Winter Olympics 2014: Day 1

The Winter Olympics is well underway over in Sochi and we’ll be using this week to focus on the history of the games and some of the significant aspects of the event. Remember that RAND Logistics provide an international delivery service to Russia, so make sure that you make the most of our services if you plan on sending something to Russia in the future.

The Winter Olympics has a much shorter history than the Olympic Games, with the first games being held at the start of the 20th century. The Olympic Games that followed the First World War introduced a number of winter Olympic events such as figure skating after the 1916 winter Olympics were cancelled as a result of the war.

From 1964 onwards, the Winter Olympics became an increasingly popular spectacle with many events introduced for the first time. Increased broadcasting provided money for the games and soon enough the games reached a similar popularity to that of the Olympic Games itself.

Interestingly, the first ever boycott of the Winter Olympics was from Taiwan after the IOC ordered them to change their name and national anthem.

If you’re following the Winter Olympics this week, be sure to check back here to learn more about the games, whilst you can also learn more about our logistics services here at RAND.

Commemorative Horse Stamps 2014

In continuation with the theme of the Year of the Horse, a series of commemorative stamps has been printed to recognise the efforts made by horses in British society today. Although contribution by horses in British society has dramatically reduced since the invention of the motor car, horses are still used in day to day tasks such as pulling lumber, as members of the Queen’s guard, and in many leisure and sporting events.

horse-drawnHorses are incredibly trusting and affectionate animals. They can provide true support to those who need it, and are one of the most commonly used working animals in the UK. To commemorate this year of the horse, British post offices have announced a series of horse-themed stamps available in 2014. Traditional circus and fairground festivals often have horse-drawn carts and many farmers use horses to pull tilling equipment, so equines still have a huge role in today’s workplace!

If you were thinking of sending a package or a gift to a friend or relative abroad, or you were looking at setting up your business with regular deliveries between the UK and the rest of the world, look to RAND Logistics for first rate, competitive service.

Customisable Stamps and Gifts

As well as the Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year Festival having its own original set of postage stamps, nowadays you can even personally design your own stamps on various postage sites, and the creativity is endless.

Personalising a custom stamp on a parcel to China or elsewhere in the world could be your way of marking your business, or a cute way of making your envelope seem a little more personal, when sending gifts to a relative. If you are an emerging new business, a personalised postage stamp would be an excellent way to establish yourself as a reliable seller.

Modern day technologies allow customisation on a variety of levels, and postage stamps are just one of the many examples of these. Because of modern printing technologies, there are ways of customising everything from key chains to mugs to t-shirts, and giving a friend or relative a customised gift, no matter how small, makes a great, personal gift that they can cherish.

For all your delivery needs between the UK and international destinations, contact RAND Logistics today, or fill in our Quick Quote form for an instant quotation. It is simple and easy!

Chinese New Year Celebrations – Day 2

As the Chinese begin the week long celebrations to welcome the Lunar New Year, we have a look at some of the specially designed, limited edition stamps created across the world to honour the start of the Chinese New Year. These can come in a variety of designs, but often have something to do with the Zodiac animal of that year. As this year is the year of the horse, many of the New Lunar Year stamps will feature the design of a horse.

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Singapore’s Design for Year of the Horse 2014

Some stamps are available only as collector’s items, whereas others can actually be used as real stamps. Sheets of specially designed Lunar New Year stamps will sometimes come on a printed background that has the phrase ‘Happy New Year’ written in both English and Chinese written across the top, or down the side. Sheets will also typically have a design printed on the background of fireworks, or a traditional Chinese dragon.

Why not use your recently acquired Lunar Festival stamps to send a parcel to China or send a package to a friend or relative living overseas? With RAND Logistics, we can ensure that your package gets to its intended recipient quickly and safely.

Chinese New Year Celebrations – Day 1

Last Friday was Chinese New Year, and with it marks the start of traditional Chinese New Year’s celebrations. These celebrations will happen over the course of the next week and will involve cleaning out the house in preparation for the New Year, hanging paper lanterns and other colourful decorations about the house, painting to bring in the New Year, and a whole host of other traditions that sees 2014 as starting afresh!

chinese new year

2014 is the year of the horse, which surprisingly, means prosperity and wealth for all those not born in the year of the horse. According to superstitions, in your zodiac year you will offend Tai Sui, so those born in the year of the horse may suffer from bad luck. Horses can offset this by wearing the horses lucky colours; red, green or purple.

Like January the 1st represents a new start for many other cultures, the 31st January represents a clean slate in China. The Chinese will often send gifts of money and food to their family friends and business partners in order to amend relationships. Why not send a heartfelt gift to a friend or relative living abroad, to imitate the ‘new beginnings’ attitude brought about by the Chinese New Year, using RAND Logistics?

Shopping Safely Online: Day 5

We’ve come to the end of our week that focuses on online safety awareness when shopping. To wrap it all up we’re going to look at how important a positive reputation is when purchasing from online sellers. Many people have had problems with sellers because they failed to analyse their previous dealings, something that many online shopping outlets now let you do.

