Did anyone ever use Red Star Parcels?

[Electerrific 14]

My uncle was telling me about how awful this parcel rail service - now part of UPS- was back in the day. A bit ''heavy-handed'' were the parcel staff, apparently?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Star_Parcels

 

He said that it was often the byword for broken precious goods, which you'd try to avoid sending by Red Star if possible, but which his boss insisted on using to transport delicate and expensive Computer disk checking equipment in the 80's. Oops.

[corkyballs 10]

I used to deal with an international supplier of heavy plant equipment who were able to send spares via Red Star for any rush jobs we had. How they managed to damage some of the items that were usually found on heavy quarry plant was mind boggling !

[Blackbeard 10]

I used them quite a lot when I was working at the university, it was before the likes of Securicor started their next day courier service and urgently required film and equipment was sent by this service. I have to admit that I would personally meet the train at the station and collect the parcels, saved a lot of hassle.

[mikeG 16]

I worked for EDP - a computer bureau on Solly St. in 1969. We produced printed output for several companies scattered around the country. We used red star and had no problems as we never had to send anything breakable.

[hillsbro 32]

... I would personally meet the train at the station and collect the parcels, saved a lot of hassle.

Well, I tried... In August 1973 I was a messenger at the branch of the Midland Bank that is now the "Banker's Draft" pub (definitely a change for the better.). The manager sent me to the station to collect a parcel of important stuff that was arriving from London on a train due at 3-45 pm. I arrived at the station just after 4 o'clock and asked about the parcel. One of the two men in the parcels office said "The train arrived on time - we are just waiting for the porter to bring the parcels in from the platform". I never did see anything of a porter in the hour that I waited (that's no exaggeration - I stood there for a solid hour). It is perhaps worth mentioning that the train had arrived on Platform 1, and so the parcel was on a trolley about 30 yards from where Mr Red Star and his sidekick were sitting. After about 20 minutes Mr Red Star said to his colleague "This is where the system breaks down" and his pal agreed, but neither did anything about it. I kept asking them about the porter but got nowhere. At 5 p.m. Mr Red Star finally got off his backside and fetched the parcel. As I signed for it I said "If it isn't a silly question, couldn't you have fetched the parcel in from the platform an hour ago". His reply was predictable "It's not my job".

 

So it had taken 2½ hours for the parcel to get from London to Sheffield, and 1 hour to get from Platform 1 to the parcels office

 

Needless to say the bank manager, Brian Goldthorpe (ex-Wath-on-Dearne) wasn't very pleased - the Midland Bank had been paying me for the hour that I stood and waited. Brian fired off a letter to the British Rail area manager, and he got an apologetic reply. But the area manager, the bank manager and I were only too aware of one basic truth. If they had told parcel clerks to act as porters, they would all have been out on strike and the NUR would have backed them up.

 

Thank goodness it couldn't happen now.

[beechnut 10]

I had similar experiences to Hillsbro in the late 1970s. The parcels travelled quickly around the country, but whether you were sending or receiving parcels it was the dozy, couldn't-care-less staff at the stations that were the problem. Fortunately, station staff are more customer-friendly nowadays.

[andrejuan 10]

I was only thinking the other day, what a pity we don't have Red Star these days !!!!

After reading the threads I wonder if my memory is playing tricks on me?

 

My recollections are of a brilliant service where I could ring someone in London and say "it's on the train pick it up at 3.30" or whenever.

 

Parcels came to me in much the same way, I don't remember what the charges were, but is there anything like it nowadays at any cost?

[Banker 10]

Hi andrejuan. I also found the Red Star parcel service to be very good, though there was the odd occasion when a delay occurred. I never had to wait an hour as hillsboro did, but it did occur to me that the staff were sometimes inflexible - job demarcation etc. I don't know if there is a similar service nowadays; I have given up using Royal Mail for parcels as they charge the earth. I use Parcel2Go.com and so far I haven't had a bad experience with their overnight or 48-hour services.

[Alsancak 10]

Red Star.....that brings back memories of stood in the parcel office at Midland station,....you had to take a packed lunch when yo went there....terrible service.

 

Must say though we have probably gone through most of the carriers of today and they are all as bad as each other

[Electerrific 14]

Must say though we have probably gone through most of the carriers of today and they are all as bad as each other

What, even Myhermes?

[truman 10]

My uncle was telling me about how awful this parcel rail service - now part of UPS- was back in the day. A bit ''heavy-handed'' were the parcel staff, apparently?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Star_Parcels

 

He said that it was often the byword for broken precious goods, which you'd try to avoid sending by Red Star if possible, but which his boss insisted on using to transport delicate and expensive Computer disk checking equipment in the 80's. Oops.

 

We used to use them about 25 years ago..we used to write "Delicate Items...please throw underarm" on the parcels....

[medusa 16]

I know someone who sent themselves as a Red Star parcel as part of a rag competition one year to see who could get the furthest away from Sheffield on the lowest money.

 

She survived it with only a few bruises too