How to start your own courier business. How to open a courier delivery service Delivery service how to open

* Calculations use average data for Russia

Starting investments:

Revenue:

Net profit:

Payback period:

Courier service is a business without serious investments and requirements, so anyone can start it. The advantages of this area: high demand for services, a wide range of customers and profitability up to 90%.

Delivery service is a business that will suit both an experienced and aspiring entrepreneur. In Russia, the industry began to develop actively since the 90s and today is one of the promising areas in the service sector. The idea is attractive because it does not require large investments and at the same time guarantees a fairly high profit. You can start with a minimum set of resources and gradually develop your business. Moreover, with the growth of online commerce, delivery services are more relevant than ever. That is why starting a courier service is a great solution for an entrepreneur.

Professional kit for creating business ideas

Delivery service

Types of services. The courier service provides the population with prompt delivery of letters, documents, small and bulky cargo for a fee. Depending on the scale of activity, the courier service can deliver between countries, between cities and regions, within the same city. Another important criterion is the specifics of the cargo. Conventionally, the work of courier services is divided into the delivery of correspondence and cargo. In practice, most players specialize in both directions.

The types of services provided by the courier service may be different. The most demanded delivery of goods from online stores. Most often this is a small-sized cargo.

What options do courier services offer their customers:

pre order;

urgent order (within a day);

courier rental;

shipment insurance;

order at night - delivery of goods from 22:00 to 7:00;

lifting cargo to the floor.

Business area. At the initial stage of work, it is better to focus on work within the same city. Get a good reputation, gain experience - and then gradually develop. For a good start, you will need to find 2-3 large clients with whom you will cooperate on an ongoing basis. Qualitatively fulfilling these orders, you can count on a stable profit and invest it in further development.

Cargo specifics. Immediately decide what kind of cargo you will work with. Because the organization of all activities depends on it. A comparison table will help you make a decision, which shows the characteristics of different types of cargo.

Comparison of areas of work of the courier service

	Correspondence	Small cargoes	Small cargoes
	Not required	Required	Required
Car park	Not required	Required	Required
Loading and unloading equipment	Not required	Not required	Required
Material liability		Low/high
Security and alarm costs	Minimum	Minimum	Depends on the size and workload of the warehouse

An ideal option for a beginner in this business: delivery of correspondence and small cargo around the city. It will be much cheaper and easier. The specifics of the delivery of oversized cargo has its own difficulties, which will not only “eat up” part of your budget, but also require certain experience, skills and responsibility. In the future, of course, it makes sense to add cargo delivery to the services and expand the geography of activities.

Method and type of delivery. Also, choose in advance what type of delivery you want to deal with. Limit the scope of the target audience and develop a profitable offer for your potential customers.

The cargo service industry offers many options: online shopping products, delivery of flowers, gifts or food, important documents, etc. You can combine several directions.

To decide, study the demand in your city. What is missing in the courier services market? What niche is free? What can be improved in this area? What problems do your future clients face? When you answer all these questions, you can choose a promising direction.

Every day, many companies and people use the services of courier services. Your potential clients are:

online stores;

cafes and restaurants;

flower shops.

Today, almost all online stores cooperate with courier services and use their outsourcing services. Moreover, many prefer to conclude contracts with local small firms.

Ready-made ideas for your business

Another large segment is cafes and restaurants. Almost all catering establishments provide a delivery service to their customers. And this is also done by a third-party courier service.

Separately, it is worth mentioning about flower shops. Many of them trade through social networks and offer delivery services. But it is not profitable for them to keep their courier on staff, so they resort to outsourcing.

Almost all large companies need couriers to deliver various documents. In addition, there is such a service as "courier rental" - i.e. an employee can not only deliver documents, but also perform additional assignments. For example, stand in line at the tax office and hand over / pick up documents. Thanks to this service, the client saves time, and you get additional profit.

Ready-made ideas for your business

So the range of potential customers of the delivery service includes an unlimited number of individuals and legal entities. Courier services are in demand in all areas of activity.

After you decide what we will deliver and who will be our client. Now we need to figure out how to deliver it. The method of delivery depends on the specifics of the order, and on the territory, and on your strategy. Let's consider in more detail.

Possible delivery methods

Pedestrian courier. If you work within a small town, you can get by with a pedestrian courier. The method is reminiscent of the classic image of the postman. You can also use bicycles, mopeds, scooters. It is clear that only correspondence and small parcels will be delivered in this way. This may not be a very profitable solution.

Courier with car. First, the volume of initial investments will increase. You will need to purchase a car or hire a courier with a personal vehicle (and this is paid extra). Secondly, fuel costs will increase. But on the other hand, you will get a faster delivery method, more orders and the ability to deliver large and heavy packages. In addition, you can use unusual delivery formats. This will allow you to stand out and form a competitive advantage.

bike mail. Fast delivery of documents on small vehicles (bicycles, scooters, mopeds). It is cheap, environmentally friendly, and in the case of traffic jams, even faster. Also, for example, argues the American express mail UPS, which delivers parcels on bicycles with a trailer. Students can be hired. One downside is seasonality. It is not very comfortable to ride a bike in rain or snow. But this method of delivery can be made an additional service in the warm season.

