Does mtvan work?

Every now and then i'll dip my toe in and see if mtvan can compare with the other exchange sites.

Up to now it has it has been disappointing, particularly on urgent, ready now kinda jobs, with either bids a lot later than needed, or prices that are unrealistic.

A different story for those that are prebooked for another day it seems.

4 x jobs posted for next week, multiple quotes by phone, text and online, all at around the right price (with one very silly exception) and all sold within the hour. Many thanks to everyone that quoted, sorry to those that were unsuccesful on this occasion, and I hope the same level of interest can be obtained for the ready now, pick up within the hour, deliver asap kinda work which is more my forte.

Maybe Courier Exchange has a competitor afterall

We regularly post loads that need covering immediately, without the luxury of having any other useful exchange to fall back on, we are relying exclusively on mtvan for our overflow work and most of the time, it works.

There are of course occasions when we either get no response or a daft quote, but it's really not that often and usually it's a difficult location anyway. Sometimes even courier exchange, for all it's 2500 vehicles, produces nothing!

Also, potential vendors take note - one of the problems we had with Courier Exchange, is that because there is more work available, there are many more instances of couriers doing more than one job at once (on the sly). I generally have no problem with this - as long as i know before i decide to give someone the job - not after!

Since using mtvan, I have not come across any instance of the above scenario yet. Fingers crossed :-)

The more members means the more choice you have to pick the right courier for your work i.e. there's more of them quoting, so you are able to select the one that fits what you are looking for, be it a dedicated asap at a higher price, or one that can take a bit longer, may be co loaded, and the price may be lower as a result.

It has been suggested that the more members means the lower the quotes get, but i have not experienced that

If you have more time to cover a job then it stands to reason you're going to have a better chance of covering it at a good price, but as ours tend to be for now, then for me, its all about speed first and price second.

There are many times a quote has been lower after the job has been sold, but that's just the way it is

I'm very happy to have an alternative exchange site that appears to be going in the right direction.

Though it's worth noting its not always about the number of members, but also about the calibre

Speed Couriers (Stansted) said:

Though it's worth noting its not always about the number of members, but also about the calibre

Whats weaponry got to do with it? :-)

Whats a job 'on the sly'... If you can do two jobs and meet customer expectations, whats the problem? How else is an OD supposed to make any money at the rates being dished out these days. I sometimes get the feeling that profit for an OD is a dirty word, Ive worked in transport for over 23 years so I guess I know whats do-able and what isnt, and am fully aware of the pitfalls, of how things can go wrong so I dont take chances, before anyone has a dig!

Michael Lucani said:

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Whats a job 'on the sly'... If you can do two jobs and meet customer expectations, whats the problem? How else is an OD supposed to make any money at the rates being dished out these days. I sometimes get the feeling that profit for an OD is a dirty word, Ive worked in transport for over 23 years so I guess I know whats do-able and what isnt, and am fully aware of the pitfalls, of how things can go wrong so I dont take chances, before anyone has a dig!

A job on the sly is one of those things you might do to keep your head above water.

Michael Lucani said:

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Whats a job 'on the sly'...

A job on the sly, is when someone quotes on a job, but does not declare that your delivery may take longer, because they are also doing a job for someone else. Sometimes they have not told either party, that their van and time is being shared.

As I said before, generally I have no problem considering this, as long as I know before hand what the other job is, so I can decide whether my customer has given us enough leeway to factor anything else in.

Sometimes things happen which even the cub-contractor cannot predict - like having to wait to unload etc which can (and often does) impact on the other job - and in extreme cases leads to a cancellation by the customer.

I am not trying to stop anyone doing 2 jobs at once, I just ask for openness and honesty, when quoting on my jobs. Let me know what i am buying, that's all.

Michael Lucani said:

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Whats a job 'on the sly'... If you can do two jobs and meet customer expectations, whats the problem? How else is an OD supposed to make any money at the rates being dished out these days. I sometimes get the feeling that profit for an OD is a dirty word, Ive worked in transport for over 23 years so I guess I know whats do-able and what isnt, and am fully aware of the pitfalls, of how things can go wrong so I dont take chances, before anyone has a dig!

