We’re getting stuck in on a Monday as the suns out! Do make sure you’ve got tea or coffee in hand as its a bit of an update on prices and invoices however this has been emailed to all existing clients in more depth today too

The living wage has increased in november 2019 from £9 to £9.30. We will be adjusting our prices ready to go live on december the 2nd 2019 and these will be our prices across 2020 until next november when the living wage is reviewed again.

 

We’re extremely proud to be an accredited living wage company in Oxford and continue to provide a cleaner, greener and more sustainable delivery option for Oxford’s future which you;ve all helped us to build over the years

 

Price changes for december and going into 2020

 

We’ve emailed these adjustments across by email to all existing business clients and for each service they will effect.

 

We are set to launch our quote bar for quest users shortly for individuals rather than business’s and also our national and international next day parcel services very soon too!

 

Invoices have changed

You may have noticed our invoice template has changed in October. It has been generated and sent from our courier software last month. Many clients requested better transparency and visibility on invoices so we’ve been working hard to solve these and very excited to say we we have some great solutions to unveil today.

 

• All invoices will be itemised and generated by our courier software platform instadispatch
• All invoices will be visible on the online portal and easily payable online at anytime, you can see historical invoices and the full account owed via the “Client zone” in the top right corner of our website.
• Our bank details and late payment fee details are included on the invoices from next month too and we have fixed the online payment system too (stripe)
• You can also view proof of delivery, status of any jobs booked and many more features with our online portal – its still in beta testing and has certainly had a few bugs but its getting better every day with the feedback we’ve had from clients so far. If you don’t know your login details please email us at Pedal & Post and we can send these over to you.

 

We’re very excited about projects we have coming up across 2020 and look forward to working with yourselves and the oxford community as a whole to show what a cleaner, greener and more sustainable delivery service can look like and lead the way in oxford in the move to zero emissions!

The day has finally come and following on from our initial call for sponsors post previously – we’re thrilled to announce the new eco courier kit has arrived and it looks fantastic! We’re absolutely chuffed to bits with the level of interest we had in sponsorship and we’re very happy to announce the sponsors we have for 2020! (and the last few months of 2019)

 

 

Tap social – They took up our main sponsor position, We’ve worked with them making zero emission deliveries of their beer across Oxford whilst enjoying their incredible beers outside of work (White rabbit pub especially) Tap social movement grew out of a passion for good beer and social justice! Please do head to there website to find out more by clicking here

 

 

They are joined by: 

Bar nation – Jericho coffee traders – Bounce Design – Riverford – Warlands – Bicycle Blooms – Oxford cycle bus

 

We’ll look to do full write ups, photos and visits with all of these fantastic business’s across Oxford over the coming weeks, like a mini tour of some of Oxfords community and tell you a bit about each one! 

 

 

 

At Pedal & Post, we’re always pushing to innovate and improve our delivery services, tailoring our zero emission logistics solutions to each one of our fantastic clients we’ve had the pleasure of working with so far. 

 

One of the biggest questions though for customers and clients a like is “when will my parcel arrive?” 

 

Most will give us a quick call and as our team is on a walkie talkie system we can usually update on a rough estimated time but with GPS tracking we don’t have to disturb the courier to request a position, so we don’t slow them down and as we scale up our deliveries in Oxford this method wont be very efficient as our team grows. We also currently provide notifications by email to say “your parcel is out for delivery” and if we deliver successfully or not,  it’ll send a second email to notify the customer of this with timings, photos of safe places and signatures etc. However it doesn’t give a time it’s likely to arrive? Your sat at home ready but you really want to nip to the shops quickly, see a friend for lunch or jump in the shower but what if you miss your delivery? 

 

We want to remove this worry, the last two weeks we’ve been testing our GPS settings with all our courier team and we reckon we have a good and workable solution. We’re finalizing our tracking section on our website (you cna see the link ready but it wont work just yet) where you can live track your courier with your unique parcel reference, so you will always know an accurate ETA when your last mile delivery (Yodel parcels), first mile collection or same day delivery is set to arrive.

