Minimum Charge

I am probably going to cause mayhem by saying this, but here goes...

I am in talks with a national company, who deal with 'retail' sameday deliveries. The scenario is, a customer orders something from a local store/outlet and has it delivered to their home, the same day. To make this viable (so customers will actually use the service) the minimum charge for the courier, is set very low at £5, however the rate per mile is over £1 for a car/small van.

So my question is, would anyone be interested in doing 'local' deliveries for £5 and upwards?

It's cab fare money, but those guys do make it pay.

Could a courier do a few local deliveries for a fiver each, while waiting around for the phone to ring for the big job to come in?

Please give your thoughts...

P. S. Send me a private message if that is more appropriate.

In my opinion I think it would also depend on how long you have? I. E would it just need to be delivered that day say by 18.00 so you could accumulate a number of deliveries to make it a little more worth while.

Honest opinion - No chance

From experiance these little jobs are a pain, by the time you have collected it, then get stuck in traffic, then delivered and got a signed for & then time taken to invoice, it works out you have worked for about £3.00 an hour.

I very much doubt thats what people want, I have a minimum of £20.00

That is not courier work.

Could be worth it if you could collect 5 or 6 items at a time a deliver them in an organised route.

ADR transport said:

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In my opinion I think it would also depend on how long you have? I. E would it just need to be delivered that day say by 18.00 so you could accumulate a number of deliveries to make it a little more worth while.

From when we get the booking, there will be 90 minutes to collect and deliver, for deliveries under a couple of miles. If it's further, we get longer. Some bookings may be, for example, not ready until 2pm, then it's 90 minutes or whatever from then.

DJ Specialist Couriers said:

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Could be worth it if you could collect 5 or 6 items at a time a deliver them in an organised route.

To start of with, it's probably going to be 1 at a time, but as the service grows, it could well be multiple drops. We are talking national names here, the likes of Argos, Maplin and many other household names. The potential is there.

If it could be each shop put into a run locally by each shop collected at a certain time each day would make more sense.

It would NEED to be more than one at a time said that the shops you mention are usually grouped at retail parks i take its a click and deliver service the time scale given would be tight if there were more than 10 deliveries per collect

Legrys Express Ltd said:

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It would NEED to be more than one at a time said that the shops you mention are usually grouped at retail parks i take its a click and deliver service the time scale given would be tight if there were more than 10 deliveries per collect

Most the Argos's will be on retail parks. It's also Oasis, Warehouse, Jewson, Maplin and others already signed up

Legrys Express Ltd said:

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If it could be each shop put into a run locally by each shop collected at a certain time each day would make more sense.

It's basically as the customer books it on the retailers website, i don't think there will be any co-ordination between retailers, i guess it will be down to the controller/couriers to work out routes and match together jobs as they come in.

I think you would need to have a cut off point for ordering, like the Amazon same day service, then allow time for picking, collection and routing. One at a time would be more hassle than it's worth. Taking several out on a route could be worth it but not with a 90 minute deadline.

I agree with AJM but personally I think you need to tap into lifestyle couriers who work for the likes of Yodel..

I am thinking 2 scenarios:

1. Courier waiting for the first job of the day, does a couple of local deliveries while waiting for the big job to come in
2. Courier departs Leeds and clears in Birmingham, see's a local 'retail sameday' come up on mtvan and decides to do it. This keeps the courier in Birmingham for longer, possibly increasing the window of opportunity for a return job, while earning 'some' money

Please let me have your thoughts, good or bad :o)

MyVanCan said:

I think you would need to have a cut off point for ordering, like the Amazon same day service, then allow time for picking, collection and routing. One at a time would be more hassle than it's worth. Taking several out on a route could be worth it but not with a 90 minute deadline.

