R420:
yorkshire terrier:
The cdc has advertised 3 times in last 2 years and Iv applied all 3 times and not got a look in,the xdc at south elmsall also advertised I applied and got an offer of interview but the shift pattern was horrific and I mean horrific…Regardless of any job ads you see posted, you won’t get in Asda without being long term agency. You are wasting your time applying direct.
Depends on depot not all are the same.
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With signs like that ask if you can speak to someone who knows more about the job rather than just taking an application form from the desk obviously normal working hours are better when there is more likely to be management there.
Regardless of normal company rules/inductions/driving assessments etc etc there is always without exception someone with enough authority to either bend them or ignore them entirely if there’s pressing operational needs but getting to the right person is often not necessarily easy.
R420:
yorkshire terrier:
The cdc has advertised 3 times in last 2 years and Iv applied all 3 times and not got a look in,the xdc at south elmsall also advertised I applied and got an offer of interview but the shift pattern was horrific and I mean horrific…Regardless of any job ads you see posted, you won’t get in Asda without being long term agency. You are wasting your time applying direct.
Very true, but doesn’t the entire system there all depend on the now outgoing Gig Economy and disreputed “Just In Time” model?
…Maybe more and more will come to realize that there is more to life than working an “any five from seven” contract, with “ongoing work, ongoingly at our agency”.
If agencies want to kick my arse again, they’re gonna have to at least offer me a free cushion to pad it with first I reckon.
When Holiday comes, you book of say, Monday-Friday, but come the week you’re flying out Sunday Night, the firm tells you that you have to come in that night, as you didn’t book it off as holiday, as you thought it wasn’t on your rotate for that week, so far in the future as it was back then when you booked the holiday…
On another note, Unpaid assessments to get into these types of agency contract jobs - means that a lot of unpaid effort has to be put in for a job that could be gone next week at the drop of a hat.
How does a younger driver get to be married to his girlfriend, get a mortgage, have some kids, and take holidays every year - if the income is THAT unstable “Ongoingly”■■?
Would YOU as a Bank Lender - grant a mortgage for someone who’s job is about as safe as a ■■■ paper inside a Crematorium Retort?
drover:
R420:
yorkshire terrier:
The cdc has advertised 3 times in last 2 years and Iv applied all 3 times and not got a look in,the xdc at south elmsall also advertised I applied and got an offer of interview but the shift pattern was horrific and I mean horrific…Regardless of any job ads you see posted, you won’t get in Asda without being long term agency. You are wasting your time applying direct.
Depends on depot not all are the same.
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Sounds to me if a proper Asda-shirt wearing Full Timer - is a job worth having, but the wincanton/DHL/Kugel & Schlagen “jobs” - ain’t. 
Winseer:
R420:
yorkshire terrier:
The cdc has advertised 3 times in last 2 years and Iv applied all 3 times and not got a look in,the xdc at south elmsall also advertised I applied and got an offer of interview but the shift pattern was horrific and I mean horrific…Regardless of any job ads you see posted, you won’t get in Asda without being long term agency. You are wasting your time applying direct.
Very true, but doesn’t the entire system there all depend on the now outgoing Gig Economy and disreputed “Just In Time” model?
…Maybe more and more will come to realize that there is more to life than working an “any five from seven” contract, with “ongoing work, ongoingly at our agency”.
If agencies want to kick my arse again, they’re gonna have to at least offer me a free cushion to pad it with first I reckon.
When Holiday comes, you book of say, Monday-Friday, but come the week you’re flying out Sunday Night, the firm tells you that you have to come in that night, as you didn’t book it off as holiday, as you thought it wasn’t on your rotate for that week, so far in the future as it was back then when you booked the holiday…On another note, Unpaid assessments to get into these types of agency contract jobs - means that a lot of unpaid effort has to be put in for a job that could be gone next week at the drop of a hat.
How does a younger driver get to be married to his girlfriend, get a mortgage, have some kids, and take holidays every year - if the income is THAT unstable “Ongoingly”■■?
Would YOU as a Bank Lender - grant a mortgage for someone who’s job is about as safe as a ■■■ paper inside a Crematorium Retort?
