Grandpa:
I think the change is a lot more recent. In the last decade you got a huge influx of foreigners who said we can do anything for three times what we get paid in our own countries and employers obviously took advantage of that. The ‘runs’ then became tailored to break neck levels and over time have now become normal. The same in the warehouses, where you barely now get an English native speaker and they all work at minimum wage, with target levels on long hour shifts.We can all remember when a trunk meant delivery/collection, which has now turned into multi-drop and un/load yourself as normal. I often explain to agencies that I can’t do the physical labour involved and I’m almost guaranteed not to hear from then again because what was normal previously is an admission that you can’t do the add-ons which is now standard practice.
I’m looking at adverts and I’m constantly seeing sentences such as and I quote, ‘Must be comfortable with the physical nature of the role’ or ‘Ideally, you will be used to moving heavy loads’ and ‘Must be comfortable working on your own’ which translated means if a one ton pallet spills you pick it up on your own because there will be no one at the delivery point to help you. As long as there are people who will do these jobs the workload will continue.
I see no evidence of the workload increasing because of the influx or foreign drivers, hire and reward is extremely competitive the only way is to run day and night with the lowest possible cost, the only cost under the control of the haulier is wages, as for minimum wage I reckon few if any warehouse or drivers are being paid that little.
The issue is imbecilic drivers who allow themselves to be treated like slaves and believe me the vast majority are British nationals.