Setting Up a courier Business, need any info ppl can spare

[satans_BIG_helper]

Right as some of you may have read im wanting to set up my own Motorcycle courier business as there are none in the county and its potentially a good oppurtunity.

My initial plan was to work completely by myself and build a base of clients then gradually add people to the payroll... ie some one to co ordinate the deliveries 1st then maybe another rider.........


But enough of that... does anyone here run their own courier business ? if so where did you go for info and advice and what insurance n such do you need, i have some of the info but i want to check it out with other people so i can cost my plans better and understand it a bit more...

Thanks

Dave

All input is welcomed
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TS 50er >CG 125>AR 125>TZR250> z200(shit heap)> ZXR750 H2 > VT500 FT >XLR250 > Mito125mk1 (unlucky strike) > TZR250 3ma > GS550 > TDR250 > GSXR750 >GS1000 > Elefant 650 > GPZ750 > FZR600>z1000 (03) > KTM 640 LC4
(Yeah i forgot some too :S )

[Tarmacsurfer]

Ran a *very* small company a good few years back (around the time mobiles were getting small and reliable enough to utilise cheaply), based out of Wokingham. Effectively all we were doing was acting as a subcontracting group for other firms who didn't use bikes normally. I won't bother offering much else as I'm hideously out of date by now.

Bear in mind, E-mail and suchlike has very much limited the usefulness of a bike courier, a few banks and some law firms are the usual clients now. Anything else is usually van work.

Good luck with your research anyway, hope it works out.
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I'm immortal. Well, so far.

[Bezzer]

If you don't already know about it have a look at THE courier site, full of useful information and advice.
https://www.codforum.org.uk/index.php
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I used to be indecisive but now I'm not quite so sure.

[satans_BIG_helper]

[satans_BIG_helper]

[EuropeanNC30R...]

Is there actually going to be any demand in your area? I would have thought that bike couriers would only really be useful/economical in big cities and around London?

[satans_BIG_helper]

[EuropeanNC30R...]

But could you get more and bigger items delivered as fast using a van? I'm getting the impression you're thinking with the heart rather than the head

[satans_BIG_helper]

[Ian (GPX)]

1/ Insurance is not going to be cheap - liability insurance too !!
2/ Wear and tear on bike = costly to maintain
3/ High risk job - to your health / life
4/ Contracts can be lost if items are not delivered within a set time limit each day - subcontract
5/ To make it work to begin with -- time -- loads of it will need to be invested -- will screw up social life to begin with.

Hope this helps.

Can pay good money once established though.

Typical London bike courier day is 9 hours plus (unless it's a long distance run) to make any real money.

Banks, Credit Card Companies -- try these for work too ..... delivering Credit / Bank Cards to customers.

Doctors / Chemists -- Prescriptions for people not fit or able to get to chemist

Printers - Artwork, tickets etc to be collected and delivered.

Local News Papers -- Artwork

Computer Shops -- Small delivery of items like hard drives, memory, cd-rom drives etc ....

Some idea's for you .... see how these pan out for you.

[loply]

I would say your initial sales pitch would involve popping into loads of town-based businesses and just dropping off a leaflet informing them of how quickly you can deliver emergency documents etc.

Get some stickers printed that they can stick on their computer monitors - "Emergency Deliveries - Call 0191024380943" or whatever.

And as suggested above I would imagine that contracted work from banks, other companies, etc, could constitute the majority of your work if you can get it.
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Yamaha SZR660 Caution to the wind, the throttle pinned!

[stinkwheel]

You though about approaching some vets too?

The main large animal pathology lab is at Merrythought near Penrith. Currently we need to either post samples or send them with our wholesalers delivery van (who appears once a day and doesn't always stop at the lab-even though he says he will).

It wouldn't be very often we needed a delivery THAT urgently but there have been a few occasions we have had to send a farmer to drive down with some more time sensitive specemins.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[satans_BIG_helper]

[Cillit-BANG]

You need to think from your potential clients point of view.

Why should they use a bike over a van courier for example? If their is already an established fleet of vans working the town, the chances are the time they save by having a network dotted over the city, will be better than the potential time you can actually save them by filtering traffic.

I would think that a network of vans is always going to be quicker that 1 motorbike rider. Now if you can get by, and then build up a network of bikers, then you stand more chance.

FFIW, I say give it a go. It may be hard at first but at least you will have tried. You'll always be thinking 'What if' otherwise.

All the best.

[sickpup]

Forget the bike idea, use a van.

By using a bike you will lose so much business it will be unreal.

You won't get that much work using a bike, rarely going more than 2 up but with a van you will be able to cover backloading as well.

Using a van you can get agency work from the overnight companies such as TNT, City link, DHL etc which can provide good work the whole day through. You won't be bothered by traffic that much and it will mean you can carry more jobs.

A van will also provide a mobile office negating the need for full time office staff so cutting costs, try writing down job details in the pissing ran on a motorcycle and you will see exactly what I mean.

Goods in transit insurance is essential, join the Despatch association for good deals.

[Itchy]