Actrosman:
what more does an up and coming driver want!
A drivers mate?..
A chance for those interested in becoming a driver to learn all the about the job from the ground up. Early starts, grumpy loaders, loony car drivers and pushy customers etc. The driver gets a hand in tipping and the company possibly gets a ready trained driver with a known history.
A drivers mate is a possibility on occasions! We heard that this big pay rise was for “all of transport”…… turned out it didn’t include us night trunkers…… that has ruffled a few feathers! As said before,multi-drop isn’t high on the ‘must have’ jobs but for a new starter and not minding hard graft, it’s a good place to start……if you can cope with all the daily hassle, it’s a decent start……and no, stock does not get put on shelves or in a freezer etc unless it’s a big walk-in type and it’s trolled in
Mazzer2:
With over a million on the dole shouldn’t be a problem filling those vacencies with the incentive of if those vacencies local to you then kiss your dole benefits goodbye get of your lazy arse and do some work
I would guess that unemployment tends more to be an inner-city and post-industrial town phenomenon whereas agriculture by its very nature is a rural activity.
Mazzer2:
With over a million on the dole shouldn’t be a problem filling those vacencies with the incentive of if those vacencies local to you then kiss your dole benefits goodbye get of your lazy arse and do some work
I would guess that unemployment tends more to be an inner-city and post-industrial town phenomenon whereas agriculture by its very nature is a rural activity.
Actrosman:
We heard that this big pay rise was for “all of transport”…… turned out it didn’t include us night trunkers…… that has ruffled a few feathers!
It would do if people stopped driving for the pallet network members paying nowt. If there’s no pay rise where you are it’s because they’re still getting plenty of bums on seats. Unfortunately one of the problems of the pallet and parcel networks is the amount of money you get paid to sleep whilst waiting for a reload, I know that when I was doing TPN I’d get tipped by around 10pm and not reload until 4am, so drivers tend to not mind getting paid a lower hourly rate because for half their shift they’re asleep.
Harry Monk:
I would guess that unemployment tends more to be an inner-city and post-industrial town phenomenon whereas agriculture by its very nature is a rural activity.
And that’s why God created mini buses.
And that’s the flaw in the idea of move to the cities to find work.
The resulting population density then exceeds the amount of job vacancies.
Especially the inbalance between blue collar and white collar vacancies.
The commute idea might work but there’s obviously a distance limit where it becomes unviable bearing in mind it’s unpaid and that still won’t fix the issue of less than reasonble rural wage for the effort required for the job v urban living costs.
Which is why the employers are fixated on maintaining a supply of low wage expectation labour.But obviously not low enough when combined with UK living costs.
Conor:
Unfortunately one of the problems of the pallet and parcel networks is the amount of money you get paid to sleep whilst waiting for a reload, I know that when I was doing TPN I’d get tipped by around 10pm and not reload until 4am, so drivers tend to not mind getting paid a lower hourly rate because for half their shift they’re asleep.
^ Until the management suddenly wake up and say no more sleeping or watching the night time tv or listening to the radio.Drivers have to work on the dock transhipping loads thereby saving a fortune in warehouse labourer costs.Just like UPS and that’s all handball not pallets.
As for sleeping on a night shift thereby confusing your body clock what could possibly go wrong.
Hub systems combined with speed limiters had already wrecked night trunking as a viable option.
Just still relatively less worse than multi drop.
Mazzer2:
With over a million on the dole shouldn’t be a problem filling those vacencies with the incentive of if those vacencies local to you then kiss your dole benefits goodbye get of your lazy arse and do some work
I would guess that unemployment tends more to be an inner-city and post-industrial town phenomenon whereas agriculture by its very nature is a rural activity.
And that’s why God created mini buses.
Up to a point, but fruit and vegetable picking is also gruelling, back-breaking work- I’ve done my fair share of it in the past- and the overwhelming majority of people over the age of 30 would not be able to do it- I’m reasonably fit for my age (61) but there’s no way I’d be able to do it any more. If I was signing on, the Dole Office might as well tell me I had to take a job as a Chinese translator.
Harry Monk:
Up to a point, but fruit and vegetable picking is also gruelling, back-breaking work- I’ve done my fair share of it in the past- and the overwhelming majority of people over the age of 30 would not be able to do it- I’m reasonably fit for my age (61) but there’s no way I’d be able to do it any more. If I was signing on, the Dole Office might as well tell me I had to take a job as a Chinese translator.