With time it will grow as customers see the service offered more widely, but it has to start somewhere (which is ad-hoc and small). Could be the next big thing in home delivery, the high street retailers see it as a way of fighting back against amazon etc

Courier Expert said:

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I am thinking 2 scenarios:

1. Courier waiting for the first job of the day, does a couple of local deliveries while waiting for the big job to come in
2. Courier departs Leeds and clears in Birmingham, see's a local 'retail sameday' come up on mtvan and decides to do it. This keeps the courier in Birmingham for longer, possibly increasing the window of opportunity for a return job, while earning 'some' money

Please let me have your thoughts, good or bad :o)

Your trying to convince people it's a good idea, hang around in Birmingham isn't my idea of fun, do delivery and then back home, who wants to hang around for a few pounds, if anybody finds this acceptable then they are very desperate and should consider looking at there business because it's going wrong somewhere.

I dont think you would need lifestyle i think it could be done but youd need to be on top of the collection to make it pay ie sit outside the retail park all day other wise youd only just covering desiel and not making a profit which itbthe whole aim of the courier it could work but would need controllers to sort a run out even in a car it wouldnt pay one drop at a time

Andy i dont think your senarios would work. As said its more of next home delivery idea. Jewson could be interesting 30 bags of stone, cement handballed of £5? One maybe 2 small items yes there has to be cut offs on the items to stop people taking the proverbial

Legrys Express Ltd said:

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Andy i dont think your senarios would work. As said its more of next home delivery idea. Jewson could be interesting 30 bags of stone, cement handballed of £5? One maybe 2 small items yes there has to be cut offs on the items to stop people taking the proverbial

Transit SWB/LWB rates are higher

Although to be honest, I think it's mostly going to be gadgets from Argos and items of clothing from warehouse etc

AJM sameday Couriers said:

Your trying to convince people it's a good idea, hang around in Birmingham isn't my idea of fun, do delivery and then back home, who wants to hang around for a few pounds, if anybody finds this acceptable then they are very desperate and should consider looking at there business because it's going wrong somewhere.

Just after honest feedback before I agree to anything, they want to start some live trials with us very soon

I think it could work.

IWD Rapid Despatch said:

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I think it could work.

Really?

Yeah why not beats sitting on ur butt if ur not busy.

Ok the jewson example was extreme i admit yes i can see your thinking but for a courier to go into another town from a distance run and do a few local drops while waiting for a big run i cant see it using it to fill in the couriers locality while waiting for a big job to come on i could see happening but the other way around is more likley. Could be a nice earner for little fuel outlay but it would need mileage banding ie max 3 miles from store £5

I have lost or turned down some fantastic jobs, while I have been busy doing a job that pays next to nothing, from my point of view it's a bad idea which seems to be sending the meaning of a sameday courier backwards, when we should be looking forwards.

Beats a 2.50 city sprint job and no im not on citysprint

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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I have lost or turned down some fantastic jobs, while I have been busy doing a job that pays next to nothing, from my point of view it's a bad idea which seems to be sending the meaning of a sameday courier backwards, when we should be looking forwards.

A 2 mile run probably wouldn't stop you doing the big job when and if it comes in

You're talking Shutl aren't you? I already had the discussion with them about MK, didnt pay enough to counter act down time, I think Rico's doing them

Its on par with takeaway deliveries.

IWD Rapid Despatch said:

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I think it could work.

Its already working in London, not sure if it would outside thou

Courier Expert said:

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AJM sameday Couriers said:

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I have lost or turned down some fantastic jobs, while I have been busy doing a job that pays next to nothing, from my point of view it's a bad idea which seems to be sending the meaning of a sameday courier backwards, when we should be looking forwards.