I couldnt agree more, I am amazed at the people who say on their websites "we never co load" because they are either liars or bad business people (or simply don't get the opportunity to do so) as long as you meet both customer's expectations wheres the problem, the problems arise when two unsuitably matched jobs go together and there's a large same day outfit that often does this.

One of my customers often has documents to go into London before 3pm that are ready to go at 9.30am and has even said once "plenty of time to get something to go with it" luckily loading isnt a problem on a bike and often jobs that I put together are close enough to go on to the second one if any waiting is envolved, I consider the scenario's when doing this. However I possible wouldn't do this when the other job is not mine and deffinately not if the other job is one means I am likely to be subsidizing somebody giving work out at unsustainable rates.

I'll go back to my comment

Courier Expert said:

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Speed Couriers (Stansted) said:

Though it's worth noting its not always about the number of members, but also about the calibre

There are those who know what goes together without impacting on eachothers deliveries, and those that don't. What i've seen people put together has rendered me speechless at times, so like i said, we want members who know what they're doing... And i mean both vendors and subbies

We have 2 customers who we would NEVER risk co loading! Their deliveries are urgent and need collecting and delivering asap. It is as simple as that. (We 99.9% keep in house too.)

If 2 jobs in the same direction occurred at the same time for any other customer, I would consider it, IF and only IF it meant a very short delay for one or the other. In over 20 years I have only had a handful of jobs that this has occurred.

Some customers only require a Sameday, for some urgent means just that, and that is what they pay for and expect.

As mentioned before a courier service can't be tarred with one brush, there are different levels of service and expectations.

I suppose it all comes down to common sense or CDF as I prefer. There are those who have it and those who dont. Take that guy the other week on here who openly admitted to not having a clue... Could you trust someone like that to make a judgement on whats possible and what isnt? Ive done sameday multi drop in a 44 tonne artic in Central London in my time, very badly planned so I guess I learned a lot from those days. I would consider it an insult if someone even tried to question my judgement as a professional driver, Ive forgotten more than most of these so called couriers know, and Im no expert btw! :-)

I am not questioning anyone's ability or judgement, i am simply saying that if you are going to quote on any of my jobs - and you have already accepted another job somewhere else - let me decide if i want my job co-loaded or not. It's my decision to make, especially if I have other quotes to consider, from those who are not co-loading.

Having said that, we have not had a problem yet, since subbing work out on mtvan.

Having said that, we have not had a problem yet, since subbing work out on mtvan.

Early days yet :)

Courier Expert said:

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I am not questioning anyone's ability or judgement, i am simply saying that if you are going to quote on any of my jobs - and you have already accepted another job somewhere else - let me decide if i want my job co-loaded or not. It's my decision to make, especially if I have other quotes to consider, from those who are not co-loading.

Having said that, we have not had a problem yet, since subbing work out on mtvan.

I guess its all a matter of trust Andy, but to turn the question around, do I trust a young wet behind the ears controller who has probably never turned a wheel in anger to decide whats do-able, one who is probably acting under the instructions of a tyrannical Manager to not allow co-loads of any kind. Or, do I make my own judgement, as a responsible Business operator in my own right and looking to make a profit. Seeing as no-one wants to pay more than the cheapest trade rate, its inevitable that people are going to look for maximum profit, that is after all, why we are doing the job!

Or, do I make my own judgement, as a responsible Business operator in my own right and looking to make a profit.

Sounds good. as long as the vendor is told, so that he can then make his judgement and decide whether to 'risk' it or not.

It's all down to proper communication and I have to say that there are far too many who are severely lacking in that department!

I find being upfront is always the best policy, and if i have given out a job knowing the driver is co-loading, then it's my problem if it all goes pear shaped.

I agree people are better at making judgements than others, for sure. But I have a simple way of dealing with that:

We have a big whiteboard in the office, with a list of who we know we can definitely trust and another list of those who we can't!

RAPID LIGHT TRANSPORT LTD. said:

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Or, do I make my own judgement, as a responsible Business operator in my own right and looking to make a profit.

