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

Another rate increase from TCG effective 20 November.

Might as well just remove them as one of their courier partners from the BobGo system. Screenshot_20241107_123146_Chrome.jpgScreenshot_20241107_123224_Chrome.jpg
 
I just noticed Pudo also got an increase from Nov 1, some of their prices have almost doubled in the space of under a year.

Current prices:
2024-11-12 09-49-40.png

Previous prices which was an increase on the launch prices done sometime earlier this year:

older Untitled picture.png


The Pudo Launch Prices:

Pudo lanuch prices Untitled picture.png
 
Last edited:
airborne said:
I just noticed Pudo also got an increase from Nov 1, some of their prices have almost doubled in the space of under a year.

Current prices:
View attachment 1773038

Previous prices which was an increase on the launch prices done sometime earlier this year:

View attachment 1773040


The Pudo Launch Prices:

View attachment 1773041
Click to expand...
From the drivers I've engaged with since moving to BobGo, a lot of small businesses are moving over to BobGo.

Pudo has already lost nearly R2k just from my deliveries now going to BobGo.

Local door to door at Under R65. Screenshot_20241112_103159_Chrome.jpgScreenshot_20241112_103300_Chrome.jpgScreenshot_20241112_103323_Chrome.jpg
 
I can see many businesses piling out of TCG, they used to be widely used for deliveries to the Takealot DCs by sellers but now they are a fair bit more than couriers like Collivery for the same thing so it’s a no brainer to drop them. Pudo is still good for locker to locker and hopefully more players join that market and PARGO allows end users to ship with their network. Bobgo is also building their own locker network.
 
airborne said:
I can see many businesses piling out of TCG, they used to be widely used for deliveries to the Takealot DCs by sellers but now they are a fair bit more than couriers like Collivery for the same thing so it’s a no brainer to drop them. Pudo is still good for locker to locker and hopefully more players join that market and PARGO allows end users to ship with their network. Bobgo is also building their own locker network.
Click to expand...
What made the difference for pudo was that the kiosk was treated as a locker and was the same price. Now drop off at a kiosk is 20% more expensive. For a small business with more than 5 locker to locker or locker to door deliveries, dropping off at the kiosk was quicker, and you don't have to worry about lockers being full all the time.

Now you either have to pay the extra 20% to be able to book the kiosk as the drop off locker. Or book lockers at multiple locker locations and drive around dropping them off as you often find that the lockers are full in the size you need.

My own courier fee model on my website is cross subsidised with free door to door deliveries on orders over R800. Delivery fees don't just include the cost of the courier company but packaging and boxes add up. A medium size box is over R20. All these small costs add up and a 20% increase by pudo for a service that mostly helped small business was to much.

For most people needing to send something every now and then, their locker to locker service is good value, just not suitable for small businesses.

This is the locker availability here on a good day.

Screenshot_20241112_121705_PUDO.jpg

This was my orders for yesterday. Everything collected instead of driving around or paying 20% extra to drop off at the local kiosk. I still have half a pallet of their boxes I need to work through as I ordered over 400 boxes from them a few months back.

20241111_134313.jpg
 
What's the best option for a small package overnight between Pretoria and Somerset West?
 
AchmatK said:
What made the difference for pudo was that the kiosk was treated as a locker and was the same price. Now drop off at a kiosk is 20% more expensive. For a small business with more than 5 locker to locker or locker to door deliveries, dropping off at the kiosk was quicker, and you don't have to worry about lockers being full all the time.

Now you either have to pay the extra 20% to be able to book the kiosk as the drop off locker. Or book lockers at multiple locker locations and drive around dropping them off as you often find that the lockers are full in the size you need.

My own courier fee model on my website is cross subsidised with free door to door deliveries on orders over R800. Delivery fees don't just include the cost of the courier company but packaging and boxes add up. A medium size box is over R20. All these small costs add up and a 20% increase by pudo for a service that mostly helped small business was to much.

For most people needing to send something every now and then, their locker to locker service is good value, just not suitable for small businesses.

This is the locker availability here on a good day.

View attachment 1773108

This was my orders for yesterday. Everything collected instead of driving around or paying 20% extra to drop off at the local kiosk. I still have half a pallet of their boxes I need to work through as I ordered over 400 boxes from them a few months back.

View attachment 1773109
Click to expand...
The waiting and checking for lockers to become available is Pudo's main drawback other than the price increases.
A lot of time wasted using their very poorly designed app/website trying to book and then rebook..

I wonder why they made Kiosks more expensive to use I would have thought they would push for more Kiosk use because it frees up the lockers?
 
Speedster said:
What's the best option for a small package overnight between Pretoria and Somerset West?
Click to expand...
Not many of the couriers guarantee overnight delivery even if you pay for it but Pudo to Pudo are surprisingly quick, often it is overnight or 2 days even over fairly long distances.
 
Pudo lockers are the best thing since sliced toast. Centurion to Richards Bay R69 Locker to Locker. This has to be the fastest and cheapest way to send parcels.


Screenshot 2024-11-21 155959.png

Screenshot 2024-11-21 160323.png
 
cavedog said:
Pudo lockers are the best thing since sliced toast. Centurion to Richards Bay R69 Locker to Locker. This has to be the fastest and cheapest way to send parcels.


View attachment 1775516

View attachment 1775517
Click to expand...
I sent locker to locker for R49 (the small size) from PTA to Somerset West last week. It arrived in three days. I was pleasantly impressed
 
Is Pudo currently not operational?
I get the warning below when opening their website, I'm not keen to take a chance and get stuck in their mess ups like last time when they "upgraded" the website.

"Locker Maintenance in Progress
We are currently performing maintenance to enhance our lockers. Our team is working diligently to ensure everything is running smoothly as soon as possible.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we make these improvements."
 
airborne said:
Is Pudo currently not operational?
I get the warning below when opening their website, I'm not keen to take a chance and get stuck in their mess ups like last time when they "upgraded" the website.

"Locker Maintenance in Progress
We are currently performing maintenance to enhance our lockers. Our team is working diligently to ensure everything is running smoothly as soon as possible.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we make these improvements."
Click to expand...

9fq4g9.jpg
 
airborne said:
Is Pudo currently not operational?
I get the warning below when opening their website, I'm not keen to take a chance and get stuck in their mess ups like last time when they "upgraded" the website.

"Locker Maintenance in Progress
We are currently performing maintenance to enhance our lockers. Our team is working diligently to ensure everything is running smoothly as soon as possible.
Thank you for your patience and understanding as we make these improvements."
Click to expand...
Hopefully they noticed all the complaints are working on improving their system and service.
 
It's hard to beat the price and convenience of Puddo, I've never had any lost parcels but their website and app are pretty annoying to use.
 
Speedster said:
Yup. They've got lockers 200m from my front gate.

Edit: app seems fine on my side
Click to expand...
It seems fine but that message is ominous considering it’s Pudo, the last time they fkd things up some people got really burnt.
 
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