Is there anybody there?

I really don't understand! Everyone is saying how quite it is, yet I post a job from Sheffield to Kings Cross today at 10.04. 516 alerts sent and its still open at 15.35?

Pay me to travel from bristol and ill do it for you!! lol! ;0)

how many of the 516 are active users?

I know..daft isn't it...clearly something is wrong somewhere

I got the text but one of my customer's had rang me about a job from Goole to Blackpool so i did that, if i had had no work i would have quoted for this

This won't help with getting the job covered, but as mentioned in a recent thread the 'alerts sent' (although true) is misleading. I will try to get the news feed updated to improve this.

Check the booking page where it says '169 alerts sent to mtvan members' - this is far more accurate as I have accounted for alerts sent to un-upgraded members (they cannot bid), and members who receive both email and txt alerts... i.e. there were 169 members who received either an email alert, text alert, or both and were able to quote on the job as they are pro members.

Ah great, now I know that at least one alert was actually received! thats really raised my confidence in this site.

is that 169 in the relevant area yes?

Sorry Admin, where is this "bookings page" you mention?

sorry we have no vans availible or would of put a bid in.

"is that 169 in the relevant area yes?"

Mostly, as 99% of people have alert radius set to 20/30 miles or so and are receiving the alert because of their home location.

http://www.mtvan.com/courier-work/sheffield-to-londonkingscross-11652

Admin. Ah, I see, its on the make an offer page, not somewhere I would normally go for my own jobs, thanks.

is there a way that info can be shown on our control screens?

Definitely, and I agree the current control screen leaves a lot to be desired and is in need of a major update. You can probably tell that it's getting on a bit now.

To 3D Couriers ,Regarding your sheffield trip.
I'm shy north of Leicester, and got your job alert, twice - on my phone ,and my laptop cos i was at home. As my mtvan settings pull in work from 50 miles - a reasonable 1 hour motorway drive.
I was at able , willing and capable . Should i have responded ?
How am i to know what your window of oppurtunity is ? Was that job not covered 5 hours later ?
We , the MTvan community do not know.
Just today; Speed Couriers offer this advice to a new business,
"even as important tho is how quickly you bid and where you are in relation to the pick up.many think they've lost out to price but have in fact bid too late and/or are further away than the winning bid"
 We can shape the site to our needs, so all of us should complete the survey, and add what we would like to see, like a response window ?
Wether or not, a busy vendor has the time to a complete a detailed entry , is another issue.

Twoticks, unlike some, when I post a job it is open for bids. When the job is covered it is removed from the site. I dont believe the site should be cluttered with old or sold jobs. As for bidding from Leicester, why not, the round trip is just the same. As Speed Couriers (Rob) points out you may lose out to a nearer bid but still worth a try. I often send vans empty to collect from London as Northern rates are so much less than our London colleagues.

Each job i believe has the pick up times either as NOW or BETWEEN certain times so as a rule if a job is still showing BUT it's after the collection time then I don't think anyone can be faulted for not bidding as they'll assume the vendor has just forgotten to mark it as SOLD.

I suppose we must not lose sight of the fact that most subbies are not sat in front of pc's and receive alerts from texts. I don't subscribe to texts but from what I am told, the texts have limited information. One thing I am sure of, if you don't bid you will definitely not get the job. 

3D, so you know what is in the txts, here's one I received not long ago...

These days there is no excuse for not having a smartphone with internet connection so that you can keep an eye on the jobs which are posted.

I tend to watch the News Feed page and place my quote by telephone. (Much quicker).

Not bidding because there were so many hundreds of alerts sent out that one assumes the job is either fulfilled already or that someone will no doubt have quoted less is ridiculous!

If the pick up is within 1 hour of my location and I can get the job done I bid. End of!

Seems to me that some couriers here expect the Courier companies to call them directly. Maybe they just like someone making them feel special :-).

I have put a potential lorry job for April........................... Nothing yet!

well done Peter Riley, sounds like a courier to me!

Admin, I have just posted a job and received this email

Hey, just had a bid on the 134 mile small van job. £220.00 WTF???

Maybe they made a mistake and thought you wanted a small van moving!!!

peter riley is my kinda courier!!!

HA HA I just quoted the job from here in Nottingham upto the collection and then to luton and it's still only £165 + Vat.

Bloody hell that is wishful bidding! he he

I do the same as Peter bid if I can get there within the hour.

