Hermes UK - Self-Employed Parcel Delivery Driver

IQ225

Hi Folks,

Has anyone on here ever worked as a self-employed Parcel Delivery Driver for Hermes UK? The job sounds good but I cannot see how people make much money when you take into account the mileage you are clocking up on your vehicle, the fuel costs, the maintenance cost of your vehicle. For example, if you drive your vehicle at 30mph around town for an 8 hour shift that should be 240 miles per day, 1,200 miles per 5 day week, 57,600 miles for 48 weeks (if you take 1 month holiday), 115,200 over 2 years. By that time many cars will be due for renewal at the cost of 10k -15k for a new vehicle with zero miles. That's quite an outgoing from wages every 2 years, and that's not taking into account service parts (tyres, brakes, exhaust, oil, wipers), fuel, more expensive business insurance, etc. Can you realistically make enough money from it?

Thanks for your feedback.

Dox

Several threads on this forum on working for Hermes and other delivery companies - have a look at earlier posts/search the forum.

ellie99

Your mileage figures are wrong. Even though you may be driving at 30mph, does not mean you actually cover 30 miles every hour.
A town round could be as low as 30 miles per day, depends how close your pick up point is. Even a very rural route won't be much over 100 miles per day.

MinuteNoodles

You won't be driving for 8hrs and you won't be doing 30 MPH for 8hrs. You'll be driving a few hundred yards at a time if you're covering an urban area, maybe a few miles between drops in a more rural location. If you're covering the town you live in you'll be lucky to do 10-20 miles a day.

[Deleted User]

Don't go into the business thinking you'll see profits immediately, businesses take many years to establish and making losses come before making profits.

The more hours you work the more your turnover, work, work, work, work, that's when you start to see the money.

Yes, i'm self employed, no, i have no experience with delivery but the work ethic is the same for any business - the more you work the bigger the rewards.
 
Aim high, don't be mediocre.

LudaMusser

One thing that you need to really look into is that if you have a days holiday or you’re sick, you’ll need to find somebody to cover your route so you’ll have a big outlay ££ there. Find the previous thread on this, it was started years ago and it’s about ten pages long. It will really help you make a decision 

IQ225

Thanks for your feedback folks on working for Hermes, I did search the forum for other posts on Hermes but nothing came up, only posts on Yodel, DPD, etc.

The main problem with Hermes UK and their careers website is that they DON'T provide enough information to encourage people to want to work for them. Before I even considered working for Hermes UK I would at least want to know:

1) If they are paying between £10 - £15 per hour, exactly how many parcels would need to be delivered per hour to achieve that rate?

2) If the delivery address of each parcel is several miles apart this would result in less parcels being delivered per hour, it would also mean the couriers fuel and vehicle running costs (wear & tear) would be higher. In this situation how would the courier be able to earn enough money per hour to cover his expenses and make a reasonable wage?

3) Whilst working as a self-employed courier would I be able to choose how many days and hours I worked each week? For example could I choose to work “1 Day” or  “4 Days” or “2 hours” or “No Days” per week? After all I "am" self-employed so should have full control of when I want to work!

4) On average how far would a courier need to travel each day to collect their parcels from a Hermes depot?

5) In the event I could not deliver a customer’s parcel on the chosen day (due to heavy traffic, broken down vehicle, etc.) would I be able to leave it till the following day?

6) Apart from the vehicle, do self-employed courier drivers need to supply any other equipment at their own expense or pay a fee to use any of Hermes equipment - such as barcode scanners?

I have asked Hermes UK all these questions without reply.

Thanks again folks! 

postmanpat68

see here.

https://beacourier.co.uk/frequently-asked-questions/

Savvy_Sue

Leaving aside the parcels Hermes have delivered to entirely the wrong address, they've nearly always arrived on the day they say they will. On the days they don't arrive on the day they've said they will, they come back next day. Whether they 'allow' this or not, I couldn't say.  

From my experience of mis-delivered parcels, their customer service is staffed by people who are either incapable of reading what you have written, or are not allowed to reply to what you have written. "We delivered your parcel, end of" is their standard reply, so I hope their HR / driver management is better. 

paul2louise

I have just seen this thread. I too am looking for flexible work and considered Hermes or similar. I dont think I could make the money work reading around. Lots of costs before you weigh up the profit. I only work 5 hours a week at a school. just looking for flexible working oportunities