Becoming A Self Employed courier driver

I'm a self employed courier I've been in the industry for the last 9 years, and totally agree with the reply above. It IS very cut-throat and certainly wouldn't advise anyone taking this path. If you've seen the ads in the paper where you can earn £300+ a day I'm sorry to say its total !!!!!!!!. You are lucky to make £250-300 per week in this current financial climate.

In 1999 when I first started in could easily earn over £1000 per week without breaking sweat. Now you have to slave your guts out to earn a quarter of that.

Please feel free to PM me any questions you have and I'll be more than happy to answer them.

Pinzy wrote: »

Well I was just thinking today I may get into this business. Not so sure now!

I'm not saying don't do it, just make sure you do a lot of research before you make the decision. Most of the smaller operators that went under while I was in the business had no idea about what was required to be successful until it was too late.

Too many just thought it was just a matter of leasing a van, getting some adverts in the local papers & off they could go

If you're thinking of doing this then theres more to it than meets the eye. Firstly do your research. Its not all about getting a van and away you go, if only it was that easy!

Theres a massive financial lay out for very tiny profit.

You need to decide wether to buy your van outright or get it on a long term hire. Forget leasing companies as your restricted on your mileage allowance. For long term hire prices typically are £75+VAT p/w for a small van (Vauxhall Combo) £100+VAT p/w for a short wheel base transit and £150+VAT p/w for a long wheel base sprinter.

Theres good and bad points for both buying your van or long term hire. If you buy your own van you then have to consider the costs of maintainance, servicing, road tax, tyres etc. Typically a courier van will need to be serviced about every 6-8 weeks because of the high mileage (you will average 80-100k per year)

Next you need to think about insurance. Its not any old insurance you need. You'll be required to get specialised courier insurance which on average costs about 4 times as much as ordinary insurance (if you can get your premium less than £1500 you have a good deal)

Next you need Goods in Transit Insurance (typically £200 per year)

Still with me?? Have you got enough money left to fill it with juice? A courier averages about 100k miles per year so you dont need a degree to work out your fuel bill is going to be hundreds of pounds per week.

So you now have your van and you need some work. The choice is do you sub contract or go it alone. Once again pro's and cons for both. Say you want to go it alone, the first thing is to leaflet drop every business in town, then its a case of waiting for the phone to ring. Many newbies fall at the first hurdle here. Basically I mean that say customer 'A' rings you with a job from say Birmingham to Coventry so you take the job on. Halfway through said job customer 'B' rings you with a job for Birmingham to Glasgow, you have no choice but to let them down because you cant be in 2 places at once. Its very rare for a customer to ring you again after you have let them down more than twice.

For payments, customers typically have 30 days after invoicing to pay. If your 'lucky' enough to do work for a large multi-national some insist its 60 day billing. So you need enough funds to be able to live and work for 60 days. Don't forget theres always the chance that the customer could go bust in this time space and theres little chance of you seeing your cash.

Dont forget this is SAMEDAY courier work you cannot postpone jobs till tomorrow, you typically have 30 mins from the customer ringing you, to you getting the goods on your van and then on your way. These jobs are time critical.

For subby work basically you take work off an established company, they ring you when a job becomes available and then you do it. They have an established set of customers and many subbie couriers to cover the work. The downfall of subby work is you will get a less mileage rate than if it was your own customer.

Hope all this helps I cant think of anything else right now but as I said PM me with any questions and I'll do my best to answer. This business is very cut-throat, it aint a 9-5 job, you will do long unsociable hours. There will always be someone who will work for a less mileage rate than every-one else just to get the work. Theres massive outlay for very little profit. The industry is in massive decline. For those thinking they will make big bucks quick....forget it you're about 8 years behind the times. The prices we charge customers haven't risen that much BUT the price of fuel, insurances, and vans has.

Good luck!

EDIT: Sorry if this post seems negative, but this really is an industry in decline, I'd sooner say it how it is then let another newbie do his dough, I've seen it all to often over the years. Do your research well and you could make a go of it, but do it bad and its going to cost you a lot of money.

lisajb27 wrote: »

Thank you that certainly has given me a lot to think about,not as straight forward as we where thinking :eek: .

Think we need to give it some thought, i may contact you for more information if you dont mind?

Thanks again

No problem, happy to help.

claire12 wrote: »

or even try one of them fastway courier things, where you take a area or something, they say you can make 500 pound guarnteed for the first 5-6 weeks, but what you earn after that????

i suppose risk comes with the job?

Don't do it!

You have to invest £6k with them which they drip feed back to you over a period of 12 weeks...this is your £500 per week wages, its your own bloody money your paying yourself.

Don't mug yourself off....avoid at all costs!!!!