Courier work

I think we need a distinction to what a Courier actually means

I'm with you Rob. Well said.

Don't forget to tell those life style people that work for the likes of Hermes and Yodel cos they is under the sad misapprehension that they is couriers too.

And most of 'em are also convinced that they don't need courier insurance either.

Very well said, I'm getting sick of quoting for subbie work and not getting the job because I am charging the going rate for a small van, these so called couriers out there are killing the industry working for 50p per mile, there should be a price capping rule of some kind, I know a lot of these "couriers" are doing 2 or 3 jobs at the same time so it's down to the company's to ask there eta and how long before they can pick up etc. somebody did a job for me the other week saying they were 30 minutes away from collecting, 2 hrs later they finally collected it!! My customer was fuming to say the least as was I!!

If these 'clowns' who mess things up are NOT given any more work, they will hopefully very soon go out of business.  

All of my vehicles are tracked and this certainly enables us to keep the customer informed.

Maybe [and it's just an idea] the subber ought to provide some sort of tracking to the person he takes work off ?   Plenty of options nowadays like 'Glympse' or Lattitude etc.   

Some so called couriers, really have no conception of how important communication is.  It may not be their own customer, but never the less they are paying good money for a premium service, so do not deserve their goods being held up by some idiot trying to maximise his own profit by taking on multi jobs etc.  

I dont think there is actully anything that can be done .

I was given more small van work last year from one of the big companies because we promise reliability and I gaurd and tresure this work as I know in the past I would not have been giving this amount of priority and be right at the to of the list .

I have a  Sprinter a combo and a transit flat bed I drive ,my son drives and my brother also steps in and we make sure we get it right !

We basiclly have this work because everybody else is totally useless and I blame one thing only tax credits !!!.

When I was bringing up kids we never had tax credits these lazy sod now only have to work a few hours a week and there money is made up so it does not matter who they let down as there will alway be promised money

Not to worry andy, im just about to call you for a job to rh12, and it pays more than the "going rate" as does all the work you've carried out for us

Thanks for that H, I have no complaints working for you, very professional and the best payer I have worked for, keep up the good work ;-)

What on earth is 'going rate'   lol

No such thing!

If someone is happy with one price, one can guarantee someone else won't be.

like it or not, there are "going rates" for trade work or ball park rates.

I am quite new to the industry compared to most of you, but rite now there is 1 company in particular in  my area that are just cutting every ones throat, doing jobs for stupid money, and this isn't only on auction sites. 

I could get more per mile 8/9 years ago than I can today & fuel is 70% more expensive, yet an holiday I booked at the same time if I booked at todays prices is 80%  more expensive but people are more than willing to pay, if there wasnt all these so called newbies entering this game then things would be a lot better.

Trouble is you are always going to get "Newbies" like it or not , people are always going to give it a go, right or wrong, hopefully these who do a rubbish job will go bankrupt and make you guys look wonderful, but bottom line is the industry will always have Newbies otherwise who will do this job when we are all retired lol ....

No, frankly I don't think you can. A haulier for sure.

Sorry , didnt mean to come across that you or anyone else sits around waiting for jobs, i purely ment myself, I cant sit around in the hope that I may get some sameday jobs every day , I cant afford to sit around im afraid, hopefully in time as i build up the business i will be able too move more towards just doing same day, 

Sorry , didnt mean to come across that you or anyone else sits around waiting for jobs, i purely ment myself, I cant sit around in the hope that I may get some sameday jobs every day , I cant afford to sit around im afraid, hopefully in time as i build up the business i will be able too move more towards just doing same day, 

I think you're missing my point....I don't care what you call yourself, Wot I am saying is there are drivers out there who are screwing up cos they don't understand what it is that's expected of them.

And the trouble with the over use of the word "Courier" is it's confusing for Joe Bloggs...and fills up Exchange sites with shite.

I really have to take you to task there.  There's nowt wrong with Aldi!!

