self employed courier driver

celica1994

question,

Ive seen jobs advertised for multidrop courier drivers and need some advise, what kind of cost is involved with going self employed in this game? eg.. i seen a job advertised there 600 per week, now, ive no problem with buying a van, getting insurance, and the other costs involved, but what about fuel? surely, if you are driviong 10 hours a day 5 days a week, that is going to incur some fuel cost? does the driver pay that... this being my point? and would anyone know roughly what kinda cost insurance is? thank you for any advise anyone can give

bigroad

You would need to be getting minimum of 200+vat per day depending on the amount fuel you are using.

celica1994

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121417767#Comment_121417767

yea im kinda thinking that, like sounds ok 600 a week, but if yer taking 2 - 250 a week out for fuel, it dont leave alot lol

beertons

Amaz on?

Xander10

€750 a week. keeps you under the VAT threshold and the €150 should cover running costs

rolling boh

600 per week less all the overheads would leave a very low wage per week .

SCOOP 64

Why go self-employed when employed drivers are getting between €500//600 aweek anyway, I know some GLS drivers getting that, less responsibility., €600/700 doesn't seem worth the hassle when you take in all your costs.

Kaisr Sose

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121418337#Comment_121418337

100% this. Must be under min wage when costs and hours worked are factored in.....

WishUWereHere

I was a self employed courier. Believe me it’s not worth it. Something not mentioned above is you need an accountant to keep your paperwork up to date also to keep on top of the paperwork for yearly tax returns. This all costs money. No, save your money and invest it elsewhere.

beertons

I'd drive for Tesco before I'd drive for Amazon again. Tesco weren't bad. Just not enough hours.

WishUWereHere

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121419197#Comment_121419197

I gave it up 10 years ago so cannot remember correctly- sorry. But I do remember every time it came around to annual declarations it was squeaky bum time.

I do think a lot has changed when CV19 came along. But 10 years ago, it was bloody tough trying to make a living.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058324436/self-employed-courier-driver

The reality is that if this was a profitable activity the company would not be seeking to outsource it to someone like yourself. That means that there is a very high probability that you will loose money on this exercise. So you need to sit down and work through the figures very carefully. You need to work out what is your break even point, that is the amount of money you need to earn every week in order not to loose any money in doing this.

Now I don't have any experience in this particular area, but from my experience doing similar evaluations for people, if the company is offering 600 Euro per week it is almost always very close to the break even point. Because beyond that it would be profitable for them to do it themselves.

So bottom line, tread carefully and be sure of your figures before you commit to it.

jack of all

I've no experience in this area at all, but I do know that in any of the interactions I've had with couriers over the years they've always fomplained about how hard a job it was, so many drops to do in a given day etc. €600 per week sounds like very little when you think about what it might cost to run a van and the rest of it. Factor in paying yourself to be able to take a few weeks off during the year and I don't know how you could do it.

Furze99

Something to consider OP is the detail of the contract with the company advertising. Apart from running costs and parking/ toll fees etc., how many hours do they require you for and when.

Remember if you are truly self employed, you are running your own small business and will do work for other clients. These might be other companies requiring similar services or members of the public wanting to shift stuff.

If the company offering €600 or whatever wants you exclusively, that's 'bogus self employment' afaik. Best avoided unless you view it as a stepping stone to get started out on this business and when you have other clients, ditch them.

enricoh

Forget about it, know a couple of lads that were at it, all happy to be out of it. These lads were self employed.

Price and reliability of new vans now is bonkers.

Jim2007

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121419833#Comment_121419833

Yes given that the OP states they need to buy a van to start with, if they decided it is not for them, the value of the van would have fallen as well.