From Classic Car Weekly / 19th Feb 2009.

The idea is beautifully simple; people who want something delivered place details of the item plus the collection and delivery postcodes, on the stuff2send website. There’ it’s seen by other people who are making a similar journey anyway, and they can make an offer to deliver the item. The sender can then select the lowest or best offer.

This benefits everyone; the sender pays less than they normally would using a conventional company and the person making the delivery gets a bit of money towards the cost of the journey they are making anyway. The environment benefits too because duplicated journeys on the same route are minimised.

We suspect it’ll work best when time is not of the essence for the delivery, and the sender can wait for more offers to find somene making that journey anyway.

We think it’s an excellent idea, and hope it succeeds.

Running empty is a real problem for anyone who makes a living from their vehicles. Industry experts claim around 25% of all truck journeys are undertaken with empty loads. This represents a major challenge for hauliers struggling with high fuel costs, let alone a fullblown recession.

For taxi drivers, the issue of running empty is of course, one of passengers not parcels. But the principle is the same. Every journey made without a paying fare represents a cost to the business. The truck sector has invested millions in better logistics, real-time vehicle tracking and driver monitoring software to maximise loads and minimise costs to address the problem. Now a new web site has the potential help London cabbies do the same – albeit much more cheaply. The site  -www.stuff2send.com was launched in December 2008. Site founder Colin Hay, recognised the benefit of services that linked empty truck loads with potential jobs. He took the concept one step further and applied it to private motorists, and small businesses.

And now he’s looking for taxi drivers to join the community. “It’s a very straightforward web site,” he said. “The idea is that if someone is driving somewhere anyway, they can bid on-line to deliver a package or parcel to a destination close-by, for someone else. There are real advantages in sharing your vehicle space with a package.

For all road users it means less unnecessary traffic, while for the individual it means getting paid for journeys you already do.” The service has signed-up 500 delivery drivers including students, commuters and small businesses like van couriers. But Hay believes the service could soon be a hit with London cabbies too. “We understand that many black cab drivers commute into London from outside the capital, so our service should prove a benefit on those empty runs.”

The cost of using Stuff2Send has been kept low too. It’s free to join for those who want to send stuff by posting details onto the site; those who join as a deliver driver pay a one-off fee of £10. Once registered, drivers search for parcels and packages to be picked up near where they start a journey to be delivered close to their planned destination. “We’ve only recently launched Stuff2Send, but already there’s been great interest,” added Hay. “We want to develop our community of delivery drivers and senders. I can’t think of a better community to spread the word and reap the benefits of Stuff2Send than London cabbies.”

It’s an interesting idea. And while parcels may not be the world’s greatest tippers, at least they won’t ask you to turn the radio down!