Your Home Based
Delivery Service Business

You can contract with stores and small to medium size businesses to deliver their messages and or packages on a retainer plus trip basis, such as $50 per month or a yearly retainer plus $4 per delivery within the city or 20 cents per mile.

Delivery Service Business Can Be Expensive To Run

Maintaining a delivery service can be very expensive for local merchants because they must have a truck, commercial insurance and pay and insure a driver. These are expenses that may be out of the question for a small business.

This is why some would be happy to contract your home based delivery service business or refer delivery chores. Even businesses that have their own services can never predict how busy they might be at any particular time and may need help with backlogs, especially during high sales seasons.

People who buy a new vacuum today do not want to wait a week to have it delivered -- some will even cancel the order if it is not delivered on time!

Your home based delivery service business would not be limited to merchandise only; they can be packages of important papers, picking up items for shipment or going after a part for a mechanic.

Your home based delivery service business can be oriented to retail or wholesale customers, or even both. Retail is the most profitable, but it is less dependable and may not support a good business by itself.

For retail business, keep an ad in the paper and make sure you have good signs on your transportation that display your home based delivery service business name, the services you provide and how to reach you. Some of your most effective advertising is when people see you performing your services for others and note your name and phone number. They then associate their need with the your business as the solution.

If there are other delivery service businesses in your area, you might call and find one that will agree to reciprocal back up... you call them when you need assistance and vice-versa.

Be prepared to enter into wholesale agreements, where your services may be needed on an irregular basis... The contract may be for a set schedule, or it can be for up to a certain mileage and/ or number or calls per week or month. The agreement should state what you get for deliveries, mileage or hours over and above that which is called for in the contract.

You might also agree to display the client's sign - magnetic signs are good for this purpose - when making deliveries to his customers, and you should assure your clients that you will represent their interests professionally on their behalf.

When you deliver for Summers Drug Store display their sign, because you are Summers Drug Store as far as the customer is concerned. A variation of this plan is to have a referral agreement with the stores. When customers need something delivered, the store recommends and even calls you. The main difference with this alternative is that you are working for the customer, not the store.

The customer pays you. You are responsible for the item being delivered while in the possession of your home based delivery service business.

This variation works nicely with a retail delivery business and requires the same type of insurance. With this arrangement the store could hire your home based delivery service business to pick up things for them too... as a retail customer, but you can give them a discount for volume of trips.

You Will Need To Advertise Your Business

Have some business cards printed and leave them with every business or potential customer you can. If you can't afford business cards, get a rubber stamp and make your own. Also use the same stamp to imprint your receipts.

Print copies of your rates where you can. Call on businesses in the area and ask them to try your services. Inform the Chamber of Commerce, banks, real estate offices and the bus station (many packages come in there and some may need transportation) of your home based delivery service business. Leave your name and number with travel agencies, depots and furniture stores.

You Could Also Try A Messenger Service Business

A messenger service generally requires more speed, accessibility, and reliability of both human and vehicle than a delivery service business. In a smaller town environment , it should be sufficient to have a beeper system, where the office can alert messengers in the field to call response time.

A defense lawyer in court may not be able to wait 30 minutes for a messenger on an errand to call in. In the larger cities a radio telephone will become a must in order to compete with larger businesses.

In preparing for your messenger service, plans can be made to "get by" until the business is established, but long range plans should include a system to provide almost instant response in order to be the best messenger service in town.

As mentioned above, messengers frequently are called upon to handle not only important packages, but also expensive ones--as in the case of negotiable bonds, and partially completed documents concerning ownership.

Don't Forget To Bond Your Messengers

Another important consideration is scheduling and the establishment of priority procedures.. The messenger must know which deliveries or pickups take priority over others -- and that you, as a business must be able to explain this policy to customers.

If a delivery is delayed, the customer whose package is late has a right to know the reason why someone else gets priority treatment. The easiest way to solve this dilemma is to establish your rates based on priority. It is also the most profitable solution.

For example, you might charge $5 to pick up and deliver a package up to 2 pounds, but charge $7.50 to do it before noon, and $10 to drop everything and do it now.

All Jobs Must Be Done The Same Day

There are distinct similarities in the delivery service business and the messenger service business, and there is no doubt that the two could be combined in the less populated area where there is not much competition.

A home based delivery service business could also provide both types of service initially, and then gravitate towards whichever seems to be the best. In either case, it is necessary to build a reputation for honesty and dependability.

The biggest chance for major problems in either business would be an accident or incident that was not adequately insured. If you have the necessary insurance, do a good job and advertise your services well, you have an excellent chance of building your home based delivery service business into a very rewarding career.