Sometimes it feels confusing – if there’s not a lot of routes for sale, it’s unfortunate because there’s no opportunities out there. But if there’s too many routes for sale, then people begin to wonder,
“Why is everyone selling their FedEx routes?!”
The reality is that looking from the outside in gives some inaccurate bias. When you see a “bunch” of routes for sale, it feels like a lot of them are for sale. However, what you’re not seeing is how many routes aren’t for sale (and it’s a lot). Little issues like this are important when you reach out for consultation – because it’s hard to know what you don’t know yet.
In regards to finding a route, I would check out the following resources, as most good brokers/sellers will use one of the following sites to advertise their routes:
www.BizBuySell.com
www.BizQuest.com
www.Craigslist.org
We also track all the listings on numerous marketplaces and list the routes for sale here.
While Craigslist usually attracts smaller contractors that are trying to sell the routes themselves, either way you’re looking for the seller themselves or the broker, however you can find them. If you check those sites often, you’ll likely find a route that might be in the right price/income range that you’re looking for. When you do, it would likely be a very good investment to reach back out to me and we can go through the due diligence process together.
If you’re in a rural area, it can take months if not years before a seller decides it’s time to move on. In this case, patience isn’t a virtue and there’s other things to do to find a route. Now sometimes people will want to try to find the terminal and sneak through the gates to find the contractors themselves and you ask around randomly to see who’s selling.
Please don’t do this – FedEx will likely remove you from the terminal grounds for trying this technique.
However, as simple as this is going to sound, there’s a better way. You need to find your nearest FedEx Office
and find out when that FedEx Ground driver arrives to do the pickups or deliveries. When you find that time, you’re going to have to be patient and hang around to see when that driver arrives, and then ask him if he knows if his route is for sale (the driver is likely NOT the contractor that owns the route). It likely won’t be, and if you can explain to the driver that you’re a serious buyer, you may be able to get the number of that contractor. Now, that contractor is likely not selling their routes either, but they may someone who is. At that point, you’re networked into the terminal. I’d rather sit around and wait in a parking lot for 2 hours rather than 2 years to find a route for sale! Please don’t be surprised if you get cut short by the driver – make your case as quickly as possible. Those drivers are usually in a ridiculous hurry even if they don’t seem like it. I’d personally sprint right up to the doors but when I opened the door, I’d walk around slowly as if I had all the time in the world. No one likes to see a FedEx guy sprinting all over the place – but it often takes some serious hustle to deal with production routes. Remember, all routes are for sale. It’s just a matter of finding the price they’re willing to let it go at.