Self Employed Courier - Hermes etc

[Steve91]

Evening all.

My work dropped the redundancy bomb today, and while names and numbers haven't been confirmed, I'm on the lookout for new jobs, and I keep seeing adverts for self employed couriers coming up. I used to work at DHL so this work isn't new to me.

Has anyone here done it, or knows someone who has? It's hard to find real world numbers for what they earn after costs and expenses. I only really need something to weather the storm until the market picks up a little.

Many thanks!

[Turn7]

I would suspect that market is saturated and pretty poorly paid. but good luck.....

[red_slr]

Don’t know if amazon still do it but anyone can drive for them so could be something to consider. I think after insurance and fuel it’s well under nmw but it’s work. There are a few videos on YouTube of people doing it. I think the people who make money from it use someone else’s fuel... my regular amazon dude delivers in a Range Rover velar...

[Steve91]

red_slr said:

Don’t know if amazon still do it but anyone can drive for them so could be something to consider. I think after insurance and fuel it’s well under nmw but it’s work. There are a few videos on YouTube of people doing it. I think the people who make money from it use someone else’s fuel... my regular amazon dude delivers in a Range Rover velar...

Thats largely what I've seen from looking online. 55p a parcel so it looks like 1000 deliveries a week to earn a liveable wage. At DHL I used to do 300 a week and that seemed like enough!

[red_slr]

Yes the Amazon ones I have seen (IIRC its called flex) offer you usually around £60-70 for 4 hours work.

So if you can do 2 of those slots a day that's £120-£140.

However fuel and insurance take a big chunk of that. So perhaps maybe £70-90 a day.

Then IIRC there are issues with getting work slots, I am sure its manic right now but in the traditional quiet time (June - October) I have seen that it can be difficult to get full days every single day so there are days where you might only get 1 run or even none.

Not even touching on W&T on the vehicle...

So in reality, if you have a company car / van that you can use or you can get dodgy fuel from somewhere then its probably not even worth doing.

[Shaw Tarse]

Steve91 said:

red_slr said:

Don’t know if amazon still do it but anyone can drive for them so could be something to consider. I think after insurance and fuel it’s well under nmw but it’s work. There are a few videos on YouTube of people doing it. I think the people who make money from it use someone else’s fuel... my regular amazon dude delivers in a Range Rover velar...

Thats largely what I've seen from looking online. 55p a parcel so it looks like 1000 deliveriesitems a week minute to earn a liveable wage. At DHL I used to do 300 a week and that seemed like enough!

Wages are more or less certain

[Sophisticated Sarah]

You’ll earn below minimum wage doing it. Plus all it takes is a major vehicle fault to have ended up working for nothing or having lost money working

I used to work for Business Express (became Hermes I believe) and made about £500 a week after tax back in 2004. That was delivering 200+ parcels a day with the vehicle provided (working 0500-1900 five days a week). Sadly the influx of cheap labour hit the couriers hard... obviously didn’t hurt the people sat on their arses ‘managing’ the depots

[rambo19]

Sophisticated Sarah said:

You’ll earn below minimum wage doing it. Plus all it takes is a major vehicle fault to have ended up working for nothing or having lost money working

I used to work for Business Express (became Hermes I believe) and made about £500 a week after tax back in 2004. That was delivering 200+ parcels a day with the vehicle provided (working 0500-1900 five days a week). Sadly the influx of cheap labour hit the couriers hard... obviously didn’t hurt the people sat on their arses ‘managing’ the depots

So they paid the 'cheap labour' a lower rate than you?

[afterparty]

Avoid at all costs, if its Self Employed and you have to provide the van. After expenses its below Minimum wage, you also have to remember no holiday pay, sick pay etc.

[Hoofy]

I was following my Hermes delivery the other day. I think it was something like 160 deliveries in 4 hours.

Not sure how it works if you're using someone else's fuel and driving an uneconomical car. Isn't someone along the line going to be out of pocket?

[red_slr]

afterparty said:

Avoid at all costs, if its Self Employed and you have to provide the van. After expenses its below Minimum wage, you also have to remember no holiday pay, sick pay etc.

I think one of the more well known companies also apply a deduction to your wages if you are off sick, IIRC its £100.

You also have to rent the van and if business is quiet then you might actually work a day at a loss.

[SimonTheSailor]

Hoofy said:

I was following my Hermes delivery the other day. I think it was something like 160 deliveries in 4 hours.

How much fuel did that cost you ?

[Hoofy]

SimonTheSailor said:

Hoofy said:

I was following my Hermes delivery the other day. I think it was something like 160 deliveries in 4 hours.

How much fuel did that cost you ?

I mean on their website.

[Sophisticated Sarah]

rambo19 said:

So they paid the 'cheap labour' a lower rate than you?

Worked out below minimum wage as it switched to self-hire/owner driver on minimum wage. Ok if you’re living ten plus workers to a house and sending the profits abroad to a lower cost country, not really feasible if you have a home and family here. One of many reasons that multi-drop driving is so unpleasant now.

I don’t blame immigrants for doing it, just a shame that we are in a race to the bottom with everything so a few can become richer.

[lewisf182]

Hoofy said:

SimonTheSailor said:

Hoofy said:

I was following my Hermes delivery the other day. I think it was something like 160 deliveries in 4 hours.

How much fuel did that cost you ?

I mean on their website.

Dont think that was Hermes as we dont offer that functionality yet.
I work for hermes, not delivering but have good knowledge. Its a decent enough job and if your a competent person you’ll find it an absolute doddle!

You can earn a very decent wage in busy periods, which post covid I think will be the new norm.

[Monkeylegend]

Hoofy said:

I was following my Hermes delivery the other day. I think it was something like 160 deliveries in 4 hours.

You would need to be Father Christmas to do that.