Courier/Van delivery work

[mank!]

Anyone ever done any or have any sort of knowledge about it? I have some questions.

 

[sibanac]

Anyone ever done any or have any sort of knowledge about it? I have some questions.

my stephdad does it but in belgium, tho i dont think there will be much diff besides the legal side of things.

gimme a yell and I'll see what i can tell you

 

[Mobius]

Hahaha brilliant avatar. Ahaaa, grr!

 

[Trem]

I strangely fancy doing it Mank. I hate driving in traffic though so I may give it a miss.

 

[mank!]

my stephdad does it but in belgium, tho i dont think there will be much diff besides the legal side of things.

gimme a yell and I'll see what i can tell you

I just want to know stuff about insurance, whether companies will generally take people below 21/25 as the insurance costs are so large. I've found quite a few jobs and some of them state 25+ only and some don't, whether or not it's generally accepted that it's 25+ so they don't state it I'm not sure. Also what sort of companies I should be looking at if I want to do local delivery work as opposed to national, most of the courier companies I've found in the yellow pages are national and international which isn't much use to me.

 

[Gef]

Think you'll find that even though it is a national/international company, unless your a HGV driver or a pilot you wont ever need to leave your own county/district. Pretty sure thats how they work, I doubt they would send you off driving for 100 miles in a van to deliver a couple of parcels

 

[Tom]

Oh great, another guy in a massive Mercedes van travelling at 95mph down the M1. Superb news.

 

[Lazarus]

I just want to know stuff about insurance, whether companies will generally take people below 21/25 as the insurance costs are so large. I've found quite a few jobs and some of them state 25+ only and some don't, whether or not it's generally accepted that it's 25+ so they don't state it I'm not sure. Also what sort of companies I should be looking at if I want to do local delivery work as opposed to national, most of the courier companies I've found in the yellow pages are national and international which isn't much use to me.

iirc you cant drive a "transit" size van until you are 25

 

[Gef]

iirc you cant drive a "transit" size van until you are 25

My housemate rented one when we moved, he's 24..

 

[Tom]

You can drive anything up to a box van when you pass your test.

 

[mank!]

Don't you have to take another test for transit vans? I thought you did. I wasn't thinking of being a white van man tho

 

[Tom]

Not when I passed my test. I can drive one of those small trucks with a huge box on the back if I like. I passed in 1988.

 

[mank!]

Not when I passed my test. I can drive one of those small trucks with a huge box on the back if I like. I passed in 1988.

One of these?

 

[Cask]

I reckon he means one of these.

My dad has done some courier work and he said you can drive their transit style vans on a normal license.

 

[mank!]

Neat. Cheers!

 

[Gray]

Ive always been interested in somethin like this, havent bothered looking yet tho as you say, im only 20, wouldnt wanna do delivering of the same town tho, seems like it would get boring quickly, altho maybe to gain some knowledge into it, it could be an idea.

My dad *was* a HGV driver up until a few months ago after he had a mild heart attack, so therefor they cant risk having someone who may crash due to heart conditions.

 

[Dr_Weasel]

You can actually drive upto a 7.5 tonne truck with a category C1 license (minimum age 18). Details at the DVLA; http://www.dvla.gov.uk/drivers/vehicle_cat_desc.htm

 

[Gumbo]

We take drivers from 21 for our car parts delivery business, but they can't drive the company cars until they are 25.

There is no official policy on it, but unless they seem really damn sensible, or are recommended by someone else, then most younger blokes get rejected on the simple basis that they crash more.

We pay national minumum wage, though if you are still with us and doing a decent job after a few months, you'll probably get a bit of a bump in salary.

We deliver within no more than a 20 mile radius of our branch, but the company does employ a few longer distance van drivers for inter-branch deliverys. These guys are all men over 50.

I would imagine that under 21 you'll find it hard to find an employer, but you never know. Insurance is an enormous overhead these days, so biiiiiig excesses and lots of limitations on who you can employ, are the norm.

Good Luck, hope you can find someone who'll give you a go. Personally I really like to get out of the office to do a couple of drops now and again, when we're a bit short of drivers. It's quite a nice job, but don't expect to be paid a mint to do it, until you step up a license or two.

 

[Wazzerphuk]

You pay minimum wage for that work?

That's what gets me so fucked off about this country, it's wage policies for work are TOTALLY fucked. Take for example a street cleaner, or a rubbish collector. I am not dissing these people or jobs in any way - but they get paid more than a considerable amount of the population, who work hard day in day out with incredibly undervalued skills. That and employers don't EVER take into consideration the cost of living in their area. Bang out of order. Prime example: I've been working at my current job for over a year. I work hard, fast and am loyal. You think with this my company would pay me decently? No, they don't even pay me enough for me to rent a 1 bedroom flat. Seriously, my monthly income is lower than the average 1 bedroom rent in this area.

People that pay low wages because they think they can get away with it are *****. It sounds like your company are *****, Gumbo. Hope you're not in charge or anything, not having a go at you

 

[RandomBastard]

You can drive transit vans under a car license, the 25 thing is because insurance for large engine vechiles (vans lorries cars 4x4s etc) is waaaayyy cheaper.

Oh and a 7.5t truck is your standard small lorry i.e box on the back like the second picture posted.

 

[mank!]

Cheers Gumbo, I guess I'll just have to look and see if I come up with anything. I did think it might be a problem due to age.

Wazz, I imagine the same salary could get you a 1 bedroom flat in Swindon for example, so you're right - wage structures are fucked if you consider the cost of living for particular areas, but due to discrimination and equality these days you couldn't have a man in London doing the same job as a man in Scunthorpe but getting paid more because Mr. Scunthorpe would be most upset.

 

[Gil]

 

[Gumbo]

Heh, I don't set the wages, and there are a lot of people who want to drive, even for minumum wage, so there you go.

If I was after a job, and was likely to be looking for a minimum wage one, I'd much rather be driving one of our nice shiny vans, than stacking shelves, or flipping burgers.

Our company is quite good too, as it will recognise hard workers, and those with the right talents, and nurture them. We provide training and plenty of opportunities to move up. Quite a lot of the Branch Managers started as van drivers, as did our finance director.

I earn considerably more than minimum wage, but I am still in the same position as you re accomodation Wazz. In order for the minimum wage to actually be a decent living wage it would need to probably double. That would put an awful lot of people out of work, and is really a discussion for another thread.

 

[tris-]

wwell gumbo, i am on nearly double the min wage and its still not much even on tax code 474L. about 780 a month. even in my area (middlesbrough) you couldnt rent your own flat and still be able to afford to live, and this place is a pure shit hole.

 

[Tom]

You can't blame your employer for not paying you enough that you can afford to rent/buy a house in the area you live in. Its supply and demand, the only way the pay will rise is if your employer can no longer find enough people to work for him.

I suggest you either think about changing your job, or changing where you live mate

 

[Gumbo]

To buy a 2 bed flat in Norwich at the moment would require a job paying 40k plus, so the changing job idea might mean emergency retraining in medicine or something.

As for moving, you mean move north of Oxford or something?, eeeeugh I'd rather live in a tent

 

[Tom]

lol cheeky bast. Mind you, prices around Manchester are pretty expensive all the same. Lucky for me I managed to jump in at the right time, the value of my house has doubled since then and now I couldn't afford to buy it.