A 2 mile run probably wouldn't stop you doing the big job when and if it comes in

It wouldn't stop me doing a bigger job, because I don't have any intention of doing it, I prefer a nice long run, but if somebody phones me up my minimum is £20.00

Legrys Express Ltd said:

Could be a nice earner for little fuel outlay but it would need mileage banding ie max 3 miles from store £5

It's at least a £1 a mile after the first couple of miles, on top of the £5

They estimate most runs will be around 3-4 miles

You also omitted the penalties for late deliveries

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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I have lost or turned down some fantastic jobs, while I have been busy doing a job that pays next to nothing, from my point of view it's a bad idea which seems to be sending the meaning of a sameday courier backwards, when we should be looking forwards.

I agree

Ive done this type of work for argos, and only time it worked for me if u had a at least 8 to 10 at a time, other wise its too time consumering, also a fiver is for an over night rate, should be more fora sameday rate.

Courier Expert said:

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AJM sameday Couriers said:

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I have lost or turned down some fantastic jobs, while I have been busy doing a job that pays next to nothing, from my point of view it's a bad idea which seems to be sending the meaning of a sameday courier backwards, when we should be looking forwards.

A 2 mile run probably wouldn't stop you doing the big job when and if it comes in

I wouldn't be so sure, often these jobs need to be picked up quickly. I think your idea of using couriers who just happen to be around waiting for a job won't work for this, you'll need people dedicated for the task otherwise you run the risk that there won't be anyone around at that time to do it.

We won't need dedicated people, well not unless they are going to guarantee a minimum number of jobs

We are looking at doing some live trials in the next couple of weeks, so if anyone is available and would like to give it a try, please PM me and i'll see if they are willing to let us trial your area.

Anyone in Swindon / Bristol / Birmingham / Manchester please get in touch asap if interested

Alerts will come through mtvan but i will add anyone who is willing to give it a go to my trust list

Personally I think this idea is crap. Leave it to the so called life style wallers.

There are obviously different levels of service all trying to trade under the 'courier' umbrella.

My work almost all of it, is URGENT, not co loaded, or delivered any time of the same day it was collected, but as soon as possible. Direct and dedicated to delivery point. Backloads not important, and not interested in multi drop or eBay tat.:-)

If we had to mess about at a fiver a drop I'd jack it in.

It will I guess attract gum tree responders etc. but if one had to resort to the suggested, I despair.

This type of work just brings the 'courier' image down. Imo

There is no clear demarcation between courier services offered

Maybe it is the right time to sort it?

Someone else had a similar idea last year as i recall, based in Hull area if i remember rightly. In my opinion, for what its worth, its an awful lot of hard work behind the scenes, for little reward. If you want to get involved in it you may find it takes over at the expense of your regular "real" courier work.

Rather like those sameday couriers that bought into an overnight franchise and ended up losing all their sameday cos they were so busy with the overnight...and all for a £1 a parcel

We can all be busier and make no extra profit, so my question to you is...

Is your time spent better elsewhere?

Only you know the answer to that one

Oh and also you say minimum is a fiver plus £1 a mile? I suspect thats what they charge the customer?

So what would the driver expect, and would there be anything left for you?

Sometimes there's just not enough x's for it to work, and I think this is one of those instances

Sorry to piss on your fire and its only my thoughts from my experience of doing similar

Speed Couriers (Stansted) said:

Rather like those sameday couriers that bought into an overnight franchise and ended up losing all their sameday cos they were so busy with the overnight...and all for a £1 a parcel

Which frachise is this?

Speed Couriers (Stansted) said:

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Oh and also you say minimum is a fiver plus £1 a mile? I suspect thats what they charge the customer?

We are looking to pay this figure out to the courier

RAPID LIGHT TRANSPORT LTD. said:

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Personally I think this idea is crap. Leave it to the so called life style wallers.

There are obviously different levels of service all trying to trade under the 'courier' umbrella.

My work almost all of it, is URGENT, not co loaded, or delivered any time of the same day it was collected, but as soon as possible. Direct and dedicated to delivery point. Backloads not important, and not interested in multi drop or eBay tat.:-)

If we had to mess about at a fiver a drop I'd jack it in.

It will I guess attract gum tree responders etc. but if one had to resort to the suggested, I despair.

