Today, the demand for sending parcels has increased significantly, because this type of service is needed both for online stores, and in order to send cultural and household items to your family or friends, and in order to send original documents on paper and electronic media to business partners. But in many cases the question arises: is it possible to send a parcel at the expense of the recipient? And the answer to it is constantly accompanied by an ambiguous understanding of postal consumers.

Is it possible to send at the expense of the recipient and how to do it

You should immediately note that it will not be possible to simply send a parcel at the recipient’s expense by Russian Post, which is quite logical. After all, if the recipient does not come to pick up the parcel, who will then reimburse the postal service’s delivery costs? - In any case, you will need to pay for the shipment.

Many people believe that it is possible to send a parcel at the recipient’s expense using the so-called “cash on delivery”, and then the postal services will be fully paid by the receiving party. But this is not entirely true, because in this case we are talking about paying for the investment. To process cash on delivery, the shipment is registered and must be registered with the declared value; when sending such a parcel, the sender documents the postal service to collect the specified value of the investment from the recipient and send this money to the sender's address. The amount that will be received as cash on delivery should not be higher than the declared value of the investment itself. Also, for reverse money transfer services for this type of shipment, the recipient of the parcel will have to pay (which is also recommended to be warned about), this amount will be 5% of its cost.

Having considered the features of shipments and payments for postal services, the conclusion about how to send a parcel by mail at the expense of the recipient in the simplest possible way suggests itself: it is most rational to increase the amount of direct cash on delivery by the amount required to pay for postal services. You can find out more precisely how much postal services will cost at the post office (at the same time when paying and adjust the required payment amount) or take preliminary prices and add them to the cost.

An important fact that the sender must take into account

When planning to send a parcel at the recipient’s expense using the “cash on delivery” option, you should not forget the fact that it may not be picked up at the post office. Do not forget that the recipient is not obliged to do this (after all, he can simply change his mind, for example, if he ordered a product in an online store). In this case, the parcel will be automatically sent back to the sender after a month, who will have to pay for postal services, including the costs of storing it (and these are additional costs).

The check received when sending the parcel must be kept until the moment when the recipient has received the shipment and the funds have been transferred for it.

Payment for services can be distributed between participants in contractual relations, while the cost of one service cannot be divided between several payers.

Example No. 1

In the PEK company, the client ordered the transportation of cargo from a branch in Moscow to a branch in Saratov, as well as delivery of cargo to the consignee’s address in Saratov. Payment option: the shipper pays for the “Transportation” service, the consignee pays for the “Cargo Delivery” service, or vice versa. A third party may also pay for all specified services.

Example No. 2

In the PEK company, the client ordered the transportation of cargo from a branch in Moscow to a branch in Saratov. He did not order any more services. Payment for the “Transportation” service can only be made by one person: either the shipper, or the consignee, or a third party.

WHEN can I pay?

Payment for services can be made at any time convenient for the client:

• upon self-delivery of cargo at the PEC branch;
• during cargo transportation;
• upon receipt of cargo at the PEC branch;
• during targeted delivery of cargo to the recipient.

Note!
Delivery of cargo is carried out only after full payment for the ordered services. In the case of payment for services by bank transfer, the fact of payment is considered to be the transfer of funds to the carrier’s bank account.

How can I pay

Payment for the services of the PEC company is made in rubles.

• by bank transfer;
• cash payment (limit on the amount of 100,000 rubles in accordance with the legislation of the Russian Federation);
• by bank card at PEC branches;
• by offset when using the “Cash on Delivery” service.

Special conditions for legal entities

Advance payment

For clients with whom the PEC company has signed a contract for transport and forwarding services, an advance payment scheme is also available. This payment method allows you to transfer funds to the bank account of the PEK company in advance, which is convenient for constant and long-term cooperation. After each service is provided, the corresponding amount is debited from the client’s account, calculated strictly according to the company’s tariffs.

Payment deferment

In special cases, an additional agreement on deferred payment is signed to the freight forwarding service agreement. This opportunity is considered individually for corporate clients providing consistently large volumes of cargo transportation.

Download forms

Limitations when paying for services

When providing the “Cargo Pickup” service Payment in cash through the PEC driver is not accepted, since the final cost of services is determined after weighing and measuring the cargo when it is received at the PEC branch.

If when ordering the “Cargo Delivery” service If the client has chosen the “Cash” form of payment, then payment for all services provided, including the “Transportation” service (and obtain all the necessary documents), can be made directly to the “PEC” driver upon receipt of the cargo. Payment can be made provided that the consignee was initially declared as the payer for the services. Payment to the driver by credit card is not possible.