Congratulatory courier service delivers flowers, balloons, gifts and other holiday paraphernalia. The services of such an organization are used by people who cannot personally congratulate their loved ones. The courier service does it for them. With proper advertising, the service will be in demand. In this case, the bright design of the courier car will be an excellent marketing ploy, so that it is immediately clear: “this car is carrying a holiday.”

Round the clock delivery. Not every courier service provides such a service. Therefore, you can occupy a free niche and start with less competition. Delivery at night has many advantages: the tariff for such orders is higher, and they are delivered faster (because there is less traffic and traffic jams). The downside is that you will have to hire additional employees for shift work.

Delivery of auto parts, building materials, assistance with moving. There are very few companies that would provide such services, but there is demand. The car broke down on the road, it is necessary to transport things or building materials for construction or repair. In all these cases, you will need the service of your courier service. But then you have to buy trucks and hire movers.

As you can see, the delivery service is a very variable business. You can combine characteristics in different ways: type of cargo, target audience, delivery method - and look for the “formula” that will be successful for you.

Business registration

From theory we pass to practical actions. The first serious step to start is the registration of a business.

The courier service can work both in the status of an individual entrepreneur and an LLC. Most often, small firms prefer to work as an individual entrepreneur - there is less paperwork with him. To register, you must write an application in the prescribed form and attach to it a receipt for payment of the state duty, which is 800 rubles. The following should be indicated as types of activities according to OKVED: 64.12 - Courier activities. You can immediately enable additional codes:

52.61.2 - Retail sales through teleshops and computer networks (electronic commerce, including the Internet)

63.40 - Organization of cargo transportation

64.11.11 - Activities for the reception, processing, transportation and delivery (delivery) of postal items

74.82 - Packaging

74.84 - Provision of other services

So, you submit the documents necessary for registering an individual entrepreneur, and after the period specified in the notification, you collect an extract from the USRIP from the tax. On the same day, it is recommended to write an application for the transition to the selected tax regime. You can choose STS 6% of income or STS 15% income minus expenses.

Premises and office

The courier service belongs to the category of business where the location and office do not play an important role. In this case, you will need a mini-office to receive corporate clients and conclude contracts with them. You can also place a small warehouse there.

An office for a courier service does not have to be located in the city center. For the client, it is more important how quickly you can deliver the package and how much it will cost. Therefore, the ideal space for an office is 20 sq.m. with internet and telephone, away from the city center. In the office, it is enough to equip one workplace for a manager who will look for clients, communicate with us, distribute tasks between couriers, control deadlines and payment for orders. The set of equipment in the office is minimal: a computer, an MFP, a telephone, a document rack.

When looking for a suitable office, pay attention to various business centers where you can find a premise already furnished and equipped with all communications. The cost of renting such an office will cost you about 10-15 thousand rubles per month. It all depends on the city and the territorial location of the building itself. Also, do not forget to buy stationery for your office: paper, pens, paper clips, tape, etc.

Equipment

The main production equipment in this case is a car. Well, of course, if you have not decided to open a bike mail. The choice of transport on which orders will be delivered should be approached with special attention.

How to choose a car for a courier

Characteristics. To begin with, let's define the main characteristics that an ideal car for a courier service should have:

low fuel consumption;

low cost of maintenance and repair;

small dimensions of the car: compactness and mobility makes it easy to park and move around the city faster.

So the main requirement for a courier car is efficiency and mobility. This way you save money and time.

Models. Based on these characteristics, we will give examples of popular cars that are most often used for delivery services.

If you give preference to the domestic auto industry, then the suitable options are:

OKA (VAZ 1111).

If you choose among foreign cars, then this:

German cars (Skoda Fabia, Volkswagen Golf, Opel Corsa,);

Korean (Kia Picanto, Hyundai i20, Daewoo Matiz, Hyundai Getz).

French (Citroen C1, Peugeot 107);

Japanese (Toyota Yaris, Toyota Vitz, Nissan Cube, Nissan March, Honda Fit);

Italian (Fiat Panda).

All of these cars have a small engine capacity - this allows you to save on fuel consumption. The average cost of a car for a courier is 400 thousand rubles. You can save money by renting a used car. But keep in mind that in this case you risk buying a car that will often break down. And delays in the work of the courier service can lead to serious consequences.

Scheme of the courier service

Before proceeding to the selection of personnel, you need to draw up a detailed scheme of the courier service and prescribe the functions of each employee. The general scheme of work looks like this:

An order is received from a customer.

The manager accepts the order, negotiates the amount of payment with the client, records all the necessary data (name, contact phone number, order parameters). Next, the manager passes the task to the courier.

The courier, according to the received task, goes to point A to pick up the correspondence/parcel and payment. Then he takes him to point B, where the receiving party signs the acceptance certificate, thereby confirming the fact of receipt.

The courier calls the manager, and he, in turn, notifies the customer about the receipt of the parcel or envelope by the addressee.

At the end of the working day, the courier delivers the signed documents and proceeds to the manager.

This scheme is not generally accepted and the only correct one. You can customize it to suit your business concept.

