Manchester to Scotland deliveries - help needed.

[C.J.Couriers Professional]

Hi!

I was thinking about opening a new delivery route Greater Manchester - Scotland, but I would like to ask what do you think about it. I know that different companies has got different rates from DHL, DPD, Nightfreigth etc. so that is why your opinion is even more appreciated.

I would like to deliver parcels (up to 150*60*60 and 35 kg.) from Greater Manchester (incl.Warrington) to Glasgow/Edinburgh and local area. I was thinking about collections at Monday and Wednesday and deliveries until next working day. The price that I have in mind is £17.99 + VAT, what I believe is competitive considering offers of big delivery companies.

I'm absolutely flexible with parcels sizes, for small extra I can deliver anything for up to 4 meters long (try this with DHL or CityLink!!!), I can arrange Saturday deliveries as well.
So what do you think about it? Is the price O.K. or all idea is just not worth anything?

I was also thinking about local same day deliveries, low volume multidrop, i.e. min. 10 parcels within 20 miles radius from M1 for £10 + VAT each.

All opinions much appreciated :)

Thanks,

Michael

[KidsBeeHappy]

Best bet is to try and subby off one of the larger courier companies in Manchester with a contract with one of the parcel carriers.

It's very competitive at the moment, and the volume of parcels needing delivering has dropped substantially, so i'd recommend a route that gets you some work with minimal overheads.

You need to get a full van load to make your prices worthwhile, and i'd be surprised if you'd get enough to be able to offer next working day delivery and make a profit.

I wish you luck, but its tough out there in the courier business at the moment.

[C.J.Couriers Professional]

It is tough that is why I'm trying to find some more work. With our rates I am absolutely convinced that it is cost effective for any big company to use us as sub contractor, but volumes dropped everywhere so probably has got the big impact on the current situation.

Price per parcel is really not a problem, problem is with the volume and as you said Boxby, to make it worth doing.

[MH1]

I know that different companies has got different rates from DHL, DPD, Nightfreigth etc. so that is why your opinion is even more appreciated.

I would like to deliver parcels (up to 150*60*60 and 35 kg.) from Greater Manchester (incl.Warrington) to Glasgow/Edinburgh and local area. I was thinking about collections at Monday and Wednesday and deliveries until next working day. The price that I have in mind is £17.99 + VAT, what I believe is competitive considering offers of big delivery companies.


DHL as an example would do this daily, next day delivery would start at around £6-7 plus VAT, for just slightly smaller parcels and 3-5kgs less.

Subby rates would probably be diesel plus £100 a day for a complete van load.

[C.J.Couriers Professional]

DHL as an example would do this daily, next day delivery would start at around £6-7 plus VAT, for just slightly smaller parcels and 3-5kgs less.

Subby rates would probably be diesel plus £100 a day for a complete van load.

£6-7 plus VAT? Not if you have low volume of parcels sent per week.
£100 a day? I know people who take co-loads from Glasgow to London for £40. And try to send anything above 1.2 meters long via DHL....

[KidsBeeHappy]

If you are going to do this yourself, then you need to offer significantly different from the big boys. I know from my customers that there is a gap window when it comes to parcel deliveries. This is for things up to about 2m x 1m x 1m, that they are looking to get delivered on a 2-3 day service for less than £30. The reason price is so low is because the value of the items is frequently less than £100, or even £50. So no-one wants to spend £50 getting a £30 item delivered.

This can't be done through the parcel hubs as the dimensions are too big. And the freight parcel option frequently isn't an option because of insurance issues etc. (150x60x60 isn't big enough, some parcel carriers will take that as standard). And courier prices are too expensive for the value of the item.

So, if you are going to do this, then go bigger, and be different. Think Surfboard! Surfboards are my achilles heal.

There are an awful lot of fish in that standard parcel size pool, most of whom have a lot of back up and a lot more marketing money. And if they are struggling in these times - then how are you going to be different.

[KidsBeeHappy]

£6-7 plus VAT? Not if you have low volume of parcels sent per week.


If you are marketing at customers who have low volumes then it means that you are going to have to find lots more customers to fill that van, all looking to have items delivered in the same timeframe. Which, on one particular route, is going to be tricky.

[C.J.Couriers Professional]

To be honest I was thinking about targeting bigger/heavier parcels. The problem is again volume... I could easily deliver about 20 big oversized parcels for even £20 each, the only problem is to have enough interested companies, but again, if it's 2-3 days delivery I think would have 20 parcels just to fill the van.