When shopping on sites such as eBay, Amazon or Play you should always be wary of the fact that the sellers could be either a business or an individual seller. Whoever the seller is, it’s vitally important to make the most of the reputation analysis section of these websites so that you can make a definitive assumption of who you are purchasing from.

EBay provide buyers with the opportunity to look at the feedback scores of sellers, thus giving you the chance to see how other buyers have judged the services they received. If you are keen to avoid problems with online deals, whoever the shopping outlet may be, you should always do the research beforehand to get a detailed review of their reputation.

RAND Logistics work closely with eBay as we regularly ship parcels from reliable sellers to buyers across the world. Our international parcel service is the perfect choice for anyone looking to get their parcel from A to B. If you’ve got a parcel to ship internationally, get your quote from us today here.

Shopping Safely Online: Day 4

When purchasing goods online it can be quite daunting if the expected delivery date passes without a knock on the door from the postman. You might also be dreading the thought of opening your parcel to reveal a damaged item that doesn’t work and has missing parts.

Thankfully, consumer rights are in place to aid people who purchase online and don’t get what they expect. Here are a few things to consider with regards to consumer rights before purchasing online.

If you are not satisfied with the item you have received after an online purchase, you may be entitled to a refund. In most cases the chance of a refund expires after a certain amount of time, which could be anything from a few days to a whole month. Always check the refund or returns section carefully before purchasing an item online.

It is advised that you use a credit card to make a purchase that exceeds £100. The Consumer Credit Act states that anyone who spends over £100 on their credit card has legal rights, giving you an upper hand should something go wrong with the purchase.

RAND Logistics can deliver items promptly on an international scale, so if you need to ship a parcel to Italy or anywhere else in the world make sure you come to RAND first for a great quote.

Shopping Safely Online: Day 3

Today we’ll be looking at what it is you need to watch out for when purchasing something online in order to prevent criminals from accessing your card details and making transactions in your name. You can significantly reduce the risk of this happening to you in the future by following our guidelines here at RAND.

If you are ever required to enter your PIN number when shopping online, do not proceed with the payment. PIN numbers are only meant for physical card transactions from a cash machine and a physical store checkout. Criminals can easily obtain your PIN number by asking you for it in a transaction, so always watch out for this!

In most cases, websites that you purchase from will require you to enter a security code found on the back of your card. This is the usual practice when purchasing online and doesn’t need to be avoided. Websites are not allowed to store personal information, so if they request this without express permission, think twice before purchasing here.

Finally, many sites will save your card details so that you can make transactions easily in the future. It is much safer to delete your card details and provide them again only when you make another purchase, unless you know the site can be trusted.

If you are sending a parcel internationally this winter, make the most of our services here at RAND and make sure any purchase you make in the near future complies with our guidelines.

Shopping Safely Online: Day 2

It’s our second day of awareness for safely shopping online and today we’ll be focusing on the ins and outs of making a payment online. It’s vital that you are made aware of the reliability of the seller before offering up your card details, so make sure you follow our guide before making a payment.

The vast majority of online shopping sites will encourage you to purchase items by adding to an online shopping basket. Sites like this are usually major outlets and can be trusted. Always read the terms and conditions before making a purchase as all shopping outlets are different. This process usually occurs before you’ve made the payment. The final step is always making the payment from your credit or debit card, so keep this in mind when shopping online.

Another indication that a sites online shopping option is reliable is if they use PayPal to process a payment. PayPal is a secure payment option whereby you sign up and register your credit or debit card details. Any payment you make online is activated by PayPal using your account details.

Finally and most important of all is the security protocols when making a payment. Whilst it doesn’t happen all the time, usually you will be greeted with another layer of security before processing a payment. This is another password associated with your online transactions, often used by Visa and MasterCard for added security.

The above steps are commonly associated with making a reliable payment online so always make sure that you analyse the payment process carefully before submitting your payment. If you are planning on shipping a parcel to an online buyer in the near future, make the most of our services here at RAND. We ship internationally making our service ideal for any online seller.

Shopping Safely Online: Day 1

This week we will be looking at the safety measures that go hand-in-hand with online shopping. It’s extremely important to make sure that you are dealing with a safe and secure website when purchasing items online, whilst you also need to become aware of suspicious behaviour during online sales if you want to avoid a bad online experience. Today we are focusing on how to identify a secure site to shop online with.

Many websites from fast food restaurants to major electrical outlets make use of the efficiency and practicality of online credit. However, it’s vital that you know how to identify a secure website before providing your credit card details. A site is secure if they possess a small padlock in the address bar, whilst the ‘s’ at the end of ‘https’ stands for the word ‘secure’.

Never jump at offers that seem unrealistic. Most sites that let you trade over the internet with other people struggle to identify scammers, so think twice before purchasing what looks like a 50 inch plasma TV for £50. You can back up your knowledge of the site you’ve encountered by using Google or asking friends and family about it but if you’ve got your suspicions, don’t take the risk.

Need to send a parcel internationally? RAND can provide you with a safe and secure service that gets your parcel from A to B in good time. Contact us today for more information about the services we offer.