How many new couriers??????

There seems to be a massive surge of new members on this site.

Have the price of vans dropped of something?

They have been reading and believing the new edition of the courier bible.

i think its the high unemployment, ppl need money so go it alone to try to make a job where there are no jobs.

Don't you know the best time to start a new business is during a recession?

^^^^ That was a joke!

I dunno MK i started in the recession in 2009 and im still going and with the recent news we have dropped back in i seem to be getting busier, it seems the bigger companys out there want to reduce there fleets giving me more work to do, stupid really but im not going to complain :) 

I think there are arguments for starting a business in a recession, if you can.

Whilst the starting a business during a Recession can be a good thing I dont think this apples greatly to couriers, it depends what service your offering

Gurantee though that 90% of these 'new startups' are a waste of space.

e.g  Not answering phones,  or like I had the other day, 'what now?  could do it tomorrow'      

Good subbies especially in the Midlands are like Rocking Horse shit........very rare!    

Richard web site admin damn don't get me started on these guys from India trying to either sell you there service to build or host your site, i'm sick to the back teeth of them constantly bombarding me with email's, i was most happy when they had the recent power cut in India damn that was one quite week no emails from them.
although i am after a good host to build my google rankings the last guys i used where expensive & could neither provide the results found i was just paying them dead money found get more enquiry's now than i did when they where hosting my site.    

ok it may have sounded harsh when i said sites were killing the markets, what i meant by it was that, take shiply for instance, they give a place for anyone with a van to bid on deliveries meaning if you do get the job the price is very low, or ppl on the site see the low prices and think thats how much it should cost to get items delivered, not good either way.

What gurantee does shiply or anyvan really give the end user in terms of the correct insurances GIT etc.

The amount of times i have read "Couriers" feedback on these sites does high light the cheap underinsured cowboys that are out there.(Not all but a majority)

One feedback said the condition of the van that came to collect the items was so bad, They thought it was the scrap man calling round looking for old iron

I had a call yesterday to collect household goods from Derby to Glasgow with a LWB and when i quoted the price the woman said i can get it done on shiply for about £75.00.

I said that's fine but thanks for calling.

thats what im saying, sites that gather work together makes it easier to find work but due to the amount of courier bidding it makes the prices very low, perhaps sites that charge a membership should keep their numbers to a certain amount that way its actually worth paying the joining fee's.

I'm confused you say some sites are killing the industry, but admit to using them???

these sites should be tighter on insurance etc, and like has been said are only there for them to make money, That said if used in the correct way can be used to our advantage, take yesterday a customer of mine wanted a couple of units she had sold to go to London, this customer i meet through Anyvan by the way and was so happy i Delivered her first items without any damage unlike previous couriers, I know get on average 800 a month off her in work and will only use me know, same with another couple of companys who all pay the going rate all meet through these sites, anyway back to yesterday, Basicly i then managed to fill the van with jobs locally and collected several in London and filled the van with jobs coming back , all at sensible prices, turning the original trip planned into a much more profitable day.

We quite regularly direct people (can you deliver my microwave to glasgow for £30 brigade) towards the shiply website, thats because we're just not interesred in that type of work.

It works for some, but would never entertain any of the jobs on there, regardless of how close we are or how much its paying.

The best one for us was a call at 1 AM for a quote to transport  fishing rod he wanted to bid on ebay, He wasn't going to bid more than £12 and he wanted a price from Nottingham to Matlock.

I quoted and that was the end of it.

We try to avoid like the pox.

Just what you need at 1 am, its a shock to your system at that time if it`s urgent, I never have done any work from these sites & never will.

your right these sites should make sure the ppl earning work from them are fully insured but then again the sites just want to make money so dont care.

"i do believe though that the site should regulate the numbers of ppl using them"

Self regulate....by giving good feedback when a job is done properly...and bad feedback when it isn't....all professional sites should insist on seeing insurance and GIT before they can join at the very least.

"all professional sites should insist on seeing insurance and GIT before they  can join at the very least.
Having a van a satnav and a mobile is NOT enough"

Neither is having insurance any guarantee they will be any good!  

sites should insist on seeing all the insurance for the vehicles you list, bikes, small, large the lot

I have just started back, since closing my doors in 2008.However in March this year, I was made redundant from work and made a sacrifice and got rid of both of my cars and bought myself a swb transit, not ideal for larger work but its a start.