A beginners guide to posting work... please!

Hi all,

I'm new to mtvan, quite new to the industry, and have never been a subcontracter, nor subcontracted work out, so please don't bite my head off if I sound dumb! All my work so far (been doing this since may) has been from private individuals who come straight to me, but I'd like to start working with other couriers - partly for stability of income, and partly just so I don't feel I'm working on my own so much!

I sometimes get people asking me to deliver stuff a long way away. I offer a quote, but obviously its too expensive for them because my total mileage makes it not worth their while. I'd like to make this kind of work available on mtvan, but I've NO idea how to go about it. So please bear with me!

1) When a customer gets in touch, should I say "Maybe - I'll see if I can find someone" and not commit to anything? Or is there some commitment expected of me?

2) Should I offer the customer a price up front, and make or lose money depending on what price another courier offers me? Or should I wait until the courier has offered me a quote before offering one to the customer?

3) Are there any legal / employment / red tape issues about subcontracting work?

4) Should I not do it at all?

Sorry if this stuff is boring to most of you. I figured its better to make an idiot of myself here than by cocking up someone's delivery.

Firstly welcome to the forum where you can ask whateva you like and be as stupid as you like. Many do both but that's wot its here for.

I see you're in NR29 so you're not going to find things easy

1. Because of where you are based i'd take the details and ring them back with a price. You may find no one quotes on it at all
2. This all comes with experience. I know which areas are more likely and less likely to get quotes on, and you get an idea of what range of quotes you're likely to get so I'm confident that when i give a price i'm not going to lose any money on it. As you're just starting out you don't need to cover as many costs as us so should be even less likely to cock up the price. If you wait then the customer may well find someone else while you're waiting quotes from us lot so can backfire whicheva way you do it
3. Make sure whoever you're subbing too has the relevant Goods In Transit insurance. If the goods get lost, stolen or damaged then you need to know it's covered. A lot of us assume everyone's got it...how many of us check?
4. If you're not getting the jobs when you quote, what makes you think you'll do any better by putting it on here?

[Admin: Rob, I've formatted your post for you. 2x returns for a line break/new para. Also we have the numbered and bulleted lists available at the top now.]

Thanks Speed Couriers. Good to know there aren't any magic rules.

Re. 4) I'm ok covering local. It's jobs further away which I want to put on here. I do long distance deliveries, so my adverts usually have the words 'nationwide' or 'long distance' in them (I try to encourage longer distance journeys for the extra pay). But this also attracts requests for deliveries which are nowhere near me. Hope that makes sense. I expect lots of guys like me get the same thing? For Norwich - Glasgow, I can give a good price. Newcastle - Glasgow, I can't, and it makes sense to find someone near Newcastle or Glasgow.

Also (5), is there standard % cut for the poster of the work? Or is it just a case of as much as you can wangle from the customer?

Ahhh what you need is a beginners guide to pushing same day prices down

Gotcha Camvan.....you quote what you're happy with....as you're a one man band you'll have low overheads i's imagine.....so you'll have more scope for driver pay and less to worry about re losing money on a job