Sameday steps it up
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TNT SAMEDAY, which uses National Express coaches for trunking, launched new rates last week which mean customers no longer have to pay for collection and delivery.
A basic rate in England and Wales of E5 a consignment is charged for the trunk haul. The cost with collection or delivery is £12.50 and for door-to-door £20. An additional £1 a kilo is added to all rates.
The rates are roughly comparable to British Rail's Red Star, against which Sameday is aimed. TNT expects growth to be similar to that of its Overnite service.
TNT will have around 50 offices in coach stations by this time next year, Sameday general manager Bill Chacksfield said. It has 24 now.
Red Star customers had to queue to wait for collection and delivery, he said. "We are absolutely determined these prob lems will not at TNT Sameday."
Sameday was started 18 months ago as a "high speed, free enterprise alternative to Red Star." Other carriers were moving into the next day market and TNT needed to have an even faster service, Mr Chacksfield said.
TNT has an exclusive national agreement with National Express, although London-based Marlaway also uses coaches for trunking parcels.
TNT started Sameday with National Express 18 months ago. Parcels are consolidated in large bags and loaded on to coach services by the driver,
OCCU
who receives El a bag bonus under a national agreement with the Transport and General Workers' Union. National Express handles getting on for 1,000 bags a week, according to parcels service manager David Lote.
The new service was working well for National Express and for its drivers. Mr Lote said he had known 20 bags to be carried on a coach.
Space would not be a problem. Modern coaches have ample luggage room but there are contingency plans for removing seats and putting in parcel cages if needed, Mr Lote said.
"There is more money in parcels than in passengers at the moment," he said.
Mr Lote claimed that there had been no claims for late delivery, loss or damgage since the service started. We're used to handling cases in full view of passengers and handled Sameday parcels with the same care, he said.
Scottish coach services are not included in Sameday at present. The Scottish Bus Group already has a busy parcels business, particularly in the north of Scotland.
• TNT now claims the number one spot in the parcels market apart from the Post Office.