HI , I saw TB's post about moving a small box from somewhere to somewhere and thought it was time to mention the following. I run a small courier firm that operates anywhere in UK and europe. I also belong to a network called Courier Exchange ( CX ) which operates in the same way , basically when ever I have a van leaving Cambridge to say Manchester delivering at 11 am , I post on the CX my details , ie time of delivery , van size etc and any jobs that are posted by other CX members within a 15 mile radius of Manchester are text to my phone. Now bearing in mind I have already made my money by driving up to Manchester anything which is coming back down South thats in my " corridor" which I could deliver easily on my way home is adding to my profit on the van , and if for example a job came up from Manchester to London , the normal price would be say £200 then I am happy to bid £60 as I am going that way anyway , so the seller gets a result and so do I . There are 5000 owner drivers on the forum with vehicles ranging from car - 4.2 m vans. I am happy to post peoples dleivery needs on the forum for them HOWEVER please remember if you want something delivered the same day at say 1pm you will pay full whack , BUT if you had something that a courier could pick up and deliver the next day or even the day after you would pay a lot less than a parcel network for larger bits ie doors , gearboxes , engines ( they would all need to be relatively claen and empty of oil though! as most of the drivers are proud of their vans and would not be happy with oil spillages :-/. All jobs would have to be COD obviously ! Just a thought that I would like to throw into the melting pot. What do you lot think ?
Take care
Dave
