new international aviation regulations, it is no longer possible to just send batteries. To improve safety conditions in the skies even more, IATA (the International Air Transport Association) established new, more stringent rules for shipping batteries. Without exaggerating, violation of these rules may result in the destruction of your shipment. What you should know: If you are sending batteries, please contact us. Always.

Also, read our expanded article on sending batteries.

Cybercriminals send track & trace emails to hijack computers

Customers of PostNL (Dutch Postal Delivery Company) and DHL paid ransom money after they received a new type of phishing email. In this mail customers get the message that one of the parcels had been dispatched but there was no one at home to receive it. Who via a link in the mail tries to track their package get infected with malware. 

The malware takes the computer of the victim, which makes it unusable. Then a message is send saying 400 euros in bitcoins is required. Cybercriminals use Bitcoins because of the built anonymity it’s difficult to trace.

 DHL started first Parcelcopter-Test

DHL is starting test flights with automatic drone copters on the German island of Juist. The fancy looking 'DHL parcelcopter 2.0' will drop medications and urgently needed goods at pinpointed times of day...

Select Courier launches new website!

Select Courier has launched it's new website and online delivery platform! With this new facelift and adding more and more functionalities Select Courier is future proof!