Furthermore, i have also discussed why i am willing to pay much more to get my items to their destination within 24 hours.
Indeed, there is a video of a presentation at Eve Fanfest 2015 from a Red Frog member.
Bottom line, is that it makes good business sense for me to use courier contracts to transfer my items from one location to another.
I am reviewing who i use to haul my items
I have now come to a point in my business where i am looking at all the options on hauling my items from Jita to the other trade hubs. This has been caused my some people leaving in my favourite hauling corporation PushX which has prompted me to make a review of what else is out there.
Now, to put this all in perspective, PushX has undertaken 690 courier contracts for me, hauling 845bn ISK of items, costing me 16.5bn (i.e. 2%), all have been delivered on time (within 24 hours) and only 3 have failed (2 recently). Job well done, in my books.
My conclusion
Read below for all the discussion - but i plan on trying out New Evolution Express for all courier contracts from Jita to the other trade hubs, and the independent individuals for all other contracts for now.
My Aims
I only really want three things from a hauler:
1) A known price (it is part of my cost of doing business)
2) A known time frame to deliver my items (an item not on the market can not sell)
3) Reliability (this is key - it must get to the destination time and time again, within the stated timeframe)
As far as i can tell, there are 5 options.
- New Evolution Express
- PushX Industries
- Red Frog Freight
- Haulers Channel
- Independent individuals
New Evolution Express
New Evolution Express is a very new hauling corporation but experienced. Made up of prior members of PushX.
Website not up to full functionality yet - i need to put in the number of jumper whereas the other two corporation websites work that out themselves from the starting and ending system. That is annoying.
Offers two speeds of service: normal = 3 days to for contract to expire + 1 day to complete; and Priority = 1 day to for contract to expire + 1 day to complete.
Offers a menu of pricing depending on Standard vs Jump Freight vs Thera / Collateral / Space Security / Volume / Time. At first glance, the menu is mind boggling (gets easier to understand with time), i always find it best to go straight to the price quote page.
Can go from anywhere to anywhere. Maximum volume 845,000 m3 (standard freight, highsec).
Customer Support Channel: very new but seems well staffed.
Reliability: very new but so far so good.
PushX Industries
PushX Industries is a long time established corporation.
Very user friendly website - the best there is. I just need to input the starting system + ending system + volume + collateral and i am quoted the normal & rush price. Everything is well laid out. It just sets the standard.
Offers two speeds of service: normal = 3 days to for contract to expire + 1 day to complete; and Rush = 1 day to for contract to expire + 1 day to complete.
Offers a menu of pricing depending on Standard vs Jump Freight / Collateral / Space Security / Volume / Time. Again, at first glance, the menu is mind boggling (gets easier to understand with time), i always find it best to go straight to the price quote page.
Can go from anywhere to anywhere. Maximum volume 1,125,000 m3 (standard freight, highsec).
Adding to that PushX has another website that tracks how your courier contract is progressing. Hence, you can see if your contract has been accepted / delivered without logging into the game. Another major plus.
Customer Support Channel: was excellent now poor after many members left to start New Evolution Express.
Reliability: was excellent but has recently tailed off, again, after many members left to start New Evolution Express.
Red Frog Freight
Red Frog Freight is the oldest hauling corporation in Eve. Has various divisions: Red Frog Freight to haul cargo in highsec worth up to 1bn; Black Frog Freight to haul cargo in low sec; Blue Frog Freight to haul cargo valued at over 1bn ISK in Highsec.
The corporation operating as different divisions does make it look optically complicated but gets easier with time.
Website basic but very straight forward to use. Probably the easiest to use.
Offers two speeds of service: normal = 3 days to for contract to expire + 1 day to complete; and Rush = 1 day to for contract to expire + 1 day to complete.
However, the Rush Jobs are limited to highsec jobs where collateral is under 1bn ISK.
Offers a menu of pricing depending on highsec vs lowsec / Collateral / Time. The least complicated menu of pricing given it does not charge differently for different volume.
Can go from anywhere to anywhere. Maximum volume 845,000 m3 (standard freight, highsec, less than 1bn collateral).
Customer Support Channel: Not sure myself but only hear good things about it.
Reliability: Not sure myself but only hear good things about it.
Haulers Channel
I have never used this chat channel "Haulers Channel" to highlight the courier contracts i have on offer.
From what i can tell, it seems populated and active with a focus on intel and tips for haulers as well as highlighting courier contracts for offer.
The discussion i see on hauling is high quality and well worth sitting in there if you are a hauler.
Independent individuals
I do use this typically to transfer items from a trade hub to Jita. Perversely, i find it is done in a few hours and typically much cheaper than if one of the hauling corporations were to do it.
Indeed, another blogger MoxNix at MerchantMonarchy stated that they always used the public courier contracting system given the jobs were always done on time and much cheaper than the hauling corps.
Price Comparison between the Hauling Corporations
Given i operate in Highsec only, i input a variety of courier contracts to compare prices. There is one consistent winner for the options i chose is New Evolution Express - it seems as if they are at a constant discount to the other hauling corps in an attempt to gain market share as a new entrant:
Jita >>> Dodixie, 900m collateral, 100m3 volume, Rush/Priority Job
New Evolution Express 22.2m
PushX Industries 23.6m
Red Frog Freight 99.0m
Jita >>> Dodixie, 2.5bn collateral, 100m3 volume, Rush/Priority Job
New Evolution Express 33.0m
PushX Industries 36.6m
Blue Frog Freight none offered
Jita >>> Dodixie, 2.5bn collateral, 50000m3 volume, Rush/Priority Job
New Evolution Express 39.0m
PushX Industries 43.8m
Blue Frog Freight none offered
Jita >>> Hek, 900m collateral, 100m3 volume, Rush/Priority Job
New Evolution Express 24.0m
PushX Industries 25.8m
Red Frog Freight 123.0m
Jita >>> Hek, 2.5bn collateral, 100m3 volume, Rush/Priority Job
New Evolution Express 37.5m
PushX Industries 42.0m
Blue Frog Freight none offered
Jita >>> Hek, 2.5bn collateral, 50000m3 volume, Rush/Priority Job
New Evolution Express 45.0m
PushX Industries 51.0m
Blue Frog Freight none offered
You know what happened to cause a split and spinoff within PushX?
ReplyDeleteNope?
DeleteSo do you you one char in Dodixie to sell and one in Jita to buy, or are you using one character that goes back and forth to buy in jita?
ReplyDeleteyes - as soon as I was hauling over 100m ISK it made sense to use courier contracts and therefore have one char on Dodixie and one char in Jita.
DeleteBefore that, in the beginning, I did the hauling myself. Relatively safe hauling below 70m, assuming normal precautions taken (bookmarks on docking and undocking).
The trip from jita to Dodixie can easily take 20 mins (you can auto pilot afk form Dodixie to jita with an empty ship and do something else away from the game).
Nice article! FYI I believe it was in 2014 that Hauler's Channel was usurped by CODE. so it is basically gankers promoting anti-gank intel. I still have a screenshot of the "new ownership MOTD" change somewhere.
ReplyDelete