Sounds good. as long as the vendor is told, so that he can then make his judgement and decide whether to 'risk' it or not.

It's all down to proper communication and I have to say that there are far too many who are severely lacking in that department!

"do I trust a young wet behind the ears controller who has probably never turned a wheel in anger to decide whats do-able, one who is probably acting under the instructions of a tyrannical Manager to not allow co-loads of any kind"

No mileage in taking things out of context Rapid!

Michael Lucani said:

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RAPID LIGHT TRANSPORT LTD. said:

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Or, do I make my own judgement, as a responsible Business operator in my own right and looking to make a profit.

Sounds good. as long as the vendor is told, so that he can then make his judgement and decide whether to 'risk' it or not.

It's all down to proper communication and I have to say that there are far too many who are severely lacking in that department!

"do I trust a young wet behind the ears controller who has probably never turned a wheel in anger to decide whats do-able, one who is probably acting under the instructions of a tyrannical Manager to not allow co-loads of any kind"

> No mileage in taking things out of context Rapid!

Not sure I got things out of context? I was just stating that there are too many who are totally inept when it comes to communication.

Communication is the key, and can GOOD communication can lessen misunderstandings and give one confidence if a 3rd party is working on your behalf!

Michael Lucani said:

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do I trust a young wet behind the ears controller who has probably never turned a wheel in anger to decide whats do-able, one who is probably acting under the instructions of a tyrannical Manager to not allow co-loads of any kind. Or, do I make my own judgement, as a responsible Business operator in my own right and looking to make a profit. ,Seeing as no-one wants to pay more than the cheapest trade rate its inevitable that people are going to look for maximum profit, that is after all, why we are doing the job!

There is so much truth in the first part of this comment, often companies aren't willing to pay for people with experience and many CS & Ri co drivers will tell you of nightmares of the jobs that they have had to take because they have been put together because of necessity simply because they can't afford to run singly, that isn't what I am talking about it more of maximizing your time and expenses "where possible". I don't agree with the last part

Seeing as no-one wants to pay more than the cheapest trade rate

There are many willing to pay the appropriate rate

For many co loading is necessary because of the low rate they have been paid.

MK Bikes said:

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For many co loading is necessary because of the low rate they have been paid.

Even if this is true, there is no reason to hide the fact your co-loading. If you want to quote on a job, just say what your proposal is:

eg: I can do your job for £xxx but i do have another job to do on the way, which means i can pick your load up at X time and delivery it by X time, but there may be a delay if i get held up with loading/unloading. Is that ok with you?

Quite agree!

Quickest way to shoot yourself in the foot in to try and bullshit especially now we are all tracked, if you're on Android CX only!

You can always turn the tracking off dave

Its an emotive subject but the bottom line to me is this. I am self employed, I am a freelance courier and run my business as I see fit. Its not for anyone else to tell me how I should do this, the same as its not my place to tell anyone else how they should run theirs, because, at the end of the day, the buck stops with me. It is and always has been my aim to exceed the customers expectations, under promise, over deliver and this has always been my philosophy. I do not have 'my own' customers whatever that is supposed to mean, the people who I take on work from are 'my customers' and anyone who has called upon me to carry out work for them will testify that I have done the job as requested. My Courier Exchange feedback on ID. 61487 is there for any member to see. If I take on a job, I will carry it out to the best of my ability. If my business fails, then it is down to me, if someone wishes to tell me what I can load or not load and deny me profit, then that person would have to be my employer and take on the responsibility for all other financial matters too! Capisce Amici?

The tracking app is not for people to spy on you btw... Its for the members use to get GTM notifs in the area you are in. Its your choice to put it on, works on iPhone too btw

Michael, I can testify that you have done an excellent job on the one occasion that you took on one of our deliveries, I have had no issues at all with the service you provide.

However, there is clearly a difference of opinion, depending on which side of the fence you sit - OD / Courier Company.

