It’s the waiting room scenario that’s the killer. TV blaring away that nobody is actually watching cos they can’t hear it clearly and there’s eff all worth watching anyway. High time they were all ripped out as they serve no useful purpose and are just noise pollution. Can’t get a proper cuppa just vending machine crap even though you have all the brewing kit in the truck. Possibly missing Popmaster when you could be sitting in the truck listening to it. Sitting in an uncomfortable chair for hours on end when you have a perfectly serviceable horizontal one in the cab that could be letting you catch up on missing z’s keeping you safer on the road.
msgyorkie:
Not all of us want to do 15 hour shifts as we have family and a life to be getting on with.
Wrong job then really. Its all good wanting to get home, wanting family time but reality is that there is no guarantee. Waiting is part of the game. Theres many times where Ive had to ring for childcare for the stepson, where my Wife has had to finish early and make time up.another day. My Wife knows that when I go to work, theres no guarantee I will be sleeping at home that night.
Its a job like nursing or policing; you dont have a 9-5, you dont just stop shacking shelves 5 minutes before your guaranteed shift end time. You get home when you get home, if you get home. Way I look at it is that weekends are family time, the rest of the week im busy providing. I might not even see the birth of my first child in August because Ill be working but thats the price I have to pay for having 2 cars, holidays and a mortgage.
Andrew.simmons:
msgyorkie:
Not all of us want to do 15 hour shifts as we have family and a life to be getting on with.Wrong job then really. Its all good wanting to get home, wanting family time but reality is that there is no guarantee. Waiting is part of the game. Theres many times where Ive had to ring for childcare for the stepson, where my Wife has had to finish early and make time up.another day. My Wife knows that when I go to work, theres no guarantee I will be sleeping at home that night.
Its a job like nursing or policing; you dont have a 9-5, you dont just stop shacking shelves 5 minutes before your guaranteed shift end time. You get home when you get home, if you get home. Way I look at it is that weekends are family time, the rest of the week im busy providing. I might not even see the birth of my first child in August because Ill be working but thats the price I have to pay for having 2 cars, holidays and a mortgage.
■■■■ me, someone talking sense, glad I’m sitting down.
Nail on the head on everything there.
A.
I can understand the frustration with daymen who want to get finished and home, I can understand lads who are on job and finish.
What I can not understand are trampers on hours moaning about it.
They are either model conscientious workers who actually care about their co.s trucks standing and losing revenue, (which they won’t be anyway if waiting time is factored into rate)
Or more likely members of the ‘Teararse at all costs’’ crew who have no time to stop for a ■■■■ let alone unload, who are so thick and stupid that they fail to see they are earning the same for doing ■■■■ all than they would be on their daily crusade on the limiter all day, on their way to Firstheartattack town. . 
If I get the ‘‘You could be a while here drive’’ I just say not a problem mate, give me a knock when you are ready.
If I am unduly held up, I do not expect my boss to hold me to the same schedule, (especially when I have rang in every hour keeping him informed) but to react and adapt…and to be fair he does, where as other firms expect YOU to make up the lost time to the point you are chasing your own arse. . 
eagerbeaver:
I have done containers for Maritime OP.Be careful what you wish for…1 hour queue waiting to collect your container is common. 3 hours at the tip (loose product) being handballed out of the box… another 1 hour waiting in a queue to have your empty taken off.
Mind numbing
An hour to get mt off, you don’t go into pentalvers then, that can take 3 hours plus 
robroy:
where as other firms expect YOU to make up the lost time
LOL, sorry boss, I’ll phone you back when I’ve stopped laughing, and I’ve checked the flux capacitor is charged up! 
Make up the lost time?
Do some drivers actually say they will try? 
robroy:
I can understand the frustration with daymen who want to get finished and home, I can understand lads who are on job and finish.
What I can not understand are trampers on hours moaning about it.
They are either model conscientious workers who actually care about their co.s trucks standing and losing revenue, (which they won’t be anyway if waiting time is factored into rate)
Or more likely members of the ‘Teararse at all costs’’ crew who have no time to stop for a ■■■■ let alone unload, who are so thick and stupid that they fail to see they are earning the same for doing [zb] all than they would be on their daily crusade on the limiter all day, on their way to Firstheartattack town. .If I get the ‘‘You could be a while here drive’’ I just say not a problem mate, give me a knock when you are ready.
If I am unduly held up, I do not expect my boss to hold me to the same schedule, (especially when I have rang in every hour keeping him informed) but to react and adapt…and to be fair he does, where as other firms expect YOU to make up the lost time to the point you are chasing your own arse. .
