Advice on becomming self employed as a courier

tiff

My brother in law is doing exactly the same thing. Made redundant in Ireland last year and has come back here to work as a self employed courier. He is over for a few days to sort some things out.

schneckster

Hi all,

Right, my background... I worked as an owner driver courier for a couple of years before giving it up after my daughter was born. I didn't get troubled by IR35 as I worked for several different courier companies on a regular basis picking up other work from other courier companies and end users as and when I could.

This is different to what the big boys are doing. You buy the van, get it painted, maintain it, fuel it, service it, and then work solely for them. As far as they're concerned, you're self employed. In other words, you have no rights so they can get rid of you with no notice, and you can get hit with IR35.

You also run the risk of the taxman deciding you should be an employee and therefore owe more income tax and NI... plus a fine! I know of a couple of courier companies that have gone to the wall when the taxman fined them for using drivers as self employed when they should be employees. And the drivers didn't do too well, either.

To be honest, your friend will be multi-dropping, right? That is a van killer!!! If they are asking him to buy the van and maintain it, it is a cost they do not have to worry about. If they own the van, 60k miles of multidrop will entail loads of services, cluctches, may be gearboxes. All that to run the risk of a run in with HMRC?

If your friend is going to go self employed as a courier, he should do it properly. Buy the van, etc., yes. But then approach different courier and light haulage companies offering his services. He can then work for who he likes, when he likes therefore removing any danger of IR35 and the taxman thinking he should be an employee.

And do you know something? I bet he still gets jobs from this big courier company... but at a far better rate! I know I did.

For example, I could have been a driver for TNT. I chose not to. 25p per mile wasn't brilliant. So, I worked for other companies who frequently got called by TNT (and DHL, Amtrak, AMC, Parcel Line, and most of the others) to do jobs their own drivers didn't/couldn't/wouldn't do. I'd then get 65p per mile instead. Or 30 deliveries for Parcel Line... their drivers got so much per drop for 70+ drops, I got a day rate of £120!

Tell him to buy the van but stay independent. PM me if you want to know exactly how to go about it.

I enjoyed it and still miss it. I went all over the country and parts of Europe. I was my own boss and worked for who I wanted. Any idiots were only on the phone and gone 30 seconds later. Best of all, I made the salary I had previously earnt as an engineer. It's hard work and long hours. But I do still ocassionally wish I was in the van again.

Good luck,

Schneckster

jimbugalee

Hi Schneckster,

Thanks very much for that post. If you don't mind I'll drop you a PM for more details.

Gemma

robredz

It's more common than you think, but often they will pay per drop, say £1.40 per drop on an urban route, and more on a rural. Problem is that some of the big firms have been taking the drops off the van couriers and giving them to home delivery agents to supplement their catalogue deliveries @65p per parcel, thus making some rounds unviable. My advice would be to check what is on offer and consider what Shneckster has posted very carefully. Bear in mind if your van is liveried, you are effectively prevented from workig for other companies.

hope this helps

nexuss

He should tell the company he prefers to have a plain white van which will enable him to work for various people.He would need Goods in transit insurance,courier insurance and public liability insurance as well as pay for a van lease,fuel and many other costs.

I know a lot of self-employed couriers who have gone bust in the recession as they are all undercutting each other.Take a look at the various jobsites and see the hundreds of companies asking for owner van drivers.What do you think the reason is for this ? The companies prefer owner drivers as it is less aggro and costs for them.

A lot of couriers now are also delivering newspapers on a self-employed basis working 2am-7am for example due to the loss of work nationally.

nexuss

I forgot to add most companies franchise off their worse paying multi-drop rounds.