This type of work just brings the 'courier' image down. Imo

Agree totally RLT.

Not for me, Im a Sameday Courier, business to business and my minimum charge to leave the house is £30. Pissing in the wind otherwise. That sort of work is not the marketplace I work in. Im sure there are people out there who will do it for you Andy but not on sites like this.

Our min charge is £25 purely because of the time involved, Get in the van go to collection, fill out POD, deliver the job, Scan the POD, invoice the customer, produce a statement and sort any queries, All for a £5? I would think this would suit mums etc and the retired who don't want to do longer jobs,

Springer Express Couriers said:

I would think this would suit mums etc and the retired who don't want to do longer jobs,

Does anyone have any wives or parents interested? lol

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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Courier Expert said:

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I am thinking 2 scenarios:

1. Courier waiting for the first job of the day, does a couple of local deliveries while waiting for the big job to come in
2. Courier departs Leeds and clears in Birmingham, see's a local 'retail sameday' come up on mtvan and decides to do it. This keeps the courier in Birmingham for longer, possibly increasing the window of opportunity for a return job, while earning 'some' money

Please let me have your thoughts, good or bad :o)

Your trying to convince people it's a good idea, hang around in Birmingham isn't my idea of fun, do delivery and then back home, who wants to hang around for a few pounds, if anybody finds this acceptable then they are very desperate and should consider looking at there business because it's going wrong somewhere.

Spot on. You would be better spending your time taking a rug and hat and go begging on the street. Seriously, if drivers are even considering this it's time to jack it in.

I really can't see how this would work on sites like this. I'm sure most if not all couriers have there own minimum charge. Me personally wouldn't do any delivery for less than £20

I'm sat here watching sky news with a brew and toast, I'm been honest now in saying now that you wouldn't get me out of my house for less than £20.00, I have done lots of small jobs and they tend to have more problems than a 150 mile run, I do, do them but at a reasonable amount.

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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I'm sat here watching sky news with a brew and toast, I'm been honest now in saying now that you wouldn't get me out of my house for less than £20.00, I have done lots of small jobs and they tend to have more problems than a 150 mile run, I do, do them but at a reasonable amount.

OK, I agree it's not going to be for everyone. But could it be a serious alternative to doing nothing, while waiting for a longer distance same day job to come in?

This is not a dig, so don't take it a such but i have to agree that this kind of work does not belong on here.

What I want and i hope mtvan want as well, is sameday quality work, that entices couriers to join.

If its full of lots of localised work then I think it would swamp the site,and the kind of work we're all looking for would be lost.

Most alternative exchange sites have started out with proper sameday, but over a period of time the eBay stuff encroaches and eventually takes over. Thankfully that is not the case here... Yet.

Ok there may not yet be enough of the good stuff, but it will come if mtvan don't let itself be hijacked by the kind of work the majority just aren't interested in.

There is a place for that kind of work, but i don't hink its here.

Good luck with your trial, perhaps one for your own network to try first?

Courier Expert said:

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AJM sameday Couriers said:

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I'm sat here watching sky news with a brew and toast, I'm been honest now in saying now that you wouldn't get me out of my house for less than £20.00, I have done lots of small jobs and they tend to have more problems than a 150 mile run, I do, do them but at a reasonable amount.

OK, I agree it's not going to be for everyone. But could it be a serious alternative to doing nothing, while waiting for a longer distance same day job to come in?

PLEASE tell me you do not actually believe the bull shi* you are writing? Be a "serious alternative to do nothing while waiting for a distance job to come in"

What a complete load of bollo**s! - yes its not to 99% of peoples interest and if your going to be putting the jobs through mt van, pays £5 plus £1 a mile max 5 miles distance, anyone worth their salt or who know their figures will laugh in your face... Once again another of your ideas which is absolute crap.

Admin - this isnt a "personal" attack / vent - its an opinion. No doubt it will be locked and closed anyway.

