Dave the Renegade:
Perhaps he could squeeze a nice car into the turnover,as a company car,and the holiday as a working holiday and offset the holiday against tax. 5 million a year sounds a lot,but as turnover of a company it isn’t.As I am not an accountant I could be wrong.
Can’t get a nice car any more, not on the company anyway, that’s all finished. Better nowadays to run your own car and claim business mileage. Might be able to do a working holiday, for research purposes.
Dave the Renegade:
Perhaps he could squeeze a nice car into the turnover,as a company car,and the holiday as a working holiday and offset the holiday against tax. 5 million a year sounds a lot,but as turnover of a company it isn’t.As I am not an accountant I could be wrong.
Can’t get a nice car any more, not on the company anyway, that’s all finished. Better nowadays to run your own car and claim business mileage. Might be able to do a working holiday, for research purposes.
I was joking about the Rolls Royce.
I should have known that Harry,as a mate of mine tried to get his range rover through the company,but had to settle for a commercial type without windows in the back.
Moose:
if you are running 40 trucks and only working on 1% gross you may as well shut the door now as the work you are doing is nowt but crap!
there are far to many firms working for slim to no proffit, and all that it’s doing is holding haulage rates lower than they need be.
I think it’s a position lots of companies are in at the moment, but ‘shutting the doors’ & putting everyone on the dole is a defeatist thing to do and we all hope that a turn around is just about to happen & with it a return to decent profit margins.
I know my views aren’t exactly conventional, but if I was running 40 trucks, making 3.5% gross and giving 40 local blokes a job then I would be happy enough with that.
Harry Monk:
Absolutely, once I have built my global transport empire I’m really looking forward to pulling up in the yard in my new Rolls Royce, on my way to the airport for my sixth Bahamas holiday of the year, then winding down the window and telling the plebs that there won’t be a pay rise this year “because there’s no money in it”.
So you’re running 40 trucks, grossing £5m a year but only managing 1% gross so £50k a year before tax, them ‘revenue types’ want their bit which leaves you with about £10k net (if your lucky!!!) & as the boss you get a new car every 4 years (not forgetting that the cars depreciation or lease payments are in the equation for your profit & loss account) & your BMW X5 is coming up to replacement time.
Do you get a new one, or give the old one back & buy a £1,500 Nissan & give the rest of your yearly profit to the 60 people in your workforce, which is about £141 each so about £2.71 a week rise per employee, not forgetting that if your company profitability drops 1% you’ll be ‘in loss’ next year & be risking the jobs of your trusty staff anyway?
Running a £5m business isn’t all golf clubs & Barbados holidays, but the boss of such a business is entitled to a return on their investment and if there isn’t enough in the job to give the staff a rise that’s the way it is, Range Rover or not.
Ross.
I would change what i did if i was working on your shown figures !
1% is far from the 3.5% harry pointed out and how many haulage firms are in business to provide jobs?
Harry Monk:
I know my views aren’t exactly conventional, but if I was running 40 trucks, making 3.5% gross and giving 40 local blokes a job then I would be happy enough with that.
But if the job went bad (as it is now for many companies) & margins dropped to 1% would you;
1, shut the doors & put all your staff out of work?
2, give the staff a pay rise & put the future of the whole firm into jeopardy by plunging into loss?
3, ‘plough on’ working hard trying to open new doors for better work & head towards greater profitability? (no pay rise)
If I was an established operator and was facing these times, I would explain to the blokes that these were the three options, and I had already written off Option 2 so they had the choice between 1 and 3.
Moose:
I would change what i did if i was working on your shown figures !
1% is far from the 3.5% harry pointed out
Easy words to write on a forum Moose, but 3.5% is a theoretical figure from Commercial Motor and plenty of big Co’s are working for much less. So what would you do to turn your firm around, I know it’s only a theoreticl exercise but a 40 vehicle fleet is a bit of a monster & in this day & age if you’re ‘keeping your head above water’ (& making a small profit) you are doing better than many firms, just look how many are shutting up shop & calling it a day because they can’t make any profit at all!!
If I was an established operator and was facing these times, I would explain to the blokes that these were the three options, and I had already written off Option 2 so they had the choice between 1 and 3.
Which I feel is the only sensible option, the big thing is keeping the staff ‘in the loop’ & let them know what’s happening & not upgrading from a 2 year old Range Rover to an Aston Martin!!!
Ross.
[edit] that said, if he was worth a fortune he might just drive a Lambo anyway!!
If I was an established operator and was facing these times, I would explain to the blokes that these were the three options, and I had already written off Option 2 so they had the choice between 1 and 3.
Exactly fight through on the same wages or throw yourselves at the mercy of the Micky mouse government and their benefits which you probably won’t get now unless your a lazy ■■■■ who does drugs or a foreigner
I will just say that I am earning far, far more than 3.5% profit, if I wasn’t then I would just sell the truck and put the money back into an ISA where it would earn that much without any effort at all on my part.
Moose:
it depends on what you call a small proffit, if as i your o/p @ 10k you might as well sell up and drive for another haulier
But in my example, that £10k was while still keeping 60 people in work?
Yes, there’s a moral issue here, as well as just a financial one. Keeping 60 people in work is reward enough for some people, I would include myself in that category.
Harry Monk:
I will just say that I am earning far, far more than 3.5% profit, if I wasn’t then I would just sell the truck and put the money back into an ISA where it would earn that much without any effort at all on my part.
A company with 40 trucks would almost certainly have half a dozen office staff with traffic & accounts people & then a few fitters / garage staff etc etc. Nobody in their right mind would spend the kind of cash needed to set up & operate 40 trucks looking at 1%, but that said, when the going gets tough you either keep going or give in, and I personally know someone in exactly this position right now!!
Ross.
PS, as an O/D you can make that decision without having to worry about putting people on the dole.
I quite understand that! the thing is employing folk is expensive and at the 10k shown it’s not worth the trouble
as harry points out if he only worked on 3.5% with one truck it would be a waste of time, that is why i reverted to what i did years ago rather than chasing poor rates in order to run my truck every day
a few years ago my time was spent as a welder fabricator/fitter and haulage contractor, after a while i could earn more money driving so that is what i did, now times have changed and the welding and repairs/relief driving side is better for me by way of proffits than running the truck on poor rates, so now it only gets used when it’s worth it
I have no intention of trying to compete with some of the buisy fools
Harry Monk:
I will just say that I am earning far, far more than 3.5% profit, if I wasn’t then I would just sell the truck and put the money back into an ISA where it would earn that much without any effort at all on my part.
A company with 40 trucks would almost certainly have half a dozen office staff with traffic & accounts people & then a few fitters / garage staff etc etc. Nobody in their right mind would spend the kind of cash needed to set up & operate 40 trucks looking at 1%, but that said, when the going gets tough you either keep going or give in, and I personally know someone in exactly this position right now!!
Ross.
PS, as an O/D you can make that decision without having to worry about putting people on the dole.
Another problem when things get tight as you point out above is that you are much closer to loosing money than you may think, you only need a customer to fold and it can be all over to soon, you have to ask yourself is it worth it, all the points about putting folk out of work are well made and undersood but at the end of the day they dont have the risk of running a business on the bone!
Moose:
Another problem when things get tight as you point out above is that you are much closer to loosing money than you may think, you only need a customer to fold and it can be all over to soon
Another reason I’m doing what I’m doing, I may not make a fortune at it but at least Gregory’s are 100% sound for the money.
