The Courier Guy / Pudo - A Broken System and Frustrating Experience

Looking at the waybill numbers they seem to be pushing 100 000 pudo booking every day. That's easily R8 million in revenue per day.

They should have the funds to have done a better job with this migration.
 
AchmatK said:
Looking at the waybill numbers they seem to be pushing 100 000 pudo booking every day. That's easily R8 million in revenue per day.

They should have the funds to have done a better job with this migration.
Click to expand...
It's not about funds, they likely wanted to save some funds (read: provide for the execs' shiny new Mercs and bonuses) by going cheap cheap- I bet they used a contractor in India for this
 
AchmatK said:
Looking at the waybill numbers they seem to be pushing 100 000 pudo booking every day. That's easily R8 million in revenue per day.

They should have the funds to have done a better job with this migration.
Click to expand...
Do you really think they have enough lockers for 100,000 bookings each day, that's something like 10,000+ locker locations?
PaulMurkin said:
It's not about funds, they likely wanted to save some funds (read: provide for the execs' shiny new Mercs and bonuses) by going cheap cheap- I bet they used a contractor in India for this
Click to expand...
They have a full time dev team and I have interacted with them and this cock up is completely unsurprising, they are totally useless.
 
airborne said:
Do you really think they have enough lockers for 100,000 bookings each day, that's something like 10,000+ locker locations?
Click to expand...

TCG branches are also pudo lockers and limited only to the size of the kiosk and not number of lockers so they can handle more.

My first waybill on this new system on 1 September was 5231. The next one booked 4 minutes later was 5326. Last one I booked today was 1 216 738 so over 1.2 million waybills in 12 days on this new system.

Edit

Maybe they should look into randomised waybill number generation instead of just counting up for the next one.
 
AchmatK said:
TCG branches are also pudo lockers and limited only to the size of the kiosk and not number of lockers so they can handle more.

My first waybill on this new system on 1 September was 5231. The next one booked 4 minutes later was 5326. Last one I booked today was 1 216 738 so over 1.2 million waybills in 12 days on this new system.
Click to expand...
If what you say is true regarding the volume that is incredible, the logistics of handling all those parcels daily must be something else.
 
Using Pudo has been a good experience for the most part, but the last parcel I sent was a frustrating one. They mixed something up and it was delivered to the wrong person, probably deposited into the wrong locker. It took a few days of back and forth with support to get it delivered to the correct person. I had another parcel a while ago that got routed incorrectly initially, but that was also sorted out. I' a bit more hesitant to use their services now, especially since they don't have the option for insurance.
 
Last edited:
MrJacques said:
Using Pudo has been a good experience for the most part, but the last parcel I sent was a frustrating one. They mixed something up and it was delivered to the wrong person, probably deposited into the wrong locker. It took a few days of back and forth with support to get it delivered to the correct person. I had another parcel a while ago that got routed incorrectly initially, but that was also sorted out. I' a bit more hesitant to use their services now, especially since they don't have the option for insurance.
Click to expand...
No courier insurance covers used goods, which they all fail to mention, so unless you are only sending brand new items insurance is a waste of money.
 
So after their recent price increase notification sent out days before they take effect, I decided it's time to move to a better service.

Kiosks are now no longer considered locker drop off locations. Even with 4 locker locations within 8km from me they are full most times or the locker size I need is not available. This was not an issue for a kiosk as they didn't rely on physical lockers.

Prices for dropping off at the kiosk are now more expensive than dropping off at a locker.

Moved over to BobGo and prices on door to door is very good and sometimes cheaper than TCG kiosk to door. I also don't have to drive around with packages to various lockers all over the place here in the helderberg.

The Courier Guy is one of the listed courier providers on BobGo but their rates are always more expensive than Internet Express or Fast Way couriers.

I have requested a refund of my nearly R2k balance in my prepaid Pudo account. I'm sure many more small businesses will be moving away from pudo when they realise that there are better and cheaper alternatives available.
 
AchmatK said:
So after their recent price increase notification sent out days before they take effect, I decided it's time to move to a better service.

Kiosks are now no longer considered locker drop off locations. Even with 4 locker locations within 8km from me they are full most times or the locker size I need is not available. This was not an issue for a kiosk as they didn't rely on physical lockers.

Prices for dropping off at the kiosk are now more expensive than dropping off at a locker.

Moved over to BobGo and prices on door to door is very good and sometimes cheaper than TCG kiosk to door. I also don't have to drive around with packages to various lockers all over the place here in the helderberg.