Payment terms for international shipments

When organizing cargo transportation outside the Russian Federation, other terms of payment for services apply.
Check out

The volume of online purchases is showing stable growth. More than 30% of our country’s working population regularly places orders in online stores. Over the past three years, the number of online shoppers has grown 2.5 times. Moreover, this growth is happening mainly due to residents of the regions and young people, who are among the most active users
e-commerce. Among the most popular categories of goods purchased online are household appliances and electronics (more than 40%), clothing and shoes (15%), auto parts and household goods (10% each).

How does the product reach the delivery service?

After the customer has made all the required clicks, information about the order is sent to the online store’s database. The customer service manager must contact the buyer, confirm the purchase and send a request for order completion and delivery to the logistics company.

Large stores often outsource logistics functions - with a large flow of orders, this is much more profitable than keeping even small warehouses in the regions.

How not to bring a chair instead of shoes

After the application has been received by the logistics company, it is processed by managers and transferred to the warehouse. Its employees select packaging depending on the delivery method and the nature of the investment, complete the shipment, pack it, draw up accompanying documents, stick labels and transfer the order for delivery. This is a very important stage, since it determines whether the buyer will receive what he ordered.

The girl refused to swim in a vest, called the store where had to fix it
mistake at your own expense

Once, for example, a girl ordered a sports swimsuit from a well-known and very expensive Moscow store. The manager called, checked the price, and the customer confirmed everything. We agreed on the arrival date of the courier. At the appointed time, the courier arrived and brought her a vest. The girl refused to swim in the vest and called the store, which had to correct the mistake at its own expense. In the end, the client was satisfied, but where the first copy of the swimsuit was “lost” remained a mystery.

The reason for such cases, as a rule, is a mistake by the store manager in the nomenclature when transferring the order for picking. There may also be a warehouse error. Therefore, monitoring the compliance of the article numbers on the product and in the accompanying documents is a very important component when completing an order. If, due to an error, the buyer receives something completely different from what he ordered, the store has to incur significant expenses. In addition to the cost of delivery of the mixed up product, you have to pay for re-assembling, packaging, processing and re-delivery of the order. And to maintain customer loyalty, it is worth putting an additional small gift in the package.

How is the order sent?

The online store, in the case of self-pickup of orders, transfers the packaged shipment to the transport company. If necessary, the transport company additionally packs it and prepares accompanying documents. After this, the order is finally sent on its way.

At this stage, many errors can occur - from a failure in the IT system of one of the parties, which results in confusion in addresses, to errors in the data provided by the online store, which complicates delivery.

It is very important for buyers to be careful when filling out address information when placing an order: an error in even one digit can result in your order being sent to a completely different location. For example, there are two cities of Blagoveshchensk - in the Amur region and in Bashkiria. And if the buyer did not indicate the postcode, and the online store did not check it, the parcel may end up in a completely different region of Russia.

What do parcels travel on?

The choice of the type of transport by which the order will travel depends on the target cost and target transportation time (logistics is aimed at minimizing the cost, and the commercial service is aimed at reducing time). Most often, goods are transported over a distance of up to 500 kilometers by car; over 500 kilometers, it is more expedient to transport by rail or air.

By the way, ground transport also has its own restrictions on the duration of movement; on average, this is no more than 500 kilometers per day for each type of transport. Plus, at least two days should be allocated for additional processing of the shipment.

At the same time, the distance has almost no effect on the condition of the goods at the end of the journey. It is important here how many overloads and intermediaries there will be, as well as what their competence is. You can deliver a damaged shipment within the Moscow region, or you can bring the order intact to Vladivostok.

Who pays for shipping

As a rule, online stores are divided into two camps: those who take on all the costs of order delivery themselves and those who shift these functions to the recipient. In the first case, the store guarantees free delivery of the order (usually if the order amount exceeds a certain minimum) and chooses the delivery channel itself. In the second case, the online store offers the recipient to choose a courier company from several options, depending on the expected delivery time and cost.

However, there are also companies that offer a single delivery rate, which is paid by the recipient, and the difference between this rate and the rate of the courier company, if any, is reimbursed at their own expense.

What's happening at the post office

After going through the highway and sorting, the shipment arrives at the post office and waits for the recipient to redeem it. However, it happens that it can lie for a very long time, since the recipient, for example, did not receive a notification.

And it happens that the customer, while waiting for the parcel, changed his mind and simply did not go to the post office to redeem it. No one will judge him for this, and this happens often. Online shopping is often emotional and momentary. And after a few days there is already a risk that the person will “burn out.”

Online shopping is often emotional and momentary. After a few days there is already a risk that the person will “burn out”

When we deliver orders, we try to competently build a dialogue with the customer of the online store, and the number of items that were refused to be purchased is reduced. In 2014, the percentage of returns for all shipments passing through us did not exceed 6.78%.

