Paging current/ex DR's

In the age old fashion of arse covering, due to the fact that I may be
loosing a large chunk of my livelihood at very short notice in the near
future, and seeing as how bills have to be paid etc., how much does the
average DR earn in London?

Apart from the obvious risks of being on the road all day and the increase
(certainty) of being binned, what are the less obvious pitfalls?

Or should I just go work in Sainsburys?

TIA etc etc etc...

 

In

Sainsburys ... yup

--
Steve Parry

http://www.gwynfryn.co.uk

http://wrexhamseals.tripod.com

 

Using the patented Mavis Bacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, "Spike@Work"

These days, I have no clue.

Go and talk to your insurance company...

Then repeat after me "Would you like help packing that?"

 

Good grief, this has been done to death FFS

To recap: You make no net income working a Courier

Just think about it for a moment. To make money you would have to be paid
the same mileage, minimum and waiting rates as a Hackney. You would also
need a vehicle as reliable and cheap to run as a Hackney. Neither is true.
The entire Courier game is a scam. It should be outlawed or properly
licenced.

HTH

 

Hmmm... to me too...

I mean, if that was the case, then there wouldnt be *any* MC Couriers at
all..

Im fully willing to concede that you may not make *much* money, or that its
just too much like hard work for the return, or a zillion other arguments...

 

Well let's set the scene first. I owned (jointly) the largest courier
company in Scotland some years back so I know of what I speak.
A few, a very few Couriers get a premium place in the pecking order.
Subsidised/supplied bikes, choice work. Spike isn't going to be one of
those.
Some companies employ their own couriers and supply the equipment and a
fixed salary. Spike didn't suggest that kind of job.

The rest of the pack is made up of people living hand to mouth on tatty
bikes, which may have started as their pride and joy, kidding themselves
that they are making a net gain. They ignore certain things to achieve this.
Depreciation on the bike. Saving for a regular replacement bike. Having it
properly and professionally maintained. The taxman. National Insurance.
Private pension. Decent health and accident insurance. Recovery insurance.
The actual rate of hourly return. Many sign on the dole at the same time.

80%+ of the people working as Couriers would actually be better on Benefits.
Many end up injured and out of work without any income Insurance.

Because it is unregulated cowboy companies literally *consume* people and
keep customer rates artificially low. No company can charge realistic rates.
It is impossible to get all of your Couriers onto a decent living *net*
wage.

IMHO it should be illegal to employ people to ride as Couriers on anything
other than supplied bikes, fully maintained and serviced by the company with
guaranteed minimum incomes and benefits.

I was very glad when someone offered to buy my business. I was loosing a lot
of sleep. Many of the riders were mates. I put them on equipment and
packages to fulfil the above. It was break even at best. Not commercial. I
could only make money putting people out in vans/trucks for heavier work. In
London that isn't practical.

 

He am right, I'm afraid. Try *anything* else first.

 

Right, that made a *load* more sense...

Down to Sainsburys it is then....

 

It's a mugs game for sure. It'd kill off any bikers joy of riding after a
while, if they were still mobile...

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Andrewr At Work said:

He made £60 in his first day. You're not always going to be that slow
either, *and* he was on a Mille.

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, Hog said:

High in the pecking order? No, probably not but there are many of the
bigger companies that supply bikes, the only problem with this is that
they want around £100 for it (with insurance) but by the time you've
paid this you could have bought your own several times over.

Amen to that. The only one saving grace I can think of is having a
decent accountant. I paid less tax on a year's salary last year than I
paid when I did a bit of temporary work on the PAYE.

Not better off but definitely safer and there's the security of knowing
you have a fixed income, no matter how derisory

There are companies that give guarantees but these tend to be the
biggest cowboys of all IME. Also, you might earn bugger all all week and
because they need to get their money's worth out of you they could
easily send you 300 miles away at five o'clock on a Friday and there's
nothing you can do about it.

It's true. Only since I got banned and forced out of work can I
appreciate that the majority of my income was going on keeping my bike
on the road. At the end of the day and after all expenses you be better
off at Salisbury's. If you did a Saturday morning there as well, you'd
be quids in.

 

Could you explain that last sentence?

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, SteveH said:

And the penultimate one, I take it ;-)

I meant Sainsbury's but I was too quick to press the change button on my
spellchecker.

 

Erm, no. Just wondering why you think he'd be quids-in if he worked
Saturday morning?

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, SteveH said:

Well, when I did DR, after expenses, tax, NI and all that I was left
with about £6 an hour, which by a lot of people's standards is fairly
poor. I was guessing that Sainsbury's pay about £6 an hour so if he
worked a Saturday, this would shove the mean total up to about £6.50.

Of course, you would have to ignore the fact you had to work the
Saturday but that's something I didn't think about when I was working it
out.

 

No, still don't see where you're coming from.

Are you suggesting that he does DR during the week and takes a job at
Sainsbury's on a Saturday?

Or that he takes a full-time job at Sainsbury's?

If the latter, then he won't have any choice over Saturday working.

And he certainly wouldn't get £6 / hour stacking shelves in a
Supermarket.

As a tip for the OP, if you don't mind working nights, then there's
quite a few night jobs available at supermarkets that pay something
resembling a reasonable wage.

 

I've read the other replies before posting this. Bear in mind I was a DR
20 years ago, and things have changed since then. Fax hardly existed,
never mind emails.

If you are *very* clued up and have *exactly* the right bike (ie:
something as reliable as a Swatch and very, very cheap to run), then it
works, or can work.

DRing on a sports 600, never mind 750, is a waste of time and effort.
The highest earners I remember were all on small bikes: 200s, 125s even,
and stayed in and around London.

There were the out-of-town guys who specialised in long distance. Almost
to a man, they ran BMWs.

You always earned more in winter, when the student had gone back to
college or wherever. And during postal strikes you absolutely coined it.

I don't think payment rates have kept pace with inflation, though. I
used to get ukp2.25 in my pocket for a minimum run (OK, slightly less on
some high-volume accounts) and gross ukp170 for a 3 or 4 day week (I was
freelance writing the rest of the time).

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, SteveH said:

No, I'm suggesting the Sainsbury's thing all week.

Yes.

Oooh! I remember now, they give you a day off in the week, something
like a Wednesday.

Christ, is it really that bad? With tax and NI taken out at source, that
leaves next to nothing :-(

A tip for me as well, I've got a Sainsbury's just round the corner )

Cheers

 

Heh.... how the _hell_ did you think supermarkets opened on a Saturday,
then?

ISTR our starting rate is about £4.72. Not a lot. It does go up a little
once you've completed the probationary period (13 weeks, ISTR).

We work on a 1/3 premium for nights. Not great, but you could live off
it. Especially if you work Saturday / Sunday nights (Sunday premuim plus
night premium, you see.....)

 

In uk.rec.motorcycles, SteveH said:

Lol, I was thinking the staff would go in and work, even though I
wouldn't want to. Hmm...

Are you saying you work for Sainsbury's and that's the wage or the
amount of your personal allowance goes up once you've been working for
more than 13 weeks, regardless of where you work?

OooKaaaaay. I think I understand the first bit about premiums for
working Saturday and Sunday nights but I'm not clear about the Sunday
premium. Are you saying you get paid more for working on a Sunday anyway
and if you work Saturday and Sunday nights then you get paid the same
rate as a Sunday but get the extra 1/3 on top?