Starting with an Agency and processing my details with them on Tuesday, first time in 15 years with an Agency.
So what do i need to look out for, any thing underhand they sting you with?
Any questions i should ask them etc?
skypilot:
Starting with an Agency and processing my details with them on Tuesday, first time in 15 years with an Agency.So what do i need to look out for, any thing underhand they sting you with?Any questions i should ask them etc?
if THEIR lips move 
it’s V.D! 
verbal diarrhea! 
any and EVERY JOB have the following text to you …
Job.
Contact.
Start Time.
Pay Rate.
that way they can only but try to stitch you up 
For newbies, I could add the following:
If you must join any scheme like umbrella, salary sacrifice, invoice raising, etc. that charges you a commission - demand a higher hourly rate - MUCH higher than what you’d expect on PAYE with “no strings”. I’m on record on this board suggesting £15-£18ph is about right for anyone effectively self-employed, and who’s given up their rights to holiday pay, sick pay, and are paying something like a £27 commission to have each payslip processed.
Be flexible in terms of picking up the work that “others cannot do”, rather than “others don’t want.”
This subtle difference leads to being able to cream off cushy jobs for yourself, because perhaps you live near the client yard in question, and no one else can get in there at short notice like you can.
Don’t compromise on crappy rates EVER - If a deduction is made for “unpaid break”, then be very mistrusting of agencies who don’t guarantee a “minimum 8 hours pay” for any shift worked. You don’t want to be travelling 50 miles, get sent home after 6 hours, and get another bloody hour knocked off for “unpaid meal break” do you? Shifts like that won’t keep your car fuelled up even on a shift-by-shift basis!
Never EVER “Pay to go to work” - When you work, you GET paid - not the other way around. You didn’t just get parole from the scrubs did you? You’re not an illegal immigrant are you? You’re not a paedo trying to settle down in a new town are you? - Get a grip on who you are and what you are - just an honest john trying to get work without having the ■■■■ taken out of them…
Ask questions about the above before you attend the office to sign up. Any reticence in their replies should set alarm bells ringing straight away.
Lies usually mean “verbal promises that the paperwork cannot keep”. Undue hesitation on even the verbal promises then must be pretty damned bad eh? 
Ask for a complete list of rates per client - Oddly enough, you’ll probably never get one - BUT they’ll know at the outset from that unfulfilled, but reasonable request that you’re not going to be ■■■■■■ about over each and every “new client” who they’ve just won the business of (Yes, by undercutting!) that doesn’t measure up to the hourly rates verbally promised to you over the phone a week earlier… The recession is supposed to be over. Stop walking cap in hand for work, or you’ll still be on today’s crappy rates when you retire!
Winseer:
The recession is supposed to be over.
Bloody good post that, even some comedy thrown in which i’ve quoted…it might not be achingly funny this year but in about 3 years when reality sets in, and the cheeks of the same arse party is re-elected of whichever identikit branch, it’ll be a howler.
Experienced bloke looking to return? i’d be putting me clean and polished boots on, and clutching a handful of CV’s to me breast, spend a day or two going round the untypical agency fodder places and looking for a real job where experince is valued, try not to feed the agency con men it only encourages them.
Ahh… I’d love to know myself where experience, qualifications, safety record, and clean licence are held in high esteem by any employer anywhere.
In other areas of the private sector outside transport, if someone “valued” attempts to leave, they get offered a massive pay rise to stay. Perfectly normal in “white collar” world. Shame some of that can’t rub off on those of us used to getting our hands dirty getting stuff from A to B eh? 
Job adverts for truckers never ask for anything… well maybe “No DD/DR” but then they go and spoil it by saying “6 points OK” which of course is being booked for speeding twice in most people’s idea of what a “good enough for now” driver is…
Watch out for agencies that get you to pay a percentage if you have a prang.Read the T&C’s and if it states such a thing,I’d advise you to give the hell outa there.
Ramon123:
Watch out for agencies that get you to pay a percentage if you have a prang.Read the T&C’s and if it states such a thing,I’d advise you to give the hell outa there.
With a clean record, that shouldn’t worry me - but I do worry about getting blamed for someone else’s damage after I’d left the truck in pristine condition when I’d finished with it…
The boss’s son can’t possibly be to blame when he noticed out on his first trip in the morning that the front of the cab was all smashed up… He even phoned in to apologise for not noticing the damage on takeover, and parked next to the car “I’d” hit…
Winseer:
Ramon123:
Watch out for agencies that get you to pay a percentage if you have a prang.Read the T&C’s and if it states such a thing,I’d advise you to give the hell outa there.With a clean record, that shouldn’t worry me - but I do worry about getting blamed for someone else’s damage after I’d left the truck in pristine condition when I’d finished with it…
The boss’s son can’t possibly be to blame when he noticed out on his first trip in the morning that the front of the cab was all smashed up… He even phoned in to apologise for not noticing the damage on takeover, and parked next to the car “I’d” hit…
Good point re: someone else’s damage.I hadn’t thought of that.