I'm sure not all Doctors call themselves brain surgeons....they all specialise in woteva they do, you wouldn't go to a gyno with a sore big toe would you?....and before you say it, I've not got a problem with anyone that works at Aldi's or shops there....but you know the distinction between them and harrods....and you shop according to your budget.

A Courier collects an urgent package, box, pallet ,whatever asap and delivers it asap

I have to agree with the above comment.

Lol did i say Pickfords where couriers ummm nope :) all i was saying was i do some work for them too keep busy, which is got to be better than sitting on here whinning its quiet, I was Just pointing out I do all kinds of work as well as courier work, you started this thread of saying if you do removals , ebay , etc your not a courier, 

Very good but you missed the Verb Part 

Woh....hang on there...i haven't slagged you off....we do plenty of pre booked...but its still sameday isn't it...regardless of when it was rang thru....I am pointing out that a Courier is at the Premium end of the service....and to classify anyone that moves goods as a courier only confuses people...there's Couriers, and there's Carriers

And i make it as simple as i can...I even help by putting "sameday couriers" on the website, sales blumph etc etc

Lol ,and no you have not upset me directly :) I understand where your coming from buddy , and all im saying is some of us do all the things you said in your first post but can still deliver a great courier service, I have prob miss read what you have wrote or the way it comes across thats all :) A majority of what i do is pre booked, but collected and delivered the same day.

"I am pointing out that a Courier is at the Premium end of the service....and to classify anyone that moves goods as a courier only confuses people...there's Couriers, and there's Carriers"

The words Yodel & Courier do net even belong on the same page.

I am all for some form of regulation just so lomg as we can then use the Taxi / Bus lanes

"I am all for some form of regulation just so lomg as we can then use the Taxi / Bus lanes"

"Totally agree, twitter & forums are full of people slagging off "couriers" who have delivered their £15 amazon purchase and it hasnt arrived, when they really mean carriers or overnighters, even heard Yodel & parcel to go called couriers????"


Well said, facebook, twitter and forums all over tar couriers with the same brush, whether your a sameday courier service or an overnighter !

Mind you saying that, posting sameday courier work on here didnt help neither, a 400 mile trip to forfar not even a phone call ! Maybe will get one at 6pm this evening ! -

"Mind you saying that, posting sameday courier work on here didnt help neither, a 400 mile trip to forfar not even a phone call ! Maybe will get one at 6pm this evening !"

Exactly, doesnt give us much confidence in posting work, we could put on average 5 jobs (minimum) a day through here but dont purely for the fact that when we did post work we did not even get one phone call to cover it.

Imagine when some of our customers ring at 7am for anything upto 10 vans, all ours are out and subbies were out, if this was our only other method of covering work, would be completely screwed.

H it's prob due to sheer amount of traffic gridlocks around today took me 5hrs getting back from Croydon leaving there at 11am spent time crawling along m25 & then decided to come up the m1 hoping to knock on your door on the way for a return, got as far as milton Keynes services & stoped as m1 past you was mad, after stopping of for half hour & sitting on m1 got on to m6 1hour delay diverted along back routes also gridlocked had enough for one day especially bank holiday Friday nightmares.

That's probably true manj, we all have to do things we don't want to at times, ie ; had a Corby to dartford come in this afternoon at 3-40pm. Last thing I wanted to do was to send a van out at that time, but customers needs come first and if we have to send one then That's what we do. Understand where your coming from though bud, if only this industry was as simple as that though. 

Thats what the exchanges are for tho tho isn't it....You don't want to send a driver from Corby to Dartford, but there may well be a driver from Dartford going back past Corby empty who would love it....and thats the beaut of it all innit

which is exactly what we did Rob, albert was actually in corby when we posted, picked up within 10 mins, everyones a winner.

as a single operator the exchanges are tough to use for back loads as if i'm on the road i can search them, catch 22.

The likes of Shiply seem to be a waste of time for me. Nearly all of my work is either drop what I'm doing and leg it out the door or it's overnight stuff. The first doesn't give me time to organise anything else and no-one is going to want me collecting from their house at 2,3,4 am in the morning.

CX works, no matter what your thoughts are about them or exchange sites generally.