Pigeon Tracker

[Guest j.bamling]

Having used Pigeon Tracker yesterday to bring a bird up from South Wales to Co/durham

it arrived early at 10.30 am in very good condition a nice clean van ,all brand new boxes etc i would fully reccomend anybody wanting birds picked up to give Pigeon Tracker a go !!!

Thanks Pigeon Tracker

Jimmy

[peterpau]

Yes I would agree whole heartedly. I think they must have picked mine up from Teeside and dropped them back in Rugby on the same trip. Don't use 'em if you can't be botherd to wait up though. Mine were collected wednesday am and delivered to Rugby at 10.45 pm same day. Excellent service thanks.

[Guest]

very pleased with service provided by pigeon tracker,booked birds from south wales to central scotland on monday.birds picked up 6pm tuesday delivered to me at 3pm wednesday,spot on the time i was told to expect them.thanks pigeon tracker!

[PigeonTracker]

Thanks for the kind words from each.     Same day delivery or delivery within 24 hours isn't a guarantee and really does depend on whether the customer can stay up, as Peter rightly said, or perhap get up early to receive the birds, and or whether traffic is good, the birds are on direct routes and so on, the list goes on...   I can't see how any company can guarantee 24 hour delivery?  What if the bird had to be picked up from the depths of Cornwall to the tip of Scotland?   I'm struggling to come to terms with how this can be done?

 

Going to write a bit of an article on this issue later today as I feel strongly about the situation the courier and the fancier are left in now Amtrak are gone, need to point out the good and bad points from their demize.

[Guest strapper]

Thanks for the kind words from each.     Same day delivery or delivery within 24 hours isn't a guarantee and really does depend on whether the customer can stay up, as Peter rightly said, or perhap get up early to receive the birds, and or whether traffic is good, the birds are on direct routes and so on, the list goes on...   I can't see how any company can guarantee 24 hour delivery?  What if the bird had to be picked up from the depths of Cornwall to the tip of Scotland?   I'm struggling to come to terms with how this can be done?

 

Going to write a bit of an article on this issue later today as I feel strongly about the situation the courier and the fancier are left in now Amtrak are gone, need to point out the good and bad points from their demize.

 

look forward to reading it later jamie m8 lol

uve always been a good service for me. imo

 

 

[Guest]

What if the bird had to be picked up from the depths of Cornwall to the tip of Scotland?   I'm struggling to come to terms with how this can be done?

 

And you will struggle, NOT reasonably possible. Some people cant even get their birds from half that distance in a day, and that's flying in a straight line, with no traffic problems up there. We are all going to have to learn to be a bit more patient.

[PigeonTracker]

 

And you will struggle, NOT reasonably possible. Some people cant even get their birds from half that distance in a day, and that's flying in a straight line, with no traffic problems up there. We are all going to have to learn to be a bit more patient.

 

Your absolutely right Bob, but I wonder how people aren't seeing this fact?   :-/   I got embroiled in a semi heated debate with a customer down in Wales this morning who complained that the bird had been in the box for '27 hours'.  Thats after a 500 mile round trip to and from Yorkshire and then bringing it back down and having to deliver in a daytime hour (9-5).  (All for just £30, it costs £50 in fuel to do that mileage, let alone time and effort, wear and tear etc etc...)  Its made me seriously question why on earth I'm putting myself and my team under such ridiculous pressures and being subjected to such abuse, not even sure I want to put myself through it any more being honest.  

 

I know for a fact that I'm not going to be able do 24 hour delivery in squeaker season and don't know if anyone is going to be able to being truthful, maybe its time to reflect on my situation as I am never one to make false promise and maybe the demands that are going to be put on us by people wanting thier babies within 24 hours is going to be too much to take.

 

Jimmy White had it right when we first met when he told me that people won't be happy until they've harrassed and bullied the couriers away and left with nothing but the bus or train to get thier birds.  

 

Decisions decisions, decisions.....   :-/

 

 

[ChrisMaidment08]

come on now mate you know as well as i do once system is in place things run smoothly the problem is is to get drivers and even if you get them the money aint worth it me i would have set days set areas and thats it if birds have to be held then they do the only way anyone could hope to run bussness like youer trying is purely by sticking to youer guns on days and deliverys to do other wise it  we did it for years and thats why we wont now contracts are the way to gos ruin  setting up network is not easy as you have found cos peaple have to trust company they sign to this is the hard part   if you have peaple all round country that will pick and deliver great but then its the price let me tell you now amtrac used to pay 3quid a bird to couiers the rest whent to themand their perant company you are never going to get anyone to work for that as to youngbirds you nor anyone else has hope in hell of next day deliverywhth sad but true  you aint doing to bad on delivery times but its going to catch up and then the problems start  can it be solved yep by hard work and investment

