Courier Driving Jobs - whats your verdict..
Discussion
Like a lot of us (Im guessing).. I love driving, and seeing as McLaren probably wont be knocking on my door just yet (I think they should though).. I thought 'what can I do that will let me drive and make some money?'.. and courier popped into my head. Now obviously it isn't going to be very glamourous but I think Id rather be stuck behind a steering wheel than stuck behind the type of desks that I have been used to..
Take this for example... www.ukdriving.org
I'd quite happily drive around for a couple of hundred quid a day.. anyone care to shed some light on the topic..?
I used to work for Parceline (before it went to DPD) and it was great fun. Loved every minute and its the only job i totally miss and would go back tomorrow if i didnt have to take a 10k pay drop.
I loved traffic jams in winter on the m6, overtime clocking up, listening to the radio zipping around in the sprinter all day long.
However it was hard work at times, they got rid of a lot of people when the recession broke and i'd advise against working for a 1-2 man band small time fly-by-night courier agents.
Also, if you're average or no good at it, you'll find it hard and stressful. I was good at it and it made it fun
I loved traffic jams in winter on the m6, overtime clocking up, listening to the radio zipping around in the sprinter all day long.
However it was hard work at times, they got rid of a lot of people when the recession broke and i'd advise against working for a 1-2 man band small time fly-by-night courier agents.
Also, if you're average or no good at it, you'll find it hard and stressful. I was good at it and it made it fun
..just had a quick look-see and yes, that one in particular doesn't look like one I would go near. But other than working for Fed-Ex or UPS or someone are there other reputable companies that offer a similar service.. might call up with a last minute 'emergency package' that needs to be delivered pronto..?
I was a courier for years sometimes working for a 1-2 man band small time fly-by-night courier agents 
. I still do a bit but I gave it up full time last year. It used to be brilliant & it was possible to earn excellent money, but now it's s
t. My advice to you is don't waste your time with couriering & go do something with a bit of security. Get an apprenticeship & become an electrician or something. There's no money in couriering any more.
Just out of interest where in Essex are you roughly.
. I still do a bit but I gave it up full time last year. It used to be brilliant & it was possible to earn excellent money, but now it's st. My advice to you is don't waste your time with couriering & go do something with a bit of security. Get an apprenticeship & become an electrician or something. There's no money in couriering any more. Just out of interest where in Essex are you roughly.
Edited by Larry Dickman on Sunday 6th February 03:42
Get fecking real chap. According to that site, based on 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year, you can make £84,000. Even deducting running costs still leaves a fairly decent wedge.
Now consider that the job doesn't require a great deal in the way of specialist or hard to learn skills, so why on earth would it pay a large premium over the national average wage?
Now consider that the job doesn't require a great deal in the way of specialist or hard to learn skills, so why on earth would it pay a large premium over the national average wage?
H_Kan said:
Get fecking real chap. According to that site, based on 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year, you can make £84,000. Even deducting running costs still leaves a fairly decent wedge.
Now consider that the job doesn't require a great deal in the way of specialist or hard to learn skills, so why on earth would it pay a large premium over the national average wage?
I did look at this as being a bit too easy and good money for a very unskilled job. hence this topic. But I thought there may be a business out there that would cater for emergency courier requirements that would pay top dollar. Although now I think about it the demand is probably quite low and there are plenty of people already available..Now consider that the job doesn't require a great deal in the way of specialist or hard to learn skills, so why on earth would it pay a large premium over the national average wage?
so why on earth would it pay a large premium over the national average wage? ..I can think of quite a few reasons.. do I have to list them!?
Lexual said:
H_Kan said:
Get fecking real chap. According to that site, based on 5 days a week, 48 weeks a year, you can make £84,000. Even deducting running costs still leaves a fairly decent wedge.
Now consider that the job doesn't require a great deal in the way of specialist or hard to learn skills, so why on earth would it pay a large premium over the national average wage?
I did look at this as being a bit too easy and good money for a very unskilled job. hence this topic. But I thought there may be a business out there that would cater for emergency courier requirements that would pay top dollar. Although now I think about it the demand is probably quite low and there are plenty of people already available..Now consider that the job doesn't require a great deal in the way of specialist or hard to learn skills, so why on earth would it pay a large premium over the national average wage?
so why on earth would it pay a large premium over the national average wage? ..I can think of quite a few reasons.. do I have to list them!?
Why don't you get a job as a courtesy driver for cars? Picking and dropping off cars to customers and I think you also can take people out on test drives when its busy in the showroom which is often on weekends.