Why the ha ha ?  £220 was a fair price, given in good faith by Tigz . It's not too off the mark for the mileage , in some parts of the country, in a larger than required vehicle, whilst maybe holding the item overnight, securely .
The good crew at Notts Derby quoted £165. Again no joke.
I quoted £110. Thats 40p a mile .  Less than the AA guidance for running costs on a small car, without making a living from the effort. That is a joke.
And i did not get the job.
Everybody is saying rates are being squeezed , standards drop as costs are unsustanable.
About time the laughing stopped ,at each other, and we work to raise respect for our profession.
When employed by AW Couriers in 1988 on the books, that one job would have earned me £25.40 .
What price did it eventually go for today ?

Exactly what the bid was  holding over night plus the vat that's the problem with many on the site they want things done for nothing or by uninsured uncertified couriers whilst they sit back an earn the profit 

wot is going on today...stop attacking eachother....a fair price is the price you're happy doing a job for...70 to 75p small van and 90p to £1 big un...thats the norm so wots the problem

My bid was based on a transit on a small van job plus overnight charge plus vat 

well i for one don't think a charge for holding a parcel overnite is on and for that journey you'd expect a bid of around 110 sv to 160 transit but i guess if someones going back empty then anything is possible.....maybe its time for the cx "hotshot" or "backload" (peanut) so everyone knows the rules of the game....

Yep had to tip next morning so £165 +holding fee +vat anyway not wasting any more time on this as of to

Good one Tigz.
Hope the crossing is'nt too rough.
And so to business. Its called yield management. The art of balance between supply and demand. Your  advance booking goes cheap, and closer to deadline gets oh so expensive.
And this is a courier exchange , not paypound swap-a-rama. We don't do cheap ; do we.
Can you stop talking ,no moaning about not getting quotes /then oh dear, its too expensive.
The man is right , and on the day ,too costly to you.
Maybe next time, on a Monday.

People can surely charge what they feel is THEIR right price, that's the beauty of being self employed, whether it be seen as the right price for the vendor or not is another story. We are all in this to make money aren't we?

Absolutely

Lets get a few things straight. This was a job for collection after 1800hrs and delivery at 0700hrs next morning. Not 0630, not 0730 but 0700. Or is that extra?

Good on you.

oh and as stated earlier...you don't add include vat on a bid....all bids are excluding vat....and are paid on top of the bid if said driver is vat registered.

I agree Rob. I think the idea of the forum is a place that we can discuss issues for the good of the community, not to create issues to the detriment.

So twotics reviews all your bids does he coz he happened to

As for vat I done it that way coz a job another job I done on here they refused to pay the vat as they didn't notice it in the comments box 

That company re your vat?

and stop taking things so personally...i am merely offering my advice...take it or leave it but don't get so defensive about stuff. There have been people out there (friday for example) who's sole intention is to go on forums and deliberately wind people up, and hide behind fictitious names. I wasn't neccessarily refering to you, and as 3D pointed out earlier....although he commented on the bid, at no time did he name names. You did that by trying to justify your bid, which in my opinion you can't. It was a small van job and to bid a transit price AND add the vat is just plain daft.

and stop taking things so personally...i am merely offering my advice...take it or leave it but don't get so defensive about stuff. There have been people out there (friday for example) who's sole intention is to go on forums and deliberately wind people up, and hide behind fictitious names. I wasn't neccessarily refering to you, and as 3D pointed out earlier....although he commented on the bid, at no time did he name names. You did that by trying to justify your bid, which in my opinion you can't. It was a small van job and to bid a transit price AND add the vat is just plain daft.

Its like me walkin into a cafe for sardines on toast and being offered cavier...i don't want it and i didn't ask for it!!!

Just one final point, a bid of £110 for a 134 mile job is NOT 40p per mile. It is 82p per mile.

What ? you got out the bed the wrong side this morning , 3D.
Have you tried chamomile tea ?
Next time your northern sense of humour thinks its clever to hide an insult behind a triple letter acronym ; keep to yourself.

I'm getting loads of texts.I have an xlwb Jumbo and receive texts for xlwb, lwb, swb and small van. I also have a wide coverage as I never know where I may be. Just my luck I got the Ashford - Lancaster lwb (9am p/u) for tomorrow when I'm already going to be fully loaded for a Paddock Wood to Croydon!