They all of a habit of short changing the pay.
Then you have to chase them for it and listen to all the excuses.
Pay roll clerk off sick/holiday or car broke down.
Check the hours against what they have paid.
They make money on drivers not checking and get rich.
Fatboy slimslow:
skypilot:
Starting with an Agency and processing my details with them on Tuesday, first time in 15 years with an Agency.So what do i need to look out for, any thing underhand they sting you with?Any questions i should ask them etc?if THEIR lips move
+1
umbrella companies,some are dodgy
I love it when they brag about being a lead vendor of a big blue chip. Usually just means they’ve undercut every other agency and your rate will subsequently be pish.
Terry T:
I love it when they brag about being a lead vendor of a big blue chip. Usually just means they’ve undercut every other agency and your rate will subsequently be pish.
Why does anyone assume that “big blue chip” means we’re all queueing up to work there for next to nothing?
I’d rather work for ‘Enoch Thompson’s yard’ that pays on time, better than the going rate, and operates decent kit. Don’t give a ■■■■ about any other outside reputation stuff. It’s a potential bosses reputation standing with me that’s the big ice breaker…
Employers should just employ the best suited for the job, rather than the bod who just happens to like the taste of primero rim cheese the best.
Always ask who their “clients” are and what the rates of pay are for each one. Never EVER let them fob you off with the usual response of “we dont disclose that over the phone as you may approach the company direct, but we’ll tell you if you pop in to register”. If they say something along these lines or wont answer ALL the questions you want to ask dont even bother going in as in all likelyhood they are hiding something and not telling you for a reason.
A good agency (yes amongst all the c**p ones there are some!!) will have no problems telling you what you want to know in the first instance if they are not lying (yes again I know what I just said!!! lol).
I confirm what others have said about making it perfectly clear what the rate and terms are for each job.
Also try to establish good, friendly relationship with the clerk so he knows you’re a decent honest reliable person.
I email in an invoice at the end of each week
When you’re on a job, watch out for other agency drivers. I always introduce myself, saying I’m with Proactive or Driver Hire and I’m being paid e.g. £9.00 ph, time and a half after eight, 8 hours guaranteed, 45min deducted.
The other driver usually replies, “same here” but sometimes explode in a froth of anger caused by realization that he is on a lower rate.
I have sometimes had to get on to my agency saying, in a friendly way, that there seems to be a bit of a misunderstanding as some of the other drivers seem to be getting a better rate than me. This is usually resolved with a bit of bluster and apology blaming faulty communications.
also check your car insurance as driving to fixed place of work often isnt true with agencys i no a lad thats been caught out on this theres good and bad but that desperate des from that agency in redditch a few years back 
was a total knob
itsybitsy:
also check your car insurance as driving to fixed place of work often isnt true with agencys :
Really? Not doubting you mate but that’s a new one to me. I would have thought that social domestic and pleasure would cover you driving anywhere for whatever reason. I’m no expert though and would be interested to hear the official version.
the maoster:
Really? Not doubting you mate but that’s a new one to me. I would have thought that social domestic and pleasure would cover you driving anywhere for whatever reason. I’m no expert though and would be interested to hear the official version.
The SD&P to and from a place of work can sometimes be stipulated as to a single place of work, fessing up & adding 2 or more may bump up your insurance.
itsybitsy:
also check your car insurance as driving to fixed place of work often isnt true with agencys i no a lad thats been caught out on this theres good and bad but that desperate des from that agency in redditch a few years back
The probability of you having a car accident in the yard of firm your working in that day is miniscule, so the odds of getting caught out by that clause is low, your more likely to have a prang in your car on the way to/from it on the public highway. So no one is wiser where you work
Euro:
When you’re on a job, watch out for other agency drivers. I always introduce myself, saying I’m with Proactive or Driver Hire and I’m being paid e.g. £9.00 ph, time and a half after eight, 8 hours guaranteed, 45min deducted.
The other driver usually replies, “same here” but sometimes explode in a froth of anger caused by realization that he is on a lower rate.
Two things come to mind:
The client won`t give 2 fugs what the agency are paying you, and probably doesn’t want to know. 
Telling another driver how much your on may backfire on you when you realise your on less than him
its also a good idea to keep quiet about such matters imo