I am not going to tell anyone how to run their business or spy on them, however:

1. I do want to make an informed decision before accepting a quote (let me choose based on the facts)
2. If a customers calls up and asks "where is the driver" I would like to look on the tracking app to tell them - it's not spying - it's transparency and good customer service

Courier Expert said:

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Michael, I can testify that you have done an excellent job on the one occasion that you took on one of our deliveries, I have had no issues at all with the service you provide.

However, there is clearly a difference of opinion, depending on which side of the fence you sit - OD / Courier Company.

I am not going to tell anyone how to run their business or spy on them, however:

1. I do want to make an informed decision before accepting a quote (let me choose based on the facts)
2. If a customers calls up and asks "where is the driver" I would like to look on the tracking app to tell them - it's not spying - it's transparency and good customer service

But surely you can't track everbody, so what do you say if a customer phones up and the driver is untracked?

AJM sameday Couriers said:

But surely you can't track everbody, so what do you say if a customer phones up and the driver is untracked?

BS

LOL Andy, the tracking app was never ever intentioned for that use, it was designed as a tool to ensure members on Courier Exchange got maximum GTM notifs, not as a tool for people to track where their deliveries are (they cost money). But I refer you back to my original post about 'wet behind the ears' controllers. I can assure you, or anyone else that I, as a professional Courier/Driver and business operator would never take risks with customer deliveries. To be fair, it happens so rarely to me thats its not worth debating any further. That should tell you how little co-loading I do, but yes, I know where you are coming from because there are those who will take the most ridiculous chances (usually controlled by someone else in my experience).

AJM sameday Couriers said:

But surely you can't track everbody, so what do you say if a customer phones up and the driver is untracked?

We call the courier.

However, the customer is far more impressed with: "I can see the courier right here and he's just come off junction 5"

Than the alternative: "I've tried ringing the courier a couple of times and we can't get hold of him, maybe he's in a bad signal area or something, can we call you back once we have got hold of him?"

Its not compulsory to have it on.. But can be arranged at a cost!££££ ;-)

Michael Lucani said:

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LOL Andy, the tracking app was never ever intentioned for that use, it was designed as a tool to ensure members on Courier Exchange got maximum GTM notifs, not as a tool for people to track where their deliveries are (they cost money).

Admin - Please could you contribute to this debate?

Courier Expert said:

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AJM sameday Couriers said:

But surely you can't track everbody, so what do you say if a customer phones up and the driver is untracked?

We call the courier.

However, the customer is far more impressed with: "I can see the courier right here and he's just come off junction 5"

Than the alternative: "I've tried ringing the courier a couple of times and we can't get hold of him, maybe he's in a bad signal area or something, can we call you back once we have got hold of him?"

But if somebody hasn't paid a premium price, then they can't expect a first class service with tracking.

AJM sameday Couriers said:

But if somebody hasn't paid a premium price, then they can't expect a first class service with tracking.

We don't track or provide courier control for economy jobs.

You are on about the MT Van app Andy, sorry, I am not under the control of App£e, I have Android so not available. I was referring purely to the Courier Exchange app. But its right, if you wanna track me, line the old palm with silver!

Michael, we can track you for free using loci loci. We generally use it for our regulars, but you only need a normal mobile (no apps required).

Ideally, I would like to track everyone on the mtvan map, but that's going to be difficult until they get apps for android, windows phone and the new Blackberry BB10.

Not familiar with one, will need mobile user permission no doubt?

Its not free according to the webpage https://www.lociloci.com/en/

Michael Lucani said:

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Its not free according to the webpage https://www.lociloci.com/en/

I pay for it, but I can track whoever I want for free (with their permission of course).

Wheres the link for the mt van tracking then?

Download link for the app is on your dashboard page tony

Only for ipad or iphone tho

PB Express said:

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Download link for the app is on your dashboard page tony

Only for ipad or iphone tho

Yes, or of course just search for mtvan in the app store.

Courier Expert said:

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Michael Lucani said:

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LOL Andy, the tracking app was never ever intentioned for that use, it was designed as a tool to ensure members on Courier Exchange got maximum GTM notifs, not as a tool for people to track where their deliveries are (they cost money).

Admin - Please could you contribute to this debate?

