Bidding

£110 for 86 miles?....small van?...c'mon peeps....no one's gong to pay that to a subbie...get real

Tell us about it ,
We had bids in excess of £1.70 per mile on a small van last week , The next update from that bidder was "At Home"

lol...can't imagine why!!!

Haha I wish I could get £1.70 in my sprinter 

Exactly my point....these guys are livin in cloud cuckoo land

So lads you have been in the game for a long time how much would you say ? I would bid about £1.00 a mile or 90p subbie rate  

Can you let me know who is willing to pay 90p for a small van subbie.  Getting people to pay 70p is hard enough.

You know your area better than most...are you busy?

70p would be a fair rate for a subbie . but in the real world 50-60 is the norm

so i take it we are doing ok at £1.20plm for a small van then :-)

We're talkin about sub rates not what you're charging your customers!!! (sigh)

I'm going to pull out some stats about average amounts paid for different vehicle types on mtvan... might be useful to some.

Speed Couriers (Stansted Airport)

thats why we dont sub lol

Very short sighted of you.....an empty vehicle instead of a 70p return

Here's some interesting statistics (and a calculator) from real jobs and the amount they paid on mtvan.  Might be especially useful for new guys...

I know a guy working for DHL and he gets 50p per mile BUT he gets a load back 9 times out of 10 so he's doing well. The backload makes all the difference in this work if your subbing otherwise you could only be earning £50 a day after fuel, insurance etc etc.

Personally, I'm all in favour of people who price way too high because it means that no-one will give them any work, they'll quickly get disheartened, then they'll vanish.

Very true Mr Mandom but something we must live with and something that will always be with us .

As already stated by me when the mines went down I though it could spell the end for us .Then to top it all the miners that did have some money left brought vans and ran cheap but back in those day we had CB radios and they could not drive around for ever shouting "scab" over the PA system ...!!!!! ...ha ha

 They were so wrapped up in bad blood ballshit and were not able to run  a proper business so they all ended up in some mens working club crying in their beer same old same old !!!

As credit became easier to come across we found that more dreamers would enter the industry !! ..These were the worst Barstawds because there was so much credit available to them that they would go on for years only to go bankrupt big time !!!!..

DHL told me they would like me to run a newer curtainsider I sat down and bloody explained my life history then produced the vans history !!! For the manager to say I see your point the fact you control your costs well means we see you as a good supplier !! Try taking your credit card in and doing that !!! 

I always say there is more to this than meets the eye but try telling ,most people that

and it isn't just limited to drivers i can tell ya

Website Admin

That's plus VAT.

You ever get bike work?

Yes there is bike work and generally the rate was fairly high, but the correlation is not good enough to draw any conclusions from. Also probably 1 in 100 jobs gets the pay amount added to the booking, so there's a lot more work than there is pay data.

MK,

RGM you have PM

Many thanks Tony. Just replied.

must admit I have another job to put on today but I'm not sure my ribs will handle it!!
I put a back load (small box) of 134 miles to be delivered friday or monday and got a quote of £175!!!!!
 

God!  Id have done it for £170!

That's a little greedy Rapid...We would do it for £165.

I think this reflects the issue of a small company taking on backloads and expecting to find somebody to run cheap at backload rate .

I dont think that £175 is a foolish price I dont get it this rate with most of my customers but I baqsiclly run a small subbie company . The ones suppling the work to me quite often find a backload .Here with the best of intentions if you have priced too low to your customer have done your self up a bit if you cant get nobody to run .

I think this is where many newbies are confused a backload is not a load that has a couple of days on it but a load that has so much time on it that you can wait a week or more not what is now 48 working hours  ! What happens if nobody bids on this load you either let your customer down or run it yourself for free after you have put gas in !!.

Its a different story if you are a massive company and your controllers know they have 10 vans going that way over the next 24 hours then you can call it a back load !! but small companies cant play this game and this is the reason things go wrong so much !!

We have a lot to learn all of us !!

Not sure i followed all that....to me a backload is something takin me back to where i've come from....that is what the poster of the job is suggesting anyway...and that should tell us he's therefore looking for a lower rate than normal....

I think Mr Speed was trained by CX !!

Hotshot was invented by them never known the word before !! I did watch a funny film !!