[Admin: I don't want to lock this thread and currently think there's not much reason to. However please please try to make your point (yes we like to have your opinion) without getting irate (like most of the other posts in this thread). I think you know this post comes close to the 'line' as you've felt the need to add the disclaimer to the bottom.]

Courier Expert said:

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AJM sameday Couriers said:

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I'm sat here watching sky news with a brew and toast, I'm been honest now in saying now that you wouldn't get me out of my house for less than £20.00, I have done lots of small jobs and they tend to have more problems than a 150 mile run, I do, do them but at a reasonable amount.

OK, I agree it's not going to be for everyone. But could it be a serious alternative to doing nothing, while waiting for a longer distance same day job to come in?

While i'am sat around i ring company's and email them trying to obtain them good jobs if iam doing little jobs might aswell go and work for yodel

Decent sameday work is what this site should be after, not the eBay crap and £5 deliveries of kettles, toaster and poxy jumpers.

But at the end of the day, each to their own.

Maybe you should give that guy up in hull / scunthorpe a call, takeaway express think his latest venture was.

Deluded.

That was the guy i meant earlier... Thanks HSP

Maybe not on mtvan so much, but as far as the other exchange is concerned, most of the jobs I've done so far I've got because I was the first on the phone with a reasonable price and was ready to jump in the van and sprint of to the pickup straight away. If I'd been faffing about with a £5 job from Argos I wouldn't have been able to do them. So it's not going to work for sameday couriers waiting for a decent job, but it might work if you can put several together and give them to someone who is happy spending their time earning £10 or £20.

What about returns? There will be some, trust me. What is the courier meant to do with those?

HSP Couriers said:

What a complete load of bollo**s! - yes its not to 99% of peoples interest and if your going to be putting the jobs through mt van, pays £5 plus £1 a mile max 5 miles distance, anyone worth their salt or who know their figures will laugh in your face... Once again another of your ideas which is absolute crap.

Admin - this isnt a "personal" attack / vent - its an opinion. No doubt it will be locked and closed anyway.

It's not my idea, it's a working model that already exists. I have simply been approached to see if i can extend their coverage.

I hadn't said it was your idea, this type of work suits lifestyle couriers who seem to have arisen, delivering the odd parcels here and there in spare time. Have their car insured for normal use obviously and away they go.

You should have no problem covering this work within your network I suspect therefore the need to put this work out to proper couriers should be avoided.

A major problem you could have with this is you pick item up from Argos and then take it to address who ordered the item and hey ho they've popped out what do you do with this timed parcel now take it back to Argos or wait around for them to come home.

RAPID LIGHT TRANSPORT LTD. said:

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Personally I think this idea is crap. Leave it to the so called life style wallers.

There are obviously different levels of service all trying to trade under the 'courier' umbrella.

My work almost all of it, is URGENT, not co loaded, or delivered any time of the same day it was collected, but as soon as possible. Direct and dedicated to delivery point. Backloads not important, and not interested in multi drop or eBay tat.:-)

If we had to mess about at a fiver a drop I'd jack it in.

It will I guess attract gum tree responders etc. but if one had to resort to the suggested, I despair.

This type of work just brings the 'courier' image down. Imo

How true and Well said...

All while "waiting around for the distance job to come in "

R AND R DELIVERIES said:

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A major problem you could have with this is you pick item up from Argos and then take it to address who ordered the item and hey ho they've popped out what do you do with this timed parcel now take it back to Argos or wait around for them to come home.

That's what I said earlier, these type of jobs can be a pain, at least with a lot of jobs you are delivering business to business and there is normally somebody there, I'm not against smaller/shorter jobs if I'm paid properly.