 

 

Not only this, we now capture GPS pings when the couriers update jobs as part of our proof of delivery. This really helps us with time stamps and location data so we know exactly when, where , what and how as couriers can add comments to jobs too, vastly improving our service. 

 

We’re still working on our live tracking options and the ability to update your information in real time on the website but when this launches we’ll update on here! 

 

People receiving parcels from us and business’s sending parcels with us, we want your feedback. If we can improve further, let us know features you’d like to see – Leave us a review on the website and let us know! 

 

Pedal & Post is trialing the first medical deliveries to be sent quickly, securely and efficiently using high speed passenger trains between Oxford and London at 125mph! using zero emission cargo bikes to deliver door-to-door

 

 

We at Pedal & Post are pretty excited by this project and the concept, moving freight using the train network to us just makes sense and is something we’ve wanted to work on for a while so i’m very happy to announce its gone live in Oxford and put our theory’s to the test. The current solution to move freight for this client is to use motorbikes and vans to complete the route to London twice a day but this adds to our air pollution, congestion and parking issues and if your test results had been delayed due to congestion or parking issues, you’d be a bit annoyed and frustrated, right? 

 

Pedal & Post collects medical samples from clinics across Oxford or the first mile of the samples journey by cargo bike, we can park right at the door and skip past congestion by filtering in the cycle lanes. We then place them onto the GWR trains to connect Oxford to London in 52 minutes in a secure compartment. Its then unloaded by WEGO couriers in London who complete the last mile to the laboratory by cargo bike too. 

 

 

An innovative delivery solution providing a much faster, cost effective and environmentally friendly way to move freight between cities. This whole process means we can deliver same day, door-to-door in less than 2-3 hours. Jeff Screaton from InterCity RailFreight commented: “This is part of the expansion in medical consignments using rail services in order to reduce the cycle time between drawing samples, diagnosis and treatment.” 

 

This concept not only improves the service for patients is also reduces freight congestion on our motorways and health damaging pollutants in our environment. 

 

You see many cycle logistics teams in Europe who’ve done this for years now to connect cities together by train and connect cycle logistics teams into a national network and we’d aspire to create a system like this for the UK as we think it could be doable, a same day, zero emission door-to-door service, its a big ambition but certainly is achievable

 

 

Specifically in Oxford though, there’s room for huge improvement, although the trains are operating anyway so the addition of our freight adds no emissions, the electrification of the line has been differed and delayed and would vastly reduce emissions further in Oxford as a whole which would be a fantastic move forward. I’d encourage people reading this to email your MP and see if this can be brought forward with a sense of urgency. Can you imagine how much better the city would be without diesel trains surging through its heart each day? from articles we can find it seems the estimated date is 2024 but some are questioning if it will ever happen at all. Oxford is setting itself up as the leader in moving to zero emissions so we hope the upgrade to the rail is a success at some point, reducing air pollution, encouraging people out of their cars and enterprises like ours can rapidly expand and innovate improving services for patients

 

 

Pedal & Post has some fantastic partners to make this project happen with InterCity RailFreight and WEGO couriers to bring this delivery solution to life so do have a look into both of these companies operating across the UK 

 

If you are interested in finding out more about our direct to london service, please call 01865 791866 or email info@pedalandpost.co.uk 

Boosted by pedal and solar power, e-trikes could reduce CO2 emissions in Oxford ready for the Zero emission zone

 

 

 

The e-trike is classed as what’s called a Pedelec in the UK, this means they have to meet strict regulations including a limit of a 250w pedal assisted motor which is operated by a 48v lithium ion battery which gives about a 60km range. The motor is limited to 15.5mph and is mostly to help with acceleration between stops. Regenerative braking also helps to power the trike but with limited success. 

 

 

i’ve had positive experiences (Christopher Benton) when i’ve ridden it but the bikes and vehicles are only good if our team has positive experiences and it makes their lifes easier day in, day out so i’ve asked for some views from a recently trained member of the team and veteran of riding the trike for the last 7 months for their views.

