Since when have Winter Storms been Named?

I’ve been hearing reports of the winter storm Juno over the last couple of days, and am pleased that it has caused less disruption than was expected, although anyone expecting a delivery on the East Coast of America should be aware that there are likely to be delays.

I like the name Juno, not only as it reminds me of the 2007 film, but I think it’s rather hippy vibe to it, but since when have winter storms been named?  I know that hurricanes are given names as in certain parts of the world, the Atlantic Basin for example; it is common for multiple storms to reach tropical strength in one area at one time.  The naming would go to help identify each weather system, which helps avoid confusion between each hurricane, but his is the first time I’ve been aware of a winter storm being named.

So I thought I would have a look into why the storm was named.

After a little research it seems that this is a convention started by in the US, more specifically by The Weather Channel, a cable TV station.  The Weather Channel have been giving identifying names to these winter storms since 2011.

It would seem that The Weather Channel have caused a fair bit of controversy over the years by naming such storms and the names are not recognised by the wider weather service bodies and organisations.

Personally, I don’t see the harm in giving a weather system a “pet” name, it’s rather endearing, and makes listening to weather reports a little more engaging.

Advantages of Access Points

Like many people these days I have many roles to play during a typical day.  I have a young family, a fantastic job working from home and plenty of items that have either been out grown or that we have fallen out of love with, so I have a small eBay store where these things can find a new home.

I spend quite a lot a time online, and make the occasional (and sometimes not so occasional) purchases, you know what it’s like, some things are just too tempting to leave.  So I find deliveries going in one direction or the other are often in my thoughts.

My Consumer Experience

As a consumer, I find nothing quite as frustrating as waiting in for a delivery.  I have often dedicated the best part of a day to this curtain twitching activity.

But there are times in the day that you just can’t be confined to quarters, the school run, for example.  I try to play this one as tactically as possible – leaving at the last possible minute, then “persuading” my little darlings to hurry home at top speed with a promise of a small treat to eat when we arrive back.

I don’t know if you do the same, but if I have had to leave the house when I’m expecting a delivery, I find that as I get closer to the house I start a military like scan of each road and side roads in search of anything resembling a delivery van.   Then, having a warming sense of optimism when there’s no sign of van, only to reach the house, open the door and have that heart dropping feeling of disappointment when you see that small card lying on the door mat.  “Sorry we missed you…” Great!

And now for the hassle of rearranging the delivery, with the prospect of waiting in another day, or having to traipse all the way to the depot, which for me is the other side of town.  It’s far from ideal!

My Business Experience

The other side of the coin, sending parcels doesn’t come without it’s share of hanging around either.  I have an online account with my courier where I enter all the parcel details, print a label and book a collection.  The small bonus between sending and receiving  parcels is that when I book the collection I can ask whether the pick-up can be made after the school run and often it can - which is great, but then after that time the waiting game begins AGAIN! 

Using Access Points

Well, all this is set to change for me, I’m taking back control of MY time!  I have recently found out about parcel access points.  These are ordinary shops, often convenience stores, where you can drop parcels you are sending off, and have parcels for you sent to allowing you the freedom to choose when you pick up or drop of a parcel. 

You can go to these shops at any time during opening hours and drop off or collect a parcel.

From what I gather you need to double check what time you are dropping off a parcel, as there are cut off times for sending items, but once you know the timings you can plan your time accordingly.  When collecting items you will need to show two forms of ID, so you have peace of mind from a security point of view.  These access points are growing in number rapidly, so there is bound to be convenient locations for most of us.

I’m certainly going to use these access points in the future, and will spread the word to my ebay customers too.

So as far as I’m concerned, waiting in for deliveries is a thing of the past. I feel liberated!

Change is as Good as a Rest, Well it Seems to have Worked Well for us

We have all just welcomed in a new year but are you content with the way your business developed through 2014?

What could make your 2015 brighter?  Sometime the key is change; it seems to have worked well for us.