No problem getting a mortgage being an agency driver, have done it several times very easily. It will probably be harder now with the upcoming financial problems from the virus…
By the way it’s perfectly possible to get into Asda without being agency first, in Bristol at least.
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By the way it’s perfectly possible to get into Asda without being agency first, in Bristol at least.
Same in Bedford CDC, shift patterns r not great but can’t really complain being previously employed by DHL on Argos contract…
drover:
By the way it’s perfectly possible to get into Asda without being agency first, in Bristol at least.Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk
Correct we’re in the process of taking on I believe and that’s directly employed with Asda.
Crikey, they’ll have about ten thousand applications for one job for that then.
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Lucy:
the maoster:
As for myself I shall scurry off and self flagellate with a scented bootlace.SNORT!!!
(Yes, I am still around and watching you all…)
We’re sorry Ma’am. We’ll be good lads now. [emoji1787]
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It seems to me all the big supermarkets like a mix of own account and contractors.
Tesco have Stobarts, Maritime
Sainsbury’s have DHL, Wincanton
Morrison’s have DHL, Wincanton
Asda have Wincanton
Co-op have XPO, Wincanton, Stobarts
B&M and Homebargains use subbies/contractors.
Also most have a percentage of agency/casual staff to meet fluctuations in demand as required, whose shifts they will cancel at the drop of a hat if the demand isn’t as forecast.
the nodding donkey:
bald bloke:
the maoster:
Saw this at Belvedere today so not sure if it’s just this site or nationwide. The advert to me reads like it’s direct employment not agency (I could be wrong). If you fancy a shot at arguably the best supermarket job give it a whirl.I spotted that Tuesday when I was there and thought it strange advertising in the goods in window for drivers as more than likely the drivers who deliver there probably won’t be overly local. The job would be with Asda not agency.
Tesco often advertise driver “opportunities” in their RDC goods in waiting areas.
You can join the “Workhouse to Wheels” programme.
“Why stack shelves for minimum wages when you can have the responsibility of driving a big truck for the same money?”
Don’t “whack my balls” Kugel & Schlagen run any RDCS any more then?
Wincanton get booted from Snodland, and end up running two others for the one they lost, by the looks of it…
“Rewards for Failure” there, - Corporate Style?
Why don’t you apply…winseer?
It’s decent money,and you won’t have to cross the river.
You could volunteer for all those premium uplift shifts…that nobody else wants 
K&N had Waitrose but lost that to XPO, then XPO agreed to buy a large chunk of K&N’s UK operations, but Covid 19 may have changed that.
XPO also run some Iceland RDCs.
As far as I know I don’t think Wincanton do any Tesco RDCs, they used to have Middleton, Doncaster both ex Glass Glover site’s which Wincanton bought and Snodland. Middleton and Doncaster went back in house before being closed/moved to Stobarts.
Aldi use subbies to manage peaks in demand. Lidl is all subbies I believe.
Winseer:
the nodding donkey:
bald bloke:
the maoster:
Saw this at Belvedere today so not sure if it’s just this site or nationwide. The advert to me reads like it’s direct employment not agency (I could be wrong). If you fancy a shot at arguably the best supermarket job give it a whirl.I spotted that Tuesday when I was there and thought it strange advertising in the goods in window for drivers as more than likely the drivers who deliver there probably won’t be overly local. The job would be with Asda not agency.
Tesco often advertise driver “opportunities” in their RDC goods in waiting areas.
You can join the “Workhouse to Wheels” programme.
“Why stack shelves for minimum wages when you can have the responsibility of driving a big truck for the same money?”
So true, way over payed them warehouse bods or maybe we drivers are well under payed?
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commonrail:
Why don’t you apply…winseer?
It’s decent money,and you won’t have to cross the river.
You could volunteer for all those premium uplift shifts…that nobody else wants
I’ve already been and gone from Snodland. Got called in one night, arrived and then got cancelled. My contract said “8 hours if sent home once arrived”, but Client leaned on agency to “let it go or else”.
I asked for the money and fair enough, I won’t bother going back. I didn’t go back, and they still defaulted on the pay as well. 
