Winseer:
Evil8Beezle:
I’m still assuming that the work dries up as of Monday…
I’d give it a couple more weeks before things bite, it used to be around the 20th Jan that things went off the precipice, when the post Xmas credit card bills hit the door mats.
Winseer:
I wonder how much they’d have to rise to and stay at - to entice drivers to chuck in full time to take the rates that’ll leave them out in the cold in January…
My last year on agency during a January had me taking “anything I could get”.:
It’s not as bad as it used to be, I find work is pretty constant during the year, true it does go a bit quieter during Jan for some but personally I’m being phoned by a few agencies trying to get me back next week, the fact is that I don’t want to go back yet
Because agency drivers are paid a lot more than employed drivers we can afford to take time off when we like 
Our place is full of agency bods this week then again it always is,be stuck without em to be fair.
Most of em are ok even taught them where the coffee machine is lol
peirre:
Winseer:
Evil8Beezle:
I’m still assuming that the work dries up as of Monday…I’d give it a couple more weeks before things bite, it used to be around the 20th Jan that things went off the precipice, when the post Xmas credit card bills hit the door mats.
Wot? Are all the agency staff signing up with Donald Trump on that day by any chance? 
Big Roy:
Winseer:
I wonder how much they’d have to rise to and stay at - to entice drivers to chuck in full time to take the rates that’ll leave them out in the cold in January…
My last year on agency during a January had me taking “anything I could get”.:It’s not as bad as it used to be, I find work is pretty constant during the year, true it does go a bit quieter during Jan for some but personally I’m being phoned by a few agencies trying to get me back next week, the fact is that I don’t want to go back yet
Because agency drivers are paid a lot more than employed drivers we can afford to take time off when we like
There’s this concept known as “The Poverty Gap”.
You can earn a higher hourly rate than the full time staff, but you might still end up with a lower income overall.
I was shocked to find that moving from agency to full time actually lowered my income, despite the full time having the same hourly rate.
This was because I am now paying full taxation & NICs again, and of course any tax credits I used to get - have since been stopped as well.
On agency, if I only got 2 or 3 days work in a week - the top-up made an effective MUCH higher “hourly rate” for the actual jobs I’m paying to commute to, after all.
The full timers display a quiet glee at the thought of agency bods getting no work at the start of the year. I would just point out though that whilst retail obviously quietens down, there are other jobs outside of this sector. Ive kept busy during Jan and Feb for the last 3 years when I got out of retail and into industrial stuff. Ive had a nice break and I`m going in next week as usual. I will always avoid supermarkets and anything to do with shops and would advise any fellow limpers to try and get into other stuff as well.
Our rate went up slightly about November (biggish company with a few depots and around 70 drivers (mix of class 2 and 1). It certainly helped with driver retention. Because of the type of work and hours we’ll always get a bit of driver turnover. But I’ve noticed it has helped to cut down on the number of agency drivers required every week. They have probably looked at the agency bill over the last few years and though if we pay our own drivers a better rate theres more chance we won’t need to use agency drivers. Just a shame its taken years to come to this conclusion…
In full time employment, with agency on the side, every other saturday/sunday. Been offered wednesday tho to friday, the last week turned them all down at time and half for normal hours.
TheTachoKid:
Just wondering how many drivers out there have been given work by their agencies in this post xmas week?Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Yes, like most agency drivers have confirmed, I personally have turned work down. I don’t mind the quiet periods as I’m prepared for them. It’s simply case of money management, something ‘agency haters’ are unable to do.
I have been working through the holidays, as my normal agency job depot was shut down for the holidays i had work with parcel company. done 6 days, with them, and now back to my normal place…
roughyed:
Done Wed to Fri this week,and been offered tues to fri next week, doing wed to fri as I’ve got physio on my right foot tuesday. Done the ligaments on my foot due to keep climbing up the step ladders that pull out from under the trailer. Weird as I’ve never had this injury before using these.
So you’re limping then?
If you worked for driver hire you could use their umbrella as a walking aid.
Non-stop as per… tbh… I could take 4 month off and still earn more than if I took a ft job… so work demand isn’t even an issue.