DPD Driver Franchise

[Deleted User]

Biola wrote: »

I'm interested in the owner driver franchisee. Can you please put me through?

Not that hard to find
http://www.dpd.co.uk/content/careers/owner-driver-franchisees.jsp


The last helpful poster offering to advise hasn't logged on to this 'forum' since 27-9-14 so why not go direct and form your own opinion

Chris_Carson

Anyone who's done multi drop work knows full well it's a minimum 12 hour day for very little earnings. Rather than just give you a job, where most sensible people soon realise it's slave labour and start thinking about leaving for the sake of their sanity, they lock you in with a franchise.

Parcel Force offer the same deal, and I was lucky enough to compare notes with my ParcelForce driver about his diabolical work rate, that was making him very ill through stress and fatigue. His only saviour was his wife who gave up her job to come with him in the van to help out. He drove, she did the leg work. It was the only way he could do the job, although the two together still only earned one wage and they were worse off than when she had her own job.

As someone said earlier, it all depends on whether it's business to business or business to customer (customers are too time consuming) and how far you have to travel between drops. If you've been stuck with a rural route, and the chances are you will, it's a long way between drops. If it's a close knit city route where the drops are relatively close to each other, then there's not too many worries. But the chances of getting one of those tidy little numbers is almost zero to nil. Five minutes here and there soon turn into wasted hours, especially when you're stuck in traffic. You can bet your bottom dollar, all the best routes have been snapped up a very long time ago, and you get stuck with the crap nobody else wants. The new boy gets stuck with it, and when you complain it falls on deaf ears, because they've already got their own asses covered and want to keep it that way.

Once you've paid £1300 to get the job, it's very difficult to leave, which is exactly what they want. It's their method of keeping (locking) people in the job that most sensible people leave after just a few weeks once they've sussed they're being taken advantage of and being used as slave labour. It doesn't take much to realise, it's a con-job to attract the gullible. Trying to extract yourself from the franchise once you've bought in to it, is almost impossible.

Unless there's two people, one to do the work when you can't, there's an horrendous price to pay. You get money deducted (not only do you lose money from your own wages, you also have to pay for the agency driver they take on to replace you while you're off with stress related illness) which is anything up to £200 per day. They do that to deter absenteeism, which is not always avoidable. Especially when you're close to collapsing through sheer exhaustion, or you need a break for a few days.

That means no sick days off and no holidays. Unless you want to pay up to £200 a day which is what they charge you for the replacement agency driver. They do that just to keep you locked into the job whether you like it or not.

Don't be suckered. Read the small print very very carefully indeed.

In my humble opinion, DPD (and those operating in a similar way) are the biggest bunch of shysters known to humanity.

Unless you're someone who's willing to work a 12 to 15 hour day for 8 hours wages (you know exactly who I mean), stay well away. Buying yourself into a DPD franchise (or any of the other driver franchises for that matter that look extremely attractive), is just buying yourself into a very deep hole that is almost impossible to climb out of once you're in. And that's exactly the way they want it.

The rich are getting richer, and the working man is getting poorer. Something needs to give.

If you would like to ask a question, please do. I'm always pleased to help out.

You can reach me: motorised at rocketmail dot com

And finally, if you want to email DPD, you can't. They've switched it off. The Send button doesn't work.

Which to my mind suggests they're so inundated with complaints, that they can't cope with the volume of email that's coming in. So instead of dealing with it, they've just ducked out of it. That's a very bad sign indeed.

Shnevpayne

Wow there's some pretty heavy stuff in here. Not all of it true, and as a Franchisee, I would like to bring a few things to light if I can regarding having a DPD FRANCHISE.

So I started working for DPD through an agency as a Christmas relief driver in December 2014. Please note I HAD NEVER BEEN A COURIER BEFORE THIS! I was a restaurant manager and needed a change of pace, scenery, and thought what they hey! Admittedly the pay was awesome! Fuel and van paid for, if I wanted more work there was more work there and I was paid per stop, £1.50. Was averaging near 100 a day, in both a town and rural area, starting at 7:30am, finishing at 5pm. Not bad, especially seeing as my commute and vehicle were all paid for!

After the Xmas rush, I was laid off (being agency is being bottom of the rung people!), not by DPD, but the agency went bust! No more than 3 weeks went by and as the season kicked off again I was invited to return as an Employed Driver.