JCT600 advertise all the time around here. I did it once and it was the best job ever. Didn't pay that well but it was at my happiest for sure.
JCT600 advertise all the time around here. I did it once and it was the best job ever. Didn't pay that well but it was at my happiest for sure.
Acheron said:
I used to work for Parceline (before it went to DPD) and it was great fun. Loved every minute and its the only job i totally miss and would go back tomorrow if i didnt have to take a 10k pay drop.
I loved traffic jams in winter on the m6, overtime clocking up, listening to the radio zipping around in the sprinter all day long.
However it was hard work at times, they got rid of a lot of people when the recession broke and i'd advise against working for a 1-2 man band small time fly-by-night courier agents.
Also, if you're average or no good at it, you'll find it hard and stressful. I was good at it and it made it fun
What was the pay like if don't mind me asking, think iwas on about 6 p/h in the sprinters with dhl, £9 after 8 hours.I loved traffic jams in winter on the m6, overtime clocking up, listening to the radio zipping around in the sprinter all day long.
However it was hard work at times, they got rid of a lot of people when the recession broke and i'd advise against working for a 1-2 man band small time fly-by-night courier agents.
Also, if you're average or no good at it, you'll find it hard and stressful. I was good at it and it made it fun
The best job i ever had was working for Europcar as a "rental agent", involved a lot of sitting at a desk talking to tourists and putting drivers licence details into a computer, but wow did it have some perks...
I got to drive nearly every car model on sale in the country (bog standard ones of course, no real fun stuff), got to deliver e-class mercs to the K-Club (tips were unreal from americans), and best of all they had no procedure in place for tracking which driver was delivering which car. A few times a day we'd have to all pile into a minivan (me and five hilarious polish lads) and head out to the airport to pick up a load of cars - I have fond memories of racing back through the city in a bunch of Fiestas (with sequential number plates) to see who could make it back first (cars went straight into the car wash before going out to a customer, whoever could get the most steam off the cooked brakes got bonus points); if speed cameras caught you they weren't able to pin a particular driver so no damage done to the licence! The pay was useless (350 a week) but for a student it was the best two years of my driving life so far!
I got to drive nearly every car model on sale in the country (bog standard ones of course, no real fun stuff), got to deliver e-class mercs to the K-Club (tips were unreal from americans), and best of all they had no procedure in place for tracking which driver was delivering which car. A few times a day we'd have to all pile into a minivan (me and five hilarious polish lads) and head out to the airport to pick up a load of cars - I have fond memories of racing back through the city in a bunch of Fiestas (with sequential number plates) to see who could make it back first (cars went straight into the car wash before going out to a customer, whoever could get the most steam off the cooked brakes got bonus points); if speed cameras caught you they weren't able to pin a particular driver so no damage done to the licence! The pay was useless (350 a week) but for a student it was the best two years of my driving life so far!
I did used to work for Budget car hire many years ago... it was a pretty good job, although we had cars like Kia and our top of the range was a Magentis.. they are horrendous things to drive so there wasn't a great deal of satisfaction in that.. I have been looking at rental agent jobs with more prestigious vehicles..
I worked for Business Express / Reality and then for HDNL when it changed names.
As an 'aid driver' (helping others who had too many parcels) I was paid hourly. As a route driver I was paid a basic wage of £8 per hour for 10 hours (after that, the payment stopped) plus 20p per parcel delivered while out. On my route I was taking out 300 parcels per day and delivery them in the alotted time
I was taking home about £400 after tax weekly, however I believe that this has changed a lot since I was doing it (7years ago).
I loved it, but probably wouldn't do it now as the pay seems to have dropped and running costs as an owner driver would be too much to make it worthwhile.
You may be interested to know that a competitor to the Royal Mail is starting up, so you may be able to get a job with them soon
As an 'aid driver' (helping others who had too many parcels) I was paid hourly. As a route driver I was paid a basic wage of £8 per hour for 10 hours (after that, the payment stopped) plus 20p per parcel delivered while out. On my route I was taking out 300 parcels per day and delivery them in the alotted time
I was taking home about £400 after tax weekly, however I believe that this has changed a lot since I was doing it (7years ago).
I loved it, but probably wouldn't do it now as the pay seems to have dropped and running costs as an owner driver would be too much to make it worthwhile.
You may be interested to know that a competitor to the Royal Mail is starting up, so you may be able to get a job with them soon
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