Personally i think there is plenty of real work to go for without having to resort to this kind of work, which, lets face it amounts to multi-dropping (once established--and with a decent controller)

If you could get, say 10 drops onboard, and all within a 10 mile radius then i think you'd stand a better chance, but then you'd no doubt be looking at transits by then, and how would you stick a 10 drop localised job on mtvan

I have a lot of experience in multidrop home deliveries from the past (Orange contract as Tim can testify) and luggage (KLM) AND as i said before it is VERY difficult to run contracts like that and adhoc sameday as well.

The one to suffer is usually the adhoc sameday... Just ask the Speed Courier network circa 2001, oops you can't, i'm the only one left!

This work isn't for here cos its not courier work

Speed Couriers (Stansted) said:

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how would you stick a 10 drop localised job on mtvan

You can add (currently) up to 10 via's in addition to the collection and final delivery on mtvan.

I know you can but how would that appear as an alert?

Speed Couriers (Stansted) said:

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I know you can but how would that appear as an alert?

Good point, but (putting aside the debate about whether people are interested in this work or not) this is something that I think we could deal with.

"Pickup 22/05/2013 09:00 from CB1, 8 drops, 33 miles total"

Not to mention the fact that the public may be less keen when it becomes multi-drop after seeing the 'careful' handling in the hubs on Dispatches.

I think the other option, ordering/reserving online for in-store collection works better (although PC World hadn't actually reserved the item when we tried them it was still on the shelf!)

Much like the online grocery shopping, a great idea in theory, many of them can't get it right. Vans turning up late when they have a whole two-hour time slot booked, fruit and veg' damaged, order a weeks dinners for a Saturday delivery and all of them go out of date on Sunday, the list goes on and on. Tesco was the first one locally to me offering this service and started reasonably well, considering it was a new thing, but as time went on it just went from occasionally making a slight mistake to downright appalling. Asda tried and were ok to begin with but we've had some really bad results with them too. The only ones to get anywhere near right have been Ocado and Waitrose.

By trying to offer these services at a price that would entice you to use it, they end up paying peanuts and getting the usual level of expertise and service you get for such remuneration.

Ok you got me, next question is do you want it cluttering up mtvan?

Maybe we need something a bit like Courier Exchange have... Theres Courier Exchange and theres haulage exchange, so maybe we have sameday on the one side, and multidrop or "home delivery" on the other?

I have a question, most people have a mortgage, bills, holidays and kids how is this going to help somebody pay towards all that, people need to earn a set amount of money per day, this isnt going to help people much, because if like me they are only working to earn money, the more the merrier.

We do deliveries for a national company and it is mostly local for their east midland stores. We had a deal with the manager for £15 per drop within 5 miles, Their head office became involved and for some reason they imposed a minimum charge of £35............. Yeah i know bummer isn't it.

It's strange though as we have been delivering £15 worth of goods for the minimum rate. And they are getting more and more orders.

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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I have a question, most people have a mortgage, bills, holidays and kids how is this going to help somebody pay towards all that, people need to earn a set amount of money per day, this isnt going to help people much, because if like me they are only working to earn money, the more the merrier.

Agree I'm not out to earn "beer money" it's my livelihood and if people are prepared to work for nothing... Then that's their choice... It certainly isn't mine which is why i probably don't pick up much work off here.

Leave it to the taxi companies. This would only work for a courier if he lives upstairs in the argos building - how many people on this site live within 5 miles of their local argos shop - think of the dead mileage just to collect the job in the first place. I have done argos work in the past, my minimum was £30.00 + VAT, you could have someone order 10 items and when you reach the delivery address they want to check every item before they sign for the goods - thats if they are at home, the number of times they were out picking up the kids! Take my word for it - each job took at least 45 minutes. Taxi companies have cars sat in town centres and retail parks waiting for work. Maybe an option courier expert to team up with the taxi companies.

Ive got 2 argos stores near me, 1 is 2 mins down the road and the other is about 5-10 mins in the town centre. I only live in a small town in Greater Manchester, so i still couldn't see it working here to be honest.