Now Employed drivers do have it good. Pay is reasonable (Approx £8.90 per hour) on a 40 hour contract. You get holiday pay and various incentives to stay on! Now the contract is based over 5 days, 8 hours a day. Most days you do 10-11 hours. What that means ladies and gents is after 3 and a half days you go into overtime! Which is 1.5x normal rate. Most weeks I would be taking home £400, if I wanted to work weekends, I would, and could, and extra £100 here and there ain't to be sniffed at. (Annually works out about £24-26k) Based on working from 7am and getting home at 6pm.

Being employed I was sent everywhere to start off with, one day in Cheddar, the next in Wells, the next in Warminster. I had never been to many of these places ever before, let alone driven thorough them on a schedule, but I relished the challenge and got more and more efficient at all these random places.

After 4 weeks or so of putting me through every possible back end of nowhere, mainly to see if I was still any good, they put me into my local town again, on a business route. 4 post code areas, approx 200+ parcels a day, on approx 80 drops, with 3 bulk collections. Translating into English, this meant a 7am start, 5pm finish, loading a van full, front to back at the start of the day, and emptying a very full van at the end of it.
IT WAS HARD WORK, to start off with, before I started seeing the weight shedding off me, the return of my 6 pack and realising I had a free gym membership for 2-3 hours a day!

I started off working very hard going everywhere on this route before making it more efficient, you control your own route so if there's a better way in your mind of doing it then do it! I would finish my deliveries most days by 1:30pm, go home, walk the dog, before starting my collections. (Not that I was meant to) but if you have done all you were meant to and you can't collect your collection parcels until 3.30pm, what else can you do eh?

So this was the norm for a few months. Most Fridays I would be taking in excess of 100 stops to assist with an ODF route who works a Sunday-Thursday Contract ontop of my own route as I had one less collection on a Friday. Now every few months there's usually a "re-route" where some drivers routes are changed around to make them more efficient, and allows them to take more deliveries/parcels.
When asked what would make my route more efficient, I said to drop my one big bulk collection which took an hour out of my day, and lose the 7 bulk deliveries I had so I could take more parcels and more stops. This meant I could then take a larger route.
So from a 75 stops a day average, I went up to 100 a day average, some days were quieter, but I was still working the same hours, for same pay. One of my managers then suggested the self employed ODF way, and talked about a "Blue Print".
This meant sitting with the boss, going through what mileage I was doing daily, roughly how many stops I was averaging, and what this would then work out as an amount per stop to make an average of £30k per year. This isn't just a number plucked from the heavens, its specifically worked around the level of work you can realistically achieve, how many miles you cover, fuel you use, and what your route is realistically going to give you throughout then year. My blue print was 85 stops a day, at £2.12 per stop.

Now you have to take into account this is likely to change, depending on what goes on with your route, and how busy it is, how quick you are, and if you are "taking the !!!!". Eg, if your blue print is 85 stops, yet you can easily cover 150 stops on that route, you are creaming the company. They won't change your blue print that much, but will review it continuously to ensure that you aren't costing the company too much, and vice versa, if your blue print is 85 and you are struggling to clear 70 stops a day, then this will be reviewed. Its called communication. Talking with management. Something some ODFs seem to forget. I expect my blueprint to change in a few weeks, reducing the amount I get per stop, only because while my blue print states 85 stops per day, I am clearing no less than 110 on a quiet day!

Anywho. The whole point of going to be an ODF is to make more money. And while you can indeed, you do still have to take into account a few things. Yes you can start from as little as £1300, but if you have heavier out goings, any CCJ's to your name etc, this will be a bigger number. My "deposit" was £2300. Why? A mortgage, and rent, as well as 2 substantial loans will do that to you, but DPD will try to assist you if they can by spreading this cost over a longer time frame than just £2300 up front!

Yes if you pull a sickie, or don't turn up for work, is £150 fine. Erm, hello, you are a subcontracting company. If you fail to turn up, DPD will probably have to put 2 drivers into your route to cover it. Hence the big cost. I would love to see one driver manage to cover 140+ stops on my route sometimes with no prior warning. It makes sense to the company, and well, you can't argue with it. How do you get around this? Train up a 2nd driver! Sub contract a driver onto your own route. Pay them what you think is fair and make £50+ a day sitting at home doing S.F.A!