Courier service staff

An entrepreneur can open a courier business on his own. It is quite possible to combine the functions of a dispatcher, courier and director. At the initial stage, when there will be few orders, you can handle it alone. This will help save on salaries for employees. But then you still need help. By the way, replacing the entire staff of the courier service is a very useful experience. You will feel the business “from the inside”, understand the process of work, learn the nuances and then be able to better navigate the business.

The staff of the courier service usually includes a dispatcher (manager), courier drivers, foot couriers and an accountant. If you plan to deliver bulky goods, you will have to hire movers. Students can be hired as walking couriers: they are usually paid from 300 rubles a day - the costs are small, but their work relieves the volume of orders well.

Ready-made ideas for your business

The main requirement for courier drivers is that they must be able to navigate freely in the city. But you can not rely only on the ability of drivers. Be sure to equip courier vehicles with navigators. For a small company, two couriers will be enough. Their salary usually consists of a fixed salary and a percentage of the amount of completed orders. If you want to save money, you can find employees with a private car. But then you have to pay them more.

Try to find employees with similar experience. In the early stages, their experience will help you, especially if you are new to this business.

You can assign the functions of an accountant to yourself. There is nothing difficult in the IP documentation to understand and maintain accounting on your own. There would be a desire and time. Because your main function in this business is management. You must monitor the work of all staff, coordinate their actions, solve problems that arise, look for new customers and promote your business.

Advertising courier service

It's time to ask the question "where to look for customers"? Let's try to figure out where you can meet your potential customers and how to attract their attention.

Participation in tenders. On the Rostender website you will find many offers to conclude a contract for the provision of courier services. Contract amounts vary from a few thousand to millions of rubles. It all depends on the capabilities of your courier service. To see the right options, please select the region you plan to work in, check the terms of current offers, make sure you meet the stated requirements and apply. At the end of the tender, the results will be posted on the site and you may receive this order.

Electronic reference books. If your activity is limited to the territory of one region or city, then you can use electronic directories. Find the phone numbers and e-mail of those companies that are your target audience. Call or send an electronic proposal for cooperation. Try to come up with a commercial proposal that reflects the individual needs of a particular business.

Announcement Sites. Place ads about your services on various resources such as Avito. There you can also study the demand for courier services and respond to the application.

Intermediary sites. You can use third-party portals - for example, You Do. This platform is an intermediary between those who are looking for certain services (including courier services) and those who provide them. Register on the portal as an executor-courier.

Printable advertisement. Use brochures, business cards, flyers. Make flyers describing your services and a great offer. Arrange to place them on stands near cash desks in stores, in organizations, on bulletin boards.

As you can see, there are many channels for promoting courier services. At first, use all available advertising methods. Plan marketing expenses right away to get orders from the first month of work.

financial question

When an aspiring entrepreneur seriously thinks about starting a business, he is interested in two main questions: how much should he spend and how much can he earn? Let's figure it out. The table shows the main items of initial expenses. Based on this, in order to open a courier service from scratch, you will need at least 260 thousand rubles.

Initial investment to open a courier service

In addition to the initial investment, plan monthly expenses. The table shows an approximate calculation of fixed costs. In the first months when you will be self-employed, there will be no such payroll costs. However, when drawing up a business plan for a courier service, be sure to include this article.

Fixed costs of courier service

Now that you've got your costs figured out, let's move on to the fun part of planning: calculating your expected profit. To do this, you need to know how much courier services will cost and the number of orders. The cost of delivery depends on many factors (city, cargo specifics, route complexity, additional options, delivery time, etc.). Therefore, it is difficult to give any exact figures. On average, one order for the delivery of correspondence will cost 80-100 rubles in the city; delivery of small cargoes is approximately 250 rubles, and a contract concluded with one legal entity. face will bring already 20-30 thousand rubles.

Having a stable flow of orders, a courier service can earn 100-250 thousand rubles a month. Of this amount, you will be left with 50-150 thousand rubles of net profit. The profitability of the business reaches 90%.

Thus, the approximate indicators of business profitability will be as follows:

Revenue - 250 thousand rubles per month

Net profit - 150 thousand rubles per month

Profitability - up to 90%

Payback period - 4-5 months.

Risk factors

When compiling your business plan, be sure to pay attention to the risk component. Think about the risks you may face when providing courier services and how you can avoid losses. Any risk is a loss of profit. Therefore, precautionary measures should be taken to avoid problems.

What you need to pay attention to the owner of the courier service:

High competition. Earlier, we talked about the fact that there are many participants in the courier services market that a novice entrepreneur may encounter. You can solve the problem of competition even at the level of choosing a strategy, if you correctly identify your target audience, form an interesting and profitable offer for it. When you become a full-fledged participant in the market, you can attract customers by providing additional services at competitive prices, by competently advertising your services.

Dependence on weather and transport conditions. The quality of the courier service does not always depend on internal factors. Bad weather or traffic jams in the city can prevent the courier from delivering the order on time. It is almost impossible to solve this problem, as well as to insure against it. In addition, in such conditions, there is a possibility of damage to the vehicle. For example, sudden ice can lead to an accident. All this will bring you unforeseen expenses. The use of various programs to identify traffic jams and competent logistics solutions will help reduce the risk.

