Jobs.

Hi is there a lot of work for small van owners on here and how do i go about delivering and knowing what to charge i get text messages to my phone saying small van to whereever the postcode is going to how much a mile should i charge? Thanks simon.

If you are going to be starting off taking subbed work off other couriers they will have an amount they want to pay, its up to you as to whether you can make it pay at that price.

There is not a great deal of courier work about at the moment, albeit January not being a very good month anyway.

Hi mk bikes i am hoping to make a living out of it and if i do subbed work off other couriers how much a mile do they pay you i know you only get paid one way don't you? And how quickly do you get paid as i have been made redundant at the end of november after working for the company for 30 and a half years i am willing to give this ago despite the ludicrous insurance costs.

Hi Simon, you need a good business plan, work out how much your insurance will cost you that's GIT, PL van insurance, road fund license for the year, estimate how much fuel you will roughly use for the year add it all up then dived it by 52 thats how much it will cost a week just to run your van, that's not taking into account advertising, phone bills, servicing the van, ware & tear of the van. how much wages would you require to live, think very carefully before you jump in with both feet

You also need a float of around 6 to 8 K in the bank once you are up and running. Thats the easy bits covered. Now forget about the fact that you like driving or you would want to be self employed! The most important question is What sort of a person are you. Are you a good sales person because as I always say this is your most important job Can you sell your business to companies. If you sit by the phone waiting for it to ring you will run out of money and then you will go bankrupt. You have to get out there and gain business and you have to work hard doing this. As I like to say. Forget about driving the van. Its your job to drive your business if you do this right driving the van will look after itself.

I must say Mr Barnsley is right, when I started and had customers in place I thought 2.5k float would be enough but once your doing 30 days end of month that float soon goes specially if your using subbys.

Swift Couriers said:

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I must say Mr Barnsley is right, when I started and had customers in place I thought 2.5k float would be enough but once your doing 30 days end of month that float soon goes specially if your using subbys.

Im talking about an owner driver starting on his own! I will be really honest Mr Swift you made a bad mistake but luckily you obviously pulled through! If you have the work and your starting out as a courier company you would realisticly need a flout of around 20 to 25K depending on the volume of work. The best advice would be to start small build slowly as unsustainable growth could have a worst effect then not gaining any work at all

Please do not underestimate the wad of money you need sitting in your bank to keep you going before you make any thing near what you will need to stay in business, I would say many start ups make this mistake.

I hold my hands up as I did under estimate about cash flow and learned the hard way. That's why I echoed your earlier statement about the float that is required Mr Barnsley so other people don't fall into the same trap.

Barnsley, £25 to £30k float? blimey ! What do you have for breakfast, Caviar with your cornflakes washed down with Dom Perignon?

No way do you need 25/30k float to star as an owner driver with a van... Once your insurances and van is in place you can easy do your 1st month on 2500 25/30k i can run an artic for a month in europe for that

moray couriers said:

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Barnsley, £25 to £30k float? blimey ! What do you have for breakfast, Caviar with your cornflakes washed down with Dom Perignon?

I think this comment reflects a lot. I don't think people fully understand just how much it does cost to start, keep going, need available! Worrying really! If a customer pays on 60 days and 5 euro jobs have been booked out in that time that's about 3k spent out before you get paid 10 of those customers. You have spent your float and don't have any money left to eat!

JK I said 8K for an owner driver! And we were saying 10 or 15 years ago when fuel was 70p a litre

Did you only have 2.5k in your bank account when you got your Olicence!

Sorry barnsley at least we can all agree that fuel should be 70p a litre now lol

No mate but i thought we was talking about van couriers not haulage?

And since i got scanked for 35k i wont do any work for anyone who wants to pay me after 60 days thats to long in my courier wold as you all no in this job you can have 1 million pound in your bank today and tommorow be 1 million pound in debt be aware of scammers build up relationships with companys gradualy do not get cought out and scamed like me and loads of others trying to earn an honest living... Ime sure you will all agree?

Mr Barnsley, the remark I made was meant to be taken lightly, a bit humorous even. I know about cash flow and what it takes and yes the more money the better. By the way I understand that many established couriers think that any noobie coming in on to the scene now is thick with regards to starting up (all I need is a van & a few gallon of fuel etc etc) Could be right in some instances but not here. First time I did light haulage on my own account was in '89 and that was after being concerned in the transport of goods whether by road or sea since the mid '60's. I really must loose my sense of humour if I am going to succeed in this game.

Mr moray sorry to but in mate but ive been doin this job for 25 years and you wont get anywere without a sense of humor lol remember what people say about white van man... There just jelouse ha ha ha ha

jk european couriers said:

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And since i got scanked for 35k i wont do any work for anyone who wants to pay me after 60 days thats to long in my courier wold as you all no in this job you can have 1 million pound in your bank today and tommorow be 1 million pound in debt be aware of scammers build up relationships with companys gradualy do not get cought out and scamed like me and loads of others trying to earn an honest living... Ime sure you will all agree?

I do agree with what your saying Mr JK but the problem is you cant adopt that with everybody as you would be turning away 50% of the work available to you. I think what I have learnt is that medium to big companies dont see the situation as somebody trying to earn a living They simply see it as business and they forget it when they leave the office. I cirtainly think this is not a business to be emotionally involved in and a place where you shpuld only risk what you can afford. I think many people that veiw themselves as a hard worker just trying to earn a living are just making themselves more vunrerable there are some sharks out there and even more companies with good intentions at the time that jsut go bust at the wrong time. Normally 2 weeks before your invoice! I find it very difficult when people talk to me and say Im a hard worker trying to earn a living after a company has gone bust owing them their hard earned money because it is just business and you can end up in the nut house by having too many feelings.

Mr Moray I dont think your thick I think you know what you were doing Rob at Speed said a couple of months ago that your business would be one of the ones that make it and I know he is right!

Keep on trying mr moray thats all we can do and at some piont in this buisseness everyone gets scamed mate dont be fooled

Thanks for the vote of confidence Mr B, and as for being scammed this happened to me big style back in '93/4 when I had 7 small motors (6 paid for in cash + 1 lease hire), our own warehouse etc in Scarbro' and was doing very very nicely thank you, even got ripped off with my share of our house. Yes you guessed it, ex wife/partner who fell in love with the bank balance & out of love with me (Yorkshire lass). Ho ho, easy come but easier for it to go. Went to work down west Africa way on a ship for a while then came back with a bit of cash and went as the CPC holder for my sons outfit and I bought a Leyland Roadtrain, big mistake, should have been the Scania I looked at first.

Geez if someone did me outta 35K I would be enjoying 'porridge' now

Went to van this morning some... has put drivers window through. Anyone know a good solicitor.

Thanks to you all for all the bits of useful information. Learning a lot.

BusinessBuddy said:

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Went to van this morning some... has put drivers window through. Anyone know a good solicitor.

That's Halifax for you, glad it's posh where I live.

Aye its rough in these parts probably why I dont get work

BusinessBuddy said:

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Aye its rough in these parts probably why I dont get work

I know you only joking about it been rough, but what hell gives somebody the right to do that, they cant blame booze, because it dosn't turn you into a yob, or maybee it does some people, you just don't need the hassle.

Just the lack of police showing their faces like most areas these days.