Wanting to be a self employed courier. Some questions

ScorpiondeRooftrouser

bugslet wrote: »

There will be someone that will, look at the deliveroos of this world, some people have more money than sense. However, I doubt the OP could garner enough to make it a worthwhile venture.

The difference with the Deliveroo model is they have a large pool of labour they pay for only as needed. Being one man, he couldn't work at capacity anyway. If you even once said to anyone "I am too busy to deliver your parcel today" that would be end of story. Not to mention when he is ill, the van breaks down, etc.

The whole point of a same day delivery service is that things are urgent. Nobody in their right mind would trust this to a single individual with no backup.

bugslet

Owain_Moneysaver wrote: »

Deliveroo have recently reported a loss of £18.1 million. That's after obtaining about £350m of funding.

In which case Owain, I think we can rest our case:D

fishybusiness

You could always register with Shiply and other similar sites.

Have a look at the prices jobs are going for and work out if your own costs would make jobs viable.

Have to go way outside your 20 miles though.

bugslet

Shipley et al are merely driving prices down to less than viable. I wouldn't use them for a backload. And backloads are only viable if the outbound pays decent enough not to really need a backload.

eamon

I'd forgotten that about 15 years ago I considered doing this with TNT. Even went so far as to setting up an interview/meeting. I'd done extensive research re the costs etc but need a face to face meeting to confirm some details. Luckily for me the woman running the show was as hard as nails and brutally honest. It was just about doable then but I wouldn't even think about it now. For the OP your idea needs to end and soon.

JReacher1

You could try being just a white van man for hire e.g. People pay you to turn up in your van and shift furniture to a different location. I've used them a couple of times in the past when I've moved houses.

TyreLever

eamon wrote: »

Its already an extremely crowded & competitive market. Don't do it. There are threads on here by people that work for the likes of Hermes, Yodel etc. For most its a struggle to make a living. A Yodel driver delivered to me last week he had 120 drops to do. Its mad.

This. Delivery driving truly is crap. You would be much better off heading over to the Atacama to become a cactus.

Here's a bit of insight.

TyreLever

ScorpiondeRooftrouser wrote: »

True, I did say "if it costs you nothing" - if he has access to a van then it will only cost him the price of an advert in the local paper. He won't have to pay fuel costs because he won't get any work.

Lol. .

bugslet

TyreLever wrote: »

This. Delivery driving truly is crap. You would be much better off heading over to the Atacama to become a cactus.

Here's a bit of insight.

Most delivery driving. No longer drive myself, but loved my job when I did. Saw some amazing places and most days it was no more than two or three deliveries/collections. Going abroad, it was often one or two a week.

Those jobs are few and far between though.

Owain_Moneysaver

bugslet wrote: »

If you are talking parcels to homes, then that is a market well covered by the DPD/Hermes/Yodels of this world and their wafer thin margins.

Why the restriction to a 20 mile radius? It's not helpful.

And even if a local 'round' for is inside 20 miles you may have 50+ miles one way to get to the depot to collect your day's parcels.

Or parcel, if it's a slow day. For which you will be paid about 50p, driven 100+ miles, and then found the recipient not at home.

With many of these schemes you will also be storing parcels at home, so you will need business insurance with goods in transit cover.