Personnel problem. The courier delivery business is characterized by high turnover. The salary is small, there is often no career growth, the work, albeit simple, but dreary. It is not uncommon to accept students who consider the work of a courier as temporary. Therefore, be prepared for the fact that you will often have to look for employees, and these are also certain costs. If you are interested in your company's employees working for a long time and with dedication, set a decent salary, provide good working conditions, use various methods of motivation. Or be prepared to be constantly on the lookout.

Starting your own courier service can be quite an exciting activity for a young entrepreneur, which is why you should learn how to start a courier service from scratch the right way. It turns out that by opening our own courier company, we can still find our niche and offer services where large networks do not reach. This fact gives you the opportunity to provide services to many individual clients as well as corporations. Below are a few tips to keep in mind if you are thinking about starting your own courier service.

Start a courier service from scratch

A detailed business plan should be drawn up, which should include the name of the company, the type of vehicles used (cars, bicycles, etc.), pricing policy, marketing and development strategies. Then you need to decide what time you want to serve customers and what distances you can deliver the goods. Consider hiring additional staff. Of course, you also need to think about promoting the company and hiring an accountant who will deal with financial affairs.

If you are going to deal with the delivery of goods to customers on your own, are you ready for driving a car for a long period of time? If so, you must first purchase a proven and reliable car. An alternative would be to use only bicycles for transportation. In this case, you will do everything possible to protect the environment, which can be your trump card in comparison with competitors. Delivery by bicycles, of course, only within certain areas of the city!

A Day in the Life of a Courier Service Owner

Considering the fact that the vehicles that you will manage will be key to the functioning of the business, you need to be sure that they are fully operational. There should be no room for breakdowns, lengthy repairs and delays in the transport industry. Whether your business is based on road transport or cycling, these vehicles must be properly maintained.

It is necessary to schedule deliveries, as well as determine the fastest (and most economical) delivery routes. If you have a team of employees, you will need to keep in constant contact with them to make sure they are at their destinations and the customers are satisfied with the services provided. At the very beginning of the activity, it will be very important to concentrate on marketing activities in order to ensure a constant influx of orders, which will ensure the development of your company. At the end of each day, your responsibility will be to analyze the finances. Every day you need to learn something new, reading a few articles on the topic “how to open a courier service” will not be enough!

Who will you work for?

Your customers will be individuals as well as corporations looking for quality, timely and cost-competitive courier services. In many cases, the goods being transported will require great care and will need to be assigned personal couriers for fast delivery.

Consider expanding your courier network. Clients of courier companies, as a rule, wait for the package at home, but this is not always realistic for them from a financial point of view. If you are thinking about how to open a courier service, then stand out among the gray crowd of various companies. Offer cheap or free home delivery! Regardless of the calculation model you use, it is very important that the price list is transparent and clear.

Positive sides

Business without the need to raise large financial resources (for small courier companies).
Individual work, "not for an uncle." A great business idea for anyone who is not enthusiastic about working at a desk.
Setting convenient hours of operation and range.

Negative sides

There are at least a few large and established courier delivery agencies on the market that you will be competing with.
The work of a courier is quite difficult.

What will you need

HOW MUCH MONEY DO YOU NEED TO START?

You will need transport (save money, hire staff with a personal car. Either buy 2 simple cars (about 600 thousand rubles), or 2-3 scooters (100 thousand rubles).

Renting a room for the first month is about 20 thousand rubles.

Furniture for employees (computers, tables) - about 100 thousand rubles.

Signboard, business cards, website - about 50 thousand rubles

Bottom line: you will need from 300 thousand rubles to open a courier service

One of the ways to make a profit can be considered a courier service as a business. We will describe in more detail how to open it and whether it is profitable to engage in such a business today. Increasingly, people and various organizations use delivery. After all, spending time on the independent transfer of letters, contracts, invoices, goods is inconvenient.

And although there are real giants in the courier service industry around the world, most companies and stores prefer to cooperate with local services. Therefore, you should focus on affordable prices and search for customers in a given region, offering more favorable conditions in order to win the competition.

Registration questions

In order to provide courier services legally and make a profit from it, you will need to organize everything correctly:

Contact the tax office and register an LLC or individual entrepreneur. In the first case, there will be more trust from customers and partners, and if you want to expand the scope of activities, you can use the help of investors, creditors or invite co-founders. The second option is only suitable if you are going to work in a medium-sized format and have a small amount.
Get registered with the statistical authorities, and when hiring staff, draw up documents with the Pension Fund.
To work, you will definitely need to open a bank account for a legal entity, where payments from customers will be received.
When choosing a taxation system, try to focus on a simplified form.

Market analysis

Where to start a business? After a novice entrepreneur has a brilliant idea to start his own profitable project, this issue worries me the most. When drawing up a business plan for a courier service, you will need to pay attention to the following points:

Decide on the target audience, find potential customers who your activities will focus on.
Find out all available information about competitors, their prices, services, promotions, bonuses, opportunities, etc.
See the situation on the delivery market in your city and understand which of the directions is less busy, but at the same time in demand.

You also need to decide on your capabilities and ambitions. So, it is one thing to organize a courier service as a business in a small format and deliver only papers within the business center of the city, and it is quite another to focus on oversized cargo or long-distance routes outside the selected region. In each case, completely different investments will be required.