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ this 100%! If I go out on mon and come back fri, who cares? I’ll get paid the same as a tramper. The wheels turn, and I get paid on a Friday! Who gives a flying ■■■■. Back in the day of running bent, legal in the day ( cough cough ) bent at night. Tesco crick = 9 hours plus on the bay back in the day but on with the wire and on the doorstep in Aberdeen the next morning. Yippppeeee
Andrew.simmons:
msgyorkie:
Not all of us want to do 15 hour shifts as we have family and a life to be getting on with.Wrong job then really. Its all good wanting to get home, wanting family time but reality is that there is no guarantee. Waiting is part of the game. Theres many times where Ive had to ring for childcare for the stepson, where my Wife has had to finish early and make time up.another day. My Wife knows that when I go to work, theres no guarantee I will be sleeping at home that night.
Its a job like nursing or policing; you dont have a 9-5, you dont just stop shacking shelves 5 minutes before your guaranteed shift end time. You get home when you get home, if you get home. Way I look at it is that weekends are family time, the rest of the week im busy providing. I might not even see the birth of my first child in August because Ill be working but thats the price I have to pay for having 2 cars, holidays and a mortgage.
Im a dayman so I DO get home. The days of tramping are long behind me and now I have a social life. I paint in my spare time, I visit the theater and I play badminton. I accept that the job is never a straight 8 hours and I get delayed but getting delayed because of the actions of a slow tip is unacceptable.
(Although I self tip with a HIAB so I dont get delays 
)
i don’t mind waiting as long as there is a reason, we do one rdc. i have gotten there for booking in times sometimes an hour before I’m due for tip,sometimes it’s busy but most times though of the six bays they have only two are in use. and with 4 flts in the yard sometimes having a chat etc. You would think that you could get done easily but you’d see pigs fly before that happens
They have a not till your booking time policy which can be annoying when you only got one pallet for them. so I usually stop round the corner from them for a kip so i dont rush.
I’ve been doing mostly night trunks for newspapers up the line that I have to deliver to local outlets so they can deliver them to the shops early mornings. Every time I get to the print centre they seem to be behind on the printing and I can end up hanging about for up to 4 hours… the problem with this is that the company I work for are penalised financially if I don’t get to the tip locations by a certain time - even if I don’t get to the print centre by a certain time they get penalised, even though I’m hanging about for hours when I do get there. Puts the pressure on you as the Office are in constant contact with you etc. It’s not even our fault but the Print runs being late to start with.
So, in my case, hanging about is the bane of my job.
TiredAndEmotional:
It’s the waiting room scenario that’s the killer. TV blaring away that nobody is actually watching cos they can’t hear it clearly and there’s eff all worth watching anyway. High time they were all ripped out as they serve no useful purpose and are just noise pollution.
I have the exact same gripe, almost to the point of mental illness at times
I always carry two things into such waiting rooms. You might like to know what they are.
-
A universal tv remote control which turns off about 75% of tvs (link 1) (link 2). These are worth their weight in gold. Be warned though, it doesn’t take long for some womble to come and put it back on, or to whip out their phone and begin watching some crappy film with lots of gunfire. Unfortunately, you can’t turn those off.
-
A pair of earplugs. Though they don’t block noise 100%, they reduce it to tolerable levels.
msgyorkie:
Andrew.simmons:
msgyorkie:
Not all of us want to do 15 hour shifts as we have family and a life to be getting on with.Wrong job then really. Its all good wanting to get home, wanting family time but reality is that there is no guarantee. Waiting is part of the game. Theres many times where Ive had to ring for childcare for the stepson, where my Wife has had to finish early and make time up.another day. My Wife knows that when I go to work, theres no guarantee I will be sleeping at home that night.
Its a job like nursing or policing; you dont have a 9-5, you dont just stop shacking shelves 5 minutes before your guaranteed shift end time. You get home when you get home, if you get home. Way I look at it is that weekends are family time, the rest of the week im busy providing. I might not even see the birth of my first child in August because Ill be working but thats the price I have to pay for having 2 cars, holidays and a mortgage.
Im a dayman so I DO get home. The days of tramping are long behind me and now I have a social life. I paint in my spare time, I visit the theater and I play badminton. I accept that the job is never a straight 8 hours and I get delayed but getting delayed because of the actions of a slow tip is unacceptable.
(Although I self tip with a HIAB so I dont get delays
Im a day man and Ive ended up doing 15 hours, ive started at 6am and finished at 9pm or nights out. It happens. I like having a social life and going out with the family but ■■■■ happens when it is a work day. Id rather kip in the truck than do a 15 hour and have a 9 hour turn around which equates to less than 7 hours sleep.