Ironically I found them very sympathetic when I asked them why is it that supermarkets’ recruitment policies require over 60’s to work in a supermarket warehouse while 20 somethings can sit working a till.
Low wage levels is one thing - without so many firms compounding the loss to the driver by insisting on either open-ended contracts or 48+ hour ones… Where’s the 35-40 hour weeks like NORMAL people get?
How about we get treated more like Train Drivers? A decent salary, 4x10 hour shifts, and overtime available as extra shifts rather than running people to 15 hours at single time…
Winseer:
Low wage levels is one thing - without so many firms compounding the loss to the driver by insisting on either open-ended contracts or 48+ hour ones… Where’s the 35-40 hour weeks like NORMAL people get?
How about we get treated more like Train Drivers? A decent salary, 4x10 hour shifts, and overtime available as extra shifts rather than running people to 15 hours at single time…
Because with the majority of drivers there is no “we” only “I” or “me”
Conor:
Unfortunately one of the problems of the pallet and parcel networks is the amount of money you get paid to sleep whilst waiting for a reload, I know that when I was doing TPN I’d get tipped by around 10pm and not reload until 4am, so drivers tend to not mind getting paid a lower hourly rate because for half their shift they’re asleep.
^ Until the management suddenly wake up and say no more sleeping or watching the night time tv or listening to the radio.Drivers have to work on the dock transhipping loads thereby saving a fortune in warehouse labourer costs.Just like UPS and that’s all handball not pallets.
As for sleeping on a night shift thereby confusing your body clock what could possibly go wrong.
Hub systems combined with speed limiters had already wrecked night trunking as a viable option.
Just still relatively less worse than multi drop.
I’ve met plenty of hub trunkers over the years - who relied on that “kip on the bay” at wherever the hub happened to be at the remote end of their run… Troubles started when said driver got switched to cover a different job running the same shift hours - which had rather more “warehouse content” on it, thus he’s been up with his family living a normal life, comes into work expecting 3-4 hours kip on his usual duty, and then bang - he’s on a different run, no sleep, and ends up coming to grief because he’s tired at the wheel - the REAL killer in this industry imo…
Last leg of a run from Parkhouse, Stoke on Trent to Marsten Gate… A shuttle is run between these two depots, with drivers sometimes being literally kicked out of their bunks at Marsten Gate to “just do an extra shuttle up and back in the 5 hours you’re here waiting for your backload home…”…
I got asked to do this several times whilst running into Marsten Gate on agency…
I’ve even had a plum job I’d picked up on agency with 5hrs kip built into it - swapped by a full timer, with me ending up doing his job, which was just as well I was fully rested on the nights in question - or there could have been problems, had I taken for granted that I’d be getting this kip…
Winseer:
How about we get treated more like Train Drivers?
You mean like direct trunks trailer/box swaps only job and finish.
What’s the point of artics/trailers/demounts when you have to sit waiting to unload/load/tranship let alone be involved in doing it.
Bearing in mind that you can’t actually ‘drive’ for more than 90 hours in a fortnight so an average of 45 hours per week + pre/post trip checks.
Most of the guys refusing to drive for the crap wages and long hours are ex servicemen. Me being one of them.
The industry ■■■■■. Long hours crap pay. Made to sleep in trucks unfit for the hours done in them.
If companys offered high spec state of the art units with a wage to suit im sure id be back behind the wheel.
Kent foods class 2 £28,000 a year nights out up and down like a yoyo. Cabs are low spec single bunk.
Go through drivers more than hookers use condoms. Is it any wonder why people dont want to do the job offered. Now if a mob like this made life on the road more comfortable then i reckon they may hold onto a GOOD driver.
Conor:
Unfortunately one of the problems of the pallet and parcel networks is the amount of money you get paid to sleep whilst waiting for a reload, I know that when I was doing TPN I’d get tipped by around 10pm and not reload until 4am, so drivers tend to not mind getting paid a lower hourly rate because for half their shift they’re asleep.
^ Until the management suddenly wake up and say no more sleeping or watching the night time tv or listening to the radio.Drivers have to work on the dock transhipping loads thereby saving a fortune in warehouse labourer costs.Just like UPS and that’s all handball not pallets.
As for sleeping on a night shift thereby confusing your body clock what could possibly go wrong.