Nothing offends my Left leaning sense of Financial Fairness other than some rich outfit stealing money from those like myself who are already living from hand-to-mouth, and cannot afford to be ■■■■■■ about by these crooks that run the “partnerships” all too often, where “outsourcing” seems to merely facilitate exploitation of the workforce whilst shielding behind layers that protect the firm from lawsuits, and the like. “Not directly employed. Not our fault if anything goes wrong, or anyone wants to claim”.
In any case, I’ve not worked there since, nor do I intend to. This is an issue outstanding I have with Wincanton, rather than Tescos. Looked at Sainsbury’s Dartford recently, but walked on by once I found out that it was indirect via DHL, and of course that old much-hated chestnut “Any five from Seven” when I’m looking for a 4x12 hour shift working week at a high hourly rate OR less, long(er) shifts per week on the ZHC basis.
Agencies from here on in my mind will end up covering full timer’s sickies, and nothing much else.
Full timers on annual leave - will be managed so that other “any five from 7” people end up covering the scheduled absences, I reckon.
That’s a pretty bleak world for agency work to come, unless 1 or 2 shifts per week actually suits one…
The thing about holding out for a 4 shift contract is that if the worst comes to the worst, one will end up working 15,15,15, &13 hours per week legal maximum, or 52 hours.
If you get the dreaded “any five from seven” then how often is one going to end up with 15,15,15,13,13 - 65 hours per week for a bloody salary■■?
“Paid by the hour” on ZHC ain’t no good if the firm turns out to be pennypinching on those drivers that like myself, - seem to be coining it in rather more than the full timers, causing sufficient resentment to get backstabbed at the first opporunity, as I’ve found from hard experience…
Now 48-55 hours over 4 per week I can manage, 55-84 hours over 5 or 6 is right out. I’m deadbeat by Wednesday, and as I’ve said on here before, I hate getting the nodding dog feeling when returning home, usually thursday morning after my third 15 hour shift that week. I’ve also got the worry that the job is the same the last two shifts of that week ahead of me, with no indication that it’ll be any shorter than 15 hours for the 4th and 5th time, which would have been totally illegal had I attempted it of course… The last time I found myself in that situation, I refused to do the thursday and friday nights, and that was another job gone for my impertinence… It seems that one does NOT have the right to “turn down a shift”, regardless of what one’s contract says…
In any case, I’ve adopted a different approach from here on, which is to be an asset rather than a liability to my employer in the shrinking marketplace that is the case these days, “Ongoingly”…
Essentially, I want to do as much as possible to make sure that I’m the “last one to go” next time around.
It may well be years and years before firms change their ways, get rid of all this “Just in time” outsourcing model, and start offering decent full time actual wear-the-shirt contracts once again.
Some of us must look back on the 70’s with nostalgia rather than dread, I reckon. I was a kid then, but I’d put it to any seniors out there - WERE the 70’s a better time to drive a truck than now, working for a unionized firm with pay way above the national average at that time?? 
drover:
Saw this at Belvedere today so not sure if it’s just this site or nationwide. The advert to me reads like it’s direct employment not agency (I could be wrong). If you fancy a shot at arguably the best supermarket job give it a whirl.
I spotted that Tuesday when I was there and thought it strange advertising in the goods in window for drivers as more than likely the drivers who deliver there probably won’t be overly local. The job would be with Asda not agency.
[/quote]
Tesco often advertise driver “opportunities” in their RDC goods in waiting areas.
[/quote]
You can join the “Workhouse to Wheels” programme.
“Why stack shelves for minimum wages when you can have the responsibility of driving a big truck for the same money?”
[/quote]
So true, way over payed them warehouse bods or maybe we drivers are well under payed?
Sent from my SM-A750FN using Tapatalk
[/quote]
Incidentally, I’ve heard in the past that Lidls want Warehouse workers who happen to hold HGV licences…
“Most of your working day will not be driving”…
Presumably, that means a Lidl Driver has to pick their own load, load their own load, go to admin and type it up on the pootah, and then drive the load to the store for delivery…
Job description for the £16ph they were offering said something like 20% of the job is actual driving…
Perhaps a job for a former Manager then?
I love being on the road, me.
I’ll forego being a manger my entire life - if that means I get to stay behind the wheel rather than sit in some office dodging bullets from the politicians instead…
But the advertisement IS for a"wear the shirt contract"
From what I’ve read…asda are one of the better companies to work for.
