Anyone a self employed driver for Parcelforce?
Discussion
I am debating whether to apply for this job as it says an average of 35,000 to 45,000 a year before costs obviously. i was wondering what its like working as a driver for this company, specially as a OD?
I used to work for parcelforce in 2003 but at a different depot and i was a OD for UKmail but it wasnt a very good run so left after a while.
I used to work for parcelforce in 2003 but at a different depot and i was a OD for UKmail but it wasnt a very good run so left after a while.
If that is true, where do I sign?
Mind you do the expenses mean that you have to fork out for your own 7.5 tonne to make that kind of gross?
I was a van courier in the 80s and I was one of the top earners but boy did I have to put in the hours, at least 12 hrs a day, 6 days a week. We were paid per job and you really needed to have an amazing knowledge of London streets as well as National routes in order to pick up the most work.
Mind you do the expenses mean that you have to fork out for your own 7.5 tonne to make that kind of gross?
I was a van courier in the 80s and I was one of the top earners but boy did I have to put in the hours, at least 12 hrs a day, 6 days a week. We were paid per job and you really needed to have an amazing knowledge of London streets as well as National routes in order to pick up the most work.
A friend of mine is a franchisee of DPD (formally Parcel Line). he earns a fair whack, but its bloody hard work, under constant pressure for deadlines etc.
Long hours, cant have time off unless you can find a driver (whom you have to pay), he is responsible for his van, and has to fund a hire van if his is off the road for any reason.
I went out with him for a day, and couldnt believe how hard it was. Searching for parcels, people not being in, houses with only names that take ages to find etc etc etc.
He is suffering at the mo too, as there are fewer parcels to be delivered, and it directly affects his pay.
Long hours, cant have time off unless you can find a driver (whom you have to pay), he is responsible for his van, and has to fund a hire van if his is off the road for any reason.
I went out with him for a day, and couldnt believe how hard it was. Searching for parcels, people not being in, houses with only names that take ages to find etc etc etc.
He is suffering at the mo too, as there are fewer parcels to be delivered, and it directly affects his pay.
Is self-employed the correct terminology? It would seem that if a person got all their money from one source (ie Parcel Force) then they would be an employee, as far as HMRC are concerned.
I'd be interested to hear more details as to how they can get away with calling their employees self employed.
I'd be interested to hear more details as to how they can get away with calling their employees self employed.
All the drivers will be owner-drivers which means they set up a business themselves and get paid as a contractor by Parcel Force.
I have no experience on Parcel Force themselves but I am very familiar with a similar operation.
You want to get as much info as possible - how much per drop, average drops per day, average distance travelled, etc.
You can make a lot of money. One can never judge a man by his vehicle but I've seen owner-drivers rolling up in new M5's, Evo 9's and RR Sports. To get into this kind of money though you have to be running a few vehicles.
Whatever the scenario remember that number of drops and distance is key. If you're paid by the drop you want lots of drops in a small area.
Whatever the case, be prepared to work your ar5e off to make some decent cash. Up at 4am to beat the traffic and get to the early drops, in and out of the vehicle, dealing with customers, often a late finish. You get the idea.
Speaking from someone who's seen it, albeit with bigger shipments, I'd think carefully.
I have no experience on Parcel Force themselves but I am very familiar with a similar operation.
You want to get as much info as possible - how much per drop, average drops per day, average distance travelled, etc.
You can make a lot of money. One can never judge a man by his vehicle but I've seen owner-drivers rolling up in new M5's, Evo 9's and RR Sports. To get into this kind of money though you have to be running a few vehicles.
Whatever the scenario remember that number of drops and distance is key. If you're paid by the drop you want lots of drops in a small area.
Whatever the case, be prepared to work your ar5e off to make some decent cash. Up at 4am to beat the traffic and get to the early drops, in and out of the vehicle, dealing with customers, often a late finish. You get the idea.
Speaking from someone who's seen it, albeit with bigger shipments, I'd think carefully.
I have been a multidrop driver for six years now and I know all too well the ins and out of the trade! and i do know that its hard work but the money seems worth it as some Owner drivers with parcelforce have very nice cars indeed!
Ive already been a OD with BusinessPost but was given a crappy area so that didnt work out, a few drops but in the south wales valleys so it killed the vans i had. also no weigh limit on the parcels so the brakes and suspension wore out far too fast,
Ideally id love a city centre route as thats where the money is!
Parcelforce have a weigh limit of 30kg so the van shldnt be so heavily loaded as it was with businesspost! also thats the reason for damaged parcels in the main, bein at the bottom of 1500kgs worth of parcels!
ETA to add, you have to rent/lease/buy the vans yourself and pay for own diesel and even possibly the rental of their computer as was the case with businesspost
Ive already been a OD with BusinessPost but was given a crappy area so that didnt work out, a few drops but in the south wales valleys so it killed the vans i had. also no weigh limit on the parcels so the brakes and suspension wore out far too fast,
Ideally id love a city centre route as thats where the money is!