You people need to understand this industry is a lot bigger than CX and a lot more goes on outside of it ,Its very big !!!!!!!

I think some of you CX desperados need to be retrained !!!

134 for £90-100 ie 67-74pplm

Lol...not at all Mr Barnsley...I just understand how it works

mileage rate should only be used as a guide price imho

No I actully think many of you from CX are too obssessed by what you think somebody should charge you and its not like that . Its the rate you get charged and your pricing to your customer should reflect that Im getting the impression that many of you are underpricing the end user either out of desperation on you dont actully have the skills to gain ,negotiate and price work from the end users !

I run my van and lads for big companies but if some of you small companies approached me I would charge 1.20 for small van, 1.50 for a big van and 1.80 for the flatbed because Im not that desperate for the work some of you can be disorganised inexperienced and as proven in the new modern internet age no cash flow !!!! So I would not be doing you favours as you seem to expect . I am not your freind that is despratly chasing work I run a business and we have enough work to turn your work away

I can only assume you are used to dealing with very desperate people that are close to bankruptsy

Am right the more experienced on here ? Is this waht happens ?

Spot on SMH

Just had a talk with somebody about this !!!!!

Cx company takes call clear engish acccent before a price is discussed and phone is puut down too expensive before they even tak about price !!!

Next call he cant understand what he is saying very poor english cant sub job to him although price is cheap !!!

Perfect call goes

" yo man Jonnny Cool gun hu love dis Enuh " Love what ?

Guh fi de umbrellad csuse di sun a bun !!!!     and your price

40 ppl miles mun di dini town way de fun is on enuh !!! how £60 Leeds to London and delivered in 2 hourss ?

Wha fi wock dis ting gona boss out di ear drums enuh eye!!!!  Very good thank you very much I will book this job and you will collect in 6 and half minutes !!!

Thats you guys !!!

subtitles available on page 888,

No such thing as a 'going rate'  If you were offered prices by 2 different [hopefully similar competence] people, one at 25p per mile the other at 40p per mile, I know what I would choose.  

Seems to me that too many are driven by these so called going rates, in reality price is negotiated by the service one provides and the relationship one has with the customer!

Even with a sameday service, if an item is VERY urgent a customer would expect to pay more to get the item delivered within a couple of hours or just anytime that same day!   

Hey Mr Springer You OK

Im guessing they dont talk like that down your way it killed me cobbling that little thread together Im knackered for the rest of the day now

Good job finding sub titles you did well I have not found sub titles in 64 years so you somerset guys must a lot more switched on than us !!!! Sad thing all under 16s talk like that now but thats something else to talk about on a rest day !!!!

These rates !!! They are noforme

Firstly Mr Barnsly who can't even spell his own f***** town name in his Company name....I am not a CXer as you put it. If you knew anything about my history you'd know that we were one of the 1st members of MTvan and have been in the Courier Business since 1998. For you to suggest I have little to no experience is both insulting and misinformed. I have been involved in the Transport industry for 28 years, and have seen both the good times and the bad.

And from what I gather Barnsly...you don't even have any customers....you merely sub for the bigger courier companies like DHL etc. What experience is it you're actually talking about cos from where i'm sitting it seems you don't actually have any knowledge on how to get customers so why should we listen to a word you say?

Calm down, Rob, calm down ... you'll give yourself a bleedin' heart attack in a minute/

Rob, wouldn't mind those as back loads

Hot load via Back shot

Very good H...very good

Or should that be Hotshot Via Backload....

Or shot load via hot back lol

lol...you lot are warped

Rob, whilst I agree with all comments above (I think Barmy or whatever his name is, is smoking dope or something), I think you really need to start smoking again!! :-}

Mr Moores are you suggesting i'm getting a bit tetchy?

Rob !!!

I join here spelt our name wrong and cant work out how to correct it !!!

Now I have done all this stuff !!!! I am in my 5th decade in transport !!!! Have had trucks running day and night suppling end users directly and than had firms going bust on us ect ect ect !!! If you think you can teach me something new then Im going to listen to you mate because thats the biggest lesson I have learnt in all this time Its never too late to learn something new and you will always pick up a tip of somebody !!!

I run my business as safely as possible these days as I cant afford the risk and losses at my time of life  that is why I run things like we do creating the impression to you that Im some dougnut just out of college !!!!