 

On the whole, we’re looking forward to expanding our fleet and bringing more Iceni trikes to Oxford

So this has been a new experience for us, delivering leaflets isn’t our usual day job but we were approached by low carbon Oxford north who are spreading the word about  “cosy homes Oxfordshire” a new, local, community-based service to help you improve the energy efficiency of your home. You can visit the website by clicking here 

 

Getting the word out about ways to tackle the climate emergency and protect the planet, well its part of our ethos and we certainly wouldn’t let them down so took up the task to deliver all 10,000!  its why we do what we do after all. LCON also used oxford green print who created the leaflets with 100% recycled card and using veg oil ink! so its being as carbon optimal whilst using local suppliers as much as possible to get the message out. 

 

LCON are holding a free event on july the 3rd at 7pm with architectural designer and tv presenter charlie luxton and a speaker from Cosy homes Oxfordshire so do head along and to find out more click here for the Lcon website. 

 

We have a few more roads to cover across north oxford over the coming days so if you see us out and about actually walking vs riding our big cargo bikes, you know what our team of couriers are upto!

Coined by our fantastic courier Karis, heres some north Oxford Curiosities from our leaflet drops… Including a hitch hiker, competition for the best knockers… doors that is and front garden bits! enjoy

We decided to have an informal discussion this morning over coffee in our office about the botley road improvements which Cyclox the oxford campaign group (who you should totally sign up to be a member with) kindly reminded us of. We talked about how they would effect us as a cycle logistics team and how it could affect people who use bikes (specifically 8-80yr olds) 

 

(You can see plan 7 here so its a bigger image)

 

Here’s a link to listen to our team discussion today

(contains explicit language so caution advised if you have children in the room) 

 

http://zello.me/boTPzbHcFwqp

(A phone call split the recording in two)

http://zello.me/R5rx9WOpw3iB

 

The overall vibe is there will be no improvement to support a cargo bike and logistical point of view and the new layout will have no safety or filtering improvements. We also believe the current plans for people who use bikes from the age 8-80 are woefully inadequate. If the goal is to increase the uptake of cycling in Oxford then these current plans wont achieve it. We can do better than this. We cant increase bus use as its at capacity, we cant increase car use because congestions unbearable already,  cycling should be the priority and then walking too. 

 

Painted cycle lane discussed was a comment by Chris Boardman – you can read about it by clicking here

 

Whoever gets paid to come up with these plans is not being bold nor radical and it still prioritising the motor vehicle. We will give a much more detailed response and respond to the consultation but its good to discuss. We’d welcome comments and discussion on this topic so do get in touch. 

We’ve designed our new cycle jerseys for the Pedal & Post team for 2019/2020 and we’re excited, not only because they look amazing but that we have some space available on the jerseys for sponsorship.  The couriers are keen for the jerseys to give off a professional cycling image whilst also promoting and talking about the brands who choose to come on board.

 

We had planned to do this a number of years ago and received a lot of interest at the time but we didn’t get to the stage of ordering the jerseys and became very busy and it slipped down our to do list, which was a real shame but this is the year! 

 

Our team is out on Oxfords roads 5 days a week and visible to thousands across the day as our cargo bikes and e-cargo trike really do turn heads as we ride around. We also deliver to hundreds of people, business’s and public bodies from hospitals to offices to industrial units so we can give visibility to a brand/business like no other cycle jersey could. 

 

Not only this but Pedal & Post’s core ethos is to move goods in a sustainable way. We’ve inspired people to what’s possible with cargo bikes and we’re a company changing how we move goods within a dense urban city, pioneering green innovation in the logistics industry and giving a green image to any potential sponsor

 

 

We have a number of slots on the jersey so if you would be interested please get in touch with us for costings (or we would happily look at exchanges like a supply of food or coffee would be great that would support our team on their deliveries!) 

Tom Hayes got in touch last week to let us know about an event coming up next week for Clean air day which is june the 20th. The event details are here with some great speakers. 

