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Original poster

Does anyone work as a parcel courier????

15 replies

yackertyyack · 23/05/2006 09:14

Have been offered a part time courier position which will fit in perfect with my babies BUT can anyone give me an insight into it??? Is it really hard work/stressful or do you make a bit of pocket money from it????
ANY advice would be gratefully received.

OP posts:

Skribble · 24/05/2006 00:06

No but it sounds interesting so I will listen in.

Original poster

yackertyyack · 30/05/2006 11:25

Skibble> obviously not a popular MN job!!!

ANYONE????

OP posts:

Skribble · 30/05/2006 22:46

Try it in chat

lenaschildminding · 31/05/2006 21:39

I worked as a Parcel Net courier about 7 years ago for the exact reason as you are considering it. It fitted in great with my kids. My eldest was at Nursery and my youngest was months old and it worked really well. The parcels were dropped off to me before I had to take my son to nursery, I then had all morning to sort the parcels, roughly 40 a day. If you have good local area knowledge it helps to put then into order as you would drive around, get plenty of local maps to help with this. Write your list so you know exactly where you are going and the delivery part is easy. My youngest sat happily, or often slept, in his carseat whilst I delivered and I made sure I'd end the deliveries near the Nursery to pick my other son up. If I couldn't get them all done before that time, I'd pop out again in the afternoon, he loved helping!
Once all the parcels were delivered that was it for the day. When the boys went to bed, I'd fill out the paperwork (very easy stuff, nothing brain taxing). I earnt up to £700.00 some months, especially around Christmas, people order more! You get paid for returns too. As long as you can be organised, have somewhere to store say 10 parcels that you couldn't deliver or the returns you've collected, and have a good relationship with your drop-off driver, you'll love it. I had a supervisor I could phone at any time if i needed help with anything, they have a help desk number, all the support is there. It's flexible and convenient and how long it takes you will depend largely on the size of your area and how many clients you deliver to.
I loved it. The only reason I stopped was because my eldest son became ill and was in hospital and I had to give up work completely. I would have done it again now, but I've moved to an area in a different county and don't know my way around well enough!

Skribble · 31/05/2006 22:47

That sounds very interesting, did you use your own vehicle?

lenaschildminding · 31/05/2006 23:27

Yep, at the time I had an old style K reg Rover! It was a hatchback, plenty big enough for the parcels. Because all my deliveries were local, my fuel costs were minimal.

Original poster

yackertyyack · 01/06/2006 10:48

LENA .....thank you so much for your insight, its much apprciated I will be very similar to you and will have one at nursery and one tiddler who I hope will be alright in the car seat. So its nice to hear that it can be done!!Have been told that it would be around 40 odd parcels a day with more at christmas etc and I do know the area well so hopefully I will be alright. They have also offered me to deliver catalogues as and when needed. I am starting doing a couple of days a week and then seeing how I get on but was intested to see if people who did it enjoyed it. (and if it was worthwhile!)

Hope your little one is better now.

OP posts:

JanH · 01/06/2006 10:54

One of the parcel couriers round here has been doing it for at least 10 years so she must be happy with it!

She has a daughter who is 17 now (year below my DS1 right through school, which is how I know her) - when her daughter was smaller she used to bring her along.

I think being organised and having space are the main things (which is why I never even considered it - both reasons!)

shanks313 · 01/06/2006 11:24

Could anybody please cat me with the companies you work as a parcel courier fr? As Im very nterested.
Thanks

FeelingOld · 01/06/2006 11:55

I used to deliver for parcelnet too (they delivered for next, lakeland, gratten and others), my delivery was more like 60 parcels a day and some areas were villages. I would ask exactly where your route is cos it can be quite a big gap between addresses and that's when petrol costs start to go up (although you do get paid more for delivering to villages which is ok if you only do 1 or 2 but mine covered 5 villages as well as parts of town).
I did it to fit in around school and it worked out fine most of the time (school holidays were a bit harder)and I earned quite a bit (don't forget you have to insure your car as business class though).
Downside is if your are at the bottom of delivery drivers list and your parcels don't arrive until 10.30am then you have to sort them, load them into car etc and don't start delivering until 11am and then you end up finishing late and having to take kids with you. Also storing returns or parcels you have not been able to deliver cos they have to have a signature or nowhere safe to leave it. Also think about leaving little one in car whilst maybe walking down a long driveway, or waiting at someones door while they pack up their return for you or taking parcel round into their back garden to put it in their shed (some people specify where to leave parcels if they are not in). Also great job in the nice weather but you have to do it come rain or shine and I also had to do the town part of my round on saturday morning as well.
I am not saying don't do it cos I enjoyed it and you often deliver so same people and get to know them quite well.

Original poster

yackertyyack · 01/06/2006 12:42

Feelingold...i appreciate your comments as I would rather hear good and bad points. Luckily I will be covering quite a populated busy town area and I go to a depot to collect my parcels. Obviously would not be able to leave the baby in the car if I was dropping off in flats and am worried about people not being in and therefore not getting the delivery fee - did you get a lot of people not in???

OP posts:

sarahlou1uk · 06/06/2006 18:50

Hi. Just a couple of things I think you should know before you make your mind up. I enquired about this about a month ago and was told that I would have to up my car insurance to business use and also my home insurance. I would also need somewhere safe, dry and secure to store the parcels. The storage wasn't a problem - just the insurance! Doubled and more!

lenaschildminding · 12/06/2006 21:24

I'm sure, if I remember rightly, the parcels have to be attempted to be delivered 3 times, if you are still unable to deliver after leaving a card 3 times you send them back as a return and get paid for them that way. Most people will ring after the first card is left and say leave it somewhere or with a neighbour. You do get to know your customers well and I even had a couple that picked theirs up from my house on their way home from work! As for insurance, I didn't do anything with house insurance but to change your car to business use should't cost you much more a year. Don't forget, you are working on a self-employed basis, therefore all your expenses, such as fuel, vehicle maintance and insurances are accountable. I was lucky with my delivery driver, my parcels used to come between 7am - 8am. I never had to use a shed or garage for storage, I did approx 40 parcels a day and the most I had left at the end of a day was 7 or 8, some of which were returns so they are handed back to your driver in the morning any way. I found the gap under my stairs was ample storage.

jonbon · 26/07/2006 19:04

Hi, I an also interested in working as a parcel courier. Could anyone let me know the names of the companies they work for. Many Thanks Jonbon

jonbon · 26/07/2006 19:04

Hi, I an also interested in working as a parcel courier. Could anyone let me know the names of the companies they work for. Many Thanks Jonbon

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