You think you have sucky rates...

pwrwagn · Nov 10, 2013

I haven't posted here in quite a while. I started out last year with the intention of becoming a hotshotter, going to wherever the work was. But things changed in that regard, and I put that on the back burner.

Fast forward to May of this year (2013) and the wife and I have upended our lives. We sold out in Oregon and moved to the Chicago area. I left my business back on the west coast and now I need to do something to earn some money. I abhor the idea of being a wage slave. I stumbled across the idea of being a courier. I'll be doing just that in a week. However, working for a messenger company sucks. You vanners have no idea... The company pays just 50% of the rate to their contractors. And yeah, you get half, which works out to around $1.00 a mile. For 100 to 300 miles a day. In city and suburb traffic. And you could easily have quite a bit of dead time and deadhead, too. For me, I expect 40 or so miles at least every day.

I found more opportunities to do better, but I have to have my state and federal authority. So, I'll have full federal authority this week, and state in a week or two.

I gotta have 300K liability, 10K cargo insurance, numbers on my rig, etc. So, I guess I"m just like you van expediters, but with probably a little cheaper insurance, and I'll be home most nights - though there is some opportunity to occasionally run out of state and even up to 400-500 miles on a same-day delivery. All for never better than $1.20 / mile.

Then again, I don't drive a van. I drive a comfortable, small, diesel SUV (Jeep Liberty) and get mid 20's in town. It's even quiet

Anyway, I'll be looking to occasionally find small expedite jobs as well, tiny things

Maybe in a couple years I'll try upgrading to the new Dodge Promaster and be a real expediter, too

Slo-Ride · Nov 11, 2013

Judging by your screen name I take it your a MOPAR fan..

LDB · Nov 11, 2013

pwrwagn said:
The company pays just 50% of the rate to their contractors. And yeah, you get half, which works out to around $1.00 a mile. For 100 to 300 miles a day.

Then again, I don't drive a van. I drive a comfortable, small, diesel SUV (Jeep Liberty) and get mid 20's in town.

It's late, so I'm a little bit confused, but I presume you get half, not half of half. There are any number of vanners running for only $1 a mile including fsc and they aren't getting mid 20's mpg. Good luck with your new venture.

pwrwagn · Nov 11, 2013

LDB said:
It's late, so I'm a little bit confused, but I presume you get half, not half of half. There are any number of vanners running for only $1 a mile including fsc and they aren't getting mid 20's mpg. Good luck with your new venture.

Yeah... You get half of what the companies charge the customer. Not 60, not 85, not 75...

Since you're "on demand", you could sit a lot, doing nothing and earning nothing. And at $1.00 a mile is often at speeds of 15 to 35 mph. It could also happen (extremely rarely) that you have 2, 4, or even 10 things in your rig at one time, each one paying that $1.00 a mile for the distances they overlap. Of course, you'll also have some miles added for each one, too, so it's not like the whole thing is doubled or whatever.

So, yeah, the dollar rate looks ok, but man, you gotta work a LOT to make a living. That's why I'm trying to find ways to augment or even replace it.

localguy · Nov 11, 2013

I work as a local courier in a van. Find out what rate they pay van drivers. We get 66% and the guys with box trucks get 75% and 52% for car drivers. Good part is we get the higher rate on all the jobs we take (car jobs still get van rates). If they dont do this find another company that will.

Lots of local cargo pickup and tendering to the airport for flights. Run alot to Canada and areas without airports serviced by large aircraft. Over 100K miles this year already and do other things like white gloves. retail deliveries, two man deliveries, hand carries international.... just about anything they come with I will do. Dispatch does not care about the rates and keep me going because they know the job will just get done in all cases.

Brisco · Nov 11, 2013

Never heard of an in-town "Courier" Company that pays a per "Mile" rate......(out of town runs....YES....In Town....No)

Most of 'em pay their Drivers a % (percentage) of what they charge the customer overall.........and it's usually based upon the Tier of Service their Customer Requested. IE - Hotshot, 4 Hour, Same Day, Next Day, Etc.........

From my past experience..........and from other "Couriers" that have popped up here and there on this board.........You're not going to be making much at all...........Period.

If this Company you're about to go work for (with that kind of Insurance Demands.........it sounds like Velocity Express) has quoted you 100 to 300 Miles day and possibly $1.00 a mile.......REALITY will be 200 or So Miles a day running $12 envelopes from an Attorneys office down there in Tinley Park up to a Real Estate Office in Morton Grove somewhere. That 1 trip alone could take you 2 1/2 hours depending on Traffic.........and your 50% would be a $6.00 pay-out.............

All in All...................I'm going to Wish you Luck.........

My Bet...........Sure, you're going to get your 300 Miles a Day in...........but will Never Ever See a $1500 Settlement..............REALITY will be a $342 Settlement Check on Pay Day after a week of having spent $278 on Fuel, Tolls, Tickets, Etc....................

localguy · Nov 11, 2013

Brisco is spot on. If you are going to putt around town dropping envelops you will starve. We have a ever rotating fleet of new guys in cars that always complain and leave when they don't make any money.

If you are going to run local then make yourself different, do things others will not and make yourself special to the dispatch so you get work.