At last, we have a driver

We've had the truck since October but it's only this month we've managed to find a driver. A huge relief to Rose who has been doing deliveries all this time. "Lani" is learning the ropes fast so we have our fingers crossed.

Toy Rental Truck

After months of heartache with truck hire (including, most recently, separate hire of truck and driver) we are now the proud owners of a toy rental club truck. It's a secondhand Mitsubishi Canter with a "box" at the back that will allow us to transport toys and equipment securely and without risk of rain damage.

For the time being, however, Rose is going to have to do most of the driving. It's arduous work, and sometimes stressful (picture yourself stuck in traffic with 3 precisely timed birthday deliveries ahead of you), but the hands-on experience should make it easier to train a full-time driver later on.

A certain husband, by the way, has already slammed the truck into a height barrier suspended over the entrance to a condo carpark! Perhaps it's just as well that we don't have our logo painted on yet ...

Delivery Problems

There are three main items on the toy rental club menu - toy/ equipment rental, the indoor playground and birthday parties. But obviously rentals are our "signature dish", the thing that people think of as soon as they hear our name. So we must try to get those right. The problem is, it's difficult to do these efficiently while we depend on a hired truck and driver for home deliveries!

We've been hiring a driver who owns his own vehicle but (a) he's expensive, charging separate fees for every delivery, regardless of distance; and (b) he's not really willing to assemble or dismantle items such as slides, playhouses or inflatables, which is a service we need to provide.

We've also tried self-drive van hire but that's expensive too and it takes one of us away from both the business and our family for long periods. It looks like we'll have buy our own truck and - once we can afford it - employ a driver.