Having survived the first day more or less in one piece, I duly arrived at work for day 2 at 0700. “What’s the plan for the new guy” I hear - probably going to take out the 3 drops I did’nt do yesterday along with some others but will have to wait whilst others are loaded. Boss comes over at 0900 and says “X” driver has not turned up so I will take his DAF LF for the NR2 central Norwich drops. He knows I am new to all of this so kindly takes his time explaining proper use of pallet mover, tail-lift (it’s one of those that comprise the whole rear door so I should not be able to run anything off the end 
). Computer is down so have to write out delivery notes by hand & duly note where each pallet is on the truck. Will be unloading all from the back (no luxury of fork-lifts today) and I set off to Norwich. Traffic heavy as Norfolk County show is on but LF is a breeze to drive.
Need to get to the Chapelfield shopping centre but I’m blowed if I can find the goods entrance - finally locate it and down into the depths I go. Never seen the underside of a shopping centre before (omg wot a noob 
) so it was all an education. Located the right bay unloaded the pallets then up in the lift and through a right old maze of tunnels to the rear of the right shop. Back in the truck - first job done 
. Back up the one in four slope to the exit and I hear a soft thud from the back. Hmm - think the pallet mover has shifted. Off to the Castle Shopping Centre but at least I know where the goods entrance is for this one. Park up again way down in the basement, open the rear door and f**k me, one of the pallets had toppled when I came up the steep slope from Chapelfield. Should have used the internal straps but I figured it would be ok for the short distance. Oh pooh - goods marked “Fragile” and there are now lots of small boxes littering the floor of the truck. Decide to handball onto 3 pallets (luckily there were some lying about) and over the next hour or so, reloaded everything (on the second hottest day of the year- must have lost pounds 
) and managed to get the pallets up in the lift to the shop. Manager of shop not impressed and signed as goods damaged.
Now running seriously late as Traffic office calls and says "have you delivered the 1000 am drops yet? Shoot!! I had 1000am deliveries? Now early afternoon so things not going well. 2 of the drops are in Norwich city centre & I can’t get to those between 1000-1600 due to loading restrictions (and a heck of a lot of pedestrians). Did a few more deliveries then came back at just after 4pm and crawled around the market trying to find way into Exchange street. Located right address but good need to be round back in different lane - sigh. Round the houses again via Pottersgate (breath in - v.tight in places) and managed delivery. Quick drop-off over at the County council and then back into the city centre for the last 2 drop. Now 1830 and the last 2 deliveries are shops which are firmly closed (oops) so no can do. Back to the depot with a heavy heart and clock-off at 1930. Hot, knackered and ready for a shower & bed. Told traffic office I would not be in next day as my lower back joint was out & sore. Thoughts of “is this the right job for me etc”. Driving is fine (v.chuffed I could get into and out of some very tight spots) but hauling pallets around is not ideal for a big, sweaty out of condition 57 tear old. Will speak to depot manager & sound him out…
We all have pallets go over. I had some exterior wall paint fall and leak out of the back doors and all over the road, now that was a mess. As a result, I over strap everything. It may add a few minutes to the drop as you undo them etc but saves time trying to reload a pallet. See if you can find some shrink wrap and hide it in your truck, if you do have to reload a toppled pallet, at least you’ll be able to wrap it and make it look good again. Maybe see if you can have drops where tail lift is minimised such as industrial estates etc where you’re more likely to find a fork lift. Don’t give up, it does get easier. I have bad days and good days. The good far outweigh the bad by miles.
The only pallet I’ve ever had go over was a massive stack of malt grain bags. About 50+ on a pallet that I double strapped. Got to my next drop found it had go over as they were skimping on the shrink wrapping! That was hell trying to load it back up so I gave up and just left the bags all over the back of the truck. That was a fun time explaining that to the warehouse guys who all fell about laughing.
as a newbie i find such threads extremely helpful and useful, so thanks very much, Zeethron, for your time indeed.
hopefully more of them would be on this forum
cheers
Haha-good shout Adam27!
Spare roll of shrink wrap is a friend indeed. Don’t forget to put any knackered products in the middle, and also make it known when you deliver, that you have " re-wrapped the pallet because you suspect the original person did not wrap it very well".
In other words, covering of the rear region pal. We all ■■■■ up, it’s how well you disguise it that matters (allegedly).
what happened is pretty much par for the course im afraid. class 2 work is what you’re experiencing, maybe class 1 with a bit less handball would be worth a shot. if you are only as far as day 3 and calling in a sicky then the future looks a bit bleak. sadly pretty much every class 2 job entails multi drop and heavy handball (exept tippers, bin lorries and tankers)
the impression i got from reading your posts is that you are rushing to do all the drops. you really need to pace yourself, keeping up with the workload will come in time. lots of places put too much on newbies, when i was doing agency i was always the newbie, i would rush round trying to do the same as the full timers, but when i slowed up and went at my own pace i found that not only was i still getting the same drops done but i wasnt going home stressed and knackered. the moral of the story… not only do you not get any thanks for rushing, you dont get any more done.
Thanks for your comments. Those first 2 days were definately a learning experience but I do learn quickly so looking forward to tomorrow (Monday). Talked to my boss on Friday and he is happy to take his time with me to ensure that it all goes well in future. He did say that I was fairly unique in not bashing any of the vehicles on the first few days unlike most other new drivers 
(it’s just the cargo I have to make sure is in one piece).
I learned so far (in no particular order) that route planning & knowledge is a must, pallet location on the truck is critical, strapping needs to be secure, keep the shrinkwrap handy (there was actually a roll in the cab but I did’nt twig ), take (and replenish) a 2 litre bottle of water, keep a towel handy, don’t forget breaks, keep a tight hand on the pallet truck and a smile on your face for the customers.
Have to admit enjoying driving in Norfolk & Norwich - folks are so polite compared to London. I virtually blocked a narrow lane when delivering in Norwich and a cop car came up behind me when unloading my heart sank. No problem - 2nd copper got out, folded wing mirrors in & squeezed through gap with a cheery wave 
I dislike driving in Norwich, full of morons in BMWs. Not a fan of Norfolk itself. Too many coffin dodgers.