The issue is people who accept fixed day rate. Ive been there. ‘No more than 12 hours’. 15 hour later im earning less than stacking shelves. If you accept a ■■■■ per day rate the onus is on you. I was on £115 a day for Stanton Logistics and after a while I was doing 5 or 6 hours unpaid a week.
ezydriver:
TiredAndEmotional:
It’s the waiting room scenario that’s the killer. TV blaring away that nobody is actually watching cos they can’t hear it clearly and there’s eff all worth watching anyway. High time they were all ripped out as they serve no useful purpose and are just noise pollution.I have the exact same gripe, almost to the point of mental illness at times
I always carry two things into such waiting rooms. You might like to know what they are.
A universal tv remote control which turns off about 75% of tvs (link 1) (link 2). These are worth their weight in gold. Be warned though, it doesn’t take long for some womble to come and put it back on, or to whip out their phone and begin watching some crappy film with lots of gunfire. Unfortunately, you can’t turn those off.
A pair of earplugs. Though they don’t block noise 100%, they reduce it to tolerable levels.
The TV Pro looks like the one to get but it’s pricey! Mixed reviews for the cheaper model which is out of stock anyway. Do you find it works well? A few dodgy reviews on the 1st link you posted.
Why would you possibly desire a job OP which involves sitting around doing nothing?? Its wasting your life away and lethargy sets in doing you no good whatsoever.
If i was an employer it would pay by the load, those wanting to crack on and earn proper money could do so and wouldnt even employ someone without a goal in life anyway. Unreal how someone could actually be looking for a job which involves the minimum effort possible 
Twoninety88:
McPlod:
Apart from some absolutely grotty waiting rooms one of my main issues is drivers ourselves. I have been driving over 20 years and mobile phones are taking their toll . In a waiting room now look how much conversation their is and how many heads are in phonesConsidering the level of conversation you get in drivers rooms, the phone is probably the best option.
Quite. Last thing you want to do in a waiting room you could be stuck in for 2/3 hours is risk getting lumbered listening to some ■■■■■■■■ talking ■■■■■■■■ and moaning about the job. 9/10 after a quick glance around the room at who I’m up against, the best option is to tuck myself into the corner and keep my head down.
TiredAndEmotional:
The TV Pro looks like the one to get but it’s pricey! Mixed reviews for the cheaper model which is out of stock anyway. Do you find it works well? A few dodgy reviews on the 1st link you posted.
It’s not guaranteed to turn all tvs off, but it works enough times for it to satisfy me. If I aim it at the bank of tvs in a Tesco store, it’ll turn about 50% maybe 75% of them off. You gotta make sure you’re relatively straight on, upto a 45 degree angle either side, and no more than about 15ft away. But most of the time you are.
It’s fun when there is someone who can’t seem to function without the tv on, and they will get up as many times as it takes to have it back on. Once at Tesco, Welham Green, I was in the canteen at their dinner time, because I had a long wait. One bloke left his dinner and got up no less than 8 times to turn the tv back on . On the last one, I let him have his way, and left it on… for about 5 minutes I thought the poor bugger was going to start crying into his Yorkshire puds.
andy_s:
I’ve been doing mostly night trunks for newspapers up the line that I have to deliver to local outlets so they can deliver them to the shops early mornings. Every time I get to the print centre they seem to be behind on the printing and I can end up hanging about for up to 4 hours… the problem with this is that the company I work for are penalised financially if I don’t get to the tip locations by a certain time - even if I don’t get to the print centre by a certain time they get penalised, even though I’m hanging about for hours when I do get there. Puts the pressure on you as the Office are in constant contact with you etc. It’s not even our fault but the Print runs being late to start with.So, in my case, hanging about is the bane of my job.
Same old, same old. It’s easy to make promises that other people have to keep.
I’m with Robroy on this.The guys who get twitchy about waiting what they think is too long are playing into the hands of those who cause the delays.More often than not,if you show disinterest about the threat of a delay,pull your curtains round and say give us a knockare likely to get a quick turnround.
As for fleeing around,driving without rest or meal breaks to make up for delays caused by someone else.For heaven’s sake!
I reckon that waiting has been part of the job since time began! I remember going with dad in the 60’s to Fisons at Barking or Ranks at Silvertown and waiting all day just to get loaded with bags, he went to Liverpool docks a few times and sometimes was there a couple of days waiting for his turn to load. On my type of work we often spent hours on roadway surfacing jobs waiting to tip tarmac, you just accepted it and read a book/chatted to your mates or just got your head down as you couldn’t do anything about it and generally the surfacing gangs were hanging the job out for overtime anyway! We all got home eventually. Some lads just wouldn’t do it though, they prefered to ‘rip and tip’ everywhere instead of having a nice steady day sitting waiting and chilling out.
Pete.
My first job as artic driver(1968).Loaded bales out of Courtaulds,Grimsby for Royal Docks London.Parked up Tuesday on dock in lane A,B,C,or D whatever(next to CypressPlace?)Eventually offloaded a week the following Wednesday.What a welcome to a life on the open road.Second job,the next week,similar load to Liverpool docks.Ditto!