I’ve always hated palletwork, because of the way you’re expected to extensively use POA to get around the drivers hours regs. Time on duty we’re talking about here, rather than actual wheels turning driving.
You spend 3 hours stop-start in a tip queue at some place off the A38, and then you’ve barely got time to book a proper 45m break (I see many drivers grabbing at least 15 minutes on break whilst they are doing their curtains!) so you’re (a) working whilst on break - illegal - and (b) doing more than 13 hour shifts (ie less than minimum 11hours daily rest taken) more than 3 times a week - also illegal - and not having anything to eat or drink… Thus, 8am on the way home, you’re attacked by the nodding dog something large!
Now… I don’t consider myself to be a lightweight, since I’ve done nearly all nights for over 20 years, but I really dislike the way it’s palletwork in particular that gives me the nodding dog at breakfast time - BECAUSE I’ve gone all night long on a 15 hour with NO sustenance and NO “grabbed some zeds whilst on POA” which maybe you DO get to do in other jobs, like regular trunking.
I’ve worked for 4 different pallet operators, and their modus operandi is essentially the same - expected to do 12-15 hours monday to friday, you might finish earlier as a salaried full timer if you don’t hang about (usual “rush rush” argument…) but if you are going to get a proper break in, you’ve got to carve up on the agency who doesn’t know that particular job as well as you, thus jump through that damned tip queue and get parked up early, presumably by turning up earlier when it’s still quiet. I was always suspicious of the fact that it was always the “last run out” that seemed to be given to muggins doing it on agency, but there you go. You can’t stop “en route” because of the security of your load issues, like having that crate of jack daniels nicked whilst your in some dark layby…
Oh, there are even some operators who expect you to answer your regular phone whilst at the wheel as well, which I’ve actually been “not asked back” from one place for refusing to do…
I’ve even had a bollocking off the same firm for “not filling up at the filling station I was told to”… WTF? Have they got some scam running with the night bod on duty there then? Why was it important to fill up at the same brand but dearer per litre station a few miles away (not that there’s a lot in the west mids area!) - I was expecting some gratitude for saving the firm some money rather than being bollocked off for “using the wrong one” FFS!
Winseer:
I’ve always hated palletwork, because of the way you’re expected to extensively use POA to get around the drivers hours regs. Time on duty we’re talking about here, rather than actual wheels turning driving.
You spend 3 hours stop-start in a tip queue at some place off the A38, and then you’ve barely got time to book a proper 45m break.
.
I feel your pain ! I’ve done a few runs to a couple of pallet hubs in Birmingham but I must say that I have never spent 3 hours in a tip queue and I’ve never missed out on a 45 minute break. I’d take my break upon arrival or just before arrival. I wouldn’t break the law for anyone.
Obviously there are delays because vehicles are arriving all the time with pallets destined for your postcode. I seem to remember getting my head down for a couple of hours and feeling worse for it whenever I woke up. I must have driven home like a zombie !
scanny77:
24/7 rates seem to be creeping in. i dont work sundays for weekday rates so i dont do sundays any more. saturdays are the one day that seems to be the fly in the ointment. they are always short of drivers. cant imagine why
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Yes - soon it will be £8 for all hours, every hour.
.
the money is the only thing keeping me behind the wheel. if the rates drop that low then there is nothing left for me in transport. if i start a career now then i would lose £250 a week plus the odd 6th shift which is rare for me. i am not losing nearly half my income, especially when i would lose even more by paying PAYE
dozy:
. . . hourly rate means nothing,
all that matters is what you earn at the end of the week,
I earn £7 p.h mon-fri. I earn £10 p.h on a sat. I earn £11 p.h on a sun.
as long as my pay slip shows £770.78 it did on the last one I’m fine,
The mrs has just ordered a new car,
she’s just ordered a new kitchen,
she’s just spent xxxxxx on a new bathroom,
tanning, gym, hairdo sect, etc
What’s there to worry about
You just need to wake up and smell the coffee
.
You’d have to work 95 hours to earn £770, YOU ARE A MISLEADING MOUTHY LIAR.
…and I’ve allowed you to work 15 hours on Sunday, 15 on Saturday
and any other 4 days Monday to Friday - I’ve even paid for all your breaks.
…and next week, same as last week, you can only work five days, YOU BULLSHOTTER.
Shame you don’t see much of the wife.
Perhaps someone else is smelling YOUR coffee when you’re not looking.
…hourly rate means everything.
.
Isn’t he on for Stobarts? In which case, that wage is for 2 weeks
scanny77:
. . . i would lose even more by paying PAYE
.
… PAYE - that old nutshell !
I bumped into an old mate over the weekend - he’s just got
an unexpected tax demand for two-and-a-half grand !
He went self employed with NOVA CONTRACTING [/b] and couldn’t produce many food & petrol receipts that they suddenly asked for. He’s since gone back to Agency PAYE and still claims more or less the same kind of expenses and the agency charges just £1 per day, not 20 - 30 quid a week ! .
