Hi chaps new to this forum,also new owner driver with x2 trucks ,I have been offered some work direct so this will cut the middle man out but must supply my own tauts,
All I have had is the poorly paid 1.50 a mile just running to become a revenue raiser and not an earner.
the loads are one way could anyone give me a good mileage rate to charge,
I do have a sum in my head truck an trailer would I be wrong to go for 2.20 per mile
Tbh it’s hard to say as I don’t no the overall distances involved etc time to load unload etc if your tallking round trip out loaded back empty I’d say 2 quid a mile min for all miles persanaly unless you’ve got some good contacts I wouldn’t bother back loadin its not worth it if you can get 2.00 a mile but ill be surprised if you do
A friend of mine owns a small/medium sized haulage company. Everything is his own work, It’s split about 50/50 between full loads and groupage. I can’t comment on his groupage prices, But his full load rates start at £2.50 per mile.
He does have a reputation for reliability and overcoming problems, and this is what all customers need.
I would say your rate of £2.20 is probably about right.
I’m not an owner driver, But i have owned and run quite a few businesses. So the only thing i will say is £2.20 per mile dosn’t give much room for negotiation. Try to figure out what type of customer it is. Some will get a starting price then go elsewhere for another, Some will get a price and try to chip a bit off no matter what rate you go in at.
Well said Phil. It’s a tough question really, basically you want to charge as much as you can get away with & still retain the work.
DHL charge £2 per mile, all miles for big customers like Jag/land rover, loaded or empty. That’s round robin work.
£3 per mile one way would be at the higher end of expectation with phils quote of £2.50 per mile about right for a competition outfit. You will need to get back loads at this rate to make good money & this depends on the primary customers expectations of you being in a certain place at a certain time. You need £3 per mile one way or “day rate” of £450-£500 if you intend to run back empty. £50 for each extra drop. All this is rough chat of course, each situation is different. I’m sure most will say I’m too expensive.
Just to add £2 per mile all miles works out at £4 per mile one way obviously which would be great as you’d have the option of coming back empty or reloading something easy & tasty to really coin it in but you will be at risk of getting under cut big time unless you are back handing/sleeping with the customer.
Silver_Surfer:
Well said Phil. It’s a tough question really, basically you want to charge as much as you can get away with & still retain the work.DHL charge £2 per mile, all miles for big customers like Jag/land rover, loaded or empty. That’s round robin work.
£3 per mile one way would be at the higher end of expectation with phils quote of £2.50 per mile about right for a competition outfit. You will need to get back loads at this rate to make good money & this depends on the primary customers expectations of you being in a certain place at a certain time. You need £3 per mile one way or “day rate” of £450-£500 if you intend to run back empty. £50 for each extra drop. All this is rough chat of course, each situation is different. I’m sure most will say I’m too expensive.
Not at all, but good luck getting anyone to pays those rates.
@ OP, £2.20/mile isn’t going to do you any good if the place you’re delivering to is only a mile up the road…
Rob K:
Silver_Surfer:
Well said Phil. It’s a tough question really, basically you want to charge as much as you can get away with & still retain the work.DHL charge £2 per mile, all miles for big customers like Jag/land rover, loaded or empty. That’s round robin work.
£3 per mile one way would be at the higher end of expectation with phils quote of £2.50 per mile about right for a competition outfit. You will need to get back loads at this rate to make good money & this depends on the primary customers expectations of you being in a certain place at a certain time. You need £3 per mile one way or “day rate” of £450-£500 if you intend to run back empty. £50 for each extra drop. All this is rough chat of course, each situation is different. I’m sure most will say I’m too expensive.
Not at all, but good luck getting anyone to pays those rates.
@ OP, £2.20/mile isn’t going to do you any good if the place you’re delivering to is only a mile up the road…
I agree with that that’s why I’d stipulate a min milage Claus or day rate to take it up to the 500 a day mark
Those sort of rates are profitable anything bellow them and your just wasting your time
And I’m not back handing any one either mine goes in a brown envolope thru the letterbox
Rent your trailers so that if it goes pear shaped, you can drop back on traction. Hireco have tidy kit for a oner per week, you’ll get them cheaper but i prefer paying a bit more for tidy trailers.
Obviously credit check them before doing any work. www.duedil.com is a great free site once you register to give you an idea of if a firm is on the up or the down, you have to pay for more detailed credit worthiness reports.
Lol, that is back handing ain’t it monarch? There doesn’t have to be a secret hand shake for it to be back handing. Any cash going the other way is back handing no matter what it’s for.
I’d agree with what’s been said. A day rate would be the way to go.
I know a guy that does vacuum tanker work at £650 per day, and as soon as the phone goes the clock starts ticking.
The downside to his contract is trying to juggle being reliable and profitable at the same time. They always have 2 lorries five days a week, but they can phone at anytime and ask for another 6. It’s in his contract that he must fulfill his obligations.
On the plus side, he does sod all mileage, about 150-200 miles per day. and that’s only loaded one way.
