So I registered with a new agency last week and had a days work on Friday.
At no point was it mentioned I must have a sat nav.
I turned up for work Friday and given a run sheet. I had 6 drops. It was not local work. 1st drop was over 100 miles away. All timed deliveries.
If I did not have a sat nav I would not have been able to go as trying to find stores with not much more than a postcode would have been a nightmare.
So how many of you do not own one or have turned work down because you cant do the job with it?
Apart from making the 1st delivery within the 30 mins leeway (was about 2 mins away from going over), all the others were late.
If I had not had a sat nav and had to google everything I would not have had time to have done all the deliveries as it turned out to be a 14 hour shift anyway.
If you’re a driver who chooses not to use a satnav or google maps or whatever, then you would have asked for the street address of the drops, so that you could plan them on your map. I don’t see what the issue is.
Unless I have been there before, I use my satnav for on route guidance, but I also check my truck map for the destination and quite often have a peek at the google satellite image of the site too… before I hit the road! Maybe I don’t want to use the M6 Toll, or maybe I want to drive a couple of junctions further on the motorway so that I can approach the turning on the correct side of a dual carriageway instead of having to do a loop through a one way system at school chucking out time and so on. If you don’t check first, how will you know?
Surely a sat nav is as important as boots hi viz gloves etc.
Ok some don’t use them but no point turning up for any job and not knowing where to go,I think that’s why drivers are called professional (well some anyway).
Wether its your first day or been there years if you can’t do the job find another 1 you can.(not you personally but how can you go to a job if you haven’t got the right tools to do it,just trying to make a point not a dig at the OP).
slowlane:
If you’re a driver who chooses not to use a satnav or google maps or whatever, then you would have asked for the street address of the drops, so that you could plan them on your map. I don’t see what the issue is.
Unless I have been there before, I use my satnav for on route guidance, but I also check my truck map for the destination and quite often have a peek at the google satellite image of the site too… before I hit the road! Maybe I don’t want to use the M6 Toll, or maybe I want to drive a couple of junctions further on the motorway so that I can approach the turning on the correct side of a dual carriageway instead of having to do a loop through a one way system at school chucking out time and so on. If you don’t check first, how will you know?
I dont have any street maps but I do have the philips truck map book. However even with a street map how would I find the rear or access point of a shop on there. I already said I was practically over the 7.30 deadline. Time was 758am (have 30mins leeway). So if I did not have a sat nav I wouldnt have got there till much later. Cant rely on my phone having signal for google maps. It was tough even with a sat nav. 1st job I have had thats been timed deliveries.
Daytrunker:
Surely a sat nav is as important as boots hi viz gloves etc.I agree. However when I register with agencies they always ask me about the protective equipment but never mention sat nav.
Ok some don’t use them but no point turning up for any job and not knowing where to go,I think that’s why drivers are called professional (well some anyway).
Wether its your first day or been there years if you can’t do the job find another 1 you can.(not you personally but how can you go to a job if you haven’t got the right tools to do it,just trying to make a point not a dig at the OP).
Not sure what your point is tbh,you didn’t have a sat nav so you are seemingly claiming it’s not your fault you couldn’t find the shops
Was you expecting them to supply you with a sat nav?,bit like a sparky turning up at his job with no tools and expecting the homeowner to supply them.
They should provide you with a full address so you could in theory use an A-Z or call each shop / business, although good luck with that, but a sat nav is just easier…usually.
Ultimately your job is to find a suitable route to X location by whatever means you find best, but with the race to the bottom that us most multidrop has become with stupid timed deliveries, most use a sat nav and google maps combo.
I don’t have a shatnav and when they have given me post codes - I have asked for the address and phone number- they used to get arsey but I just said I need the full details or I am not going
When I started driving in the nineties we did it all with A to Zs and deliveries still got there, the world kept turning. I use a sat nav now because it’s easier than ■■■■■■■ around a huge bag full of maps. But if I chose to, I could manage perfectly well without a sat nav.
The op said in his original post that he had a sat nav. His question was could you manage without given that it is assumed by tptb that you will have one.
Hold on. Do you mean that if you had to look up where you were going and plan a route, instead of just bang in a postcode and go, that extra time would cause you to be late?!
Guy I was talking to had a run on agency six drops again first drop 50-100 miles away.
Somewhere along the line he realised the 12v wasn’t working, inevitably the sat nav ran out and he was fairly low on phone charge. Also either didn’t have or couldn’t find a second 12v.
Didn’t have a map etc and had to spend the day asking people ‘do you know where such and such a shop is’. The run was planned for 8 hours but took him 14.
I do agency work, and pretty well all the places I’ve been I have had to figure it out myself.
One place had a laminated direction card with the required route to the destination depot, plus all the H&S and site instructions. That’s the exception, though.
Take your pick, use a map and intuition if you’re old school, or embrace the modern technology available with Google street view and satnav. Or best of all, use a combination of old and new.
Some places specifically don’t use satnavs because they don’t trust them, especially in London.
If you’re running into London then of course you don’t rely on satnav as none of them (to my knowledge) are aware of lorry ban zones or timings. Download a copy of the lorry ban map and figure it out yourself, then some old fashioned navigation by street signs will be required. Not much fun on a dark, rainy night, but it comes with the job.
Elsewhere, a good truck satnav is a welcome supplement to some common sense and reading maps and signs.
Since when do companies supply sat nav [zb] even your agency.
If you accept then you need be reasonably prepared, you know its driving to a place you most likely unfamilar with. If the address does not take you directly to loading bay try asking some people or just ring up office and ask what they want.
SouthEastCashew:
Place I work at has a policy of no sat navs. Can be interesting at times [emoji14]
Why on earth would anyone have a policy like that, without a doubt sat nav’s help to make the job easier and can take you to the exact point you need to get to. Use one with google maps streetview and they are usually spot on, a certain level of common sense is also needed but why the hell use maps etc if there is no need.
A sat nav is an aid to navigation, I still keep all my A-Z with me, still come in use when we vet a new drop down some, little back street, even a truck sat nav can get you into a whole world of ■■■, looking for little wholesalers.
As many have said, check sat nav against the paper map if its a new drop.
I’m hardly ever told where I’m going when they book me. I just turn up at the allotted time and they tell me what I’m doing and where I’m going. The rest tends to be my problem, and I choose my own solutions. My driver’s bag is full of solutions they don’t ask me about…cleaning cloths, cable ties, basic tools…
Has an agency ever asked you if you have a map? Would you expect them to?
Your method of navigation is your own choice, and is not the responsibility of the agency or client. A client can ban satnavs if they are unenlightened, but the driver must have a means of navigation and they’ll assume you do.
Maps only get you so far, until you have to deliver to “Windswept Cottage Farm” 5 miles from the nearest B road and no help from the office. Even if you don’t have a satnav (which I don’t), you’ve probably got a phone with gmaps on it.
Tbh I always make sure gmaps will work (full battery, downloaded maps) at the start of each day. Satellite view and street view show things an A to Z won’t.
