Carryfast:
So take all that to it’s logical conclusion and it’s the owner driver,running just one truck,bought outright with no finance on it,and with no mortgage at home to pay for,who’s in with a better chance of keeping in work than an employed driver,who needs to earn enough to pay for a mortgage,and who’s working for a big fleet outfit .
Keeping to that logic the worst thing that you can do in that type of business environment is to grow the firm at all based on the logic that it’s easier to find enough work for one truck and it’s better to earn just enough to live on with one truck and there’s less standing costs involved to run and park up just one truck if the work dries up .
No I think the point that Lucy was trying to make is that the business from where she was sitting appeared to have excessive overheads and far too many support staff for the number of trucks they had. That’s how I read it anyway.
Carryfast:
So take all that to it’s logical conclusion and it’s the owner driver,running just one truck,bought outright with no finance on it,and with no mortgage at home to pay for,who’s in with a better chance of keeping in work than an employed driver,who needs to earn enough to pay for a mortgage,and who’s working for a big fleet outfit .
Keeping to that logic the worst thing that you can do in that type of business environment is to grow the firm at all based on the logic that it’s easier to find enough work for one truck and it’s better to earn just enough to live on with one truck and there’s less standing costs involved to run and park up just one truck if the work dries up .
No I think the point that Lucy was trying to make is that the business from where she was sitting appeared to have excessive overheads and far too many support staff for the number of trucks they had. That’s how I read it anyway.
Paul
So take that idea ‘to it’s logical conclusion’ there’s no way that anyone can beat the overheads involved in just running one truck,instead of a fleet,as an owner driver,who also acts as the firm’s manager and planner,with parking costs applicable to just one unit,therefore not a yard,and wage costs based on just what that driver needs assuming that there’s no mortgage to pay for at home.
Carryfast:
So take that idea ‘to it’s logical conclusion’ there’s no way that anyone can beat the overheads involved in just running one truck,instead of a fleet,as an owner driver,who also acts as the firm’s manager and planner,with parking costs applicable to just one unit,therefore not a yard,and wage costs based on just what that driver needs assuming that there’s no mortgage to pay for at home.
If all else is equal, yes.
However all else isn’t equal. If you have more trucks you have more chance of getting direct work, cutting out the middleman and therefore increasing your earnings. I would think a yard to park 100 trucks in would work out at less per truck than an owner driver pays per week to park a single truck. If you have more trucks then you can potentially get cheaper diesel as you’re using more. You might well also get a better deal on tyres as you’re buying more. Your insurance per truck is probably be going to be cheaper. You’ll get more discount from the truck dealers if you go along wanting to buy ten than if you are buying a single truck. And so on…
But back to the original point if company A has bigger overheads to run 150 trucks than company B, then it stands to reason that company B is, all else being equal, going to make more money, possibly to the extent that company A is making a loss and company B a profit.
Thanks Paul, that’s precisely what I meant. There is a number of wagons - that number being dependant on various factors including available work etc. - at which your costs will go down rather than up for all the reasons stated, and that is your incentive to grow a haulage business. However, for the strategy to be successful, overheads need to be kept under tight control in order to avoid having them eat your profit. Hence the example.
It is, admittedly, a little unfair to compare a haulier with a shipping line’s internal fleet, but the shipping line still has to keep it’s transport viable as a cost centre within the company, therefore the illustration is still pertinent.
There is no way an owner driver is going to get into the cream work and get the best paying work, the big boys do that through corporate golf, paintball and ■■■■■■■■. Bulmer, Stobart and DHL have that clout, some do it well, some do it badly, some do it without learning any lessons.
I know quite a lot about one of Bulmers biggest customers having worked in the same industry with many of the decision makers. They loved Bulmers, because they were flexible and more to the point, they were cheap.
Growing outside of your pot is a common fault in business, like any clever woman knows, size doesn’t matter, if you do your job well
But those economies come at the expense of having a large amount of capacity in the system which has to always remain filled with work to pay for the higher levels of overheads and in this industry those ‘economies of scale’ are usually expected to benefit the customer in the form of lower rates not the contractor in the form of high profit margins.
The customers know the pressures which having that size of overheads requirinq to be serviced and capacity needing to be filled has on a firm so they use that to their advantage when negotiating rates.