Speed Couriers (Stansted) said:

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Ok you got me, next question is do you want it cluttering up mtvan?

Maybe we need something a bit like Courier Exchange have... Theres Courier Exchange and theres haulage exchange, so maybe we have sameday on the one side, and multidrop or "home delivery" on the other?

This is a good question and what you write about Courier/Haulage Exchange is more on the mark than a black or white is allowed/is not allowed.

Many short routes are likely (especially to those not currently doing them) to be less appealing than fewer long routes with £20 minimum charges, however it is not as simple as saying nobody is interested in this kind of thing at all (and if nobody is, then vendors won't bother posting these loads for long when they don't get a result).

In my mind right now probably the best way would be to improve the distinction between different kinds of jobs so people can access the stuff they're interested in without getting 'cluttered up' with everything else.

Well I kept a number of couriers busy on "routes" where by it was a drop rate only, and although an automated route was done, it was generally the controller (me) who made it into routes that made it both worthwhile for the driver, and utilised the number of drivers needed so as not to get in the way of the "real" work.

It can work and can be worthwhile BUT it does need a lot of organising and does need someone who knows what they're doing.

As has been said there will be times no one is in, there will be times they want to check everything off, look inside, and be a general pain in the bum...

And I have to say If i had this kind of work, i wouldn't want to put it on an exchange site.

Definitely one to keep inhouse

MK Bikes said:

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You also omitted the penalties for late deliveries

You completely ignored this point so I will enlighten, there are penalty charges if deliveries are late. Worked out on a minute basis I calculated a scenerio where you would get around a fiver for a 3 miles trip if however you break down and have to wait approx an hour for the recovery people to get you going and were an hour late there would be a £15 penalty so you get approx £5 it costs you £15 sounds like good business sense to me. (They did explain to me there would be a period of flexibility with regard to late penalties but that was the bottom line) and you were moaning about extra admin to check ins?

Website Admin said:

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Speed Couriers (Stansted) said:

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I know you can but how would that appear as an alert?

Good point, but (putting aside the debate about whether people are interested in this work or not) this is something that I think we could deal with.

"Pickup 22/05/2013 09:00 from CB1, 8 drops, 33 miles total"

They simply wouldnt go on like this, I have spoken to shutl about this work, whilst co load is acceptable the 8th drop would be late, their deliveries are typically 3-5 miles, as this are pro active to people buying on line they wouldnt come in at the same time unless its a busy central London store.

This idea is as ridiculous as the idea about couriers doing Take Away deliveries whilst waiting for "the big job!"

In order to provide this kind of service to such named stores as you have suggested are on board would mean that their own car parks would be filled with courier vans waiting to do deliveries.

As such, each driver would then have to wait his turn, just like taxis, but for a fixed £5. He might get lucky and have 3 or 4 items going in the same direction, but he'd probably have to wait in the car park all day for that one. Which wouldn't be worth it.

Also, given the amount of vans that would need to be there ready and waiting, chances are that each driver would only get 1 or 2 deliveries per day.

This is not courier work at all!

Scott.

Rico are currently doing already doing it. Do not ask me if it is working well for them or not, as only they will know the answer. However, the point is that the service does already exist and is currently functioning.

You knew full well the reaction you would get, and this is why you posted it.

"Rico are doing it" - why not pick up the phone and speak to them, instead you post on here knowing the response you would get.

Do you actually believe with your current set up you can make this work? OR do you post this bull in the efforts of getting reactions from people who are passionate about what they do?

My view? I'm not sure which of the above you fall into to be honest.

Courier Expert said:

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I am probably going to cause mayhem by saying this, but here goes...

This scheme will work VERY WELL indeed for Rico and Courier Expert.

For the couriers it's a completely different matter.

10 couriers in different cities each get one £5 job. It takes them half the morning and pays a fiver.

