Starting Up a Couriers Business - The Boxby Tips for Survival during a Credit Crunch.
Issue 1 - What kind of a courier business do you want to have?
The term couriers is used to cover a number of very different business models.
Parcel Deliveries
To some people a courier is the large parcel delivery companies, those like DHL, Citylink, TNT, Interlink and the other household names. That couriers to them are people that deliver usually fairly small boxes, probably the contents of these parcels are things that have been bought through online shopping, or deliveries of parts, paperwork & documents, new mobile phones, and home delivery shopping. which have gone through the normal parcel delivery system. Next day or 48 hour delivery. To these people Couriers represent an cheap delivery service, costing somewhere between £5 and £15 for delivery. If you want to set up in the Parcel Deliveries business, then you have two options. The first is to become a sub contractor for one of the National Parcel Carriers, or to buy a Franchise. The second is to operate your own parcel delivery service, however with this you need to be eminently sensible. You CANNOT offer a full UK coverage, because if you are operating with just one or two vans, there is no way that you will profitably be able to deliver parcels to every part of the UK within the 1 or 2 days that your customer will be expecting. If you are going to do your own parcel delivery service then you will need to start off by restriciting it to local deliveries.
Same Day Couriers & Express Delivery Services
To some people, and particularly businesses, Couriers are about speed, couriers are for getting urgent deliveries to the right places quickly. For these businesses couriers are a necessity, and the critical factors are reliability and speed. Their deliveries aren't things that can go on an overnight parcel service, its all about same day delivery. Frequently these businesses aren't sending just one box, or just one envelope, frequently the load in question will be a good half van load. Customers for Same Day Deliveries are paying for a bespoke service, a dedicated van to pick up and deliver at the businesses own conveninence. The prices that the Same Day customers pay are therefore totally different to those that anyone sending a parcel would pay. Prices of Same Day Couriers are usualy charged on the basis of a mileage charge. The cost per mile varies between courier companies, and will be affected by factors such as whether or not the route includes London, Congestion charges, road tolls etc. But the average rates for a same day courier service, or a dedicated overnight courier service will be in the region of £1.20 per mile. Charges may be as high as £1.80 a mile, but you are unlikely to see them below 80p a mile.
Independent Courier Companies & Delivery Companies - Part Load Pricing
Some couriers use a totally different business model altogether, and specialise in the large, heavy and bulky items that cannot go on the parcel services, and are not suitable for pallets and freight services. These companies will usually price deliveries at a very reasonable price, particularly given the size of the item for delivery, and the distances that that delivery may cover. The couriers here tend to work on the basis of regular routes, giving them the knowledge and certainty that they can book in pretty much any delivery job, safe in the knowledge that they will be able to deliver anywhere in the UK during a certain given timeframe. Customers here get some really good savings, because they are giving the courier company or the delivery company the flexibility to deliver within the couriers own schedules, this lets the courier companies plan and schedule routes to ensure that they can be as profitable as possible.
2 Man Delivery Services
A Panel Van will not have a taillift, this is because the weight of the taillift will generally be around 20% of the van's payload weight. This means that the majority of the normal courier companies and delivery companies won't be able to handle the larger items that need 2 or more people to lift, or a forklift or tailift to load and unload. Therefore if you are considering a niche delivery service then you may want to think about 2 Man delivery services, using the larger 7.5 tonne vans. But beaware, it is niche for a reason. Once you go above the 3.5tonne weight limit you then become subject to operator license requirements, and complying with VOSPA. This also means that your employees are governed by the Road Time Directive, the mobile workers version of the European Working Time Directive. Your vehicles will need to be regularly serviced, you will need to maintain tachograph records, and your drivers will be restricted on the hours that they can drive.
Speciaility Delivery Services
If you choose a speciality then it may be easier to build yourself a name and a reputation within a smaller segment of the delivery market. Due to online trading and online business, there are demands for pretty much any and every kind of delivery service. For example;
Refridgerated Deliveries for Food, Frozen Food Deliveries, Fragile and Breakable Deliveries, Antique Furniture Deliveries.