[PigeonTracker]

Lots of good points Chris, and I know your in this field so will understand what I'm saying, the problem isn't getting drivers, its getting drivers who are willing or able to handle what goes with the territory of pigeon carrying.   A multi-drop driver for shops or dirty goods like catalogue items are ten a penny and coming out of my ears, getting drivers who know about pigeons and the fickle nature of the fancier is a different ball-game entirely.   You can't leave a pigeon in a bin or with the neighbour like you can with catalogue goods, you soon find out your neighbour develops a sudden allergy to feathers when you try that one.

 

Top point you make on the networking part of it...   Creating a network isn't always easy I agree there with you 100% but one thing for the pigeon world is  that for the strays at least, we've got lots of fanciers more than happy to take in the birds and be a focal point for pickups, just like you've done with your stray center.   We managed the last two months of racing/stray season last year so had time to get to know quite a few and it was surprising how many actually volunteered as opposed to being asked, most of these happened to be women fanciers or wives of fanciers who feed and water while hubby at work type of thing.

 

We've got lots of breeders that have stuck by us loyally but you wonder how long the honeymoon period is going to last when they realize that even with the best will in the world you aren't going to get the squeakers out as fast as their customer demands.  I even had Kieth from louellas tell me it was 'Law' to make sure the birds were delivered within 24 hours which I know for a fact is a load of nonsense, as long as the birds, young or old are looked after and its within a 48 to 72 hour window there should be no problems, the less hours for the babies though the better, but I know you'll agree on that one.

 

Again, your spot on with delivery times, but the busier it gets the easier it is to keep it going, quiet times mean more distance between drops means less drops/pickups per van you can take on leading to less chance of covering your costs let alone making profit.   The plus side to busy times is drops can be blocked in areas and its then when it gets easier.   Couriers working together in a properly networked fashion is the only way this can be achieved though because as it is now with X number of couriers taking work from here there or anywhere its making hard work for everyone and people are getting let down as a result.

 

The main problem, and I'm going to try and work on this, is the splinter effect caused by so many couriers coming along with limited ability.   We're all going to build our own customer bases and if we look after them then alls' rosy in the garden for that particular set of customers, but unfortunately that's in an ideal world and this isn't an ideal world.  The problem is that not one of us, me included, has the capacity to cover all corners of the UK without struggling or turning work down.   I just got passed the Elimar's list of what's not been done due backlog, there is not a courier on this planet other than a major established dirty goods carrier that is going to be able to this so its down to me to pass all the work around the couriers out there and hope that we can work together as one to cater for this.   Besides, its inevitable that Defra are going to come down hard on dirty goods and the transport of pigeons as a way of saying, "...if you care so much about your birds that you want something done about the hawks situation then why do you put them in danger when your getting them transported by people who haven't got a clue how to look after them..."

 

Eggs in one basket comes to mind with the larger contracts such as Louella's and its a certain kiss of death taking them on unless your a major player who has 100's of vans and carry dirty goods at the same time.  How many have they gone through since Amtrak's demize now? Three or four I think have all gone belly up, so a network is clearly the only way forward, or at least in my humble opinion it is.  

 

The thing is Chris, the problem is the demands being put on the couriers, and it matters not one bit how many vans you have, two or twenty two, if you can't fill them with birds going to the one area your vans are useless, because that's the only way ever to run at either break even or a small profit.   Every courier out there barring none is going to 'cherry pick' and do what's best for them if they can and its that fact which might just be able to save us all provided this cherry picking is done in an orchestrated fashion.

 

I told Les from Elimar just yesterday that we probably wouldn't be able do what even a small concern like his wants without using other couriers because of the geography of the customer so my plan is to at least try and get all the couriers to put their heads together and work together on the solving the problems we all face.  If I fail then at least I can bow out knowing I've tried.

[ChrisMaidment08]

and dispite our differances i wish you the best because as you know i aint intrested in being part of couiers services  for birdsmind you if tesco folds i might do ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[PigeonTracker]

and dispite our differances i wish you the best because as you know i aint intrested in being part of couiers services  for birdsmind you if tesco folds i might do ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Let's hope Tesco's keep going then heh!      ;D

 

 

[ChrisMaidment08]

oh they will   and the banks wont close so vans will be working and im to old to start new vetuge now ;)

[ChrisMaidment08]

must have forgotton to take youer pills last night mate