Fastway franchise

blahblah06

So it turns out I've an opportunity to purchase a franchise in a very busy area.
A lump sum is needed and I have received yearly accounts and wonder can somebody tell me where I need to go to get a professional opinion on wether it would be worth it?

galwaydude18

blahblah06 wrote: »

So it turns out I've an opportunity to purchase a franchise in a very busy area.
A lump sum is needed and I have received yearly accounts and wonder can somebody tell me where I need to go to get a professional opinion on wether it would be worth it?

You need to talk to an accountant with the yearl accounts and have them advise you from theee

lucky john

One thing to be aware of. Is this a busy area thats been split or is it the present franchisee selling up.

hyperborean

Look carefully, fuel increases and competition reducing drop costs are squeezing all the delivery drivers working for themselves,

bizzyb

Something fishy about this franchise imo nearly everyday there is one popping up on donedeal.

MidlandsM

Thread carefully OP

snausbaby

Looked at one in the South East a few years ago, figures did not add up unfortunately. If you can, go out with the current driver for the day or two which is what we were able to do - you may well get a better picture.

blahblah06

Ye current driver selling up to purchase a area closer to home.
I've been giving him a dig out with deliveries at the minute.
Actually had a massive area with another person working to cover some of his work as can't manage it all by himself.
Basically if I took on all the area looks like averaging about 150 deliveries a day normally more.
Did suggest I could do a 50/50 deal if I didn't want to commit to such a amount up front

true

150 deliveries a day seems like a lot of work if some deliveries are out in the sticks / remote locations / people not there during the day etc. Do they work on a commission per parcel I wonder?

blahblah06

Well ye it's a lot of work but sure u gotta work to get money. Average parcel is €1.40 per delivery then u get pick ups and commission on selling the labels

rainbowdash

blahblah06 wrote: »

Well ye it's a lot of work but sure u gotta work to get money. Average parcel is €1.40 per delivery then u get pick ups and commission on selling the labels

I am friendly enough with my local Fastway guy and he seems quite happy with what money he makes. 150 deliveries will all be unique either, some places could have multiple drops.

You seem to be fairly clued in with the existing driver, you have been out a few times with him so it's like you are buying completely blind.

blahblah06

I presume u mean I'm not going in blind?
Well ye it just seems to good to be true and of course the lump sum would be my life savings so risky.
Just worried if they lose a contract or something

SCOOP 64

blahblah06 ,if you go for it ,would like to know how you get on,ex courier myself, worked for a large courier company last year, it went into receivership, not many employed drivers jobs out there now, to clear 150 delivery's aday,would need to be a tight area, i use to speak to many owners drivers when i was working, many would say now-days if you came out with €400 after tax ,petrol etc... you would be doing well, thought about it myself ,but the layout for van etc... plus self employed ,not sure, if it didn't work out after a year ,how would you stand signing on,when i was made redundant at least i got dole mony straight away, anyway good luck to you.

kilburn

i would not purchase a franchise from fastway, you are supposedly self employed but have to do what your told, you have zero control over your own business

lucky john

kilburn wrote: »

i would not purchase a franchise from fastway, you are supposedly self employed but have to do what your told, you have zero control over your own business

I use fastway 2 or 3 times a week and I was chatting to the guy in my area today so I picked him for a bit of info.

He bought this area (very rural) just after Christmas. His drops vary from 50 to 120 a day. His pick ups are 25 to 40 a day. He was previously selfemployed so he had no issue with that. Getting people at home to accept delivery is a problem, especially when they ring later and complain they didnt get their delivery.

As the quote above says, you may be selfemployed but you are not the boss. Fastway treat their franchisees like employees. My guy has no say in ANY aspect of his business except a..selling a book of lables to a new customer he may find(fastway can even veto this). b.. the route through his area he can take each day.
Having said all this, he is happy to have the job. he does mad hours but is making a wage and so far no regrets.

The person on my route before this guy gave up because of an injury. they were fed up of it anyway and the presssure of the Christmas period (a month of hell they said) made up their mind. They sold the area with a bit of profit after 3 years.

Get an accountant to check the accounts, you are going to need one if you buy anyway.

best of luck with it.

rainbowdash

blahblah06 wrote: »

I presume u mean I'm not going in blind?
Well ye it just seems to good to be true and of course the lump sum would be my life savings so risky.
Just worried if they lose a contract or something

Yes that's what I meant, you are not going in blind.

Why not offer him a bit less for it if you are not sure? Or agree on stage payments over 2 years etc., so if you begin to see it is just not worth it you won't have lost everything.

But if people are effectively employees of fastway, as has been suggested by a few here, is he even allowed to sell the franchise in his contract with fastway?

What if fastway turn around and say you are not entitled to the franchise, but then they sell it to somebody else?

blahblah06

I'm currently self employed myself so that's not an issue really.
I have been offered a 50/50 with option to pay a certain rent a week then buy out after 2 years.
But it would cost a lot more over the term
Ye he is allowed to sell the franchise alright.
Tbh it's one of the areas that he got lucky and it grew so much it consists of 6 big areas and all in between.
As I said he had to hire someone to do some of his work as he doesn't have enough time in the day to do the whole run

Fr_Dougal

Ask them about their domestic service, postplus. From what I've heard they are going to do a massive relaunch of that. That could bring you in some serious coin if they do it right and it's part of your franchise.

jfk1977

A friend did this for a while and he found he was not making as much as he first though. He got totally pi**ed off once with trying to get cover when his wife got ill. For a short period of time he was loaning his van paying all expenses and wages to relief driver. I think it is a contract you enter with the depot and you must provide service 5 days a week so if you are thinking of this make sure you have a back up plan if for some reason you need to take a few days off.

DecTipp

I think you should watch this before you make a decision http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A31UEsgHiLU

blahblah06

Ye 3 year old video things have changed seen it a while ago. By the sounds of it the lads just gave up working.

highlandseoghan

Some areas can make money and some areas will end up costing you money. Why is this person selling his territory? There are a lot of territorys for sale throughout the country and have been for a long time, I just wonder why so many people are selling there areas.

The area that you are looking at buying into, have you seen the books for the past 2 - 5 years? How do the books look, Is the business making money after all the expenses are paid?

blahblah06

To myself the run is making money from what I can c. Wouldn't b a 2 person run if not. I'm heading out next week with him and in the mean time the accountant is waiting on the books
I will let use all know

rainbowdash

The 3 year old radio clip seems to indicate a ~15K investment. It looks to me like them lads jumped in without checking that their route was all over rural Mayo or Leitrim, some of Irelands least populated areas.

SCOOP 64

rainbowdash wrote: »

The 3 year old radio clip seems to indicate a ~15K investment. It looks to me like them lads jumped in without checking that their route was all over rural Mayo or Leitrim, some of Irelands least populated areas.

Rural Mayo or Leitrim, some of Irelands least populated areas, so drops few are far between, €15000! Fastway laughing all the way to the bank

dbagman

How did you fare out mate?Thinking of something similar myself but wary as there are quite a few areas up for sale.Cant help but question their profitability if so many seem so keen to sell

blahblah06

Hi lad
Decided against it.
Driver wouldn't give me full accounts and only supplied me with a 3 line account for the partial run and couldn't give me it for the full run.
Took a lot of effort to get this from him so if he was sure of the value he would have supplied it quick
Accountant basically told me it wasn't worth €10,000 as if u become a driver now u need to buy a 2013 van so people be aware of this added expense
Blah

liam7831

Lots of these runs on DD at the moment

MidlandsM

I personally know a guy who sold off his van and franchise, he's now working nights in a factory......


he's glad to be out of it.