Weekend work? As it stands I choose to do 1 day every 2 weekends. so I work 11 days every 14. Why should you as an ODF? Weekends mean free moneys! While during your normal 5 day week you have your daily vehicle charges, (equating to near as dammit £50 excluding fuel) on a weekend the only thing you have to worry about is fuel. Bargain. So 100 stops for me works out after fuel costs about £180 before tax. Sweet! not bad for 8 hours work! Extra £350 per month is always useful!
As for a normal working week? I'm clearing a good £700 per week as it stands after expenses. The more you do the more you'll earn.

While a lot of people seem to scream you'll regret it, they'll screw you for every penny, well, no. It all depends on your route, how much you can realistically achieve and whether or not you are really cut out for this line of work. I'll state it clearly. THIS IS NOT AN EASY JOB. But the rewards are superior in every way shape and form.
Predicted monthly invoices for Oct, Nov and Dec are plus £4k into the £5k mark. The more you work, the more you earn. By all means ask any questions and I'll answer as best as I can. Peace out.

Globe_Trotter

Hi,
Greetings of the day!
Many thanks for the detailed information. I am highly impressed with your details regarding DPD franchisee.
I myself am interested for the franchise of DPD and have even applied for the same but unfortunately I have not received any revert.
Can you please let me have the contact details of the department/ person who handles the franchise?

Thanks and regards,
Globe Trotter

greasyjoe

"So hang on, you pay £1.3k and they only let you take 2 weeks off in total for a whole year of working 6 days a week?

2 weeks? That isn't generous at all. Thats shocking and the fact that you pay for the privilege of as little time off as possible

Strange how two posters have resurrected this thread in the companys defence as they have just started advertising their franchises all over the web "

Tricky, it's not employment, it's self-employment. You are running your own business and have to arrange cover if you want time off. DPD offering 2 weeks a year is something recently introduced, and is better than any other self-employed businessman would get. AS far as the £150 a day goes, here's the rough maths: A driver will deliver 120 or so a day and earn £200-250. When he calls in and says he can't cover his route, which he is contractually obligated to do, the brown stuff hits the fan. 2 agency drivers, 2 vans, approximately £400 to cover the route (as agency are slower and not as familiar with the route). Knock off the £200-250 saved by not paying the franchisee for the work he didn't do, and you are left with a bill of around £150, hence the size of the fine. I ran a similar operation for 30 years, including designing and costing the ODF franchisees and my best guy was clearing £40,000 a year after expenses. The money is good if you are good, hard working and prepared to put in the hours. Clock watchers, people who fancy a bit of driving, lazy f**ckers and people who think they are owed a living should not apply......

greasyjoe

"This type of thing isn't real self employment, you are still dictated to, it's just that firms like DPD have got around employment legislation.

It is sub-contracting to their rules. I mean, that £150 fine, is in effect you fining yourself for having a day off! Well it would be if you were really self employed.

And if you were really self employed then why are you told what holidays you can have?!

I was genuinely self employed in this sector, as I had my own vehicles and customers, and could do what I wanted!

I moved on to something better but I'd never advise anyone to take up a franchise with muppets like DPD and the rest.
Originally posted by Gilbert2
”

I have wondered how they get around the self employed thing , because of course the drivers cant be , as they cant pick and chose who they work for .
Vuja De - the feeling you'll be here later"

Of course it's self employment ! The biggest problem on this thread is people understanding what self-employment is. There are 3 prime conditions and 9 secondary conditions. Look on the HMRC website for the details. You can use the van for other work. You can set your own hours, subject to operational considerations. You can substitute other people to cover for you. These are all indicators of self-employment.

SailorSam

I've not read all this thread, but one thing that does stand out is......... Many of the posters who have contributed and told us how well they're doing, are Newies who have only made 1 post.
Don't mind me being suspicious, they may all be honest and genuine.

greasyjoe

Perhaps the newies, like myself, are making a post because they don't like DPD being slagged off.

SailorSam

greasyjoe wrote: »

Perhaps the newies, like myself, are making a post because they don't like DPD being slagged off.

Oh i'm sorry, my mistake.
Here's me thinking all the different Newies may have been one person and possibly have their feet under the table at DPD.
Of course that would never happen.

Dan-Dan

greasyjoe wrote: »

Perhaps the newies, like myself, are making a post because they don't like DPD being slagged off.

Behave yourself , DPD drivers slag DPD off , DPD Warehouseman slag DPD off , its hardly a new concept