With a new addition to the family due in 6 months it's going to be hard going financially. I'm considering getting a second job, my criteria are as follows:
Flexible working - i.e. evenings and weekends, being able to work extra/less hours at short notice
Money - doesn't have to be big bucks, just looking to top up my main income
Car - I'm happy to use my own, or buy a suitable car
The future - I'm fed up with my current job so I may switch to doing it full time
Training - happy to take AIM tests etc.
I'm considering - fast food delivery, taxi and driving instructor. Not considering anything HGV related.
If anyone here has any experiance of these jobs they can share then I would be very grateful, any other suggestions also welcomed.
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I'd also be interested in this. Would use the Toledo - big and economical enough to make sense for pretty much anything.
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Of the three mentioned driving instructor would be the only one I would consider. Choose your hours, not likely to get yobs and miscreants and if you do, just refuse further bookings off them. May have to shell out for a more suitable car, if you don't already have one and there is the cost of the training.
Taxi driving is too much grief with shopping bags etc for the £3 or 4 fare they get when picking up at Asda etc, then you get the intoxicated, obnoxious set on weekend nights, again too much hassle...and thats before you have to hose out the sick on the back seats etc. A much better prospect would be doing an airport service type deal, lots of weekend work ferrying holdaymakers.
Fast food delivery may not be so bad, but since there doesn't seem to be a tipping culture here, I imagine the only money you will make will be your salary which I can't see being much. In the US a friend had a part time job delivering pizzas and the tips he earned more than tripled his income...and he got a free pizza at the end of his shift.
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Of the three you mention driving instructor is possibly the worst, unless you are seriously considering it as a career in a year's time or so. The idea of flexibility sounds wonderful, it can be, but only for the instructor, pupils are a little less understanding. You are providing a service, if you don't provide it when they want it they go elsewhere. How long would a shop last which only opened when the owner had the time and inclination to open it? Being a driving instructoir is no different. My father started driving instruction doing it part time after his normal 7.30-5pm engineering job. He didn't make any money as he couldn't fit in enough lessons - he just about covered the extra costs incurred in running the car and his course fees to pass the various tests.
If you do consider it as a full time job and wish to raise children on the income don't expect to see your children much. 50 lessons a week will give you a decent income - that's a 50 hours a week teaching plus time to get to appointments - 60-70 working hours a week is to be expected.
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My brother used to deliver fast food, first pizzas and then, later on, Chinese.
Didn't pay particularly well, but he did get tips from most of the customers. Used to moan about being sent to addresses on the limit of their delivery area, especially if he knew that, when he got there, he wouldn't get a tip.
The rather strange system which was operated was that the delivery driver had to buy the pizza or whatever from the shop, deliver it and then collect the money, which was then his own as he had already paid the shop for it. I assume it was done in this way to get around any possibly liability or problems with the car's insurance.
He used to use his own car, as did all the other drivers. It wore his car out, with the constant stop-start use, to say nothing of the permanent smell!
He finally left when, one Bank Holiday weekend, someone went up to one of the delivery drivers, who used to park up and wait at the rear of the shop, with a gun in their hand, forced them to get out of their car, marched them into the back of the shop, and, again at gunpoint, stole the entire weekends takings of about £3,000. Thankfully the driver so treated wasn't him, but he did have every sympathy for the driver involved, who he knew quite well.
After this episode most of the delivery drivers left, and who could blame them!
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I used to work in Dominos as a delivery driver until March this year and did so for almost two years. Not a bad part-time job at all because I sit in office all day long so I wanted a non-office part-time job just to earn a bit more. That's how it works in Dominos where I worked. Start at 6 and finish at 9/10/11pm (depending how busy and how experienced driver you're). When I left I was working 16-20 hours a week and they were paying minimum wage plus mileage for every single delivery you do, the minimum is £1 and max is £1.50 per delivery. Tips aren't great round £20 every week.
Now I'm working for an Indian take-away and money is a lot better. I'm the only driver there and because I know the area really well they pay me well. There're more tips in this job because its usually middle-aged or old people who order from them (its quite expensive) so I get good tips. I'm using Toyota Carina 1.6 at the moment. But because I've bought a Mazda 323 as a family car, I'm selling Carina so I could get a small car for deliveries. Give it a go, its worth trying! I hope it helps.
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Depending on where you live, and on sorting out your car insurance, you might find a personalised service, taking people to and from airports might be viable. Of course you would need a big car or estate. 4 People plus luggage aren't going to fit into many saloons or hatchbacks!
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Some great replys so far, thanks and keep em' coming!
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Driving Instructor is a long term job, the outlay involved is too much to make it viable as a part time earnings booster. You are looking at £2000 minium for training and fees, plus a suitable car and increased insurance premiums. Working evenings and weekends is fine in theory, but if you had 20 pupils for example, then you would have to make yourself available at least 20 times a year during the working day for their driving tests. Probably nearer 40 to be realistic.
Why not contact the catalogue companies such as littlewoods? They are always looking for owner drivers to deliver goods to local customers. No outlay and I think the money is fairly reasonable.
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There's a well-regarded limousine and airport transfer operator near me maintains a pool of part-time drivers to meet out-of-hours demand - a housemate's retired father works for them and certainly enjoys it. In his case, much of the work is one day a weekend, to drive wealthy tourists or corporate clients to an event, wait for them and drive home.
All his out-of-pocket expenses are covered by the company, the car or MPV is theirs, so he has no running expense and (especially in the case of elderly tourists) the tips can be very generous indeed. No louts and very flexible hours - if a job doesn't suit him, there's enough other drivers in the pool to cover the job without hassle.
Maybe there's someone in a similar line of business around your parts, Moonshine, that you could approach to enquire if they need part-time drivers too?
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Problem is, you would need a cab-drivers licence. In my area this takes about 6 weeks to get, requires a doctor's report ( which he charges you for) and costs about £160 - rising fast as the CRB charge increases. So you have to work quite a bit first just to get back to even.
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Buy a cheap n' cheerful estate/van, and walk people's dogs for them. Daughter #1 gets paid £5-£15 per dog for a couple of hours. She jogs with them, gets a good work-out, and the mutts go home puffed.
No licence, no CRB, all cash.
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WHereabouts are you located Gromit? Not northwest are you?
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WHereabouts are you located Gromit? Not northwest are you?
No, west of Ireland. So my local limo service isn't the only one running a part-time driver's pool?
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If you're public spirited, what about being a voluntary hospital car service driver? Probably expenses only though.
--
L\'escargot.
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Another possibility is that, if you can arrange your insurance and the owners trust you, you could drive them to the airport in their car. You might be able to tie this in with pet care and house watching. This works for some people in my local village but is more a neighbourly think than commrecial.
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