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Life has generally proved simpler without employees. There is less administrative work and more profit. Thus any potential hire must be able to provide a good answer to the question "Why would Able Courier be better off with you than without you?"

It is unfortunate that candidates most capable of answering this question are quite likely to be better off elsewhere.

Perhaps they might even choose to run their own courier company. Barriers to entry are low, and those who tend to be good at and enjoy this sort of work also tend to be an independent lot who generally feel they can do a better job than their idiot bosses anyway. Nine out of ten are wrong and quickly go out of business (Able Courier so far being an example of the tenth).

Often this happens because they underprice themselves in an attempt to gain market share. They neglect to account for the fact that their vehicle is essentially an asset that is being used up and must eventually be replaced. When their vehicle dies their capital is gone, and so is their company.

But while they are alive they drive down prices and endanger everyone's ability to safely maintain vehicles and still make a profit. This was the main rationale offered for industry licensing and regulation. Prior to 1995 only those permitted could play, charging regulated rates and competing only on service. On the other hand barriers to entry were artificially high, as new licenses were essentially unobtainable and existing licenses sold for tens of thousands of dollars.

Able Courier's position on new entrants is that as long as they play by the rules, including licensing and insurance requirements, they can't be stopped. They are however encouraged to take into account all operating costs - vehicle fuel, insurance, maintenance and depreciation, and administrative expenses such as marketing and bookkeeping - when setting prices. If after this they still want to seriously undercut existing prices, all that can be said is "Hey, good luck with that!" .

It must be admitted that there are advantages to a multi-person as opposed to a one-person operation. The first that comes to mind is the ability to take time off when necessary (perhaps even a vacation!). Others include being able to offer customers more - more hours of operation, more vehicle types, more services, etc - which enables a larger potential customer base and thus the possibility of larger and more stable revenue.

Having said that , Able Courier is wary of both the employer/employee and independent contractor models common in the courier industry.

Independent contractors are typically treated as sole proprietors providing service to a courier company. This relationship can be abused in the same way as described above for running a new courier company, in that compensation is sufficient to live from paycheck to paycheck but not enough to replace the contractor's vehicle when it dies. There are also dangers to the courier company itself if the IRS decides that the "independent contractors" are actually employees.

Able Courier's own experience with the employer/employee model is that it is a burden to be responsible for someone else's financial welfare. Also that employees complain a lot about wanting more money. Also that generally only two types find their way into courier work: those who are not terribly capable but show up every day, and those who are good at the work but do not show up every day. Neither provides the kind of service that is easy to sell, and service is at root all that a courier company has to sell .

So what is left? Able Courier is intrigued by the co-operative model. In this form of organization the employees are also the owners. They are thus responsible for their own economic welfare and cannot simply demand that ownership cater to their desires. But they are not alone, and many expenses become shared, reducing their impact on any one member of the co-operative.

Co-operative ownership is an established business model, particularly in agriculture, but is not common in transportation. Ownership requirements in co-operatives vary, but always require some sort of personal investment. In the case of the co-operative envisioned by Able Courier this investment would be substantial, partly to discourage those looking for a free ride on the resources of others.

To the question "What could Able Courier offer to a co-operative?" the answer is capital, a client base of both scheduled and on-call customers, an established marketing presence of over ten years, and a driver with even longer experience who enjoys the work and shows up every day willing to do what it takes to get the job done. What have you got to offer?