It’s my guess that while those economies of scale help when negotiating to keep equipment and fuel costs (a bit) lower the drawbacks of having to keep a lot of capacity working all the time and fleet wage costs outweighs those economies in a business environment where the customer dictates the rate and in that context big fleet versus owner driver traction operations it’s a no contest.
newmercman:
I used to speak with Jonothan Bulmer quite a bit when I was at TRUCK, I even had a 580 Scania of his in a regular feature I came up with, I thought he was a pretty decent bloke, he was very high profile in a Stobart kind of way, distinctive livery, good spec trucks etc, from what I know of his operation he had a good business model, ok so the trucks were a bit over specced, but this was in the times of the driver shortage, so it helped retain and recruit drivers, I spoke with a few of them (not just hand picked yes men) and they were complimentary. The company managed to have a good run too, I had my dealings with them in 2001 and they never got into trouble until the recession started to bite.
To do things the way Bulmers did would mean that there costs were higher than most, in good times they could get away with charging a little more, but when the gordon brown stuff hit the fan they were in the same boat as everyone else, those with lower operating costs could afford to take a hit on rates and volumes, they couldn’t and down the pan they went, only to be reborn via pre pack.
Pre pack is no good to anybody but the financial institutes, they’re the ones that are responsible for it in the first place, they like it because it gives them a chance to recoup their losses at a later date and means that they don’t get left with, in the case of a failed haulier, a field full of snatched back lorries that are worthless on the used market because nobody is buying anything in the middle of a recession.
Banks and finance houses almost force companies in liquidation to follow the pre pack route, but look at the statistics, it’s only the larger operations that get pre pack, an owner driver or a bloke with 10 motors wouldn’t have a chance at it, as usual it’s the banks and the tossers in Westminster that benefit from it, they come back from their clandestine meetings in the karzis on Clapham Common and tell us pre pack will save jobs blah blah [zb]ing blah, yet in reality all it does is make more money for them, the BOCs
Well put Tom, I agree totally with your comments, i worked with you and know exactly what went on. I knew myself that bulmers was in trouble the minute we could not afford a light bulb gloves etc and no £200 cash flow for the ipswich depot, but saying that the wages were always paid on time “well all except the last week”. I personally will never forgive or forget what Jonathan has done to his drivers.
very interestingly when I contacted tees office on friday all they were interested in was where are all the cmrs/pods from the last weeks work we done in ipswich, probably £60,000 worth of work, they cant wait to get there hands on that, obviously they were told where to go. I am no longer angry quite calm actually,I am not going to waste my time on bulmer hes got to live with that not me. I have the address of the administrator will be sent recorded delivery,thats the end for me as far as this saga has gone. I start a new job with a quality company on the 28th of this month along with several of my fellow workmates we have been lucky.Good luck to the rest.
One more thing guys n girls I had to laugh last week For the first time in my life I went to the dole office for a bit of help,filled in the necessary forms online got an appointment and away I went cap in hand.Guess what at 50 years old never drawn dole money, I was told that I was entitled to nothing, and I mean not a penny absolutely laughable,no job seekers allowance because I have already found a job all I wanted was a bit of help for three weeks, no worries eh I will have the last two weeks unpaid holiday,trouble is my wife is getting way to used to me being home. I will say i am not sitting around with my feet up shes got me catching up with the last 20 years of decorating etc. Welcome to the real world!
If your reading this Tom get in touch Des has got my number,you know who I am.
Finally thanks go’s to Mark Bennett our manager,great guy more of a freind than boss, he done us proud.SHAME ON YOU JONATHAN BULMER. As he says in an interview in the Northern Echo quote “I am worried about my family” yeah I bet you are.
Thanks and happy trucking to you all.Regards.
Mick M[/b][/b]
sneddon: Bulmers Transport (nee, Logistics)
Having been an employee of Bulmers starting late 07 i went through the prepack administration 21/01/2009. At the time Bulmers was over staffed at the Teeside head office spending cash like it was going out of fashion. I joined Bulmers at its Ipswich branch which was part of the expansion plan with designs to add 100 trucks into Felixstowe. The idea was there exciting at the time but as with everything at Bulmers all talk. Ipswich was lucky to escape the original cull seeing the Hull and Immingham depots close. Ipswich’s fortunes were purely down to one man Mark Bennett who transformed the turnover from an ailing depot that was hemorrhaging cash into a financial stable operation which could of ran independent of Teeside but continued to help prop up an unstable mismanaged head office. Having been through Bulmers first administration i seen the signs late 2010 and got out which appears to have been just in time.
