Van and multi-drop driver jobs in Reading

Multi-drop van work sits squarely inside postal and courier activities, counted at 625 employee jobs in Reading, 0.52% of the 121,000 employee jobs in the area.

Parcel volume follows population and depot placement rather than local industry, so an area with a sorting hub in it carries a count well above its size. Taking freight, warehousing and courier work together, Reading records 3,025 employee jobs, 2.5% of everything counted locally.

UK Business Counts recorded 150 postal and courier activities workplaces in Reading at the March 2025 reference date, 5 of them employing ten people or more. 145 of them, 96.7%, employ under ten. A one-person courier operation is usually an owner-driver, and an owner-driver round is a contract, not a job.

Of the postal and courier activities employee jobs the 2024 survey splits by hours in Reading, 80 are part time, 13.3% of the split. The middle across the South East is 14.6%, so Reading sits below it, 14th of 19 areas on this measure. That is a mostly full-time split, which tends to go with employed rounds on a fixed rota.

Two further counts round out the Reading picture: 2,250 employee jobs in warehousing and storage, and 150 employee jobs in freight transport by road.

Measured on postal and courier activities, share of all employee jobs, Reading ranks 4th of the 19 areas in the South East. The middle across the South East is 0.36%, against 0.52% in Reading. Across the 153 areas in England the middle is 0.19%. Next to Reading in that order sit Kent at 0.52% and West Sussex at 0.5%.

On the separate business register count of postal and courier workplaces employing under 10, Reading ranks 11th of the 19 areas in the South East. The middle across the South East is 155, against 145 in Reading. Across the 153 areas in England the middle is 145. Next to Reading in that order sit Buckinghamshire at 155 and Portsmouth at 100.

That is the size of the courier trade in Reading, 625 jobs across 150 workplaces, not a count of rounds going spare. Live adverts are listed above and nowhere else on the page.