Services

What will your courier delivery be aimed at? Potential clients today include:

Various private organizations, business centers.
Internet shops.
Flower stalls.
Publishers and printing houses.
bookstores.
Catering establishments (pizzerias, restaurants).

Such firms do not keep permanent couriers on their staff and it is much more profitable for them to conclude a delivery agreement with a specialized local company. And the more such customers you attract, the more successful your business will be.

To stand out from the competition, consider some special services, for example:

engage in the delivery of documents, contracts;
the courier can stand in line and submit papers to any organization;
perform the services of a trustee;
express delivery, etc.

seasonality

Please note that a business such as a courier service also has a certain seasonality. When working with online stores or flower stalls, a special demand for this type of service arises before big holidays - New Year, February 23, March 8, etc.

Sales are also very popular these days. It is then that the number of purchases increases significantly and people want the goods to be delivered to them on time. The peculiarity of such a business is that delivery must be made before the expected holiday, that is, in a short time. On such days, it makes sense to increase the staff so that they can cope with orders.

Routes

The real experience of entrepreneurs shows that it is necessary to think over the territorial scope of the future business in advance. So, it is much easier and cheaper to organize courier delivery in your city in cooperation with restaurants or flower shops. And a completely different project format, which implies the movement of large cargo around the country or even abroad.

In the first case, you do not need to rent a large room. Couriers can move around using public transport, bicycles, subways, roller skates, or even on foot. In the second case, large investments and compliance with certain requirements will be required, since it will be necessary to provide a warehouse for storing parcels and a fleet of vehicles for suitable vehicles.

In any case, it is important to learn how to competently plan a route around the city or outside it for each employee. It is necessary to take into account the availability of roads, the presence of traffic jams, the proximity of several customers and much more. It is desirable that the courier be able to make as many successful deliveries as possible in one trip.

If you need to choose a place to house a courier service when working over long distances, then you should focus on the following criteria:

Convenient location closer to the city center so that those who wish can pick up their parcels on their own. This service is called "self-delivery" and involves some discounts when paying.
Parking is needed near the office, where customers can stop on their vehicles and the couriers themselves.
Sometimes it is required to have an airport nearby in order to be able to send cargo using aircraft. This will significantly reduce the delivery time and simplify cooperation with many companies.
The size of the premises must be sufficient for receiving visitors, waiting for them, a warehouse for parcels, administrative staff, etc.

couriers

Usually, students or people without education who want to earn extra money and do not have a specialty are hired in such services. Therefore, their wages will not be high. It is most profitable to evaluate labor using a percentage system, depending on completed orders, the distance and complexity of the route, etc.

Carefully select personnel, as the courier is the face of the company. And if employees are rude to customers, spoil the goods, turn out to be dishonest, rude, non-punctual, then this will ruin your business. During the probationary period and at the interview, pay attention to such trifles:

Whether he fills out the questionnaire completely, answers all the points - this shows interest in the work and a serious attitude.
Ability to communicate, sociability and courtesy.
How he maintains documents, fills out invoices, submits reports.
Does it follow the set schedule, delivers the goods on time.
Feedback from customers will confirm your opinion about whether to hire such a person.

Customer acquisition

It is not enough to open a courier service from scratch, you also need to advertise it so that many customers use the services. The strategy will also differ from your financial capabilities and the chosen business format.

If there are not so many monetary assets, and cooperation involves working with shops and restaurants, then it is better to use the so-called point impact. That is, you personally draw up a competent and interesting offer for specific companies and communicate with their owners personally. Under mutually beneficial conditions, a contract is signed for the provision of delivery services on order.

In the case of solid financial investments and a wide range of activities in the region, country or beyond, you can use more expensive advertising media:

Website on the Internet.
Ads.
Banners.
Posters.
Business cards.

Price policy

Pricing becomes a separate issue. To do this, you must definitely study all the offers of competitors in your industry, identify their strengths and weaknesses, learn about discounts and promotions, bonuses that they provide to regular customers. To this end, you can simply call all the courier services in your city and clarify this issue.

You can also focus on low cost services to attract customers at the initial stage or offer interesting and unique additions to the service that your competitors do not have. A careful approach is required so as not to work to the detriment of oneself, but also not to overcharge.

Here you can download for free as a sample.

Financial part

When compiling a business plan, most entrepreneurs are interested in the money issue. What investments will be required to organize the project? It is not possible to give precise figures as there is a strong dependence on the expected scale of activity.

For example, if you need to purchase vehicles for oversized cargo and send them to different cities of Russia, then the costs may exceed 1,000,000 rubles. If you are only engaged in the delivery of food, flowers or documents within a small city, then you just need to pay for the registration of the company in the tax service and spend money on advertising.

Profit can also be completely different. Usually simple delivery costs 50-350 rubles. The margin is considered to be no higher than 10-30%. For a month of operation of a small city-format courier service, such a company will bring its owner about 100,000 rubles of profit. From this amount, you need to make contributions to the state treasury in the form of taxes and pay for the work of couriers.

When organizing a large business, the following items of expenses are assumed:

rental of premises;
purchase of transport;
staff salaries;
branded uniform;
automation of work processes;
purchase of cash registers and their maintenance;
mobile, fixed telephone communication, Internet;
advertising campaign;
stationery;
fuel;
taxes;
various banking services;
utility bills, etc.