The drivers and office staff at the Ipswich depot were 1st class hard working Conscientiousness employees who had no notice of intended closure and have been left without payment’s of week in hand, overtime or expense’s and with no time to make seek new employment. Is this the reward for a depot which Jonathon used refer to as his golden egg. Jonathon Bulmer made no arrangements to place the Ipswich drivers or office staff this was down to again Mark Bennett (also seeking new employment) who franticly arranged as many interviews with his contacts as he could to place as many of his staff as he could in a limited time. Jonathon i believe had placed hand picked staff to start at Ward bros to help with cherry picked contracts which they have taken over.
I would like to thank Mark Bennett the Bulmers Ipswich depot manager for my time working along side him, and to all the boys good luck for the future at least you can sleep at night. Jonathon just remember what goes around comes around.
wats mark bennet doin now he was a great bloke used to love goin to ipswich and runnin out of there there has been some good blokes in the tees office and they left or got layed of .alan canham graham lincoln anthony hamlyn to name just a few.the clowns that were left woulnt even answer the phone. were did the derv go out of the trucks that went back .am i allowed to say
andy best:
wats mark bennet doin now he was a great bloke used to love goin to ipswich and runnin out of there there has been some good blokes in the tees office and they left or got layed of .alan canham graham lincoln anthony hamlyn to name just a few.the clowns that were left woulnt even answer the phone. were did the derv go out of the trucks that went back .am i allowed to say
Alan canham ran me on the ECS contract in ipswich for a while proper gent.They ■■■■ on him laying him off and keeping less able planners.and old Abe always treated me well when i was at Tees can,t understand why they let the good staff go■■?
We all know the planks who were only there for the money. Besty, mark you will back me up Teeside was a free for all no organisation and it all happened when jb got rid of Morgan. The biggest waste of space was Stuart smith, mr 80k what did he do. Morgan Sweety and Oxley top blokes we had a chance then. At the end when you went into Tees Sweety was pulling out his shiney grey hair with the planks around him.
Besty are you still in Europe mate.
Ts
Andy best had it right. Where did the gas go? It went with the trucks to Mr Ward.
We were told to gas up before 4pm, but only the units going on to his mate. Any
units going back would not need derv, that was up to the repo men.
Nice to see the ex’s are keeping a close eye on our previous leader.
I bet that makes him all warm in fuzzy!
sneddon:
We all know the planks who were only there for the money. Besty, mark you will back me up Teeside was a free for all no organisation and it all happened when jb got rid of Morgan. The biggest waste of space was Stuart smith, mr 80k what did he do. Morgan Sweety and Oxley top blokes we had a chance then. At the end when you went into Tees Sweety was pulling out his shiney grey hair with the planks around him.
Besty are you still in Europe mate.
Ts
Now then Mr Sneddon
If these were the top blokes, how is it that they all started in late 07, and along with other directors managed to see the company go to pre-pack and now closed.
As a employee for 10 years, i seen them come and go within 18months, leaving behind so called planners, that sent drivers for tilts without palm couplings, alocated vehicles that could not couple up to 20ft containers, and sent a 40ft box to collect 25000 lites of chemicals, planners maybe? but knowledgable no i think not.
As for Mark, i do agree, but remember were he came from Geest, was it not? job for the boys and keep the work, at low margins i can assure you.
As for 2007, what about the years from 2000, when the planners knew what was expected, and managed to build a company that that was not only respected by its customers but also from the finance houses.
Does anyone remember, the likes of Tyreman Lincoln and co, good days, good planners and profit.
From Jonathans apology in RT.Com, it looks from the figures already published they have been working on about 93 quid a day using my schoolboy mathematics.
Wheel Nut:
From Jonathans apology in RT.Com, it looks from the figures already published they have been working on about 93 quid a day using my schoolboy mathematics.
£6.8m turnover
£7500 pre-tax loss
Get yer gems on Malc, it was £16.8m t/o I’m not sure what the £93 a day you refer to is though?
Wheel Nut:
From Jonathans apology in RT.Com, it looks from the figures already published they have been working on about 93 quid a day using my schoolboy mathematics.
£6.8m turnover
£7500 pre-tax loss
Get yer gems on Malc, it was £16.8m t/o I’m not sure what the £93 a day you refer to is though?
The 93 quid doesn’t work out now and I am going to Specsavers tomorrow
.