In the case when the goods are delivered by courier service, difficulties may also occur. Starting from the complex process of agreeing on the time and delivery address to privacy issues. For example, when making purchases in intimate goods stores, many customers are not ready to receive a courier in their office and prefer to pick up the goods “on the street.” With one of our clients, we have developed an entire order delivery system that guarantees the confidentiality of the purchase and reduces possible awkward situations to a minimum - from special packaging to instructions for call center operators and couriers.

How to return an order

If you refuse to purchase, the story does not end for the online store and the transport company that carried out the delivery. You need to take the product back and return it to the online store. And the online store needs to disassemble it, place it in storage and pay double the delivery rate, without earning a penny from it.

Some online stores even use the opportunity to return unsuitable goods as one of the ways to attract customers. But each return incurs additional processing costs. Depending on the product category, both the buyer himself and the online store may pay for this.

In the case of unredeemed shipments, the costs most often fall on the store. He will have to pay for delivery to the place of residence of the intended buyer (100% of the delivery rate), return delivery of the goods - (from 50 to 100% of the rate, depending on the operator), disassembly of the shipment and placement of goods for storage (the cost depends on the fulfillment operator or costs of maintaining your own warehouse). In addition to delivery, the online store has already paid for the advertising that brought the buyer to it. Perhaps he will pay fines to the supplier if the goods are returned to him. Sometimes, after long transportation, a product needs to be assessed for its suitability for further sale, and this costs an expert, a lawyer and other specialists who will deal with complaints with the transport company and the supplier.

Returning goods to an online store is one of the biggest problems in Russian e-commerce, since for most online stores these costs eat up up to 80% of the profit. According to our data, reducing the number of return shipments by 3-5% increases revenue by 20-30%. If online stores begin to work effectively with customers and logistics operators at the last stage of delivery, then many of those who are now on the brink of survival will be able to save their business.

When using the services of a courier company for the first time, many clients do not know how much to expect. It often turns out that the required amount of money is simply not at hand. Modern courier companies are ready to provide their customers with maximum comfort, therefore they offer a wide variety of payment methods. Unfortunately, this does not apply to small delivery services, since most of them prefer to pay in cash to the courier upon receipt of the parcel.

Why might the delivery fee increase?

The order amount is always calculated by the dispatcher of the courier company when inspecting the parcel. Factors taken into account include:

• type of parcel;
• shape of the load.

By weight, postal items are divided into standard, heavy, oversized and non-standard. The higher the weight, the higher the shipping cost. Delivery time is also taken into account. If the parcel needs to be delivered urgently, then the price for courier services will be higher. Some companies increase delivery costs by one and a half to two times.

Based on these parameters, the dispatcher will be able to name the exact cost of the shipment, and you will only have to choose the method by which you can pay the performers.

What are the payment methods for courier services?

Before contacting a courier organization, you need to clearly understand what options are available for paying for courier services. There are several ways:

• cash;
• cashless payments;
• transfer of funds using an electronic wallet.

Cash payment is one of the most popular payment methods. Anyone who has used the services of couriers at least once is familiar with it. When registering a parcel, the company calculates its cost and announces it to the client. They pay it at the branch’s cash desk or hand over the amount of money directly to the courier. In the second case, you must sign the form for receiving the parcel or registering the shipment.

Cashless payment is the second most popular payment method. As a rule, the client does not always have the required amount on hand, and it is much easier for him to pay with a bank card. Almost every delivery service accepts MasterCard or Visa. However, this method has one drawback - you must warn the courier company employee in advance that you want to use a plastic card. This will allow the courier to prepare and take the mobile terminal with him. Otherwise, you will not be able to use a plastic card.

The third most popular method is to pay for parcels using electronic wallets. The low popularity of wallets is explained by the following factors:

• Not every person today is familiar with the concept of electronic money;
• Not every courier company offers to pay for your parcel using an online wallet.

This method is very popular among people who constantly shop in online stores. Large courier companies also focus on more modern clients, so they are ready to offer them to pay for the services of their employees using electronic wallets.

If you carefully read each method of depositing funds for the services of a courier company, you will have the opportunity to choose the most optimal option. Also, you will not find yourself in an awkward situation, for example, forgetting to warn the dispatcher that the courier needs to take a mobile terminal with him, which will allow you to use a credit card or savings card.

What additional payment methods do some courier companies provide to their customers?

As organizations constantly evolve, some companies allow their customers to use additional payment methods. These include:

• payment for courier services by the addressee;
• non-cash payment for delivery by a legal entity.

The first option is in demand among people who themselves want to pay for the cargo sent to them. This means that the recipient will be able to guarantee the delivery service to independently pay for the parcel, thereby completely freeing the sender from the financial costs.

Cashless payment is convenient for entrepreneurs. An employee of the courier company issues an invoice to the client's organization, after which a certain amount must be transferred to the service provider within a strictly specified time.

Such options are not provided by every courier company. As a rule, they can be used in large organizations, since small enterprises prefer to limit themselves to depositing cash or provide the opportunity to use a bank card.