But the profit in this case will be much greater, which will also affect the payback rate. If there is not enough experience in organizational matters or you want to immediately work with a recognizable brand, then you can purchase a franchise of a courier company. In this case, it will be possible to quickly win the trust of customers and achieve high profits.

Risks

In this type of activity, there are certain difficulties that it is desirable to know about in advance:

When drawing up a route and schedule, it is difficult to predict traffic jams and other road obstacles.
Quite often there are difficulties with the staff - dishonesty, rudeness with customers, lack of punctuality.
There is a "turnover" of personnel because this work is not a permanent place of activity for most couriers. They usually come here for temporary work.
When leaving for customers, delivery is not always perfect the first time. Therefore, you need to pay only for the last successful attempt.
There are risks of losing correspondence, documents, money or parcels.
It is important to constantly monitor the pricing policy, as the cost of services often changes.
When cooperating with other cities and firms, difficulties and misunderstandings also arise.
There are difficulties in drawing up a successful and profitable route when ordering from different parts of the city.
To improve control over the work of couriers, it is advisable to install modern software.
When problems arise in communicating with customers, the owner receives feedback from them, sometimes too late to correct the situation.

It is important to remember that in the courier service, work is constantly happening with people, and not with silent parcels. By establishing communication with staff and customers, you can achieve success, and by ignoring one of the parties, you can fail.

Video: how to open a courier service?

If you do not have any special knowledge in a particular area of entrepreneurship, this does not mean that you do not have a chance to open your own business. If you have some (not necessarily impressive) amount of money that you are ready to give in favor of developing your business, and an obsessive desire to work, as they say, for yourself, then you should think about how to create a courier delivery service.

This kind of activity does not require special skills or knowledge, the purchase of expensive equipment or the investment of sky-high funds, so this business idea is a great solution for a novice entrepreneur with a limited budget.

Of course, it is better to open such a business in a large settlement, where home delivery services are more in demand, but with perseverance and desire, you can achieve success in any city. Where to start? Of course, the first step is to draw up a business plan to take into account all costs and calculate the possibility of making a profit.

Organization of a courier service: where to start?

So, if the desire to earn income from your personal business is tenaciously stuck in your head, and you don’t know what to do, then this article is just for you.

Legal business requires state registration, so the first step is to go to the tax office and register your type of activity. Then you need to open a current account in the name of the organization in any bank that is beneficial for you (here you will be required to provide documents from the tax service on the registration of your enterprise and a certificate from the State Statistics Committee). In principle, from the formal side of the issue, that's all.

In parallel with the execution of all documents, proceed to the search for an office space. If your budget is very tight, then rent it. In case of success and prosperity in this matter, in the future it will be possible to purchase your own corner.

Then, when writing a business plan for a courier service, take care of the technical side of the issue. Today you can't get anywhere without modern equipment. We need telephone and computer networks, as well as transport. It is desirable that it be your own, although at first you can rent it. If the budget allows, you can create a whole fleet of several cars, as well as get bicycles to deliver mail. And it is even better to hire couriers with personal cars.

The scope of your activity at first, most likely, will be limited to one city. Indeed, at this stage of development, it is important to get a good reputation, and if you deliver orders late, then no one will want to work with you. In order for the business to have a good start, it is recommended to find a couple of large customers who would carry out regular orders. By qualitatively fulfilling the instructions of such customers, you can count on receiving a stable profit, which can immediately be used for advertising.

How to promote your business?

The courier service, like any other business, requires an investment in advertising. Start by creating a website. This marketing tool is considered the most effective today. Do not save on creating your site on the Internet, because in the future it will become the face of your organization. Order a website promotion service for a web company. Its specialists will analyze the market in which you operate and will be able to create a truly competitive resource.

Don't forget to include business card costs in your courier business plan. They should also characterize you from the best side.

A high-quality tactile and eye-catching business card with full information (clearly visible name of your company, all necessary contacts, hours of operation, any special conditions or discounts, etc.) will encourage its owner to contact your courier service again.

Place ads in the most popular newspapers in your city, do not forget about radio and television. And just share information with your friends and acquaintances. This simple form of advertising is often the most effective.

You can also distribute flyers, the presentation of which guarantees the client a discount. It may be quite small, but the opportunity to save at least a little always encourages customers to further cooperation.

Connect fantasy!

Promotions and discounts are, of course, good, but it’s even better to come up with your own “chip”, which can be a decisive factor in choosing a courier organization by a customer. After all, there are many such services today, they compete with each other in the quality and speed of delivery, the cost of their services, etc. But modern people want diversity, and this can play into the hands of a newly minted courier company.

Anything can be your "chip". For example, let female models deal with the delivery of goods, then the circle of your customers (especially males) will definitely increase.

You can hire a few guys of model appearance. Then women will turn to you for services much more often.

To make the ordering process more interesting, create an online catalog on your organization's website in which you place photos of your charming employees and employees.

Thus, leaving a request, the client gets the opportunity to choose the desired couriers provided to him. In general, connect your imagination, creativity is always welcome!

