couriers for DHL@HOME

truereddevil

kim_ley wrote: »

local pizza and takeaways are always looking for delivery drivers why not ask around?

I have and pizza hut delivery and dominoes actually pay very well dominues pays upto ten pound an hour but unfortunately its all night work and thats not what im after its mainly day work i need or i will become a single man lol:rolleyes:

In_a_Mess_3

I had an interview with DHL and have been accepted as far as I know anyway, it was a verbal acceptance nothing in writing yet.

I used to be a courier for parcel net and they did take the mickey, I ended up getting around 100 parcels every other day and the area was huge, I kept asking for it to get made smaller but they wouldn't do it so in the end I had to stop as I was working 8am to 9pm, 7 days a week, it was too much. :mad:

They have now split my old area into about 5, so that shows you!!

The dhl manager assured me that wouldn't happen with them, so we'll see, although as it's been a few weeks I'm not sure now what's happening.

schneckster

This thread is right up my street... no pun intended!

I was a self employed courier. I owned the van, paid the fuel, tax, insurance, the lot. My rate was based on my costs over a typical annual mileage plus what I wanted to earn as a living. It came out at around the market rate of 80p per loaded mile for a small van (Citroen Berlingo, in my case). I mostly took a lower rate of 65p per loaded mile as I usually worked for other courier companies. All the work was sameday deliveries.

SOmetimes a customer did get me to work for DHL, TNT, et al. Usually, it was making deliveries their own drivers didn't do. I hated multidropping like this, though. It was hard, tiring, and not worth the money considering the wear and tear on your van. But I used to get day rates out of it at £120 a day, with a condition attached that I'd finish at 6pm no matter how many deliveries were left. I usually got to most, though. I did run into a few franchised drivers... own van but worked solely for that company. At 25p per mile or 65p per drop I really couldn't see it as viable. They nearly always said they were thinking of stripping the livery off their vans and doing what I was doing. I was making more than them and had a lot less stress and grief.

Mostly, though, it was one off urgent jobs for the big companies that I had. Or more unusual ones... Amtrak had a deal for pigeon fanciers to return their pigeons for £20. I always got my rate, though

If you want to get into the courier business as self employed, my first question would be... are you mad??? Recession means everyone is sending stuff next day leaving sameday couriers, i.e., the self employed ones, with little work.

But, if you are, the best way to find business is to ring round the couriers in the yellow pages... the ones you've never heard of. Build relationships with them and you'll quickly get work.

If you're not multidropping, then you may get away with light haulage insurance rather than courier. It'll be cheaper and sameday couriers are pretty much light haulage as they only carry one or two jobs at a time. Courier insurance is aimed at the multidroppers... more drops in the same time means more money so get out the way!!!!

I would never work for the big boys direct, but only through another company. I always got a proper rate, then, as by the time they ring other companies, they were getting desperate! :rotfl:

Schneckster

Puddled

Gill
Do you have the details of the passport delivery service.
Am interested myself,

Thanks

Dinkums

I`ve just started working for [EMAIL="DHL@home"]DHL@home[/EMAIL]. Yes its 65p a parcel. I do between 15-30 parcels a day. I can do more if i want. Its self employed but when u think about it you can claim your fuel costs etc back of tax man at end of the year when he wants tax off you! 65p goes up after a trial period and they are going to be merging with hdnl when price is going up to £1 a parcel. They are fexible and i`ve been told if you give them more than a weeks` notice they can cover you. Maybe different depos operate different.

Kunama

Hiyas All,

I have just started working from [EMAIL="DHL@home"]DHL@home[/EMAIL] 3 days ago. I have been very sceptical from the start but I thought as I would give it a go as I had nothing to loose and there is a very slim chance it would work out.
It is a self-employed job so you are responsible for your own tax and NI, petrol and car wear n tear have to be accounted for, although not business insurance as this is covered by DHL. I am currently on 70p per delivered parcel, and I have worked out my car costs 15p a mile plus I allow 15p per mile wear n tear. At the moment I have to say I cannot see how anyon could even earn pocket money from this job, let alone a wage. I cover 2 postacode areas, one is the main town, where I could earn some worthwhile money, but it is negated by the outlying rural areas I have to cover that costs more than I could earn.
I am going to stick with it, I have only been doing it 3 days, and in that time ive had kids home sick, and we've had rubbish weather, so I'll wait untill I've done a few deliverys on a 'normal' day before I write it off altogether.

I would be very interested to hear from others who have / haven't made this work.

Dinkums - Is the £1 a parcel something you have heard on the grapevine or have you heard this direct from DHL? If it went up to £1 a parcel it would be much more worthwhile

Dinkums

Kanama, I was told £1 or more from the woman that interviewed me and is my line manager i presume thats what i call her. So i say its direct for DHL. The company they going in with is HDNL ( home delivery etc it has on their vans) i`ve seen quite a few here in Reading. I`m enjoying the work and it fits in with my children. Ok it may not be alot at the moment, but i`ve been told i can get more work when i want it.

agent_orange_2

Hi Dinkums, welcome to the forum. I am also a home courier for dhl. I noticed you mention "you can claim your fuel costs etc back of tax man". Please be advised your tax mileage allowance will in no way cover your fuel costs. The tax allowance for use of your own vehicle is 40p a mile. That is to say, for every mile you drive you will pay no tax on 40p of earnings. So that, roughly equates to 8p a mile, in your pocket. So assuming
you do 3000 business miles a year, that would be £1200 of earnings you pay no tax on. Or put it another way, your tax relief will be £240 in total. Take in to account, fuel insurance, wear and tear - it's not a lot. Make no mistake, courier work with the stopping and starting, stuffing parcels in and out of your car, quickly takes it's toll.

If you're a non tax payer, I guess you wouldn't benefit from the tax allowance at all. It
might be best to put a post on the tax thread, they'll be able to put you right on tax issues.

If there's anything else about the job you'd like to know, please ask.

agent_orange_2

Hi Kunama, I've been a dhl courier for 18 months. I've stuck at and you've guessed, your not going to get rich. It does get better after a few weeks, once you get the ropes and you've learned the best routes. I'm paid £1 a parcel now, it originally started at 65p. I had to speak with management before they upped the rate and the other home courier in my town is only on 85p.
One of the pains of the job, which has got worse recently is, you don't know what time the parcels will arrive with you. For our area it can be between 9-12 0'clock, they rarely have the courtesy to let you know, so just have to wait.
If there is anything speciffic you would like to know, just ask.

all the best

Dinkums

Agent O thanks for advice.
I dont have my parcels dropped to my house, so i have a say when i start so to speak.