I can do and have done what you do but I have also seen what can go wrong and are alot more cautious than you !!!

http://www.mtvan.com/account/company_details/

Many thanks Tim

Im guessing your the captian of the ship so I had better wind my neck in a bit and I am really Robs best mate ..................................

             I just cant work with him !!!! and I have only spoken to him on here !!!

All shades of opinion welcome here.

Well Bob, you made assumptions about me, so you can't be surprised when I do similar.

Rob,

well guys..newbie here although not to the transport industry, just new to courier work, i hope i am not one of the stupid people cos i care about the work i do i always have done, do you all really dislike each other or is banter something i need to get used to ....lol ( thats laffs out loud to all the oldies ).

Are there really people out there working as couriers who dont give a toss about other peoples property that they are being paid to deliver and couriers that are not dressed smartley.

Hmmm....if by banter you mean downright insults then yes...banter it is

Glad to be onboard, cheers Speed

Back on topic, has everybody checked out the average price thing?  I find it hard to believe those prices...subbies getting Sprinter jobs for £1.30 + VAT plm???  Looks more like an end user rate to me.

Maybe they're high cos a lot of jobs are localised, with minimum charge?

oops that should've read "know what i mean"

Good point, Speed, I'm sure that must be it.  I charge end users a certain amount for the first mile then a relatively low rate per mile thereafter.

The rates shown give a distorted view because some people will be thinking that they're the levels to bid at.  From my experience, you're generally struggling to get £1 plm in a Sprinter for subbie work (on long distance jobs).

Read the small text below those rates. We've excluded very short journeys (below either 20 or 30 miles IIRC).

The range of £0.85 to £1.75 is 1 standard deviation from the mean, so around 2/3rds of jobs fall between these 2 values.

Like you WS i would expect an LWB to be charging me £1 per mile

Thanks Admin, maybe the definition of a short journey could be extended to perhaps 50 miles and then for this to be stated on the data?  I'd say 30 mile journeys will still skew the figures a little and 20 miles definitely will.

Perhaps there could be 2 sets of data, one for under 50 miles and one for over? 

I know I'm definitely over-thinking this now but I find it interesting. 

did it not state 87p for small van..can't remember

82p, link earlier in this thread.

Not sure what the point of the info is....it's inaccurate

Why do you think it's inaccurate? It's based on the actual pay amount of 100's (or 1000's) of jobs. It's accurate, there's no guesswork involved.

I'm basing it on what we pay subbies and I have to say the average is NOT 82p per mile

with 80 to £1 per mile for "locals"

..I am also a newbie, and hopefully don't fall into the stupid category, but do fall short of courier experience. Speed made a good point of being professional and being ambassadors of the company the person is 'working' for. Having travelled extensively in my previous role as a consultant, we were always dressed smartly and were always aware that we were the 'face' of the company, and that impressions were always important to maintaining good relationships. Hopefully I can carry on that for whoever I happen to be working for, be it myself or as a 'subbie'.

Being new to couriere work I would be greatful of any advice on how to get 'up and running'

Up to how many miles is local?

If a lot of the jobs envolve London would the CC be added in the total cost increasing it on top of the increased rate you would have to pay/charge?

Don't get over sensitive. I am simply telling you that the average rates listed are not reflecting the amount we pay, nor do they reflect what a growing number of Couriers are telling us they're having to go down to to get a quote accepted.

MK Bikes: When couriers are paid, are things like CC normally included? If yes then the answer is yes.

No over-sensitivity here Rob. You said the information is inaccurate. Given the conditions I have stated the information is accurate to the nearest penny.

OK, at minimum 40 miles small van is averaging 79pplm.

Here's an idea, just for small van I will make a graph of mileage against rate and total cost. We will then know how much is typical at any given mileage and also get an idea of typical minimum charges.

take London's out............if you can you might get a more accurate picture

Is there a way that the data can be manipulated to show the modal average rather than the mean average?

Sure I can, rounded to the nearest penny. Possibly only really worth it on Small Van or similar where we have loads of data.