Such a "highlight" of your business will allow you to slightly inflate the cost of your services, but in most cases this will not affect the choice of the client.

Recruitment is important

It is impossible not to include labor costs in your business plan for a courier service. The issue of recruitment must be approached with all responsibility, because only serious and diligent employees will help to get good reviews about the company as a whole. If you do not have experience in the provision of courier services, then it is all the more desirable to hire professionals in this field who will help you establish the whole process and organize the correct work with clients.

Do not hire people who want to make good money and still work from 9 to 6. Such employees usually do not give their best to help grow the business. Before official employment, arrange a trial period of at least a week. This will help to understand how the future employee treats the client, whether he is able to provide the level of service you set.

Price policy

In the matter of setting prices for delivery, you cannot act “at random”, it is important to analyze the cost of such services in your city. You can qualitatively "monitor" information using the Internet, because today every serious company has its own website. But don't just rely on the information you get online. It is better to call the courier service you are interested in.

Usually telephone consultants are very talkative and will tell you about some conditions, promotions or other points that you can use in your activities. And in general, such calls are the best way to find out how the courier service works.

The provision of services for the delivery of documents and goods within the same city usually requires insignificant expenses, therefore, the cost of such delivery should also be small. But do not underestimate your prices too much in order to fully recoup your expenses. To do this, carefully consider all possible exit options and the distances that will need to be overcome. A well-designed pricing policy can recoup all costs in almost three to four months.

Your business abroad?

The homeland of the business we are considering is France, so let's use its example to see how to open a courier delivery service and make good money abroad while in Russia.

If you follow French laws, then the delivery service staff must consist exclusively of French citizens. Therefore, to begin with, find a native Frenchman for the position of director, preferably a friend. You, respectively, as the founder of this organization will need to obtain a visa.

The so-called "merchant card" is long-term and is issued to the founders of legal entities with French registration for a period of 1 to 5 years. Obtaining such a visa entitles its holder to many rights, which will be more than enough to bring your business idea to life. The courier service can now be led by you personally.

What other formalities must be observed in France?

French legislators have clearly determined the entire procedure for the establishment and operation of enterprises with foreign capital.
Therefore, in order to find out how to open a courier delivery service for a citizen of the Russian Federation in this country, you need to carefully familiarize yourself with the norms of local legislation. In general, it all comes down to a few basic questions:

to begin with, it is necessary to submit all the registration documents of the founder to the commercial court of the city you have chosen for carrying out activities;
after considering the above papers, the commercial court decides on the registration of the enterprise in the unified commercial register;
after that, you can apply for a “merchant card”;
obtaining a residence permit for a period of 1 year; if you become the head of your courier service, then it is automatically extended for the duration of your leadership.

Summing up

After reading this article, you have a general knowledge of how to open a courier delivery service and how to start working in the domestic or foreign market for these services. In general, the most painstaking activities require the recruitment, organization of work processes and their improvement, as well as the policy to attract customers.

Your individuality and creative approach to work is also important - only interesting and exclusive projects reach the desired heights.

Remember to take all these points into account when you write your courier service business plan.

A successful own business is the dream of many, whose plans include a stable and high income. The courier delivery service is quite popular, but at the same time still a free niche. There is healthy competition in it, which allows you to offer customers something that other companies do not have.

More details about this area will be discussed in this material.

Advantages and disadvantages of activity

Starting any project, you will be a follower. Someone must have done it before you. It's important to get it right. If this person has already opened a similar case, he probably made mistakes. Your task is to extract the maximum benefit from previous experience and avoid re-entering the "rake".

Advantages

Delivery service in demand and assumes the presence of potential customers. People need your company's services. Having a wide field of clients, it is important to start interacting with them correctly, and the first profit is in your pocket.
Among the advantages of this type of activity is also worth mentioning minimum investment. To get started, all you need is an internet connection and a phone. The first steps in the courier business can be started as a partner of any store or offline platform, as well as within the territory of one city. Later, having received the first profit, you will have the opportunity to expand your project by hiring workers, concluding contracts and buying the necessary equipment.
Another benefit of this type of work is a wide range of specializations. Your future company can position itself from different angles. It can be land or air transportation, partnership with a private company or a large enterprise, delivery of press or oversized cargo, etc. It all depends on the needs of customers and the current state of affairs in the service market. The main thing is that you can take any free niche.
IN recruitment even a novice entrepreneur will not have problems. This type of activity does not imply that employees have a certain education. All that is required from subordinates is responsibility and physical strength. This will greatly simplify your work in the selection of staff and help save on salaries.
Courier service does not require a special room. You can start working even without a warehouse. The main thing is to properly organize the process of cargo delivery by planning the route and minimizing all costs.

Flaws

As a leader, you will need patience and the ability to make quick decisions. Courier delivery is always possible appearance force majeure. As long as your state has a minimum of personnel, all significant decisions are made by you. Learn to quickly look for a way out of the current situation, negotiate and give instructions correctly.
Often in such companies, full-time employees can afford not to go to work. There are also a number of problems when the courier does not physically have time to get from one part of the city to another. Then you will need to quickly resolve the issue with personnel replacement or staff replenishment.
When opening a service, there is always risks: damage to someone else's property, untimely or poor-quality delivery. Many large companies still cannot eliminate such situations 100%. However, with the strictest control over the work of couriers and other employees, you can cope with this problem, forever winning the trust of the client.