But Rico and Courier Expert get 10 times whatever they are charging over the top of the fiver - now that's guaranteed to Rico and Courier Expert and a steady, valuable income at very little cost to them - all they've done is post the jobs on MTVan, a few seconds work, costs peanuts. Would MTVan also get a cut?

HSP Couriers said:

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You knew full well the reaction you would get, and this is why you posted it.

"Rico are doing it" - why not pick up the phone and speak to them, instead you post on here knowing the response you would get.

Do you really think Rico are going to tell their competitor anything? lol

more fool those who phone up for this rubbish then. Few £5 jobs whilst waiting for the biggie to land.

I'm done here, the threads on here are clearly only going one way, and to be fair - time is much better spent else where.

Good luck

HSP Couriers said:

Do you actually believe with your current set up you can make this work? OR do you post this bull in the efforts of getting reactions from people who are passionate about what they do?

My view? I'm not sure which of the above you fall into to be honest.

I think I am going to need more than just my own network to make it work, this is perhaps where Rico may be struggling. And to answer your question, this is why I posted on here, to see if there is any interest from mtvan members. Judging by the replies and PM's, on balance it was worth putting out the feelers.

You could call it eco delivery and get everyone to do it on a pushbike, easier through the traffic and no expense on fuel and keep everbody fit, you could provide a jersey with courier expert on the type like used in the tour de france.

Just to point out Argus shops carry very little stock and they have their own, home del network, most home del from them come from distribution centre

ILKLEY EXPRESS said:

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Just to point out Argus shops carry very little stock and they have their own, home del network, most home del from them come from distribution centre

There argos checkout will only offer this service, where the item is in stock and call and collect is available.

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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You could call it eco delivery and get everyone to do it on a pushbike, easier through the traffic and no expense on fuel and keep everbody fit, you could provide a jersey with courier expert on the type like used in the tour de france.

We all wear courier expert polo shirts in the office, not a bad idea! Lol

On a more serious note, they are looking at cycle - scooter delivery for the future for very small items (iphones etc?)

Like said above, its a job for yodel and herpes couriers, there work for poor rates, maybe they would be able to fit the odd job in between £5 for them would be massive, and I am afraid back to the old running on the cheap with no insurance, sorry I will say no more!

Ive worked for hermes and they do pay poor rates, 45-50p per parcel. Not being big headed but i was 1 of the best multi-drop couriers they had and then got rid of me because i had to take a day off for van trouble. I reckon they would snap your hand for this at that rate. If they gave the rate to the courier, the courier would think they won the lottery. Just an idea you could think about

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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You could call it eco delivery and get everyone to do it on a pushbike, easier through the traffic and no expense on fuel and keep everbody fit, you could provide a jersey with courier expert on the type like used in the tour de france.

Dont give him ideas, or we wont here the last of it..

HSP Couriers said:

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more fool those who phone up for this rubbish then. Few £5 jobs whilst waiting for the biggie to land.

I'm done here, the threads on here are clearly only going one way, and to be fair - time is much better spent else where.

Good luck

Good advice given..

How would you post an excel document here?

I would also just add that saying Rico are currently doing it is hardly a great advert. They are one of the lowest paying courier companies in the industry so if they're struggling to cover it then it isn't worth anyone even contemplating doing it.

I have an excel of the 2011 rates they sent me last year

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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You could call it eco delivery and get everyone to do it on a pushbike, easier through the traffic and no expense on fuel and keep everbody fit, you could provide a jersey with courier expert on the type like used in the tour de france.

Sorry forgot to mention lycro shorts.

Can i politely request that the previous post be removed please as the image created is causing the current poster to feel a little queezy

Speed Couriers (Stansted) said:

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Can i politely request that the previous post be removed please as the image created is causing the current poster to feel a little queezy

You could cycle to your nearest Argos store, it's only 2.65 miles away from you, get your lycra shorts and top ordered, what size are you?

Cycle in my boots... You're joking!

Count me out cant see this being of interest