Courier Shipping in Romania

I’ve had some issues with mailing an envelope by courier in Romania and I look at the alternatives to the market leader.

Varianta în limba română pe FaṭăCarte Meta Zamolxis.

• FanCourier, the market leader, had some issues.
• There is significant competition with varying offers, mostly better.

I have been sending some envelopes by courier for a while now in Romania with COD (cash on delivery). Most people don’t know of anyone else other than FanCourier, so I used them and the cost was typically around 20 RON (less than 4 EUR).

I created an account with them but I hit a problem: my street address started with “Strada” so, given that this word was also on their form and that I had to enter the postal code as well, I assumed that it’s not necessary to enter the actual word “Strada” (street), as that is implied and added by their system. After a number of delays and incorrect explanations from them, it became apparent that my delivery pick up requests were defaulting to “Soseaua”, a completely different address. I had to go into my account and add the word “Strada” to my address.

Then, around the winter holidays, an envelope was delivered after more than a week since I had created the AWB (at self-awb.ro) due to a combination of holidays and misfirings. The person who was supposed to get it declined it, and FanCourier had the audacity to ask me to get it back and pay for it, even though I specifically stated that I don’t want it.

Furthermore, though I send COD, I keep an eye on the cost estimate, and after NYE it seems to have jumped to almost 30 RON, which is a 50% increase.

Time to look for another company!

Surprisingly, there’s quite a few online comparison / calculators and I link them all below.

Rather than taking screenshots on my laptop, I took photos with my smartphone b/c I get free storage. Again, it’s a comparison of the cost of sending an envelope between two neighbouring counties in Romania; the distance is about 80km, a train ticket being 18 RON.

Those that don’t force you to print your label: Cargus – 17.07, dpd 19.98, FC 20.63, GLS 27.59 and they have 6.9, 3.27, 4.48 and 6.8 respectively the fee for collecting money (ramburs) on your behalf. If you can and are willing to print out your label, FedEx has the best offer at 14.6, followed by Posta Romana Prioripost at 15.25 (+4.36) which is quite remarkable!

Does “ramburs” mean COD or collecting extra money? Not sure. I’ll update when I clarify.

*(*This article is unfinished – it was scheduled to appear in the hope that it will be finished before, but since this message is here and until it is removed, the article is to be considered work in progress*)*.

Sources / More info: c-o, smsh, eclt, eawb, ti, amblr, clte, rdt-cmb, ecmpd

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