We have taken a short time to reflect on our business activities through 2014, and on analysis we have undertaken large business changing projects that, we believe, have contributed to a successful year.

We began with the launch of our new branding, which injected a new sense of vibrancy into the way we project ourselves.  This fresh brighter look has translated well on the livery of our new vans.  We are particularly pleased with the eye catching orange and blue design with its suggestion of movement.  It feels like a perfect representation for our company and reflects where we are now.

This was followed by a seamless office move for our Oxford branch, causing no break in service for our customers.

Our most ambitious change was the launch of our new website.  This was by far the biggest project and the one which offered the most to our customers.  We ensured that the wording of the site was carefully chosen; while meticulous planning was given to the functionality and ease of navigation for customers.  Our customers were consistently at the forefront of our minds during the development process.

Lastly 2014 saw CSM introducing a new delivery service, aimed at e-Commerce traders.  Our e-Com+ service gives a 3-4 day delivery service at a very competitive rate.  We feel this addition to our delivery service options complements our existing service and allows us to offer a complete range of delivery options.

We strongly believe that these changes have helped path our way to a successful year!  As they say a change is as good as a rest, and we are feeling energised and ready for our next set of challenges for 2015.

Some Christmas Traditions from Around the World

People around the world are gearing themselves up to celebrate Christmas in one way or another.  Many Christmas traditions revolve around gift giving in some form, but some traditions are very different from the way decorations are put up to a ritual which is observed yearly.

Take Finland for example, the home of the great Santa Clause himself, here the festivities begin on Christmas Eve.  Being Santa’s first stop presents are delivered on Christmas Eve.  In the morning families share a traditional meal of creamy rice pudding topped with cinnamon, sugar and spices, or a sauce made of dried prunes.

In the town of Turko, in Southern Finland “The Declaration of Christmas Peace” is read after the cathedral bell strikes 12-noon.  As well as celebrating with family and the giving of gifts, at Christmas time many Finnish families use this time of year to visit graves of relatives and lighting candles at the grave-sides.  There are even memorial areas in the cemeteries where people can light candles for loved ones buried elsewhere. 

Christmas decorations vary around the world.  People celebrating in India decorate banana or mango trees with decorative things that they find.  Whilst a folklore story in the Ukraine, sees Christmas trees decorated in spider webs.  The story tells of a poor woman who couldn’t afford to decorate her tree.  Her children woke the next morning to see that their tree was covered in cobwebs.   When the first light of Christmas touched the webs they turned into silver and gold and the family were never wanting again.

In the UK we are accustom to children hanging a stocking out on Christmas Eve night for Santa to vist, but not every child does this.  Children in the Philippines leave highly polished shoes and fresh socks on their window sills, in wait for the Three Kings to leave them a gift when they pass the house.  In Haiti, children leave their straw filled shoes on the porch in wait for Santa to remove the straw and leave presents in and around their shoes.

In contrast to some of the wholesome traditions, there are some darker characters linked with Christmas, like Krampus known in Germany and Austria as a demon thought to be the anti-Santa.  Krampus is used as a reminder for children to be on their best behaviour, otherwise they will be punished.  The Icelandic Yule cat Jólakötturinn is thought to eat lazy people who do not do their chores, this folklore story was originally used by farmers to encourage their workers to complete their work processing Autumn wool before Christmas  Workers who took part would be given new clothes, those that didn’t could be identified by the and preyed upon by the Yule cat.

On a lighter note, the Japanese tradition of eating Kentucky Fried Chicken for Christmas brings a commercialised smile to the face.  This tradition starting after the fast food chain promoted their fried chicken as a Christmas meal.

Another, slightly off the wall tradition started in 1966 in the town of Gavel in Sweden.  A 13 metre tall goat made of straw was built.  At midnight on Christmas Eve the goat was lit.  Every year since the goat has been built, but it has fallen foul at the hands of vandals on many occasions.  Most commonly it had been torched before Christmas Eve, but one year it’s legs were destroyed and on another occasion it was hit by a car.  We hope 2014 goes without incident!