Where should you start?

You should start a business by monitoring the situation on the market for such services. So you can take an advantageous position in this niche with the least competition. Large settlements are best suited for the development of the project, however, with a competent approach, this idea can be implemented in small towns.
After analyzing the received data, you will need to determine the specifics of the goods that will be delivered by the company. Will it be the transportation of documents, medicines, etc.
The next step concerns the equipment. Answer the questions: do you need a car? If you deliver documents within a small city or several districts, then the courier can do it on foot. In the case of parcel delivery, you will need a car. You must clearly know what kind of car you need. From here follow a chain of questions about hiring a driver, paying him for his work and related expenses. You can solve these problems at the first stages by concluding a long-term contract with a taxi or a driver with a personal car.
You will need a dispatcher to receive applications. Again, in order to save money at the beginning of business development, you can combine the qualities of a leader and a dispatcher. Communication with customers should be around the clock. This form will make your service stand out from the rest.
When the business is operating at full scale, and you have a fleet of vehicles at your disposal, you should think about hiring a mechanic and loaders of overall products. With the increase in the number of clients and the increase in the volume of work, a secretary, an accountant and other drivers and couriers will also be needed.

Interesting information about this type of activity is presented in the following video:

Business development options

The development of new technologies and the expansion of trade provoked the demand for courier services. Today, this niche is incredibly popular, and it can be developed in all sorts of directions. Here you must clearly define what specialization your company will be and how large. In the process, all this can be adjusted and gradually expand the circle of your customers, as well as the services provided:

A small courier company can deliver documents, small parcels. Your potential clients are most often banks, law firms, various organizations. It is most convenient to organize such work in a small area. one city or several villages. Suitable also nearby metropolitan areas.
If you plan to work nationwide, then here the variations on the theme of the delivered cargo are significantly expanded. This can be both urgent delivery of the press, goods from an online store, and transportation of equipment.
A new level for the delivery service - international. On the Internet you can find a lot of information about successful companies of this kind. It can be either air delivery or land or water delivery. It all depends on established relationships. You can stand out from competitors due to the shortest terms or additional services that other companies cannot provide.

Required documents and permits

It is necessary to issue documents only after your idea has been successfully tested. This gives a kind of guarantee that subsequent development costs will not go to waste, but will become an impetus for business improvement.

The form of the enterprise required to open a courier service is an LLC - a limited liability company. To properly draw up contracts, it does not hurt to get the services of a lawyer who will help in further documentation issues. Additionally, you should take into account the insurance of transported goods, especially if you work with hazardous substances.

Required personnel

The state is your backbone in doing business in the near future. Despite the fact that the specifics of the work does not require special education from many, you should focus on such qualities as responsibility and diligence. Otherwise, it threatens to disrupt the delivery time and affect the company's reputation.

A business in a small town will require a small number of staff. They are based on a dispatcher, a courier driver and an accountant.

Without initial capital, the duties of each of the positions can be performed by the head. Since the earnings will be initially small, you can do all the calculations yourself. In the future, you will need to resort to the services of specialists and acquire assistants.

As for the payment of wages, then, as a rule, it is paid from the output - the amount of goods delivered. With an increase in the client base and orders, it will be possible to switch to daily or monthly wages.

How to find clients

Customers are the backbone of any business. The main task is to sell them the services of your company. You need to look for the first customers yourself. Offer courier services to shops, restaurants or other city institutions. Surely banks, lawyers or flower shops need such partners to help them promote the product and generate additional income.

You can build your business on the basis of an already existing one, taking the role of an intermediary between the supplier and the direct buyer of a product or service.

A very relevant direction in the field of courier service has become lunch delivery. If there is none in your city yet, then feel free to classify offices and branches of various companies as potential clients. The main thing is to provide your employees with sanitary passports, and the dishes themselves - with safety certificates.

Don't forget to advertise your company: make contacts, put ads in the newspaper, distribute leaflets and call potential partners. In the future, you will be able to deliver goods to shops, supermarkets or deliver their products to customers' homes.

Business costs and profitability calculation

The profitability of the delivery service business is one of the highest. This is due to minimal investment and high cost of services. Additional savings on personnel, which is convenient when working in a small area, will further increase the profitability of just started business.

The normal amount of income is up to 90%. The standard conditions for such a profit are the average cost of delivery of 5-15 dollars. The price includes the costs of maintaining the staff, the weight of the cargo, its value, gasoline, delivery speed and much more. The average number of orders per day ranges from 40 to 50. This will allow you to fully recoup all expenses for travel, staff and advertising.

The amount of investment ranges from 3 to 5 thousand dollars, provided that you have your own transport. However, when working in a small town, you can start with the delivery of small-sized cargo, which the courier can carry on foot.

An organized courier service is a source of high income. It all depends on how you prioritize. Small calculations and a step-by-step description of creating a business will help you create a successful project that will bring dividends after the first month of work. The main thing is to give the client the opportunity to choose and offer something new in the market for services of this kind. Then, even in the face of competition, exchange rate fluctuations and other enemies of big business, you will be able to fully realize your idea.