Winseer:
I’ve always hated palletwork, because of the way you’re expected to extensively use POA to get around the drivers hours regs. Time on duty we’re talking about here, rather than actual wheels turning driving.
You spend 3 hours stop-start in a tip queue at some place off the A38, and then you’ve barely got time to book a proper 45m break (I see many drivers grabbing at least 15 minutes on break whilst they are doing their curtains!) so you’re (a) working whilst on break - illegal - and (b) doing more than 13 hour shifts (ie less than minimum 11hours daily rest taken) more than 3 times a week - also illegal - and not having anything to eat or drink… Thus, 8am on the way home, you’re attacked by the nodding dog something large!
Now… I don’t consider myself to be a lightweight, since I’ve done nearly all nights for over 20 years, but I really dislike the way it’s palletwork in particular that gives me the nodding dog at breakfast time - BECAUSE I’ve gone all night long on a 15 hour with NO sustenance and NO “grabbed some zeds whilst on POA” which maybe you DO get to do in other jobs, like regular trunking.
I’ve worked for 4 different pallet operators, and their modus operandi is essentially the same - expected to do 12-15 hours monday to friday, you might finish earlier as a salaried full timer if you don’t hang about (usual “rush rush” argument…) but if you are going to get a proper break in, you’ve got to carve up on the agency who doesn’t know that particular job as well as you, thus jump through that damned tip queue and get parked up early, presumably by turning up earlier when it’s still quiet. I was always suspicious of the fact that it was always the “last run out” that seemed to be given to muggins doing it on agency, but there you go. You can’t stop “en route” because of the security of your load issues, like having that crate of jack daniels nicked whilst your in some dark layby…
Oh, there are even some operators who expect you to answer your regular phone whilst at the wheel as well, which I’ve actually been “not asked back” from one place for refusing to do… I’ve even had a bollocking off the same firm for “not filling up at the filling station I was told to”… WTF? Have they got some scam running with the night bod on duty there then? Why was it important to fill up at the same brand but dearer per litre station a few miles away (not that there’s a lot in the west mids area!) - I was expecting some gratitude for saving the firm some money rather than being bollocked off for “using the wrong one” FFS!
The number / price you see isn’t usually the price that the company pays, that 1 might actually have been CHEAPER or they get loyalty points or whatever, why argue it? If they say fill up there, why wouldn’t you fill up there??
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He should be . . . as punishment for being a liar !
.
Hahahaha! I doubt even they would take on a oxygen thief like Dozy.
And I like how Dozy hasn’t replied, then I suppose it’s 11:30 and he’s still got 12 hours of his made up shift to go…busy boy.
Winseer:
Oh, there are even some operators who expect you to answer your regular phone whilst at the wheel as well, which I’ve actually been “not asked back” from one place for refusing to do… I’ve even had a bollocking off the same firm for “not filling up at the filling station I was told to”… WTF? Have they got some scam running with the night bod on duty there then? Why was it important to fill up at the same brand but dearer per litre station a few miles away (not that there’s a lot in the west mids area!) - I was expecting some gratitude for saving the firm some money rather than being bollocked off for “using the wrong one” FFS!
The number / price you see isn’t usually the price that the company pays, that 1 might actually have been CHEAPER or they get loyalty points or whatever, why argue it? If they say fill up there, why wouldn’t you fill up there??
++
Unfortunately 9/10 you’re paid to follow instructions, not use your initiative.
Kudos for trying to be thoughtful but you’re only giving yourself a harder life!
Winseer:
I’ve always hated palletwork, because of the way you’re expected to extensively use POA to get around the drivers hours regs. Time on duty we’re talking about here, rather than actual wheels turning driving.
You spend 3 hours stop-start in a tip queue at some place off the A38, and then you’ve barely got time to book a proper 45m break.
.
I feel your pain ! I’ve done a few runs to a couple of pallet hubs in Birmingham but I must say that I have never spent 3 hours in a tip queue and I’ve never missed out on a 45 minute break. I’d take my break upon arrival or just before arrival. I wouldn’t break the law for anyone.
Obviously there are delays because vehicles are arriving all the time with pallets destined for your postcode. I seem to remember getting my head down for a couple of hours and feeling worse for it whenever I woke up. I must have driven home like a zombie !
I’ll leave the palletwork to the others !
.
I’ve done Birmingham, Fradley Park, Watford Gap, and Burton. Of those 4, fradley park (“lichfield palletways”) was by far the worst, and Watford Gap (palletforce) actually saw me getting back in good time, no problems with their blue flashing light “shuffle up” ssytem they have there that I have not seen anywhere else. Birmingham was fine on my second trip when I was on “collection only”, since I could just get there and park up rather than bugger about in tip queues. Still involved coming back past heathrow around 8am though, so it’s important you’ve had something to eat, and got some kip in at some point too. Nowdays though, I just avoid anything palletwork wise unless it’s a singleton shift on friday night when I can potter along taking my time, with everyone else jammed up in the earlier rush. I’ve yet to see any work on weekends - is there any?