Parcelforce have a weigh limit of 30kg so the van shldnt be so heavily loaded as it was with businesspost! also thats the reason for damaged parcels in the main, bein at the bottom of 1500kgs worth of parcels!
ETA to add, you have to rent/lease/buy the vans yourself and pay for own diesel and even possibly the rental of their computer as was the case with businesspost
Edited by welshsurferdude on Tuesday 17th February 21:45
Its all well and good working as an OD but the best routes are kept for their own drivers so they dont have to spend £xxx on fuel, its more profitable for them to sub out rural areas where stops are few and far between so you'll earn feck all doing something like that.
Bear in mind you'll need a reliable van so you'll have to buy or lease a new one. I wouldnt even consider it in this economy, as soon as they look to cut costs you'll be the first to go. As for the £35-£40k, i'd take that with a pinch of salt. Check to see if you have to pay out for a franchise first, most OD's have to. I earn just over £30k for UPS as an employed driver so wouldnt be too impressed with £35k for an OD
Bear in mind you'll need a reliable van so you'll have to buy or lease a new one. I wouldnt even consider it in this economy, as soon as they look to cut costs you'll be the first to go. As for the £35-£40k, i'd take that with a pinch of salt. Check to see if you have to pay out for a franchise first, most OD's have to. I earn just over £30k for UPS as an employed driver so wouldnt be too impressed with £35k for an OD
t on big styleNickyboy said:
Its all well and good working as an OD but the best routes are kept for their own drivers so they dont have to spend £xxx on fuel, its more profitable for them to sub out rural areas where stops are few and far between so you'll earn feck all doing something like that.
that's too right! I worked for the home delivery network and the owner drivers were usually sent out on the countryside routes. Sadly I was sent on one and they were expecting 100 parcels per hour to be delivered.....which is not easy when sometimes there is 10miles of countryroad / fields between the current drop and the next......plus hitting your target is never enough and it constantly goes up 
Originally my target was 50 duer to the area I was delivering too,after a month they whacked it up to 80, in the end it was 150 so I called it a day I was out at 0400 and not getting home until 2000 6days a week
I think one of the reasons they kept upping my target was so that I did not get an "extra parcel delivery" bonus 
One thing worth contemplating is why have Parcel Force decided to use self employed drivers as oppossed to employees?
I guess they are swaving a fair wack on:
My sister-in-law's father did this for a couple of years and from what I understand it was a disaster - lots of hours for sh*te pay.
I guess they are swaving a fair wack on:
- Purchasing Vehicles
- Taxing vehicles
- Insuring Vehicles
- Maintaining Vehicles
- Sick Pay
- Holiday Pay
- Pension Contributions
- Employers NI contributions
My sister-in-law's father did this for a couple of years and from what I understand it was a disaster - lots of hours for sh*te pay.
Van drivers are often "self employed" - no matter what orgnisation they work for.
I'm sure that HMRC review the arrangements made between organisations and their drivers from time to time and so far, the "self-employed" set up seems to have been acknowledged as being OK.
There have ben a few occasions in the past when drivers have been forced to become proper employees of the companies they work for - but as long as the individual has to acquire his own vehicle, I think that there is not much HMRC can do to have the status changed.
I'm sure that HMRC review the arrangements made between organisations and their drivers from time to time and so far, the "self-employed" set up seems to have been acknowledged as being OK.
There have ben a few occasions in the past when drivers have been forced to become proper employees of the companies they work for - but as long as the individual has to acquire his own vehicle, I think that there is not much HMRC can do to have the status changed.
hugoagogo said:
Monki said:
I was sent on one and they were expecting 100 parcels per hour to be delivered.....
not easy at all 
seriously though (presumably it's 'per day'), years ago I was doing 7.5 ton multidrop only in EC1/EC4 and would struggle to get 8 or 10 drops in an hour
I was in the hereford area, the one place I had to deliver to was called "Hunters lodge" and it was......had to drive across 8 fields to get to it trying to dodge the sheep
bloody glad I got out of that job though, ended up with no life at all as in my free time I was too shattered to do anything apart from sleep
P.S I could have tried a Mr T "My van is helluva fast" if I had concentrated
Edited by Monki on Wednesday 18th February 09:59
Chap round the corner from me runs his own Business Post van as a subbie. He's up at 4:30AM 5 days a week and back at around 4:00PM most days. Has a family and wife doesn't work - so can't be doing too bad. But was nearly busted when his older van started to go wrong. Managed to finance a new VW Transporter which is proving to be reliable, but small things have a massive impact. For example, the recent snow caused some major issues and when some drunk driver smashed his van up, it was all time not earning....
Seems a good idea and get a good route / service and its not bad. But early mornings and at the control of modern traffic means its a bit of a nightmare.
Seems a good idea and get a good route / service and its not bad. But early mornings and at the control of modern traffic means its a bit of a nightmare.
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