Furniture removalists in Melbourne when quoting jobs to customers often explain that there will be a call out fee, fuel charge, fuel levy, travel fee/charge, travel time, back to base fee etc etc. One thing that you need to know, all of the above are exactly the same thing! They are also a necessary evil.
The reason this type of charge exists is that it is expensive for removalist companies to pay salaries and fuel for 2 or 3 men and a truck from their base to your current house if they are not getting reimbursed. It is also expensive for the removalist companies to pay the same charges for the above mentioned to return back to their base upon completion of the job. Sometimes it costs a small fortune in fact.
As a rule of thumb, you the customer are residing in the inner Melbourne area I think that if there are 2 men and a truck you should allow for a half hour travel fee to be attached to your bill. ie: if your hourly rate is $100 per hour then allow an extra $50 to be attached to the final figure.
If you are let’s say more than 15km from the CBD then allow a 45min travel fee. And so on. These are not hard and fast rules, but should be considered.
All removalists in my opinion should call these fees the same thing such as “travel time” for example? Then the uderstanding by the public would become common knowledge more easily.
Thanks.
Daniel Duggan (All The Right Moves)