Mk makes a good point...London may well include the £10 con charge, and London commands a higher rate, especially if you're close

We had an interesting call today.
A customer wanted a small van from London to Durham.
272 miles
They said cty sprnt quoted £844+vat and when the called back to verify it was then £645+vat
they also got the mileage at 305.
I think that's a bit much especially when the driver will probably get it as a backload anyway.
The funny thing is that we did this job last month and the customer was trying to get it done a little cheaper.
So it's booked again with us.

Something very wrong with the CS quote cos I know they charge between 85p and £1.15 during Office hours (small van)

Funny thing....a thread today on CX about City Sprint charging 74pplm

The City sprint quote was probably (because of the London collection ) quoted by the London office, I've heard of some outrageous quotes by London companies

Hi all,

Haven't joined in recently.

Bottom line is virtually everyone I have spoken to generally seems to believe rates charged up north by subbies are less than those charged in the south.

Very interested in website admin. stats., just printed them off.

Forget London, forget short distances, bla bla boring.

Bottom line is

How much do members pay subbies for a small van p.l.m. on a regular basis? For example the last 6  months, 40 subbies.

My offer £0.70 - £0.80 p.l.m.

Unheard of by me or anyone I know to pay £1.20 p.l.m. on a regular basis. Hot air

Would be beneficial to this thread if others wanted to contribute.

All the rest of it is just more hot air and bla bla.

Doesn't matter who bids what unless they are successful on a regular basis.

Finally love the hotshot up the back passage (I mean load). You crack me up H. and Rob.

P.S. Where do you get all these pictures?

Most jobs I get quoted on are70p, some 75, a few at 80. Localised and London I expect higher so don't include them. We all have minimum charges. Some who really really WANT the job cos they're maybe goin back empty will obviously quote lower so if they do i'm only too pleased to help them out...lol BUT as stated in previous threads the lowest price isn't what it's all about. Its also how close you are to the pick up, whether I can understand wtf you're sayin to me, and whether you sound like you know what you're doin if i'm honest.

There has alway been a large gap between North and South  but I have noticed one thing in recent years .

Companys that are small and suddenly for what ever reason decide to call themselves a national company quite often cock it right up .

Here is an example that some young gladiator up the top of the M6 did last year !!!

He gain about 3 runs a week Glasgowish ! to central London .

The company then asked him to do runs out of London because he sent a Email telling them he was bigger Nobart Dinglstanged with the red lorries !!!

The fool decided he was going to charge Northen rates in London and had to pull out because he could not cover them .All this time the customer he was charging was London based and the fool could of got away with charging at least 40 p  a mile more .!!!!

I haven't seen any geographical difference in rates and i sell quite a few jobs up and down the country....the exception is Kent and West Sussex. There is no North/Sarf divide as far as i'm concerned....and everyone bigs themselves up to a certain degree. If you get a customer offering you more work are you really going to turn it down, or are you going to try and give it a go?

Rob, there may not be a North/South divide as far as you are concerned but I can assure you that if you had to compete with some of the big boys in South Yorkshire and pay your subbies 70 to 85pplm plus your profit, you would get very little work here. I often post work out of London for documents to the Home Office here in Sheffield but nearly always end up sending an empty vehicle from Sheffield because, if I get any quotes from London OD's, they are usually in excess of the price I get from my customers.

But there are plenty of Couriers from all over the country clearing in London, so I'd be very surprised if you couldn't find anyone to cover your one at the right price.

Mr 3D you are a perfect example of what we examplinate here !!!!

The Ods in London are not expensive You have simply priced the London work wrong !!

You have underpriced to a degree and a point at witch your company is unable to properly service its customer You are basicly buying work !!!

If a customer needs a collection in 30 minutes (This does happen in London) What are you going to do ? Run a Combo down from Yorkshire !!!!! ?????????

Come on People !!!!! How many have you go to the wall because they cant price a job !!

Morning Bob, You're not going to be surprised that i disagree with you, and you and 3D must have some history i reckon.

Nah, never heard of him before he came on here Rob. Very controversial though!

Only controversial if you don't agree with em tho Steve...some would say i'm controversial, but i just say it how it is....if you agree with me then all is good, if you don't then you're wrong...lol

controversial you are Rob but with humor! Some people are just downrite rude, confrontational and parochial.

Think this thread has gone as far as it can for now. I will remove or edit off-topic replies soon.