And you’re still not interested? 
Just because you might have to do 5x9,instead of 4x12■■?
Winseer:
Some of us must look back on the 70’s with nostalgia rather than dread, I reckon. I was a kid then, but I’d put it to any seniors out there - WERE the 70’s a better time to drive a truck than now, working for a unionized firm with pay way above the national average at that time??
I’ll tell you what the 70’s were like for a normal young geezer who didn’t have the contacts to get into one of the many decent own account or contracted hauliers where the money was brilliant with full salary pensions etc…and this has always been the route into the best jobs, and it still applies topday to some extent.
I started on artics in the mid 70’s, the first 2+ years spent driving day cab artics with no power steering (power anything come to that), roping and sheeting every load, multi drops inclusive, by choice this was, i could have gone on for one of the several all flash no cash competitors in the area and got a sleeper Swedish motor but doing the same work, though that fancy wagon would have meant the difference between average £90+ a week instead of £60.
Nights out a plenty, hopefully you’d find some digs, if not it was two planks across the bonnet from window ledge to window ledge, a spnge rolled out over them and try and get some kip, and in the morning in winter scrape the ice from the inside of the windows, you could run a Gardner engine all night long and you’d get no heat from it but endless fumes instead, night heaters were unheard of.
No, even i wouldn’t want to go back to those days though the baptism of fire and the sheer hard work involved has never been forgotten, the 80’s were the days things improved rapidly, not only were massive improvements made in vehicles but if you took opportunities when thay presented themselves and were prepared to do whatever shift pattern was required you could make a very good living as a lorry driver, i took the chance when it came my way and found myself in the right place right time when the job itself morphed, that’s when i’d finally found a proper unionised job and i’ve been in the T&G ever since, and barring the odd hiccup along the way i’ve stayed in unionised jobs as far as possible.
Unionised jobs have always had better pay, that isn’t a new thing, nor did it die in the 70’s, it’s still the same now.
What’s changed in recent years is the logistics giants taking over almost all of the previous good own account contracts, now to the point where only a handful of medium to large companies operate their own vehicles or even warehouses.
The reasons for this sea change are numerous, increasing legislation and responsibility leaving directors of producers to decide it’s no longer worth the hassle and culpability of operating their own vehicles and drivers, and let someone else have the headaches.
Fixed costs, if the contractor ballses up and can’t make it pay, so what?
The shortage of skilled enough people capable of running such OA operations themselves.
And we must not forget the drivers and other staffs own input to the ending of their own previously superb own accounts unionised jobs.
If you have such a job these days you are truly fortunate, and anyone with an ounce of common sense would do their very best to make sure that job lasts forever, yes by all means enjoy the better terms and conditions but work hard work more efficiently and cooperatively so the job gets done on a cost effective basis or that precious job too will disappear.
All my years on well paid jobs have had a consistent theme, decent employers don’t mind paying well so long as they can see and get value for money, that’s why successful operators still cherry pick and why those already in decent jobs don’t, if they have any sense, recommend dead wood as potential recruits.
Avoid accidents and negligent damage, look after your equipment so it’s economical operation for the company and the operator has a clean bill of health from the various depts such as DVSA, don’t take the ■■■■ out of the sick pay, be reliable so schedules can be planned consistently, be obliging sometimes you may have to go beyond the norm to get the job done (this is in your interests because it keeps the job going) and last but by no means least look after the most important person in the company, ie the customer…this applies especially to own account operations, what you have to remember is an own account operation is not transport as such, it’s customer service in its purest form.
Lack of the above by too many ■■■■ takers and those who didn’t appreciate what they had over many years has helped see the end of the best own account jobs.
There are some good unionised logistics giant jobs around too to be fair, again the same holds, look after it and look after the customer your employer serves, or some other bugger wth worse terms will be along to take it over.
Winseer:
I’ve already been and gone from Snodland. Got called in one night, arrived and then got cancelled. My contract said “8 hours if sent home once arrived”, but Client leaned on agency to “let it go or else”.:
Wincanton Snodland, I can more or less guarantee that was that Trigger, nasty piece of work.