Shiply founder appears on BBC Working Lunch

After being crowned UK Young Entrepreneur of the year, our founder Robert Matthams was invited as guest of the day on BBC's Working Lunch.

We thought you might be interested in seeing Robert in his first TV appearance so the video is below. Hope you will enjoy it!

Shiply founder crowned Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year

Robert Matthams, founder of Shiply.com last night received the annual Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Shell Chairman James Smith handing over the award to Robert Matthams

This award offers entrepreneurs aged between 16 and 30 within the first 18 months of trading the opportunity to stand out from the crowd and receive a cash injection of £10,000 for their business. Ahead of 8 very strong finalists, Robert Matthams was selected as young entrepreneur of the year.

‘It has been very tough’, Robert confessed when he announced the news to us here in Shiply HQ. ‘All other finalists were so talented with brilliant business ideas. I really thought that this was going to be tight.’

As always, let us share the good news with you, our valued members and thank you all very much as without you, we would never have achieved this.

Firefighter turned postie to challenge Royal Mail

While Britain is facing the postal strikes, one man is doing his best to get the mail through on time.

Ken Holder, 39, spends 12 hours a day cycling about 80km (50 miles) through Plymouth delivering up to 300 letters. Mr. Holder, as the only full time employee of City Cycle Couriers, which he set up after leaving his job in the Fire Service, has to collect, sort and deliver every letter himself.

Ken Holder and his postal bike

He bough the license from Postcomm for £50 in March and as far as he knows, he is the only one-man business to do so. Mr Holder charges 32p for next day delivery service (7p less than Royal Mail first class stamp). So far he has got 15 regular local business customers and since the postal strike was announced, the inquiries have rocketed.

Mr. Holder said: ''Inquiries have certainly grown in recent weeks as more and more companies were becoming concerned. I have had a few smaller businesses start using us in the last week and I'm hoping that we will be able to pick up a few more larger businesses on the back of this.''

When being suggested to buy a van, he resisted: ''A large part of the attraction for customers is that it is just me and my bike and is as environmentally friendly as possible.''

Searches for alternative couriers to Royal Mail dramatically increase

As the latest talks between Royal Mail's management and the Communication Workers Union to stop the nationwide 24 hour strike planned for Thursday and Friday did not produce any positive resolution, the fear of a real national strike has been widely spread throughout the United Kingdom.

This is most clearly shown by the fact that there have been more and more people searching for alternative couriers as a backup should Royal Mail fail/delay post. The UK's number one search engine, Google, has seen a staggering increase of 46% in the number of searches for the phrase ''courier'' over the past 4 weeks.

The funniest signs on the road

Some of you may not seen have any of these before (like us), some might have seen one or two but the point is they are utterly funny so have a good laugh!

£345 for an 8 minute loo stop

Michael Hobby, a lorry driver probably had to pay the highest toilet fee ever when he parked at the parking areas alongside the BP fuel station in Trinity Avenue, Felixstowe.

Totally frustrated trucker Michael and his lorry

Michael, 62, who had used the lorry park many times in the past, could not believe his ears when he was told there were new restriction rules at the park and he had to pay the registration fee (£300 plus VAT) to get his truck back.

Mr. Hobby, of Chepstow Road, Felixstowe said: ''I couldn't believe it - my tacho showed I had been there eight minutes''

Other dirvers were also frustrated at the new rules and have started a petition.

The company managing the parking area said the changes have been brought in to prevent lorries parking for days at a time. Drivers are still able to park for free, as long as they park at the bays and register at the shop when they arrive.

We were all shocked when we heard the news. Imagine how many extra hours Michael will have to work to earn back the fee he had to pay just for eight minutes parking! Take care, there are sharks out there!

When trucks can dance

Most people think about trucks as huge, powerful and noisy machines...

But this video will make many of us change our minds. Hey, trucks can be elegant too!

Have a great weekend everybody!

Transport provider turns a truck pink for daughter's birthday

Normally, if we see a truck on the road, it can come in different sorts of colour: black, white, red, yellow, blue, green, mixed etc. but very rarely in pink!

So it must be special if a truck is in pink and in this case it is indeed very special. To express his love for his daughter Isabelle on her birthday, argicultural haulage driver Edward Robinson has ordered a brand new pink cab just to make her happy.

Isabelle must have been the happiest girl on her second birthday whilst other little girls might get a doll or a puppy for their birthdays, Isabelle's special present was a huge Mercedes Actros tractor unit bearing her name and painted in her favourite colour pastel pink.

Edward and happy daddy's princess Isebelle besides her birthday present

Whilst Edward is now a heroic father in Isebelle's eyes, he seems to consider the birthday present as very normal:

He said: “I was pleased with the price and the product looks very good. And of course Isabelle absolutely loves it.”

What a great father he is! We hope Edward is doing well with his haulage business and makes Isebelle even happier in her birthdays to come.

Another reason for Royal Mail postal delays

We have just found out that industrial action was not the only thing which caused Royal Mail delays. It seems that being a postman is not a boring job as people say.

Hope you enjoy this and have a great weekend.

Listing made easier with suggested categories

Here's another feature to make your life even easier when listing a shipment on Shiply.

Previously, the first step when you listed a shipment was to select a category for your items.

