Thinking to apply for class 1 job at GreatBear. What’s this company like? Any idea how much they getting payed? Tell me what you think guys.
Frindal:
Thinking to apply for class 1 job at GreatBear. What’s this company like? Any idea how much they getting payed? Tell me what you think guys.
Not that I can tell you any info but saying where always helps
madmackem:
Frindal:
Thinking to apply for class 1 job at GreatBear. What’s this company like? Any idea how much they getting payed? Tell me what you think guys.Not that I can tell you any info but saying where always helps
Sheffield area mate
Owned by culina now I believe basically doing all their ambient work. Not sure what the money is but they do like their pound of flesh for their dollar in shift lengths from what I’m told by their drivers I’ve spoken to
Frindal:
madmackem:
Frindal:
Thinking to apply for class 1 job at GreatBear. What’s this company like? Any idea how much they getting payed? Tell me what you think guys.Not that I can tell you any info but saying where always helps
Sheffield area mate
So working out of Chesterfield than?
We have a few threads about Culina on here and discussed pay in one of them not long ago. Just use search function in the forum 
Also a User named „bald bloke“ worked quite a few years for them, he will be either along shortly or try to send him a PM (Personal Message).
In my eyes Culina seems a very good company to work for, decent and well maintained kit, never in a rush.
Tipperdipper1:
Frindal:
madmackem:
Frindal:
Thinking to apply for class 1 job at GreatBear. What’s this company like? Any idea how much they getting payed? Tell me what you think guys.Not that I can tell you any info but saying where always helps
Sheffield area mate
So working out of Chesterfield than?
We have a few threads about Culina on here and discussed pay in one of them not long ago. Just use search function in the forum
Also a User named „bald bloke“ worked quite a few years for them, he will be either along shortly or try to send him a PM (Personal Message).
In my eyes Culina seems a very good company to work for, decent and well maintained kit, never in a rush.
And here I am, I left before they took over Great Bear so can’t help much but pay is monthly and will be a good average for your area and if it’s like Culina it’ll be salaried with overtime on a day off but they may have different contracts, kit will be spot on and meticulously maintained work will probably be rdc with cash n carry’s along with collections too.
Culina didn’t ever seem to push too hard but were pretty ■■■■ with their drivers with regards to monitoring them so if your a steady driver and good at keeping your head down you’ll be fine.
The Great Bear depot near me (north west) pays a very good salary for days (low 30,000s). Nice clean easy work. I’d work there if I was looking.
My place have got a handful of ex-drivers from there, plus we have one who left to go there and them came back. All have the same complaint… “they said it’d be 10 hours a day and I was doing more like 12”. Safe to say they aren’t any better off working for our lot though. 
Why do experienced drivers keep falling for this?
bald bloke:
And here I am, I left before they took over Great Bear so can’t help much but pay is monthly and will be a good average for your area and if it’s like Culina it’ll be salaried with overtime on a day off but they may have different contracts, kit will be spot on and meticulously maintained work will probably be rdc with cash n carry’s along with collections too.Culina didn’t ever seem to push too hard but were pretty ■■■■ with their drivers with regards to monitoring them so if your a steady driver and good at keeping your head down you’ll be fine.
As BB says good kit replaced every 2 to 3 years ours (Culina) gets changed every 2 years .
It’ll be 96% curtain work. Your not pushed everything 100% by the book.
As in Culina they look at all aspects of driving on the microlise system.
When I’ve been in collecting a backhaul for Avonmouth they’ve all been pretty much spot on even the guys in transport.
You may do 10 12 15 hrs but it won’t be all work as you could be waiting here and there for your load etc.
A lot of people can’t accept that they may be kicking their heels for a few hrs.
nick2008:
bald bloke:
And here I am, I left before they took over Great Bear so can’t help much but pay is monthly and will be a good average for your area and if it’s like Culina it’ll be salaried with overtime on a day off but they may have different contracts, kit will be spot on and meticulously maintained work will probably be rdc with cash n carry’s along with collections too.Culina didn’t ever seem to push too hard but were pretty ■■■■ with their drivers with regards to monitoring them so if your a steady driver and good at keeping your head down you’ll be fine.
As BB says good kit replaced every 2 to 3 years ours (Culina) gets changed every 2 years .
It’ll be 96% curtain work. Your not pushed everything 100% by the book.
As in Culina they look at all aspects of driving on the microlise system.
When I’ve been in collecting a backhaul for Avonmouth they’ve all been pretty much spot on even the guys in transport.
You may do 10 12 15 hrs but it won’t be all work as you could be waiting here and there for your load etc.
A lot of people can’t accept that they may be kicking their heels for a few hrs.
People can’t accept this because Culina use POA which they deduct from your working hours along with your breaks therefore you are working hours you are not paid for and if you divide your salaried pay by the hours you are at work it equates to less than national minimum wage. I was told by my manager my average hours per day was 7 hours when I queried this and she thought I should pay them back hours they paid me even though I was doing 55 - 60 hours a week. I no longer work there obviously.
dox:
nick2008:
bald bloke:
And here I am, I left before they took over Great Bear so can’t help much but pay is monthly and will be a good average for your area and if it’s like Culina it’ll be salaried with overtime on a day off but they may have different contracts, kit will be spot on and meticulously maintained work will probably be rdc with cash n carry’s along with collections too.Culina didn’t ever seem to push too hard but were pretty ■■■■ with their drivers with regards to monitoring them so if your a steady driver and good at keeping your head down you’ll be fine.
As BB says good kit replaced every 2 to 3 years ours (Culina) gets changed every 2 years .
It’ll be 96% curtain work. Your not pushed everything 100% by the book.
As in Culina they look at all aspects of driving on the microlise system.
