Parcelforce Worldwide score a gnome run

Parcelforce Worldwide takes top honours in secret research conducted by leading financial services provider. 

Last year, J.P. Morgan Cazenove, a prominent financial services institution, secretly put six leading parcel delivery networks* to the test. The package? A garden gnome – to be sent from Bournemouth to London. And, when the dust had settled, Parcelforce Worldwide had taken top honours with an overall ‘flawless performance!’

What was the challenge?

In February 2015, J.P. Morgan Cazenove decided to put the UK consumer and SME parcel market to the test – looking at the differences in the levels of service, price variations and customer support between six of the leading parcel delivery networks.

To do this, the providers were tasked with delivering garden gnomes from Bournemouth to London; next day parcel services were excluded from the experiment, so each provider was given a two-to-five-day delivery service option. Four of the six traveling gnomes made it to London in one piece – tragically, two of the gnomes became missing in action (and, at time of going to press, were still unaccounted for).

Based on the results, Parcelforce Worldwide came out as the overall and doorstep winner, picking up the parcel within our guaranteed five-hour collection window and delivering it to its final destination within 24 hours – surpassing our 48-hour, money-back-guaranteed delivery promise.

What’s more, J.P. Morgan Cazenove stated that our drivers were more professional than those of our competitors, and that we offered excellent customer service. The report also showed we were the only carrier to offer guaranteed delivery within 48 hours, while the competitors indicated a 48-hour window, with the aim of delivery within two-to-three days.

Customer support and pricing

Our track and trace service was also commended as having the clearest data (alongside Yodel), with five separate notifications to keep our customers informed every step of the way. Both Hermes and Yodel were found to have the most detailed track and trace services, each offering nine interval notifications throughout the journey. However, Hermes did not give any indication of the physical locations along the route.

There’s also a distinction to be made between the pricing of the doorstep pick-up services and the drop-off services, with doorstep services being up to three times more expensive than drop-off. While Parcelforce were the most expensive of the doorstep providers, we were found to have a faster service, more professional drivers, and excellent customer service.

^{*Carrier companies tested: Drop off: Royal Mail, Hermes Parcelshop, Collect+. Collection: Yodel, Hermes Courier Services, Yodel Direct}