brockers
Senior Member
- Location
- hollowed out volcano
There's a fixed rate up to three or four miles, and after that the customer gets charged mileage. Although pretty sure that most courier companies would have a rate sheet available to the customers, and similarly to their couriers (who are self-employed and take a percentage - as sort of outlined above). A good idea for you (obviously, apart from recovering and maybe taking a couple of weeks holiday from your regular job and doing a bit of couriering) might be to Google 'London Courier Despatch', and seeing if you can find out what their rates are. Here's one I did earlier as an example, though you'll have to dig a little deeper to find a cycle specific company. You could always try phoning some of the big boys and asking what their rates are for cycle deliveries around London (be honest - tell them you're working on a project. I can't see any reason why they should mind).
Courier companies tend to prioritise now, and will offer a tiered system. I used to get a lot of work from a v well known investment bank, all on' priority', or 'direct', meaning I wasn't meant to attempt to pick up more work on the way, so it had to be delivered realistically within an hour of pick up (within central London). This would attract a premium of 50% on the basic docket. Although regular jobs can often be in the courier's bag for three or more hours, as he tries to keep himself loaded up by constantly calling for work ('Easy four-zero! Easy four-zero! I'm EC3 heading W1 and SW1. Got anything else? The controller, knowing that neither package is particularly urgent, might send our Joe Courier up to EC2 to bag another W1 and a SW3, so his existing parcels take that bit longer to get delivered..).
I'd say most of the smaller independent companies would have a 'pushbike circuit' open from 8am to 7pm. And most customers would have an account, but sometimes there'd be a one-off where a customer would pay the courier cash (on collection, or delivery), as the low volume of work offered didn't really necessitate the hassle of setting up an account. Of course the courier company didn't make any money out of this - it was a bit of a treat for the guy doing the pedalling. Cash jobs were always the best - usually a tenner or so for a mile's journey (Though the best I remember getting was £300 for a Bristol 'wait and return' on my motorbike.')
Courier companies tend to prioritise now, and will offer a tiered system. I used to get a lot of work from a v well known investment bank, all on' priority', or 'direct', meaning I wasn't meant to attempt to pick up more work on the way, so it had to be delivered realistically within an hour of pick up (within central London). This would attract a premium of 50% on the basic docket. Although regular jobs can often be in the courier's bag for three or more hours, as he tries to keep himself loaded up by constantly calling for work ('Easy four-zero! Easy four-zero! I'm EC3 heading W1 and SW1. Got anything else? The controller, knowing that neither package is particularly urgent, might send our Joe Courier up to EC2 to bag another W1 and a SW3, so his existing parcels take that bit longer to get delivered..).
I'd say most of the smaller independent companies would have a 'pushbike circuit' open from 8am to 7pm. And most customers would have an account, but sometimes there'd be a one-off where a customer would pay the courier cash (on collection, or delivery), as the low volume of work offered didn't really necessitate the hassle of setting up an account. Of course the courier company didn't make any money out of this - it was a bit of a treat for the guy doing the pedalling. Cash jobs were always the best - usually a tenner or so for a mile's journey (Though the best I remember getting was £300 for a Bristol 'wait and return' on my motorbike.')
