Self employed Courier.

[Why??]

Does anyone know much about this?

My hubbie is thining of giving it a go, does it pay well? Is it worthwhile giving it a go? We live in the Midlands.

[dotjhawkes]

My ex-husband gave up a steady job he had been in for 24 years to buy a van and become an overnight courier. He is now pleading poverty and is refusing to carry on paying me maintenance as he does not earn enough to pay the tart he lives with a rent and run his business, I would be interested to hear if your bloke makes a go of it.

[newquizzer]

I researched this a year ago and decided not to proceeed for a variety of reasons.

It depends on what sort of courier you mean. Van or car based.

Most of the van based are working for major carriers, doing the local daily deliveries. It is hard work but can be profitable. But you have to be disciplined and prepared to work up to 12 hours every day. Maintaining your vehicle is not cheap but overall can be rewarding.

If you just want to pick up jobs when they are available then jobs are harder to come by and competition is cut throat.

[markja]

if he allready has a job that is ok pay then stick with it. bike & van coureir work is usually badly paid, unapreciated,and patchy.

if you are going to work as a local driver for a big company, doing multidrop then it's not so bad.

either way you have to put money away for the taxman. ( i save about 20% which covers tax, van insurance, and a couple of other bits.)

i may have painted a bad picture and you will be lucky & it's all roses, but if my & friends experiences are the norm it's not a great job. still better than the dole though.

i was despatching in london for 10 years then, after an accident started work for a large firm doing local multidrop.

my main point to you is save money for the tax man otherwise you end up in the crap!!

hope this helps.

[Chlo]

My husband was made redundant from a driving job last year, so with his redundancy money decided to give courier driving a go, he has now been doing it for 3 months and we are already seeing the benifits, we purchased a van from the auctions which saved us thousands and registered to sub work off a very busy courier company in Birmingham. All you have to do is make sure you keep some money back each week for the taxman, you dont have to vat register yourself until you make your first 60grand. You can also bid for work on many websites, so say you have a drop to do from Birmingham to London, as the company your delivering for will only pay you per loaded mile, you can click on to the website and bring a parcel back from London to the midlands so that drop will pay for your diesel back to Birmingham.

Hope all goes well