Van Couriers

[Misc]

Need some info on your jobs please.

Looking to start driving vans for someone like Parcelforce, UPS, Fed Ex etc etc, but there seems to be nothing about, anywhere.
Also been looking into something like a Tesco's food deliverer.

Thanks.

[mistergixer]

I got made redundant a few years ago and did a few months as a multidrop driver for DHL.
Frankly, it was a shit job - early starts, late finishes, all the other drivers had to drive like absolute arseholes in order to complete their rounds (i didn't fancy losing my licence for a shit job so i rarely finished a round)..
However, it was a bit of an eye-opener - watched parcels being kicked around, trodden on and hurled into the backs of vans - i'm surprised anything delivered by them arrives in one piece.
In short, don't bother.
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[Itchy]

Don't do it I once drove a Mercedes long wheel base van around delivering food for whole sale, on the whole the job wasn't very interesting , it always took you longer than you were paid for and it involved lots of heavy lifting and you had to get the packing exactly right else it would not work and you'd spent an half an hour at each drop off trying to get the crate of meat out the crevice it slipped into.
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[WildGoose]

Mistergixer is spot on.

If you want to drive a van, parcel's and couriers should be the last choice.

It's common practice that you will be expected to complete more than is physically possible, depending on your general outlook on things this will be stressful.

Try and find an own account operator, someone who is delivering their own products for their own interests.

Never done door to door food delivery like tesco, it doesn't seem like particularly hard work, these companies have so much money efficiency doesn't really come into it, so while the days might be long I shouldn't imagine you will be really pushed. In the interest of delivering your food to you in a useable condition (unlike parcels) they cannot cram the van to the roof.

I wouldn't do it, because food and supermarkets in general bore the shit out of me, and you will spend your life on residential streets or obscure middle of nowhere badly signed country house type addresses, thus dull and frustrating driving.
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[Misc]

Thanks for the help guys,

So, it's not all that then. I'd rather do as Wildgoose says & find an independent business delivering car parts or something. But i've been looking & nothing seems to come up.

Was also interested in getting a HGV license but i don't really want to go through the whole theory/test thing again, was bad enough for both car & bike.

Anyway, i'll keep on looking.

[Phoenix]

It's not that bad, never worked for DHL but did work for Reality for 4 or 5 months a few years ago.

There 2 different kinds, postcode deliveries where you'll get given a group of postcodes, anything upto 150 deliveries and often have 4 or 5 in the same street, this means a bit of walking and not much driving between streets generally I found this the quickest and easiest work but a bit boring.

The other is POD (signature) deliveries where you tend to get given a much larger area (whole of Birmingham in my case) and less drops but its quite a lot of driving, takes much better route planning and van organising and in my experience you hardly ever get rid of your entire load, but you're a mug if you bust your balls trying to, do what you can upto your hours then go back and hand the rest back to them otherwise they try taking the piss all the time. I prefer that work as you get to see more, more driving but it is harder work and you do end up driving like a nutcase.

The best type of van work is distance stuff where you only get a few drops a day, spent 2.5years on that, was long hours but easy work. Worst type is multidrop work that covers a city or 2 a good distance from your depot as you have to drive there, spend all day killing yourself getting it done and then have to drive all the way back, worst of both worlds.

If you're looking for van work still most jobs are via agencies not advertised directly, get work with them and you may get a permanent job through it.

HGV is a peice of piss and pays more but good luck finding any jobs out there because there aren't any, even the largest hauliers are closing depots and laying off staff, Wincanton just let hundreds go and Woolworths drivers are looking for work so there's no jobs, especially for noobs which have always had an impossible time.

[sickpup]

Or become a Motorcycle courier. Get treated like crap for 6 months while earning nothing, destroy your bike, become disabled and then realise it is possible to make £450 in a day just don't expect to be awake for the next one .

[thegubner]

[Itchy]

[MinhDinh]

seems like a high job turnover. we get deliveries daily for our products and the drivers seem to change every 6 months.
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[arry]

Dont go anywhere near Lynx etc on multidrop - it's hard work for poor pay

My suggestion would be to sign up to an agency as a man with van, and then get in with one of the more regular agency users and see if you can go to them direct - that's what I did, turned out pretty well - 3/4 tough days "on call" but £40k ish income. Not all are so lucky though, admittedly

[Phoenix]

Expensive way to start out though, you're best off with a LWB so looking at a decent outlay for a van, cost of fuel, van business insurance, GIT insurance. So out of the 40k you may turnover a significant portion goes straight out on expenses. And it's a risky initial outlay as you're not gauranteed enough work to cover your costs you just hope you can get it and then make a profit ontop.