I’ve met plenty of hub trunkers over the years - who relied on that “kip on the bay” at wherever the hub happened to be at the remote end of their run… Troubles started when said driver got switched to cover a different job running the same shift hours - which had rather more “warehouse content” on it, thus he’s been up with his family living a normal life, comes into work expecting 3-4 hours kip on his usual duty, and then bang - he’s on a different run, no sleep, and ends up coming to grief because he’s tired at the wheel - the REAL killer in this industry imo…
.
You can’t be ‘up with the family living a normal life’ if you work nights.Day time is for sleeping night time is for working.
If you try to sleep during working hours to be ‘up with the family in the day’ your body clock will just shut down.
As for hub system work it’s only a matter of time until a manager out to make a name for himself says why are we paying drivers to sit around doing nothing when we can cut warehouse staff and replace them with the drivers.
Carryfast:
^ Until the management suddenly wake up and say no more sleeping or watching the night time tv or listening to the radio.Drivers have to work on the dock transhipping loads thereby saving a fortune in warehouse labourer costs.Just like UPS and that’s all handball not pallets.
As for sleeping on a night shift thereby confusing your body clock what could possibly go wrong.
Hub systems combined with speed limiters had already wrecked night trunking as a viable option.
Just still relatively less worse than multi drop.
The haulage companies know their drivers spend that time doing nothing, they’ve got the tacho records showing it.
There is no dock, just a warehouse with a flat floor with lanes laid out at the side to put pallets in for each depot, a few lanes running down the middle the lorries drive along and dozens of forklift trucks running around. They’d not want drivers doing the unloading because it would knacker the whole job up - you ain’t learning to unload a pallet off a truck, scream to the lane for the depot it’s getting put in avoiding all the other forklifts doing the same without lifting off the throttle if you’ve just passed your forklift licence that year.
As for body clock, mine’s just fine thanks but then again I keep a night shift sleep pattern on weekends.
Carryfast:
^ Until the management suddenly wake up and say no more sleeping or watching the night time tv or listening to the radio.Drivers have to work on the dock transhipping loads thereby saving a fortune in warehouse labourer costs.Just like UPS and that’s all handball not pallets.
As for sleeping on a night shift thereby confusing your body clock what could possibly go wrong.
Hub systems combined with speed limiters had already wrecked night trunking as a viable option.
Just still relatively less worse than multi drop.
The haulage companies know their drivers spend that time doing nothing, they’ve got the tacho records showing it.
There is no dock, just a warehouse with a flat floor with lanes laid out at the side to put pallets in for each depot, a few lanes running down the middle the lorries drive along and dozens of forklift trucks running around. They’d not want drivers doing the unloading because it would knacker the whole job up - you ain’t learning to unload a pallet off a truck, scream to the lane for the depot it’s getting put in avoiding all the other forklifts doing the same without lifting off the throttle if you’ve just passed your forklift licence that year.
As for body clock, mine’s just fine thanks but then again I keep a night shift sleep pattern on weekends.
It doesn’t take much imagination to realise the potential costs savings of cutting warehouse staff by utilising the driver downtime resulting from hub system operations.
I maintain that’s exactly what ended my career 25 years early.
Yes I can see the difference in the case of forklift based operations but not insurmountable for the employers.
Especially if they think they are at a competitive disadvantage v loading dock/handball/cage/pallet truck type operations utilising drivers to cut the cost of warehouse staff.
I’m sure that most of the modern driver ‘apprenticeships’ include serious forklift training and qualifications.The fact is the precedent is already there it just takes the type of management that wants to put 2+2 together.
As for maintaining a stable body clock on night work that’s exactly what I said.You don’t sleep at night even at weekends let alone at work.
But hub systems removed any advantage that there might be in working nights.
IE making use of clear roads to minimise shift time and actually enjoying being out on the road driving, especially this time of the year, not parked up at a hub inviting the type of issues described.With the lose lose that it’s always going to be a long night and a late finish.
As it stands the job is losing it’s attraction for many and rightly so.Especially when there are a lot worse options than even the above.
Carryfast:
As for hub system work it’s only a matter of time until a manager out to make a name for himself says why are we paying drivers to sit around doing nothing when we can cut warehouse staff and replace them with the drivers.
Well, not really because it’s a fairly basic requirement of hub warehouse staff that they have a fork lift licence.