When I’ve been in collecting a backhaul for Avonmouth they’ve all been pretty much spot on even the guys in transport.
You may do 10 12 15 hrs but it won’t be all work as you could be waiting here and there for your load etc.
A lot of people can’t accept that they may be kicking their heels for a few hrs.People can’t accept this because Culina use POA which they deduct from your working hours along with your breaks therefore you are working hours you are not paid for and if you divide your salaried pay by the hours you are at work it equates to less than national minimum wage. I was told by my manager my average hours per day was 7 hours when I queried this and she thought I should pay them back hours they paid me even though I was doing 55 - 60 hours a week. I no longer work there obviously.
I’ve never been told or made to use POA .
Any place that pays salary you’ll have the same problem as for breaks only 45 minutes is ever taken from your shift.
But then when you go in and go to a place and have ur feet up for 8 hrs I’m not complaining.
nick2008:
dox:
nick2008:
bald bloke:
And here I am, I left before they took over Great Bear so can’t help much but pay is monthly and will be a good average for your area and if it’s like Culina it’ll be salaried with overtime on a day off but they may have different contracts, kit will be spot on and meticulously maintained work will probably be rdc with cash n carry’s along with collections too.Culina didn’t ever seem to push too hard but were pretty ■■■■ with their drivers with regards to monitoring them so if your a steady driver and good at keeping your head down you’ll be fine.
As BB says good kit replaced every 2 to 3 years ours (Culina) gets changed every 2 years .
It’ll be 96% curtain work. Your not pushed everything 100% by the book.
As in Culina they look at all aspects of driving on the microlise system.
When I’ve been in collecting a backhaul for Avonmouth they’ve all been pretty much spot on even the guys in transport.
You may do 10 12 15 hrs but it won’t be all work as you could be waiting here and there for your load etc.
A lot of people can’t accept that they may be kicking their heels for a few hrs.People can’t accept this because Culina use POA which they deduct from your working hours along with your breaks therefore you are working hours you are not paid for and if you divide your salaried pay by the hours you are at work it equates to less than national minimum wage. I was told by my manager my average hours per day was 7 hours when I queried this and she thought I should pay them back hours they paid me even though I was doing 55 - 60 hours a week. I no longer work there obviously.
I’ve never been told or made to use POA .
Any place that pays salary you’ll have the same problem as for breaks only 45 minutes is ever taken from your shift.But then when you go in and go to a place and have ur feet up for 8 hrs I’m not complaining.
I spent about 7 yrs at Culina I don’t ever recall or being told to use POA in fact it was minimum breaks to keep my average up.
rob22888:
The Great Bear depot near me (north west) pays a very good salary for days (low 30,000s). Nice clean easy work. I’d work there if I was looking.My place have got a handful of ex-drivers from there, plus we have one who left to go there and them came back. All have the same complaint… “they said it’d be 10 hours a day and I was doing more like 12”. Safe to say they aren’t any better off working for our lot though.
This is why we should all be aiming for 4-shift per week contracts…
It don’t matter if your 10 hours turns into 12-15 that way. You can call time on it at any stage using the “no local agreement in place” argument, if Gaffer is adamant on taking the ■■■■ all the time. 
Alloga are looking for drivers(j28)
Serious money…but sounded a bit too intense for me.
Great Bear at Kegworth were a good lot to work for on agency and the fulltimers seemed very happy, but was very hard to get in.
One of our guys went to Great Bear Chesterfield (J29a) recently and seemed very happy with it last time I saw him. Easy job and guaranteed hours, but didn’t work that many often.
Alloga advertising - am very surprised as that is generally a deadmans shoes place (literally). Good company, equipment looked good and friendly office and gatehouse.
Downsides, very early starts like 4am, often have to pallet truck the load off (some heavy) and at least the bits I did weren’t RDCs except occasional Boots. Oh and dont lose the electric key that unlocks the back door.
If Alloga did nights I might be very interested.
They don’t advertise.
Reccomendations only.
Forget 0400 starts…try 0000.
5 grand a month though.
bald bloke:
nick2008:
dox:
nick2008:
bald bloke:
And here I am, I left before they took over Great Bear so can’t help much but pay is monthly and will be a good average for your area and if it’s like Culina it’ll be salaried with overtime on a day off but they may have different contracts, kit will be spot on and meticulously maintained work will probably be rdc with cash n carry’s along with collections too.Culina didn’t ever seem to push too hard but were pretty ■■■■ with their drivers with regards to monitoring them so if your a steady driver and good at keeping your head down you’ll be fine.
As BB says good kit replaced every 2 to 3 years ours (Culina) gets changed every 2 years .
It’ll be 96% curtain work. Your not pushed everything 100% by the book.
As in Culina they look at all aspects of driving on the microlise system.
When I’ve been in collecting a backhaul for Avonmouth they’ve all been pretty much spot on even the guys in transport.
You may do 10 12 15 hrs but it won’t be all work as you could be waiting here and there for your load etc.
A lot of people can’t accept that they may be kicking their heels for a few hrs.People can’t accept this because Culina use POA which they deduct from your working hours along with your breaks therefore you are working hours you are not paid for and if you divide your salaried pay by the hours you are at work it equates to less than national minimum wage. I was told by my manager my average hours per day was 7 hours when I queried this and she thought I should pay them back hours they paid me even though I was doing 55 - 60 hours a week. I no longer work there obviously.
I’ve never been told or made to use POA .
Any place that pays salary you’ll have the same problem as for breaks only 45 minutes is ever taken from your shift.But then when you go in and go to a place and have ur feet up for 8 hrs I’m not complaining.
I spent about 7 yrs at Culina I don’t ever recall or being told to use POA in fact it was minimum breaks to keep my average up.
So there’s no agreement in place like after 10-12 hours they OT rate and a higher OT on weekends?