Smal Deliveryl Business Questions

[sol282]

So, I'm thinking of starting a small business for deliveries in my city with my office being at home.

Have a few questions.

1.) What can I deliver using a Sedan? I'm too broke to afford another car, so, I want to start out small.

2.) Do I reserve the right to refuse my services to someone? I will be the only person at the moment, so, I wanted to know if I could say no to someone because I can't be at 2 places at the same time. :-(

3.) And Final Question! :-D Charging someone. How much should I charge people? What I had in mind was... Recurring deliveries... like... Get a client for 4am everyday and deliver his items to him by 4:40am - then have another client signed up for 5am everyday and deliver his stuff by 5:40 - etc.

[RegAddking]

I guess you can use whatever vehicle you want, you can charge whatever people will pay and you are not obliged to deliver anything to anywhere you don't want to.

[huggytree]

if you want to take care of high end clients a sedan will not cut it....you have to do what you have to do at this point though....but save for a delivery vehicle with signage ASAP

be careful who you do choose NOT to take a customers....i have secret ways of avoiding types of customers....when you recognize them as a type your avoiding say your booked out 1 week...you make the rules and they are supposed to be fair to everyone.....i do have neighborhoods i wont work in....i just tell the customer i dont service that area

what to charge? you make the rules....i recommend coming up with late night and weekend rates right away too....look at your competition...you have to be within the going rate....but KNOW your costs....sometimes the going rate is under cost....if it is then i recommend skipping the idea and move onto a job with a better market

[SteveM]

In my opinion the first thing you should do is call a couple of your future competitors and find out what and how they charge. Obviously there are several factors to consider such as weight, size, distance, delivery time frame, time of the day, day of the week, etc. For your specific questions:

1. You can start riding a bike if you want to, but as Huggy mentioned you want a professional looking vehicle as quickly as possible. Perhaps you could contact a sign company to make you some inexpensive 1' X 2' magnetic signs to place on your car doors to begin with. You could put your company name/logo/tagline and website/contact phone number on the signs, to at least give you an identity and provide some advertisment for you.

2. Anyone has the right to refuse service to anyone, and as Huggy mentioned, you need to be careful. Your best bet is to work out a delivery schedule for certain areas, and if someone needs a "hot" delivery outside of that schedule, the rate goes up. You don't want to turn down anyone you don't have to when building a business. Sometimes you just need to educate the customer, such as "the earliest delivery time I could make to that area is XX:00."

3. As I mentioned at the top, you need to perform your due dilligence on your proposed business and find out what your competitors are charging. I highly doubt you can make your own rules and expect a lot of business, unless you're fifty percent cheaper then everyone else, which isn't a good plan either. You need to figure in your operational expenses such as fuel costs, vehicle maintenance, owner's salary, advertising, insurances, bonding, etc. If you were charging just enough to allow you to buy a sandwich and a Coke every day, the first your car breaks you'll be out of business.

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

[MyITGuy]

My brother in law is in the courier business, and I have considered expanding my own product line into that area..so here's some info that I've picked up:

1st - Yes, most deliveries will need a bigger vehicle than a sedan. Most of the contractors used have pickup trucks with toppers, vans or cube trucks with liftgates.
2nd - Yes, you absolutely have the right to refuse service...but this is not something you want to do when starting a business. Most companies that call for service will request pickup/dropoff times, so if you have a conflicting delivery then their rate goes up to take that appointment, or they get pushed back to the as soon as possible slot.
3rd - As SteveM pointed out, call your competition and get some quotes as if you were the customer. Most of the variables were covered by SteveM, but I would like to add wait time (I.E. Time spent waiting on a delayed flight, or for customers to get to you when you arrive for pickup/delivery or etc).

Also, as a tip....most courier companies don't hire employees to do deliveries. They subcontract the work out to others and pay them a portion of the revenue (I.E. You getting paid 50-60% of the revenue for facilitating the delivery is a good deal)...so look to see if this is an option for you.

[multiplexed]

Another thing to consider is vehicle insurance. This can be very expensive for a delivery business. I've seen restaurants stop delivering because the insurance was so expensive. If you're doing only a few deliveries a day, it may not be profitable with insurance fees. Gas prices are skyrocketing as well.

An alternative thing to consider is partnering with a local mom & pop pizza / sub shop etc, and do deliveries for them. Check competing restaurants and see how they compensate their delivery persons. Charge a bit more to your restaurant partner, because your services would save them a lot of overhead & hassles.

Anyway, just be sure you've comprehensively checked out your potential expenses & income.