Some just don't seem to get it.....

I think some on here have completely missed what it is exchange sites offer

What they offer both you, and more importantly your customers, is availability when you have no availability.

If you consider all OD's out there as part of YOUR network, YOUR drivers, then you will always be able to offer availability to YOUR customers, and isn't that exactly what you want your customers to benefit from?

Gone are the days where you had to say "sorry we're fully booked" or "I can do that but not for a couple of hours"

Exchange sites allow you to say yes

Seems to me there are a few who really don't get the concept at all

You stick 24/7 on your websites and on your flyers, but if you can't cover that 1600 Friday afternoon job then it's pointless advertising that you can.

We are in a reactive, not pro active industry, with little possibility of planning...

How many drivers do you need today, 5, 10, 20..."cos I used 12 today I'll need 12 tommorro"?

You all know every day is different...consistently inconsistent..."the one thing you can be sure of is that you can't be sure of anything"

So anyone that slags off ones that use exchange sites in the way they were designed to be used, to cover each and every phone call, really should keep their thoughts to themselves.

If you have 2 vans and they're both pre booked and you're happy diverting the phone and going fishing then that's up to you... If i choose to give my customers a bit more of a service than that then that's down to me.

Great post and summarisation of what a freight exchange site is or should be good for. Those wondering how the 'exchange' part of mtvan and other sites is meant to work, read this post again!

[Admin: Please can we at least try to keep on topic, else potentially interesting and useful threads are needlessly wasted...]

This picture shows all the potential Speed Couriers, or 3D Couriers, or TLC Couriers, or Notts & Derby Couriers, or Swift Couriers indeed any of your Couriers. Whatever your size, this is what exchange sites give you access to. Whether you choose to use these drivers is entirely up you. Some seem to think it's cheating, but I don't see how it can be. Its common sense isn't it?

They're all out there, so why not utilise them?

You cannot actully unless you have office staff on shift work properly cover your business 24 hours !! Yes I go fishing hunting and walking My boy has the phone diverted to him if Im out but he also has to sleep . Take it from me you cant go on and on in this life sitting by the phone or hanging around just in case a job comes in !! Mr Speed has his bed in his office and he can be there at any time of day but I would be excommunicated in the legal defintion of marrige if I did not make myself availlable when expect to be on parade !!!

I get how an exchange works but at the same time I am old school and struggle with the trust issues . On the same note I hardly ever agree with you Rob but to be fair to you I have gained trust just by falling out with you on here . In some way you are right I do feel I now know some of you boys ..So maybe Mr Speedy 24 Hour Red Bull Rob is right I dont know !!!

I think Speed and Barnsley are both correct, However there are two seperate but connected entities at work and both cannot survive without the other to an extent. You have the "Courier company" We need the subby. You have "The OD Subby" and most of these need the courier company. Ourselves as the Courier company need to be available 24/7 and answer the telephone every time. Subbys answer the phone 99% of the time but i can't and don't expect them to do so. Subbys are "Subbys" so that they can pick and choose the hours they want. I also have to sleep and have other family things to attend to but i just have to prioritise what i am doing to llow the business to offer the availability i advertise. I do use the network and you get to the point where you have to trust people otherwise there is no point of the network. I have used 5 members on here in the last month and are more than happy with the collection and delivery times.

You kind of make the point for me

We, the Courier Company are obliged to be available, because it's what is expected of us. The "subby" CAN pick and choose his availability as he's answerable to no one except himself.

There are, however, some who slag off Courier Companies, and make out it's an "us and them" situation. Those same people should remember that ultimately we both do the same thing and both rely on eachother.

We just chose to take a different path than you.

Well in essence we are really a form of advertising and marketing for subbies as we foot the cost of attracting new customers and also we work hard at retaining current customers.

I call it brokering

Yes that could be what it's called. I tend to call it a partnership. I unlike some courier companies have actually been on the road and covered many many miles, I have done the long days and nights away. I know some courier companies who's owners have never actually been couriers in any sense of the word, One owner once asked if i could leave Nottingham and squeeze in a Bradford on my way to Bristol.