The previous listing layout

From lots of feedback and testing we understand that sometimes it can be a bit difficult to find the correct category for your goods. So, we have developed a new tool which suggests a category for you. Much easifer and faster, we hope!

The new listing layout with Find a category feature

So far with our intensive testing the feature has worked great. However, if you think there needs to be some improvements to make it better, do send us feedback!

Have a great weekend.

New feature: minimum bids

We have introduced a significant new feature to help transport providers when bidding on shipments. Our new automatic bidding system makes bidding convenient so you don't have to keep coming back to re-bid every time a competitor places a new lower bid.

How Does It Work?

1) When you place a bid, you can now set the minimum bid amount you are willing to go to. The user and other transport providers do not know your minimum bid, this is hidden.

2) If your current bid price is beaten by a competitor Shiply will automatically place a new bid for you which is based on the new current low bid. Shiply will bid only as much as is necessary to beat this new current bid, but without exceeding your set minimum bid.

3) If another transport provider places a bid which is below your minimum set bid, we'll notify you via email so you can place a new one if you so wish. Your minimum bid is kept completely confidential until it is beaten by another transport provider.

Helpful Tips, Notes & Call for Feedback

For your future reference, your own minimum bid price will be listed under the Bid Details section of your bid on each shipment page. Importantly, this is viewable only by you and is hidden from all other Shiply users and transport providers.

We hope this new feature will really help with reducing the time requred to manage your Shiply account on a day-to-day business, reducing the need manually re-adjust bids on an hourly or daily basis. If, however you would prefer not to use this feature, this is not a problem, it is an optional field, so please feel free to simply leave it blank!

So, more time on the road, with nice full vehicles and less time in front of the screen we hope! As always, do let us know your feedback, either in the comments below or the feedback tab.

Sneezing while driving, how dangerous could it be?

After reading the news about a lorry driver found guilty of causing another motorist's death by dangerous driving after he sneezed, we started looking to find out how dangerous it could be if you sneezed while driving.

Some interesting facts about sneezing:

• Sneezing can be triggered through sudden exposure to bright light, a particularly full stomach, or viral infection.
• People sneeze on average 3 times a day.
  
• People sneeze at a stratospheric speed of 650 mph - roughly 85% the speed of sound!
• In some Eastern Asia countries such as Japan and Vietnam, it is a cultural belief that if you sneeze, it means somebody is talking behind your back.

Sneezing in slow motion

Coming back our main discussion, while sneezing in general is not a dangerous activity (well it can be a fiasco in some rare cases like sneezing on a wedding altar), sneezing while driving can be fatal. According to a research commissioned by a car insurance company, sneezing fits cause about 2 million incidents of dangerous driving on UK roads.

And it's not just the drivers who need to worry about sneezing, in-car passengers were found to contribute to an estimated 670,000 incidents, with sudden sneezing distracting those behind the wheel.

Sneezing while driving can be very dangerous

Imagine how a person sneezes and you will sure understand why it is so dangerous when drivers sneeze while on the road. Let's say if you sneeze while driving at 70mph (a normal speed on UK motorways), it means travelling almost 300ft with your eyes closed, which can potentially lead to a fatal accident.

To reduce the chance of sneezing while driving, these are the top tips you can use:

• Wear wrap-around sunglasses or glasses when driving.
  
• If possible, avoid going out in the early evening when the pollen count is usually at its highest.
• Regularly check your vehicle's ventilation system to ensure a clean air flow.
• Vacuum your car frequently, especially in summer months and clean all surfaces with a damp cloth to reduce the amount of dust.
• Don't travel pets in the car as exposure to allergens such as animal hairs can exacerbate sneezing.
  

Have you ever sneezed while driving? Do you have any tips to share with others? We are sure everybody will be very interested to know.

Watch out for cows stealing trucks!

When you park your truck or your car on the road, please keep a careful eye on the cows, especially the oxes as they might be very interested in stealing your vehicle.

Hope you will enjoy the video and have a great weekend!

Royal Mail strike could turn your Christmas presents into New Year gifts

Or worse? We still don't know as the result of the ballot on a national strike which Royal Mail's Communication and Workers Union (CWU) proposing is due next week.

However, what we know, is if this strike goes ahead (either in the last ten days of October or early November), there will be severe delays in Royal Mail's Christmas post. At the moment, many people and businesses are thinking about sending Christmas postings now to make sure they arrive on time.

Taking into account the information CWU claimed that up to 25 million items of post in London alone were getting delayed in posting, it has been advised that it might be worthwhile to consider alternatives when sending your Christmas gifts.

Royal Mail's depots can't even shut their doors as mails mountain up

According to the latest update from Royal Mail, members of CWU are taking industrial action at Glasgow G13-14 office today (5th October), affecting deliveries in those postcode areas. Peterborough and Bristol are following later this week while on Friday and Saturday (9th and 10th October), staff at most units in London will be taking industrial action, affecting the collection, processing and delivery services across most of the capital.

We bet you are thinking whether you should send your Christmas presents right now after reading this blog. Well, Royal Mail says that delays for mails are expected to be about 3 - 4 days compared to normal schedule but for larger items you probably expect more. So let's say it depends on your luck as your Christmas gifts might arrive too soon (too merry for Halloween), at the right time (well done) or too late (not so bad, a New Year gift).

Motorcycle Transport Tips? Not so sure....