I think we've since established that he was talking about the Courier Exchange app, but we imagine our app could be useful for both job alerts and to display your location/status to other members of the site.

Wndows can text location directly. There are apps like work in field and other cross platform apps surley a tracking app isnt that costly if it were to go cross platform

Admin could the app have more a useful dashboard rather than just been a, blank screen ie messaging and or current jobs leading to a sign screen

Its kind of amazing how every thread goes of track, would it not be better starting a new thread on tracking vehicles?

Legrys Express Ltd said:

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Admin could the app have more a useful dashboard rather than just been a, blank screen ie messaging and or current jobs leading to a sign screen

Happy to discuss this, please post in an appropriate thread. The app is by no means finished btw. Development is never ending...

The thread was does MT van work so the tracking question is appropriate, by the way people were talking I thought you could see a tracking page? I have the app and I can see that I'm being tracked but who can see it?

MK Bikes said:

I have the app and I can see that I'm being tracked but who can see it?

Your wife? lol

Courier Expert said:

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Ideally, I would like to track everyone on the mtvan map, but that's going to be difficult until they get apps for android, windows phone

I'm not holding my breath for a Windows Phone version!

Back on thread, does MT Van work?, Yes it does but nowhere near as effectively as Courier Exchange. In the time I have been on, I have done 3 jobs and had a couple of calls from one member but was not in a position to help. I have made some good contacts though, many of whom are also on Courier Exchange, and I have added some of my contacts here too.

MyVanCan said:

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Courier Expert said:

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Ideally, I would like to track everyone on the mtvan map, but that's going to be difficult until they get apps for android, windows phone

I'm not holding my breath for a Windows Phone version!

Not holding my breath for BB10 either!

Michael Lucani said:

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Back on thread, does MT Van work?, Yes it does but nowhere near as effectively as Courier Exchange. In the time I have been on, I have done 3 jobs and had a couple of calls from one member but was not in a position to help. I have made some good contacts though, many of whom are also on Courier Exchange, and I have added some of my contacts here too.

From a vendors point of view, it does work.

For the owner driver, and your already on Courier Exchange, I would say join mtvan as well. If Michael has picked up 3 jobs and turned down others, that speak's for itself.

If you have an iphone, it will work for you even better, as we are monitoring who's where, every time we have a job to cover.

Courier Expert said:

If you have an iphone, it will work for you even better, as we are monitoring who's where, every time we have a job to cover.

How are you doing that? i didnt think the tracking was up & running yet? so if I have the tracking enabled on my phone you can see where I am?

MK Bikes said:

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Courier Expert said:

If you have an iphone, it will work for you even better, as we are monitoring who's where, every time we have a job to cover.

How are you doing that? i didnt think the tracking was up & running yet? so if I have the tracking enabled on my phone you can see where I am?

Work in progress, but you can try out what we have.

Ahhh I see the map now, very handy pity so few are tracking thou

Well if admin would at least do an android version, that way I could run it on a tablet which you can get suitable ones for at under £200 now, unlike iphone/ipad.

It has good potential and we have covered a few jobs using this feature alone.

I personally don't co-load unless my customer asks me to do so or they say its ok with them if I want to co-load. It is the safest way not to get problems.

But saying that if all party's are aware (called respect/honesty) and deadlines allow cant see it being a problem.

MK Bikes said:

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Ahhh I see the map now, very handy pity so few are tracking thou

Very few seem to post empty i think this is a pitfall when it comes to attracting new vendors they don't see empty vehicles so they don't bother

PB Express said:

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MK Bikes said:

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Ahhh I see the map now, very handy pity so few are tracking thou

Very few seem to post empty i think this is a pitfall when it comes to attracting new vendors they don't see empty vehicles so they don't bother

I was speaking with someone this very after noon about posting empty on MT, he said "I tried it once, it seemed too much trouble, never bothered again" I have to agree it appears to not make much sense, it needs a clear area & a returning to and that's it!

After all the debating was the question actually answered? Does mtvan work?

I reckon mtvan works 50% of the time

Not enough vehicles posted empty which leads to lack of vendors