However you will be celebrating, enjoy and be merry and remember to stay on Santa’s Nice List, because I don’t know about you but I don’t like the sound of Krampus one bit!

Christmas Collection Dates

At last December is here, it is without question a magical time of year, but without planning it can cause a fair amount of stress!

Let us help you to avoid a last minute panic with details of last collection times, along with a few other tips to get our deliveries through safely.

Don’t worry if you have missed other postal and delivery cut off times, there is still plenty of time for CSM to make sure your parcel arrives in time for Christmas.

To get your parcel to its destination by Christmas Eve you will need to order your collection by 10.30am on the following dates:

Date	Destination
Tuesday 23rd December*	UK (including remote areas) and New York
Monday 22nd December*	Europe and America

It is worth remembering that we can’t rely on the weather and adverse weather conditions can affect both the UK and International deliveries, so please allow as much time as possible when planning to send your parcels.

We’ve mentioned in a previous blog post the importance of packing your parcel so as to protect your goods inside, here is a link to the post, feel free to use it as a reminder, we want to help you get your deliveries through in the best possible condition.

*The collection dates given above are for CSM's Express Service.

Thanksgiving Day, what is it all about then?

I’ve always known that America celebrates Thanksgiving, and it’s a big national holiday, but I’ve never taken the time to see what it is about.  So, I’ve been reading all about it, and as I do, I wish that I could experience a true American Thanksgiving for myself, as it sounds so welcoming.

The essence of Thanksgiving is one of sharing, community, gratitude and compassion for others, which is a really important message; I find it refreshing to think that families come together to celebrate this reason.

The tradition of Thanksgiving goes back to 1620 where the Pilgrims left Plymouth, England in search civil and religious liberty in the New World.  They journeyed by sea until they saw land, which saw them arriving in Massachusetts, they searched for a suitable landing place and before they left the ship they signed the Mayflower Compact, which was America’s document of civil government.

The Pilgrims built shelter, but the harsh winter, illness and starvation took the lives of around half of their number before Spring.  With the help of neighbouring Native Americans, they enjoyed a plentiful harvest the following summer

On 13^th December the Pilgrims then declared a three day feast to give thanks to God and to celebrate with their Native American friend.  There were so many people celebrating that the Pilgrims didn’t have enough food for everyone, so the Native Americans brought some of their own food to the feast including turkey, duck, deer, berries, squash and cornbread.  This feast would see America’s first Thanksgiving Festival.

These days it would seem that Thanksgiving is about families coming together to share a Thanksgiving dinner of turkey, mash potatoes, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, seasonal vegetables and gravy, and commonly pumpkin pie is shared. 

Being thankful is such an important thing, which can be easily forgotten so I think it is a brilliant idea to set aside some time to be thankful.  I read a quote recently that, in my opinion summed up Thanksgiving and it was by W. Clement Stone, it is:

“If you are really thankful, what do you do?  You share”

Beautiful!

CSM’s New e-Com+ Delivery Service

Introducing our latest e-commerce solution, eCom+, the new low cost way of sending your parcels. You can now ship up to 5Kg to any UK destinations for just £3.75 + VAT.

Our new service, designed specifically with online retailers in mind, offers a fully trackable 3-4 day delivery service, with the capability of text message alerts or e-mails on delivery. 

Our new eCom+ service covers the entire UK for the £3.75 fee; no additional charges will be made for deliveries to the Scottish Highlands and Islands, the Isle of Man, the Isle of Wight or the Scilly Isles.

We have proven success with seamless links with existing online retailers, to our online delivery booking system.  This developed feature is ready and available for new clients, potentially cutting down hours of website development time.

Alternatively, delivery data can be imported to your records via an import routine.

Our eCom+ rates join our range of next day delivery services giving our customers a wider range of delivery options with the same personal service they have come to accustomed to.

You can register your interest online by clicking here, alternative you can call your closest CSM branch to discuss your requirement, click here for the list of branches.

We are so excited to be able to offer this new service, we hope it can be of benefit to your business too.