Looking at starting a business within the industry...

J

jjl123

New Member
Hello all,

I'm looking at starting a company within the CVIT industry.

I was hoping you could help me with my research? The questions I am after help with are, in my opinion, very general and have nothing to do with any specific operational information of any present CVIT operators - I'm not intending to retrieve abny such information so if you feel I've asked an inappropriate question to this end, please accept my apologies but let me know straight away!

Now that's out of the way, to the questions I have;

What sort of mileage would one van do on any particular run?
Is each 'run', for example, from the CVIT base to the retailer then back to the CVIT Base? If not, what does a typical 'run' consist of?
Furthermore, how long (time wise) would this take?

If you can help me, that would be great and I look forward to hearing your replies!
 
Sorry mate, but those questions are like asking the meaning of life.
If these stats are the basis for starting a business then you are in not at the races.
'Runs' are the client site to the drop off so it could be 1 mile or 500 miles, plus travel to the client site. It could take anything from 5 minutes one day to four hours the next, if there is traffic or an accident or a detour.
Until you know a) Who the client is and b) where the drop off is, you can't quantify this, AT ALL!

You need to work out ALL your other costs, figure out how much it costs per mile/per hour or per '000 pounds in value to actually transport an item, and then add on the margin you want to make.

The first column in your costs spreadsheet should look something like this;

Accountancy
legal
Set up fees
Insurance-BIG ONE for CIT
Cost of vehicle
License
Certification fees
Audit fees
Uniforms
Office furniture
Stationary
Accounts and wages package
Bank fees
Wages
Maintenance on vehicles
Communications
Trackers for vehicles
Etc etc etc......Get all these done, annualised and THEN you can price a job.

I'm sure there are those on here more knowledgeable about the particular sector than I, but good luck, I know it's cut throat!!
 
@TMAC - Thank you for such a detailed and informative reply - you have highlighted some points it's obvious I haven't considered and emphasises what a long way off I am from this!

Your reply is immensely helpful however so thanks again.

Joe
 
Another thing you are going to have to consider is employer/employee relations. What sort of relationship are you going to have with the union if your employee's unionize? When I worked in CIT we were paid by the shift, so if you finished your shift early you could go home and still get paid the same. This was an incentive to cut corners and skip steps. Not things you want to encourage your employees to do when handling valuables.

In my amateur opinion, I believe that if someone made an Employee Share Purchase Plan(ESPP), or an Employee Stock Ownership Plan(ESOP) for a Cash in Transit company they would have a huge advantage over the current incumbents.

The biggest cost for Cast In Transit, or any company for that matter, is usually wages, and to a lesser degree, Training. When someone joins a company and they attend training,(any training) it takes a while to recoup those costs from the individuals work. Second, if you have a high churn rate at your company with lots of people leaving all the time, that only makes it worse.

If you setup a CIT company with some sort of share program for the employees, it would act as an incentive for them to work harder, and go that extra mile. Because when the company succeeds, they succeed from getting paid more through higher dividends. It fosters a team spirit between management and front-line staff, instead of a competitive environment. It also stops money from going to a union, and allows that money to stay on the paycheck of the workers.

But as TMAC, said, first your need to run a business and maybe work in the industry a little first before your go for it on your own.
 
Back
Top