The day to day use of the internet within the transport and especially the courier industry cannot be underestimated. In many ways it has enabled smaller courier businesses to establish themselves within the market and compete against larger national courier businesses with the use of online directories & their own websites through search engine results. Many smaller local couriers will undoubtedly provide a higher level of service to their customers than the national companies as it is quite obviously in their interests to do so, more than say the list of self employed sub contractors (known as core drivers) that the national companies use.
The Internet has enabled many smaller sameday couriers to network and converse with other similar couriers around the country in the use of forums It has also created a market for transport exchanges to evolve, these are usually trade only exchanges where sameday couriers can network, help and gain assistance in the form of covering sameday courier jobs when they have no one to cover them. This on the face of it seems an ideal avenue for a sameday courier to go down in order to grow their business, however more and more these exchanges are being taken over by a handful of sameday companies (who herein we will refer to as EB or empire builders) who have decided they want to be "your local sameday courier" in every town in the country. Firstly they start with building a website they will appear on every search engine for Courier in your town, they will seem at first a very attractive option for the customers in your area because they will be quoting around 10-15% less than the market average. The market average will be what the smaller couriers businesses based in your area will be quoting based on cost plus reasonable profit, this all seems very good for the customer free market and all that, however as these EB's are based possibly hundreds of miles away they will now need to "sell" your courier requirements on the trade exchange in order to cover it. Once posted on this exchange the EB will receive quotes by email, text & telephone from self employed couriers to cover this work, and a bidding process begins sometimes down to the level where it becomes uneconomical for the self employed courier to do the work on a stand alone basis, so how will the courier be able to complete this I hear you ask? Well the courier may be returning back to base in that direction anyway so can afford to bid low, or the courier may already have another job going in that general direction which is when the price you paid becomes less attractive as this wasn't the dedicated service you paid for. Some of the members of an exchange site will intentionally bid low (and even below fuel/running costs) in order to "turn the wheels" on a quiet day in the hoping that they will get something coming back to base. This is a very dangerous game to play as they is no guarantee of a return load and even if you do get one another EB will be aware you are returning home and expect another low price.
With the increase of redundancies there have been more and more new couriers entering the market and in many cases signing up considerable sums of money to these exchanges in the hope of being captains of their own destiny, many of these new start ups will see other couriers working the exchanges to death by co loading and decide this is the way to go, this often results in bad decisions to move items hundreds of miles for a price that wouldn't cover fuel let alone pay themselves a wage. Sometimes bad co loading decisions will result in delays way past expected eta times because their first drop happened to be out when they called, being a member of a courier forum I have heard of the stories of exchange couriers turning up 4 hours late for an eta with no explanation as to why.
I knew a motorbike courier who once told me he took a job from one exchange site, Milton Keynes to Aberdeen that was described as a screamer (very urgent). He said he completed in just over 7 hours (a journey google maps estimates would take 8 hours 45 mins) "but I had to go as low as 50p per loaded mile to get it!" he said, an absolutely crazy sub contractor rate which would have netted him about £90 after fuel but before other associated costs (Maintenance costs for 1,000 miles, Tyres, 2 days insurance cost, coffee's etc) for what was essentially a two day return trip (even if you do manage it in one day, you will need the next day off to rest), he was lucky as he knew someone in Glasgow and stayed over, the expense of a hotel would have almost wiped his profit out, needless to say this biker is no longer working as a courier.
It may even be the case that the EB has never met or had any commercial contact with the sub
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contractor they use but their price was the lowest, essentially using a stranger who happens to be a member of the same exchange. The EB will sometimes have no idea as to the ability of this sub contractor and errors and delays will often occur because of this. These type of Empire builders are quite easily spotted from their websites, they will have non geographic telephone number ie 0845 (but not always the case), their exact location isn't easily obtainable, they boast 2,500 vehicles at their beckon call (a dead giveaway) and their website pictures tend to be stock vehicle photos or stock photos of couriers handing packages over. Some of these exchange sites & EB's survive on the naivety & constant turnover of these redundancy couriers all in the guise of free market forces.
If you need to use a urgent sameday courier use a local one, service levels will be substantially higher than one with an office a hundred miles away, they will be more accountable and keen to build lasting commercial relationships. An experience courier will still have a network of similar sameday couriers around the country that they can call upon for short notice collections a hundred miles away but these will be with couriers that they know well and sometimes built relationships over several years. Your local sameday courier with some notice will still be able to travel to that collection on the other side of the country for you.
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