Silver_Surfer:
Lol, that is back handing ain’t it monarch? There doesn’t have to be a secret hand shake for it to be back handing. Any cash going the other way is back handing no matter what it’s for.
I didn’t say it was cash going in the brown envelope !
I find a little note about how if you don’t pay me what I want your mrs is gona find out about all the overtimeyou have been doing wiv the company secretary works better than giving money away
C it’s not who you know it’s what u no kerching
monarch of the highway:
Silver_Surfer:
Lol, that is back handing ain’t it monarch? There doesn’t have to be a secret hand shake for it to be back handing. Any cash going the other way is back handing no matter what it’s for.I didn’t say it was cash going in the brown envelope !
I find a little note about how if you don’t pay me what I want your mrs is gona find out about all the overtimeyou have been doing wiv the company secretary works better than giving money away
C it’s not who you know it’s what u no kerching
You’ve got that the wrong way round chap.
Every rate quoted on this thread so far is a load of tripe!!!
How on earth can you throw numbers around without knowing what the job entails?
If the job is going to be a full time deal then a rate needs to be structured to take into account all fixed costs, (52 weeks worth) then variable costs, profit margin (your choice, but remember you need to depreciate your asset and capitalise the business) and last but by no means least a fuel surcharge needs to be added.
Without knowing your fixed costs, your variable costs, your desired profit margin or the fuel returns of your lorry there is no way that anyone could cone up with an accurate number.
If you do come up with a number without doing the sums first, hopefully it’s a number higher than all your costs, if it isn’t…
newmercman:
Every rate quoted on this thread so far is a load of tripe!!!How on earth can you throw numbers around without knowing what the job entails?
If the job is going to be a full time deal then a rate needs to be structured to take into account all fixed costs, (52 weeks worth) then variable costs, profit margin (your choice, but remember you need to depreciate your asset and capitalise the business) and last but by no means least a fuel surcharge needs to be added.
Without knowing your fixed costs, your variable costs, your desired profit margin or the fuel returns of your lorry there is no way that anyone could cone up with an accurate number.
If you do come up with a number without doing the sums first, hopefully it’s a number higher than all your costs, if it isn’t…
We know that. But some obvious things don’t need to be said.
newmercman:
Every rate quoted on this thread so far is a load of tripe!!!How on earth can you throw numbers around without knowing what the job entails?
If the job is going to be a full time deal then a rate needs to be structured to take into account all fixed costs, (52 weeks worth) then variable costs, profit margin (your choice, but remember you need to depreciate your asset and capitalise the business) and last but by no means least a fuel surcharge needs to be added.
Without knowing your fixed costs, your variable costs, your desired profit margin or the fuel returns of your lorry there is no way that anyone could cone up with an accurate number.
If you do come up with a number without doing the sums first, hopefully it’s a number higher than all your costs, if it isn’t…
I don’t c how u can say its all a load of tripe I pointed out that not knowing the distances to be travelled time loading etc its hard to quote
But as I understand its just normal taut work so aday rate of 500 a day and a milage rate of 2 quid a mile ( all miles loaded n empty ) if the milage exceeds 500 quid day rate is what I would be looking for charging
We know that merc man, were just giving real world figures and ideas of what his competition will be charging so he can price himself in the market place as to how secure he wants to be with the work versus profitability after he’s done all his sums & work flow projections over the year.
Nice work Monarch, ahh the smell of Blackmail in the morning!
monarch of the highway:
I don’t c how u can say its all a load of tripe I pointed out that not knowing the distances to be travelled time loading etc its hard
But as I understand its just normal taut work so aday rate of 500 a day and a milage rate of 2 quid a mile ( all miles loaded n empty ) if the milage exceeds 500 quid day rate is what I would be looking for charging
It will be tripe, because without knowing costs or anything about the job you cannot possibly arrive at a mileage figure. It may be as you say, that day rate is the way to go, it may be a simple mileage rate, or maybe a combination of the two, but until a more realistic picture of what’s involved is painted, any numbers put out could be very wrong.
The bloke needs to know HOW to come up with a rate, not just a load of random figures. Overcharging may lose him the work, undercharging will lose him his business and possibly a lot more…
You said it yourself, you can’t come up with a rate without knowing the facts.
Limeyphil, it seems that sometimes the obvious does need to be stated, you have proved this by quoting rates without any clue as to the costs involved to do the job.
In road haulage its usually the customer who dictates the rates. In an ideal world it should be the other way around, but there is always someone that is daft enough…or desperate enough to do it cheaper !!!
That is sad but true Dave.
In this instance I would sit down with the customer and find out why they’re offering me the work.
It may be possible to get a much better rate than you think if the company is looking for the best service, rather than the best (lowest) price.
A small hands on operation can provide a far better service than a larger operation, that can be a deal breaker.
You can use the pay peanuts, get monkeys cliché to your advantage. Instead of price being your USP, concentrate on the value you can bring instead.