The Courier Shop

It should come straight to you, right?

Sadly life is not like that, with good marketing you will get some work and you will find you still have to go out and get customers, you can sit back and wait for them to come to you BUT you will run through all your money first.

Being a self employed courier means if you don’t find the work you don’t get paid. If you own the removal company or are a self employed mover, then you don’t get paid. You need customers and you need to find them. You need to find profitable customers for your business.

So what types of courier work are more profitable?

Local delivery jobs are good for a courier looking to increase their local customer base. As they are local you can complete more of them throughout the day and therefore become profitably quickly. The downside is that there will be more wear and tear on your vehicle when you complete local delivery work so you need to factor that in to your prices when you look for this type of work.

Long distance jobs can be profitable for a courier especially if they can get a return load back to their home area. Make a point of calling courier companies in your delivery drop area so they know to contact you if they have a load going your way.

Specialist delivery jobs can also be profitable to a courier. Jobs such as delivering dangerous goods (when correctly licensed) can pay a premium as this type of courier service is rare, so do your research and see what type of specialist courier services are required.

Whatever delivery work you have locally, nationally or specialist remember to calculate your costs and expenses correctly so you do not underquote on your prices, if you fail to calculate your costs properly you will quickly eat into any reserve that you have built into your business.

Source: How to deliver and profit

Attracting customers can be done a variety of ways and a blend of marketing activity is good, it enables you to reach more potential customers.

As well as an online presence, you need an offline one too. Believe it or not there are some customers who don’t use the internet, they prefer traditional media.

In conclusion, get off your backside and look for the work you enjoy delivering or get a job.

Sarah

Thanks to Graham Hunt for flagging up the removal company and their attitude in this blog, Spain is not Greece

Saturday evening we spent a lot of time with Ken Roast from Courier Works, Steve Lee from Concierge Couriers and Pat, Susan and the rest of the Patterson family from Pepperpot Couriers.

We were at the Hilton in Coventry and attached are two videos, warts, bums n legs and all… so you get to see what goes on when 250 courier companies around the UK meet up, have dinner and then vote on the best of the business, in our opinions.

Congrats to to all the winners and thanks to Mark Paterson for helping with the videoing – he also managed to win £400 worth of insurance from One Business as well.

Thanks to Alison and Zemina for all their effort in organising this, it gets better every year

And Pat… I am level 72 on the farm and I may throw a sheep at you

Sarah

Any type of vehicle can be used to deliver cargo, freight or precious items. Most commonly you will see small vans. What happens if someone causes you to have an accident? or you hit another vehicle? How will your business operate if your main tool for work is out of action?

Sarah Arrow

The Complete Courier guide  is an essential guide for self employed couriers looking to start their own courier business.

What skills are needed to become a courier? and are academic skills essential?

Aside from a current clean driving license, the main skills a courier needs is patience.

Delivering other peoples cargo or freight (or even documents)

means working to their schedule and that may not always fit in with your own. Patience is a vital skill when working as a courier. There may be waiting time, or even customers absent from the collection point. Waiting is part of being a courier, waiting time (being paid to wait) is a perk of being a self employed courier, although not fo r a courier that works for a private company.

A good courier has other essential skills needed as well, these include

• Map-reading and navigational skills – the ability to operate a satellite navigation system is useful
• Good health and physical fitness – heavy lifting and frequent lifting is involved
• The ability to work alone and keep to tight schedules, you will often work on your own unless it’s a two man team delivery. These type of jobs are few and far between for a self employed couriers.
• A responsible attitude to safety, reckless people will not last long if they gain employment as a courier
• A basic knowledge of motor mechanics is useful but not essential, a blown tyre or loose wire can make a difference to your timekeeping, a little know how helps in a big way.
• A passion for driving and getting to know the local business community – if you don’t like driving, this really isn’t for you

A good courier company will vet and assess their employees as its important to employ the right ones for their business. Ones that are heavy handed with the freight or packages won’t last long. It’s very important that cargo arrives in one piece or a company will have to claim on their insurance. Often reckless employees are not covered by insurance, and this will come from the companies profits. If you are an employed courier you will not last very long if you are heavy handed or clumsy. If you are self employed, you will not be employed by that company again.

Academic skills are not essential but basic skills are, the ability to read and write in the English language are very important. A customer will supply documentation to go with the goods and the courier will need to be able to read this and be able to differentiate each document and match it to the corresponding loads.

There is more to being a courier than throwing the goods on the back of a van and driving off into the sunset. If you want to be successful you need to do some research. Research is a vital skill for a person looking to become a courier, it can save them money and heartache in the short term and enhance their career in the long term.

Sarah Arrow
The Complete Courier guide is an essential guide for self employed couriers looking to start their own courier business.

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A PDA or Personal Digital Assistant is a vital tool for the modern same day courier business. As more transport companies become greener and more sustainable, they are looking at ways of utilising their empty vehicles. In the past it has always been about gaining backloads and work for the return journey – nothing is more harmful to the environment (with the exception of an accident) than running back empty. Freelance couriers are now looking to co-load and part load items in order to maximise their efficiency.

Where the PDA comes into it…

Freight and parcel exchanges are springing up all over the place, and although they all like to think they are unique and are fulfilling a niche that is untapped, the honest truth is transport has had them for as long as there has been the ability to have a website.

Having a mobile PDA always you to tap into all of these services and post your return journeys. A well planned van delivery should always include a search for return items to eliminate dead mileage. Depending on the size of your van depends whether you will be transporting furniture or packages.

Using your PDA most effectively will also mean updating your Facebook status – so people can see where you are (do you know how many jobs we have collected using Facebook? 2 or 3 a week… not to be sniffed at, and if people know what you do, they will recommend you).

Your PDA can also be used as a tracking device, so your customers can track the vehicle online and know exactly where you are instead of them phoning and asking you all the time. There are two types of software that do this, one is free and the other has a small fee.

Proof of Delivery? Yes, your PDA comes into it’s own here – a small piece of software that enables you to collect a signature and email it back to your customer or your office. No need to lose paperwork, no need to worry about having a pen, your PDA has it all.

Lost? Use the GPS aspect, yes you may think your Sat Nav is foolproof but when you are sitting in a field looking for an address, you might like not having to phone the office or the customer for extra directions.

If your business is a modern same day courier business you will be maximising all opportunities for more work, more efficient working and you cannot do it without this essential piece of kit.

Kevin

The Complete Courier Guide, contains essential information to maximising your revenue from your courier business. You can buy it and download it from this website.

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