Tarmac duck:
Nick I love your posts full of interesting facts and figures. Is that week on for B/W ?security must be a real worry with taut liner.
No that week is Wincanton.
Only been on with Barron Wood since 12/11/17
So far average invoice is £2,035 BUT:
:: Last week was a 4 day week because I picked up the new unit last Friday.
:: Because I wasn’t working last Friday I was empty on Monday morning and had to run out to get a load.
:: This week hasn’t been good. Lost £100 because BWD had to re-deliver one of my Tuesday loads; Aldi at Bolton took the ■■■■ with their demands so I said no and they rejected and ejected me. Wednesday I lost an hour being chased around a Scottish mountain by a demented Dutchman on a JCB, and then another hour and a half waiting for Police Scotland to come so I could make a statement.
Security isn’t usually a problem. Parked up on Thursday night with a full load of beer on at Junction 16 and slept like a baby. Last night was a bit nervy though. Parked up with 17 pallets of Yamaha keyboards on at Tibshelf. Its the first time I’ve over-nighted with something really high value and I woke up twice in the night with visions of slashed curtains and missing loads. In one particularly distressing nightmare the buggers had replaced all the keyboards with violins. Ohhh, the horror.
The way I look at it though is that if you get slashy-buggered twice a year because you are saving money by layby parking and whatnot thats £500 a year in GIT excesses and probably the same again in curtain repairs, assuming its just a little ■■■■■. If its a big ■■■■■ its a new pair of curtains so another £500 - £1000 in excesses. Say half a days lost work in each incident with police reports, running repairs and then proper repairs later on and that another £250 of lost earnings with £100 of costs, or £700 a year
If I assume £20 a night to park, sometimes its cheaper, sometimes it isn’t, thats £5200 a year, but its £5200 a year I know I’m going to be paying and its money I can budget for. Its also more like £3000 because i’m not paying out the above. Now some nights I’m going to be empty and happy to park in a layby. Other nights I’ll have bricks on, or timber or something and will pop it in behind Tesco or Asda. So lets say im down to £2000.
I would rather spend the 2k and have happy drivers and happy customers than be cheapskate and turn over drivers like Stobarts do or ■■■■ off customers left right and centre with damaged or stolen loads. Its basically £7.69 a day for everyone to be happy apart from my accountant.