The Courier Guy is one of the listed courier providers on BobGo but their rates are always more expensive than Internet Express or Fast Way couriers.

I have requested a refund of my nearly R2k balance in my prepaid Pudo account. I'm sure many more small businesses will be moving away from pudo when they realise that there are better and cheaper alternatives available.
Click to expand...

Yeah had 2 really bad experiences recently. One before the migration and one after. No thanks

Bye
 
AchmatK said:
So after their recent price increase notification sent out days before they take effect, I decided it's time to move to a better service.

Kiosks are now no longer considered locker drop off locations. Even with 4 locker locations within 8km from me they are full most times or the locker size I need is not available. This was not an issue for a kiosk as they didn't rely on physical lockers.

Prices for dropping off at the kiosk are now more expensive than dropping off at a locker.

Moved over to BobGo and prices on door to door is very good and sometimes cheaper than TCG kiosk to door. I also don't have to drive around with packages to various lockers all over the place here in the helderberg.

The Courier Guy is one of the listed courier providers on BobGo but their rates are always more expensive than Internet Express or Fast Way couriers.

I have requested a refund of my nearly R2k balance in my prepaid Pudo account. I'm sure many more small businesses will be moving away from pudo when they realise that there are better and cheaper alternatives available.
Click to expand...
Bob have also apparently recently introduced their own locker system and also PARGO which is a nice option if customers want to rather collect their shipments.

Faffing around waiting for an open locker is such a pita and waste of time, I don't know why Pudo don't introduce a system where you can pay for a locker and book it and then if none are open you get notified when it becomes available.

TCG got bought out by a Private Equity company at the beginning of the year so that explains the two price increases this year.
 
airborne said:
Bob have also apparently recently introduced their own locker system and also PARGO which is a nice option if customers want to rather collect their shipments.

Faffing around waiting for an open locker is such a pita and waste of time, I don't know why Pudo don't introduce a system where you can pay for a locker and book it and then if none are open you get notified when it becomes available.

TCG got bought out by a Private Equity company at the beginning of the year so that explains the two price increases this year.
Click to expand...
I saw the Pargo option and they plan to have more locker locations.

The shopify Integration is different to the way pudo does it.

Pudo uses and API and booking and fulfilment is done on the shopify website or app. With BobGo the order is pulled from shopify into their portal, including weights of items if I've set individual weights which I have done. This makes getting courier rates easier as the order weight is there. Order tracking is now also live on my website instead of on the courier website using either their order number or waybill number which I think is better.

www.beeinspired.co.za

Bee Inspired

Local raw honey, propolis and beeswax products
www.beeinspired.co.za www.beeinspired.co.za

I setup my BobGo account on Saturday and really impressed with their service so far. Screenshot_20241105_210310_Chrome.jpg
 
AchmatK said:
I saw the Pargo option and they plan to have more locker locations.

The shopify Integration is different to the way pudo does it.

Pudo uses and API and booking and fulfilment is done on the shopify website or app. With BobGo the order is pulled from shopify into their portal, including weights of items if I've set individual weights which I have done. This makes getting courier rates easier as the order weight is there. Order tracking is now also live on my website instead of on the courier website using either their order number or waybill number which I think is better.

www.beeinspired.co.za

Bee Inspired

Local raw honey, propolis and beeswax products
www.beeinspired.co.za www.beeinspired.co.za

I setup my BobGo account on Saturday and really impressed with their service so far. View attachment 1771011
Click to expand...
Nice, what are their rates like vs TCG?
TCG kiosk rates are sky high these days, they used to be dirt cheap.
 
airborne said:
Nice, what are their rates like vs TCG?
TCG kiosk rates are sky high these days, they used to be dirt cheap.
Click to expand...
I did see an article / click bait / blog post that the reason for the high prices and even higher prices coming is due to crime. So maybe it is just a matter of time before the others also increase their prices?
 
airborne said:
Nice, what are their rates like vs TCG?
TCG kiosk rates are sky high these days, they used to be dirt cheap.
Click to expand...
This is for 124kg delivery from Somerset West to Potchefstroom.

TCG is almost always the most expensive on BobGo of all their courier partners. Screenshot_20241106_082716_Chrome.jpgScreenshot_20241106_082742_Chrome.jpg
 
I love Pudo Locker and The Courier Guy.

Another parcel is arriving today

1730874864142.png
 
I lie, it is on Chrome on Courierguy website
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X