myParcelDelivery.com™ Blog

With a swollen screen size of 5.3", slipping Samsung's new smart-phone into your front jeans pocket is guaranteed to turn some heads - that much is true - but what for its usability as its primary function, a phone?

Call me old fashioned, but I always thought a mobile phone should be just that; mobile. I'm not saying you'll need a suitcase to lug around the new Galaxy Note, but it certainly doesn't fit snugly between your fingers an' thumb when it comes to taking a call. Of course, if you have hands the size of King Kong - or don't too much mind holding a slim line brick to your ear - then Samsung's new release may still pique your interest. But the bigger picture (excuse the pun) for me is the direction in which mobile technology is being diverted to create the ultimate hand-held device.

No longer is a phone simply a phone. Your phone is your camera, your diary and your alarm clock. It's your music player, portable TV, compass, map and gaming platform. It's your 'get out of jail' card in awkward social situations, your holiday photo-album and your radio; and it's the one thing that you will most likely take everywhere with you for most of your waking days. There's no doubt about it, we've been caught hook, line and sinker when it comes to mobile technology, which is why the likes of Apple and Samsung will do everything they can to lead the race in creating our ultimate personal companions.

With this in mind, I can see why Samsung have decided to go large with their latest release. To pack all of its functionality and usability into a smaller sized shell would surely be like cooking truffles in a microwave - a complete waste. And for as long as additional features and benefits are forever pumped into our hand-held devices, I see no reason as to why future smart-phones won't follow suit.

So what does all this mean?

Well, for those just needing to keep your folks and friends up to date with the odd telephone call, you can go on wearing your skinny jeans, complete with pockets tighter than Scrooge's purse. The rest of us, however - who embrace holding the world in our hands - will no doubt have to invest in a more tailored pair of slacks to comfortably accommodate the future of smart-phones!

Ladies, gents and parcel enthusiasts - I'm proud to announce the long-needed arrival of the new myParcelDelivery.com™ blog! I'm sure there will be many topical annoyances to moan about (as well as a fistful of industry news and company insights to report on) over the coming months, so with any luck I'll soon be breaking 60 words per second on the keyboard!

So, what makes a good first blog post? Well, after a quick scout of the internet I'm quite confident of three key ingredients; my yeast, sugar and steam, if you like (used to make bread rise for those not savvy in the art of baking). Anyway, on with cooking up the perfect first blog…

Step 1: Add a sprinkle of personality! (In other words, who am I?)

Now there's a question I'm sure you've all been wondering since the opening line - so I'll delay no longer! Well - like most superheroes - I lead a mysterious double life. By day I'm a mild mannered digital marketer with an uncanny interest in parcels and writing about them, but with the rise of the moon you'll most likely find me crooning to a power ballad or two in front of the mirror. I think that's just enough about me for now…

Step 2: Mix in a little about the company…

Great! What kind of an online marketer wouldn't jump at a chance to throw confetti over their own company brand? Well, I won't be raving about our services over and over through these blogs, so I'll give you the whirlwind tour right here and now. In a nutshell, we have 3 core principles:

1. To offer a cost-effective and timely delivery service for anyone who needs to send a parcel to almost anywhere in the world!
2. To provide small to mid-sized companies with the tailored business delivery rates they require!
3. To be the industry leaders in customer service and innovative shipping software!

We have a very young and fresh team working between our 4 walls in Manchester, and we're always looking for ways to improve our service for our customers. [/advertising over]!

Step 3: Give out free samples and ask for feedback! (How can you get involved?)

Okay - this isn't so much an ingredient as a refinement of the recipe! Of course, I'd love everyone reading to get involved in discussions, but I realise this isn't always going to happen over a subject as exciting as the courier industry! Saying that, I'll be trying my best to keep things fun and topical around here, so by all means shout, share or pitch in with your thoughts - I'd love to hear them!

So here's goodbye for now from me, the rest of the team and the small parcel action figure that sits on my desk! 

I've never been sucked into the whole iPhone whirlpool - all I ever want in a mobile is the ability to make and take calls, send texts and snap a cheeky picture every now and then. But, unlike me, it looks as though the rest of the world is buzzing about Apple's latest pipeline release - the iPhone 5.

One country that never fails to go bananas over anything Apple is China. You can probably imagine the queues of fanatic fans that will be lining the imperial streets of Beijing to get their hands on the new handset when it's finally released in 2012 - but for some that's a wait too long.

Rogue merchants have already starting flogging the new iPhone 5 on one of China's largest online marketplaces, Taobao.com, with only one small hitch - they're fakes. Branded as HiPhone 5 to avoid confusion with the real deal, the fake models have already been snapped up (for as little as about £30) by a few too many unfortunate consumers across China.

Of course, I hate the 'fake' market and everything that goes with it. But, call me presumptuous, anyone duped into buying one of "Apple's" hottest products for the cost of a garden gnome deserve exactly what they get! Okay, they don't deserve it, but boy they need to wise up.

Still, its times like these when I'm perfectly happy with my brick-sized phone and its 4 pixel camera! Over and out.

Online retailers beware - you could soon find yourselves in the dock facing cross examination from Google, should its new incentive, Trusted Stores, prove to be a hit in its current beta stage !

Currently, according to Google, consumers face an arduous task finding a respectable and legit website to purchase goods from. Personally, I always thought typing 'company xyz scam' into Google was a sure-fire way of measuring a stores' credibility, but apparently this caveman tactic just doesn't cut the mustard anymore.

To combat all this consumer-confusion Google have once again come to the rescue, this time with their latest release - Google Trusted Stores. The program, should it take off, will see Google gain access to online retailers' delivery service stats, as well as other customer service metrics in order to assess the trust-rating of the website.

No doubt, along with a fancy Google badge to flaunt on their websites, those retailers deemed to be more trustworthy may find themselves creeping up the search ladder towards page one. As for those who don't - well, they could wind up staring down the barrel of an 'o' at the tail end of the Goooooooooogle results.

It's times like these that I feel I should stress the importance of a good, reliable parcel delivery service - and you won't find one better than myParcelDelivery.com™, no matter how many pages of Google you trawl through.