[MH1]

Sorry if it's not what you wanted to hear regarding the price, but those rates are easily achievable.

Yes, larger parcels are a different case, but even with DHL and the other couriers standard sizing 90% of shipments will be catered for, then every courier and haulage company will be fighting over the oversize items, sometimes you will get a decent job, but you are fooling yourself IMO to think filling a van will be easy.

As for delivery times, a few will wait, but with pallet lines moving overnite for bargain rates it is a tough market, used to have my own business in it for years until a couple of years ago.

Couriers come and go like the wind, there is a reason why. As Boxby rightly mentioned, you need to set yourself apart from the herd and market yourself correctly. Your sig mentions high end courier to high end clients, yet you are looking to go for bargain traffic.

Best of luck, not trying to upset you, but you will need a lot of it.

[C.J.Couriers Professional]

Sorry if it's not what you wanted to hear regarding the price, but those rates are easily achievable.

Yes, larger parcels are a different case, but even with DHL and the other couriers standard sizing 90% of shipments will be catered for, then every courier and haulage company will be fighting over the oversize items, sometimes you will get a decent job, but you are fooling yourself IMO to think filling a van will be easy.

As for delivery times, a few will wait, but with pallet lines moving overnite for bargain rates it is a tough market, used to have my own business in it for years until a couple of years ago.

Couriers come and go like the wind, there is a reason why. As Boxby rightly mentioned, you need to set yourself apart from the herd and market yourself correctly. Your sig mentions high end courier to high end clients, yet you are looking to go for bargain traffic.

Best of luck, not trying to upset you, but you will need a lot of it.

Believe me, the last thing that I wanted to do when setting up the business was to fight with DHL for parcels and drag prices down to find clients. I was always aiming for 'high end clients' but in this economical climate more and more companies are choosing cheaper than higher quality option. Well, I think I haven't got better option that just to keep looking for my own niche :) Thanks for advice anyway, helps to see some things from different point of view.

[MH1]

As an example, one courier in London invested in real time mapping of it's vehicles a couple of years ago, which they charged royally for. It seemed to work for them, very high end clients paying through the nose to watch the vehicle heading towards their clients.

I just sent three items today with DHL, two were 20kgs plus, over 1.1m in length and 60cm square or more, for under £6, and I don't send many shipments a week, maybe 5 max.

Ebay can be a good source of income for larger items, such as motorbikes, scooters, furniture etc. You can set yourself apart by offering a guaranteed delivery time, ie by 9am in the morning.

I used to do very wierd times, and charge accordingly, 2am sunday morning delivery of a sofa was awkward, but £100 for a 10 mile journey made it worthwhile.

[mark one]

OK stating the obvious here but Scotland is rather large and unpopulated it can take all week to do 20 deliveries around Scotland.

I am in Warrington too and used to offer daily express deliveries around North Wales and would take all day to do a dozen deliveries, many were down farm tracks, isolated cottages, quarries that were a pain to get to

[KidsBeeHappy]

OK stating the obvious here but Scotland is rather large and unpopulated it can take all week to do 20 deliveries around Scotland.

I am in Warrington too and used to offer daily express deliveries around North Wales and would take all day to do a dozen deliveries, many were down farm tracks, isolated cottages, quarries that were a pain to get to


I can turn off the M74 at 10pm at night, drive about a further 110 miles home, on A roads, and not even see a dozen cars!! :D

If you want population then you need to stay inside the major motorways, learn from the phone companies who cover population rather than geography. A1/M1 on the east, M5/M6 on the west, M8 at the top and M3 at the bottom, do the dot2dot on that and you'll get probably about 85% of the UK population.

The jobs are where the people are, not the land.

[C.J.Couriers Professional]

We have got TomTomWork Active system in place, so we can track our vehicle for all times, send messages and new jobs to navigation and re-route driver directly from the office. Probably allowing customers to track our van is not a be a problem but I can't really see how it can be such a big advantage. We anyway call customer when we collect parcel, when we are an hour before delivery place and when we deliver it, plus we keep them informed if any delays (Live Traffic Updates are helping to avoid most delays anyway).

We are really much better prepared for this job than many other small courier companies / owner drivers, the problem is probably lack of marketing experience, have to learn everything from basics.

I was checking some quotes on interparcel.com, up there is not so optimistic when you check bigger sizes / early morning / weekend deliveries via major companies.

When talking about Scotland I was more thinking about Glasgow & Edinburgh area but I am only trying to find my place in the courier market. I was always more keen to deal with small / medium valuable parcels / letters / documents and that is what I really want to do. Real 'high end service'.