Category: Blog

Only in Africa: The Delayed Table-Tennis Set

One customer wanted a table-tennis set, including the table, delivered to the managing-director of a Zimbabwe client. It was meant as a birthday gift. For obvious reasons, the date of delivery was time-sensitive. Much irritated and after a couple of weeks, our client phoned to complain that the gift had obviously not been delivered, because they had received no acknowledgement from the consignee.

With a great deal of effort and some days delay, for reasons that were not immediately obvious, we discovered from our Zimbabwean agent that the consignment was delayed in the Zimbabwean customs department.

The reader should know that consignments of merchandise are often delayed by customs inspectors. However, this delay had been inordinate, particularly as the consignment’s delivery date was so time-sensitive. Aerospeed therefore needed to establish the cause of the delay and insisted that our agents actually visited the Zimbabwean customs shed, to trace the exact location of the set.

Much to their irritation, flavoured with some amusement, our agent found that the table had been set up in the custom’s shed and was being used by officials for recreation. Their excuse, before clearing the equipment, was that they had never seen such a lovely table-tennis set and could not resist the temptation to use it. Soon afterwards the set was delivered and out client received suitable acknowledgement.

The Giraffes Fly First Class!

A client wished to send a set of wooden giraffes from South Africa to Australia.

Somewhat like the three bears, the set consisted of a “mother, father and baby” giraffe. As you can imagine, wooden giraffes are long and their legs and necks are extremely fragile. For that reason they needed to be very carefully packed and crated. The ‘giraffe family’ lay in our warehouse waiting to be wrapped, lagged and packed.

As it happened, one of our managers (who then happened to be in the warehouse) received a call on her mobile phone. It was from her vet’s receptionist, who was reporting on the progress of one of the manager’s pets. Simultaneously, while she was responding to the vet assistant’s report a background conversation between some Aerospeed staff occurred, which was also audible to the vet’s receptionist: “What time are the giraffes being packed and freighted?”

Oblivious to the fact that the question had not been addressed to her, the vet’s assistant replied in surprise, mixed with horror. “You have giraffes in the warehouse?”

“Yes” replied the Aerospeed manager innocently, “they are lying down and will shortly be moved to the crating department!”

“Have you got the correct permits to keep wild-life in your warehouse – do you have sufficient fodder and water for them? Has a vet examined them and are they under correct veterinary supervision,” said the receptionist.

At this point, our manager realized what had happened and started to laugh! Not yet a party to the joke, the vet’s receptionist repeated her questions, on this occasion with some irritation. At which point, our manager explained that the giraffes were wooden statues and not alive. The conversation ended on a happy note with much hilarity.

Needless to say, the giraffe family were safely air-freighted and arrived safely at their destination in Australia, in excellent condition and no worse for their experience.

Ten reasons why you should choose Aerospeed Couriers!

1 Aerospeed Couriers is represented by multiple courier networks both nationally and internationally. The benefit is that Aerospeed Couriers can safely , reliably and speedily get your parcels to destination in the fastest possible time. Aerospeed couriers is often able to offer a faster delivery service then a standalone courier can. Aerospeed Couriers has an extensive network with access to over 1 million staff members, 3000 freight aircraft (excluding hundreds of commercial passenger flights) and 200 thousand vehicles. Our company delivers to every country, city and town on the globe. Aerospeed Couriers is represented in more countries then the United Nations. Aerospeed Couriers deals with a consolidated network that handles approximately 10 million parcels per day, 24/7/365.

2 Aerospeed Couriers continuously negotiates with its supplier network to give you the most cost effective rates for your express courier needs.

3 Aerospeed Couries does NOT have a call centre. All our calls are answered within 4 rings and you speak to a real person. All emails received from our clients and customers are attended to promptly. Clients are known by their name not an account number.

4 Aerospeed Couriers is fully committed to empowerment and upliftment within South Africa. Aerospeed Couriers is a proudly South African company and all profits and proceeds of our business stay in South Africa, thus benefiting our local economy.

5 Aerospeed Couriers has a flexible accounting system and will provide you with one consolidated bill for all your courier activities. The benefit is easier reconciliation for you admin staff. Invoices are automatically emailed at month end or whenever required.

6 Aerospeed Couriers deals with Quality not Quantity shipments, so all shipments that are processed by us, receive the best individual attention. From packaging, labelling and shipping to final delivery, your precious consignment is handled like a baby. All parcels are individually barcoded and can be tracked and traced via the internet anywhere in the world.

7 Aerospeed Couriers follows up your consignment from the time it is collected till the time it is delivered. Our clients then receive an automatic proof of delivery which is immediately sent to your email box. This enables our clients to make sure that parcels reach the desired recipient within organisations timeously.

8 Aerospeed Couriers was established in 1993 and our senior staff collectively have over 80 years of experience dealing with your valuable shipments.

9 Aerospeed Couriers offers a wide range of services from the most speedy to the most cost effective. If you have an envelope that needs to be delivered overnight to New York or a sea freight container to Shanghai, we are geared up to handle it in the most convenient way for you, our client.

10 Aerospeed Couriers buys you a little extra time and saves you the cost of time.