Working across a number of premises can have advantages and disadvantages for a business even if the premises are in the same town and the setup you have has come about due to needing to expand but not being able to find suitable premises for your whole business. 
One of the biggest issues of course is the logistics of getting anything from paperwork to stock, parts and supplies from one location to another.
One option is to have a vehicle run by the business purely to move items between your different premises, this of course has a cost to it though and even when not using the vehicle you are still having to maintain it and suffering depreciation on the value.
The other problem with doing your own couriering is that you have to then send one of your staff members out when they could or should be doing other work so while at first it may seem better value to handle your own transport it may be a false economy.
With a courier costs may be lower than you expect as well, while you would need to take out insurance to cover your items in transit a courier?s insurance will cover it and as they have insurance anyway they will only need to add a small amount on to the cost of their services to cover it.
The other thing with a courier is that by transporting items for a number of companies at once they can be much more efficient. If for example you had to drive from your premises in Leeds down the M1 to your premises in Luton you would have to cover the entire cost whereas with a courier who may have items for 5 other companies you will only be paying the equivalent of one 6th of the fuel costs. Of course this is dependent on the type of courier service that you book.
Speed is a factor of course and if you need documents or supplies quickly moved then you may like the idea of having your own transport, however unless the transport you have is already at the premises where you need it a local courier is going to be quicker and can often make a collection within a few hours to then make a same day delivery.
A lot of shops with multiple outlets use courier services too, while small chains often have suppliers ship directly to each store, moving stock between stores may be necessary where one store sells out faster but there is excess stock elsewhere. As a store manager even with transport you would have to take a member of staff, who is insured to drive, away from work in the store or wait until after the store has closed; with a courier you can get a collection almost straight away and even use a dedicated service so the courier can go directly to your other store.
A contract with a courier may be even better value for deliveries on set days and times for regular requirements or you could agree a framework agreement and setup an account so you can call the courier quote a number and then order a same day courier service quickly and easily.
If you’d like to talk about how a courier service and outsourced transport can work for your business, give us a call on 0800 917 7084
Kevin
photo credit: kamshots
These are few good points to consider but at the insurance part I would say lowering the transportation cost without insurance is not a good idea.