introduction

Posted in Welcome.Skip To Latest

Vantastic Transport

130
Original Poster

Very big hi to all on mtvan, this is my first time on any such website so please be patient as i try and introduce myself. My name is Andy and i try and run a courier company based in northamptonshire , i pride myself on the fact once i say i'll cover work then my customers or other third parties know its as good as delivered before its even been collected. I thought i'd look on mtvan as i didn't want to try the big yellow site that everyone seems to be on as i prefer the close knit community of a slightly smaller but never the less important site as this.

as i sit here typing this message i wonder when or if major players in the courier industry will ever wake up that they are always trying to rip off smaller owner drivers just because they have the work,with fuel now increasing yet again and insurance premiums almost doubling since i started out in this game, as the end of the chain and the people who see the end customer why don't we get paid a slightly bigger slice of the money cake.We can all run cheaper if we don't have the correct insurance but who'll be the first to moan if it all went wrong ( that's right the fat cats who keep our rates so low in the first place ) can anyone out there shed some light on how to run cheap and still be able to survive with out driving yourself into an early grave,i bumped into a O/D the other day who was working for a large company 6am to 2pm and then again 7pm to 3.30 am and he looked ready to drop?  

PTC Sameday

540

Hello mate. I think first and foremost it's important to get yourself a subber who pays you a good rate and who pays on return (as I did, luckily, through CODforum,). Then, if you're as good as you sell yourself, he will keep giving you work and recommend you to others who operate as he does (my guy has recommended me to four such others). Also, as hard as it might be to resist, don't sell yourself cheaply and make yourself look desperate. Of course if everyone did that then the subbers would have to pay the going rate, but it's never going to happen so, as I said, keep looking for Mr Right!

Vantastic Transport

130
Original Poster

hi pete thanks for your input, if all other O/D were the same then yes i agree we will all start to get a better rate but sadly as we know there will always be people who sell themselves cheap just to get the work and always subbers who will take advantage, but if standards were to be set higher ( all proper insurance etc etc ) then we may just weed out the so called cowboys that give us a bad name and keep our earnings at such a low rate that we have to do twice the milage just to earn decent money

Speed Couriers Nationwide Ltd

10314

agree with all the above

The problem is we're in a non standardized non regulated industry with people comin and going and with companies continually wanting more and more for their money.They want a 1st class service for a 2nd class price, and to a certain extent that's what they get as everyone is afraid to increase their prices. So we all take a smaller and smaller margin.

Its always amazed me how the haulage industry inparticular always seems to be the one squeezed when they should have the most clout. Afterall in the "just in time" philosophy we have today you'd have thought hauliers would be more powerful then any industry out there

Remember how quickly the country descended into chaos when we had the fuel strike?

Why or why we don't have more faith in ourselves is beyond me, but if people continue to undercut then we get wot we've got don't we?

Enjoy this discussion? Check out these related topics: Introduction, JEM Transport Introduction, Introduction, Introduction - LW Freight Solutions, Introduction, Introduction.

Reply To Topic

We invite anyone involved in the courier industry to share their knowledge to other on the mtvan courier forum. If you're a member then sign in to post, if you're an owner driver or courier company then please sign up for free.

For more information on what you can discuss on our courier forum please see our courier forum guidelines.