I’ve never “missed out on a break” because I’ll insist upon parking up and taking it, even if it means getting backloaded first, and then parking up for 45 when everyone else is rushing off.
This is, of course, what makes it string out to 15 hours so often! Once you’ve gone over 12 hours, you need to be taking a second break as well, to avoid that old “worked over 6 hours straight” infringement you’d get if you don’t! I was always under instructions to never hang about on the way up there… No breaks before the hub for me alas!
Winseer:
I’ve always hated palletwork, because of the way you’re expected to extensively use POA to get around the drivers hours regs. Time on duty we’re talking about here, rather than actual wheels turning driving.
You spend 3 hours stop-start in a tip queue at some place off the A38, and then you’ve barely got time to book a proper 45m break (I see many drivers grabbing at least 15 minutes on break whilst they are doing their curtains!) so you’re (a) working whilst on break - illegal - and (b) doing more than 13 hour shifts (ie less than minimum 11hours daily rest taken) more than 3 times a week - also illegal - and not having anything to eat or drink… Thus, 8am on the way home, you’re attacked by the nodding dog something large!
Now… I don’t consider myself to be a lightweight, since I’ve done nearly all nights for over 20 years, but I really dislike the way it’s palletwork in particular that gives me the nodding dog at breakfast time - BECAUSE I’ve gone all night long on a 15 hour with NO sustenance and NO “grabbed some zeds whilst on POA” which maybe you DO get to do in other jobs, like regular trunking.
I’ve worked for 4 different pallet operators, and their modus operandi is essentially the same - expected to do 12-15 hours monday to friday, you might finish earlier as a salaried full timer if you don’t hang about (usual “rush rush” argument…) but if you are going to get a proper break in, you’ve got to carve up on the agency who doesn’t know that particular job as well as you, thus jump through that damned tip queue and get parked up early, presumably by turning up earlier when it’s still quiet. I was always suspicious of the fact that it was always the “last run out” that seemed to be given to muggins doing it on agency, but there you go. You can’t stop “en route” because of the security of your load issues, like having that crate of jack daniels nicked whilst your in some dark layby…
Oh, there are even some operators who expect you to answer your regular phone whilst at the wheel as well, which I’ve actually been “not asked back” from one place for refusing to do… I’ve even had a bollocking off the same firm for “not filling up at the filling station I was told to”… WTF? Have they got some scam running with the night bod on duty there then? Why was it important to fill up at the same brand but dearer per litre station a few miles away (not that there’s a lot in the west mids area!) - I was expecting some gratitude for saving the firm some money rather than being bollocked off for “using the wrong one” FFS!
The number / price you see isn’t usually the price that the company pays, that 1 might actually have been CHEAPER or they get loyalty points or whatever, why argue it? If they say fill up there, why wouldn’t you fill up there??
Didn’t fill up there on the way up, because I was told to run non-stop. Coming back though, I’m due for a second break before I get to the station they wanted me to go to (Warwick MSA). Double stop was therefore required if I was to use the one they wanted. I just combined a MSA break and tank-fill at a cheaper displayed price establishment, figuring that what you see is what they pay… Surely, if they are on some kind of contract diesel price, it would be the same for filling up anywhere? I could not use other fuel chains as it was, because the card only worked at BP stations, of which there are not many that’ll take a hightop once you get past warwick. I filled up at Burton just outside the depot, and never got asked back since!
I am a newbie to class 1 as you may know and I have a Monday - Friday night gig a the moment which I like. However if I did not have that then to be honest I would take this at a tenner an hour. My main priority at the moment is experience not money.
Two points about this debate struck me just what a genius Karl Marx was as he foresaw all of this over 160 years ago in his critique of capitalism, he saw the growth of multinational capital, the power of control over the means of production, its sole purpose to increase profit at the expense of the worker whose only commodity was their labour.
Hence we see two things in our daily employment straight from Marx, the de-skilling of industry (ie automatic transmissions and curtain siders) and the creation of a reserve pool of labour (our Eastern European comrades).
It’s not exclusive to the haulage industry but Marx is as relevant today as he was in the 19th century
bigdave789:
Two points about this debate struck me just what a genius Karl Marx was as he foresaw all of this over 160 years ago in his critique of capitalism, he saw the growth of multinational capital, the power of control over the means of production, its sole purpose to increase profit at the expense of the worker whose only commodity was their labour.
Hence we see two things in our daily employment straight from Marx, the de-skilling of industry (ie automatic transmissions and curtain siders) and the creation of a reserve pool of labour (our Eastern European comrades).
It’s not exclusive to the haulage industry but Marx is as relevant today as he was in the 19th century
and tom toms they have been the biggest factor I think. Anyone can walk in to this country and do lorry driving without having a good grasp of the language or road knowledge due to the sat navs
