Luggage Free shipping service offers relief from airport luggage hassles
Drag. Wait. Check. Wait. Go to baggage claim. Wait. Drag. We are all familiar with the stress and annoyances of checking luggage at an airport. But are you familiar with the alternative? Luggage Free, a luggage shipping service, can pick up your packages – whatever their weight, shape or size – and deliver them straight to your destination. Pick up the phone and start your vacation off the way it should be: relaxed and hassle free.
The concept is simple. You call and schedule a pickup time, as soon as within six hours or as far away as months. Luggage Free picks up your luggage, packed as if you are carrying it yourself, from your home, office or other location, anywhere in the United States and in 150 countries. The agent tags it and wraps it in protective plastic. Then it’s transported to your destination, ready and waiting for your arrival – guaranteed on time. Prices are based on the exact weight of your shipment and how quickly you want your items delivered. Luggage Free agents even fill out the paperwork and documentation for you, including customs forms. It all adds up to some serious convenience versus navigating the airport with bulky bags in tow.
“We’re not just a shipping company like a lot of people in the game are,” Jeff Boyd, president of Luggage Free, said. “We’re more a white-glove service. We ask you to pack … and we take care of the rest.”
Not only do you avoid lost luggage, eliminate waiting, and duck size and weight restrictions, but the service allows you to have one less worry during your trip. You can walk on to the plane carrying nothing more than a book to read.
The service was born after the difficulties in travelling created by the post 9/11 climate. New hassles such as liquid restrictions, requirements for bags to be unlocked, and theft from unlocked luggage made consumers ripe for an alternative solution to transport their bags.
Considering its rate of 72 percent repeat customers, Luggage Free appears to truly have stumbled upon a service people can be enthusiastic about.
Boyd reports Luggage Free gets the most traffic from recreational travellers with special packages such as skis, bikes and golf clubs; family travellers who have young children and are bringing along car seats and strollers; and cruise ship passengers who have to pack many changes of clothes. The ultimate target group: luxury travellers.
“(Luxury travellers) see the greatest value in it because truly are travelling without the inconvenience of the airport. You still have to go through security, but beyond that, it’s allowing you to forgo all the hassles of the airport, the check-in lines, the dragging bags out of cars, tipping whoever you need to tip, hiring porters, waiting at the baggage carousel.” Not to mention passing through customs. And these difficulties are experienced by all, whether first-class passengers or coach.
Properly considered, the inconveniences of transporting your luggage through an airline are staggering. And so are the risks: Every year, tens of thousands of plane travellers lose their luggage – forever, reported CNN Travel.
“I’ve never really talked with anybody that said ‘This sounds like a dumb idea.’ Everybody likes it conceptually in some facet or another … But once anybody tries it, it’s something you can’t really foresee in terms of convenience and starting your vacation or your business trip without that worry and hassles,” Boyd said, noting he has not checked his luggage in eight years.
Practically every airline now charges extra to check luggage. But although you may be laying out $20 or $50 in baggage fees, Boyd reports that there is “zero value added. By that I mean nothing is done differently. It’s probably more arduous. The lines are longer. The reliability hasn’t increased. None of that baggage revenue fee has gone into making airline any more efficient in delivering your bags on time. The late and lost baggage statistics remain the same.”
Luggage Free faces some serious competition from traditional carriers such as FedEx and UPS, as well as other luggage delivery services. It is set apart by its time-specific retrievals rather than a four to six hour window; its free wrapping service to protect your shipment from dirt, theft and damage; and its automatically included insurance of $1,000. Shipments are tracked several times each day and you are notified as soon your items arrive.
Luggage Free believes its customer service keeps clients coming back.
“We answer the phone on the first ring, 24 hours a day. We know our clients … The answer for us ever since we started has always been yes. And we’ll figure out a way to get it done. Sometimes you have to pay more or different conditions come into play, but the bottom line is we’re going to do everything we need to get it done,” Boyd explained.
Boyd predicts the service will someday become commonplace. His goal: to make the service available in the price range of any traveller – especially considering things at airlines are unlikely to change anytime soon.
“I think we will continue to see the same reliability or unreliability, depending on which side of the fence you sit and regardless of that, I don’t think there is any question you are going to see the check-in process being arduous and the wait at the baggage carousel,” Boyd said. “I don’t see a change. With the exception of it becoming a little more expensive.”
Check it out at www.luggagefree.com.
What do you think? Would you ever use a luggage shipping service?
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