 

Urgent action is needed across all levels of government and business to clean Britain’s toxic air and decarbonise our energy. The opportunity and benefits of moving to clean energy can help us tackle the dangers of polluted air that contributes to thousands of premature deaths.

 

 

This event is very much up our street to be involved with from a local business perspective but from a personal one, everything that worries me about toxic air was recently on channel 4 via dispatches, you can watch it here – Britains toxic air scandal

 

There is a better way and it drives myself and the teams vision for Pedal & Post which is to “deliver goods and freight in a sustainable way” with air pollution being a core part of this as well as congestion, inactive lifestyles, road safety, noise pollution and well, cycling makes you happy! what better way to make things sustainable than enjoy it

 

“Transport is responsible for a huge chunk of the UK’s carbon emissions and the levels are actually increasing,” Muna Suleiman from Friends of the Earth says. Delivery companies are a significant part of this”

Most of us shop online now and a lot of the carbon footprint of a parcel comes from the transportation process, with the last mile taking up the most energy, which is the final stretch from a distribution center to a parcels destination, think dirty diesel van arriving usually at your home or office. 

 

 

We specialise in delivering “The last mile” as we use zero emission, purly muscle powered cargo bikes to deliver in the greenest way possible to your home or office. You may of seen our fleet of cargo bikes whizzing around Oxford or had your parcel delivered by us! but we go further than this, our office for instance is 100% solar powered charging our IT equipment and handsets making our deliveries possible. We want to make zero emission delivery methods and practises become the norm as this has a huge impact on the air quality for Oxford. We saved an estimated 24 tons of co2 last year and we want to keep building on this huge reduction. 

 

 

We are now looking to electrify our fleet of cargo bikes and introduce more e-cargo trikes however these have 1.4kwh batteries that need charging (the battery is 40* smaller than an EV so requires a lot less electricity) .

 

So how do we do this, whilst meeting our vision? We have a plan to invest in two batteries per bike whilst hugely scaling up our solar generation at our depot so we can have one battery being charged by the sun through the day and one in use making deliveries which we can swap around at the end of each day.

 

This means our deliveries are quite literally powered by the sun! we believe this is the future of logistics and in reducing air pollution and decarbonising to a zero emission future as fast as possible to avoid unnecessary deaths from air pollution and the imminent climate catastrophe we all must face together. 

 

This panel discussion, supported by Oxford Friends of the Earth, opens its doors at 7pm and starts at 7.30pm, we look forward to seeing you there

 

Sources:

BBC – How green is your parcel
Metro – The carbon footprint of deliveries

James has now taken the title of the most last mile parcels attempted in a single day using a cargo bike for Pedal & Post. 

 

The previous record was held by Toby attempting 130 parcels across 2018’s peak christmas period in north Oxford

 

Pedal & Post has moved to take on further postcode areas this year in a bid to continue its vision of moving goods and freight in a sustainable way. Moving Oxford to a zero emission future is key in preparation for the zero emission zone coming into effect in 2020. We’re also continuing our research into moving larger parcels by e-cargo trike and improving our sorting efficiency 

 

James took on a further postcode to his area and he attempted 160 parcels in a single day (delivering 152) this now stands as the most last mile parcels attempted on our 8 freight cargo bike (Two wheeled cargo bike featured in the photo)

 

 

 

You have to bare in mind here the industry standard and comparison to a delivery driver in a van. They’ll do between 120-200 parcels per day as an absolute maximum and think amazon drivers being pushed to the limit. James managed this record whizzing around on a cargo bike which is powered entirely by his muscle power alone, there is no e-assist on our cargo bikes here (at least yet) so this is what makes it even more remarkable.

 

James then went on to complete the 80 mile bike oxford ride that weekend as well! Truly unbelievable last few weeks. 

 

Our entire team has been working insanely hard to reduce congestion, air pollution and make for a cleaner, greener and more sustainable way of moving freight across the city of Oxford. We have some big things planned for 2019 so watch this space.