I don't think your example has anything to do with being on the road....that's just an example of someone who is clearly stupid....I have had several drivers who , when told I've got a job to x, have asked me where x is?....and i'm not talkin obscure places either.

There are different levels of experience both with drivers and with controllers, and you are doing exactly what i accuse some OD's of doing, making an "us and them" situation.

"I unlike some courier companies have actually been on the road and covered many many miles, I have done the long days and nights away."

You're sounding like a party political broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party... who is trying to endear himself to the masses...when you are in fact one of the Courier Companies you're trying to distance yourself from

There is nothing wrong with being a Courier Company or an OD, as i've said previously, we've just taken different paths.

I'm guessing you can no longer be on the road because you have too much work, so came off the road to become an office bound controller....i.e 99% of Courier Companies

Let's stop with this us and them...its all us...we all DO the same thing

Some just do it better than others

I agree it does make a difference if a contoler or owner has done the job even more so now with the tecnology A good controller will have that euopean map in his mind and he will have a feel for what is happening on the road on the other end of the phone . He should know what frame of mind a person is in on his return from Inverness going down the 74 . A good controller when his knows his driver does not have to keep phoning him !

trust nobody,

the only trouble i have every had is with an O/D which lost me £75k per year this in why i dont deal with anybody and everybody

Mr SMH I was just comming around to their way if thinking and you have just returned me to planet earth

trust know one i tell ye

so what you are saying is you need shit loads of jobs to makesome money? charge more work less :-)

I think speed has the wrong end of the stick again,

"You're sounding like a party political broadcast on behalf of the Labour Party... who is trying to endear himself to the masses...when you are in fact one of the Courier Companies you're trying to distance yourself from"

Would you as a subby want to work with someone who has experienced all aspects of the industry and can and will help out a subby with help and info when needed, Or would you rather work with someone in the office who has simply got no idea about life on the road and simply switches off at 5:30 and goes home.

This bit "you are in fact one of the Courier Companies you're trying to distance yourself from" doesn't make sense. With our business it is simply that "US" We need subbies and they need us.

I trusted Jimmy Savile I trusted Lance Armstrong enough said !

Wrong end of the stick? I don't think so

Your comments are acknowledging that there is an us and them. If you weren't then why mention that you have been on the road so know what it's all about. You talk about inexperienced office bound people who "have no idea" Why make that assumption unless you're trying to stand out from the crowd? I don't assume people don't know what they're doing until they prove to me they don't...and that applies to OD's as well doesn't it?

So it ain't the wrong end of the stick, it's what is the relevance?

There shouldn't be an us and them

A partnership?.....I've been saying that for years

This is a forum on an exchange site

The point I'm making is some on here don't seem to get what it is they're for

Experience has nothing to do with how long you've been doing something, more to do with learning along the way, adapting and evolving.

partners? What you mean like yodel treat their partners ? low rates?

That's a bit negative MK

Seems a bit of a theme on here.....

Yodel are advertising in our local paper for owner drivers earn £750 per week,

£150 per day....similar rates to 2001

but at least its guaranteed

The days of being able to earn £150 a day with Yodel are long gone. Yes, guaranteed daily work but more like £100 - £120. Great if you've already paid off your mortgage, the finance on your van and use red diesel. Not so if you're not in that fortunate position

I guess it varies from area to area as PW has already told us they're advertising up there at £750 per week, which is £150 per day..so that's what I was going off.

We no longer supply drivers for ANY multidropping for the reasons both you and PW state. Not enough in it anymore

Anyway, this thread wasn't about Multidropping, it was about what an exchange site is for cos some seem to have completely missed the point

Partners in crime. Sameday soldiers. 'come on come on lets work together'. Bring on Guy Fawkes.

for fast and reliable courier services, shipping company should have its prominent existence in many areas. Their workers must be well acquainted with corresponding areas of delivery services.

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