Anyone know what Bidvest are like to work for, just got offered a job with them seems good money £30000 pa basic plus over time they have said it’s hard work so I’m not expecting to have a nice easy day but would like to know how they are to work for long term
Thanks
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Cancel your gym membership! 
Evil8Beezle:
Cancel your gym membership!
Funny that’s what the guy interviewing me said!!!
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As it was explained to me by the manager conducting the interview when I went for a job at 3663 (now called Bidvest) “It’s not really a driving job - we’re looking for a labourer who also happens to drive the lorry”…
Sent using smoke and mirrors
I did 3 days for 3663 at a branch, never again not for the money I was on with the agency at the time.
15 drops around a city centre on a Friday, 14 hours how lovely. No induction here’s your truck off you go, not to mention the truck being loaded and then all scrambling to get on a bay to load the extra orders and having them at the back of the truck on the floor.
Stuff in the wrong cages, drops in the wrong order on the trip sheet when one customer was waiting for an urgent delivery.
Missing stuff off orders, nothing marked up clearly etc etc.
Some crazy places to get in and out of with a class 2.
I was so glad not to be going back there, having to take it all out of the cages and carry it to a storeroom/freezer and wait while everything was checked off by the customer, it wastes so much time in a day to be so archaic in this day and age.
Just my opinion and some branches are maybe better than others and some people probably love it as a job but not for me and I am not shy of hard work by any means.
simcor:
I did 3 days for 3663 at a branch, never again not for the money I was on with the agency at the time.15 drops around a city centre on a Friday, 14 hours how lovely. No induction here’s your truck off you go, not to mention the truck being loaded and then all scrambling to get on a bay to load the extra orders and having them at the back of the truck on the floor.
Stuff in the wrong cages, drops in the wrong order on the trip sheet when one customer was waiting for an urgent delivery.
Missing stuff off orders, nothing marked up clearly etc etc.
Some crazy places to get in and out of with a class 2.
I was so glad not to be going back there, having to take it all out of the cages and carry it to a storeroom/freezer and wait while everything was checked off by the customer, it wastes so much time in a day to be so archaic in this day and age.
Just my opinion and some branches are maybe better than others and some people probably love it as a job but not for me and I am not shy of hard work by any means.
Could be some investing times ahead then, I’ll give it a bash and if it works out great if not I’m sure something else will turn up! Thanks for the heads up on it though.
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If your not scared of some graft, go for it…learning everything will be a ball-ache and headache inducing but the rewards and experience are there to be gained! There will be loading issues etc but talk to the management and resolve them…it ain’t hard. If it takes 14 hours to do 15 drops, it’s not for you…we knocked out 25/30 a day at my old depot in 8-10hrs…but maybe us Southerners are workers and not shirkers! 
Actrosman:
If your not scared of some graft, go for it…learning everything will be a ball-ache and headache inducing but the rewards and experience are there to be gained! There will be loading issues etc but talk to the management and resolve them…it ain’t hard. If it takes 14 hours to do 15 drops, it’s not for you…we knocked out 25/30 a day at my old depot in 8-10hrs…but maybe us Southerners are workers and not shirkers!
Funny that, the guy in the transport office even said some of their more experienced drivers would have struggled with that route I did on a Friday and I did well not to bring anything back. As I said most of the holds up were waiting for staff to check the goods off something you can’t really control, and also not knowing my way around that well in that city centre and also struggling to find one drop as it had a different name on to the name of the company.
I am not a multidrop driver in the true sense of the word but someone who has hardly ever done multidrop to do 15 drops like I did can’t be that bad on his 3rd day, again as I said no real help here’s your truck off you go. Once you learn the routes better things go a lot quicker etc once you know the customers they are more likely to help out, had I stuck with it I am sure it would have got better. To be fair when I say 15 round a city centre not actually quite correct, most were in the city but some were a decent drive away, probably on average 30 mins driving per stop not a mile or 2 up the road.
Fair play Simcor, 3 days in and minimal training, you did well. Our drops were indeed closer together and most were either up or down bloody stairs! Just out of curiosity, what depot were you in?
I’ve done work for bidvest logistics which is larger orders from Larbert. Was getting about 8-10 drops. Your basically unloading a 26t truck on your own with lots of moving things around. I didn’t find it bad, but tiring. You got the odd drop that was down narrow steps etc which were a PITA. Always got the impression from drivers that logistics might be easier. Customers were hotels, burger king, pizza Hut, KFC, nandos etc. So a lot of them were in retail parks and quite straightforward to park.
Might be worth a look.
graemem106:
Anyone know what Bidvest are like to work for, just got offered a job with them seems good money £30000 pa basic plus over time they have said it’s hard work so I’m not expecting to have a nice easy day but would like to know how they are to work for long termThanks
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I was with them a while and your right the money’s good but everything else is ■■■■■■
When you start you aren’t straight onto cages your on pallets, sometimes these pallets could have 3/4/5 separate orders on them and the stuffs never together so you’ll spend 5/10 minutes before you even get the stuff off the Lorry, it’s all on a sack barrow and if it’s subways or pubs you’ll always be bouncing it up and down stairs. Also if you have a phone throw it away cause you’ll get endless phone calls from customer services wanting ETA’s.
Then you come to the transport office, they’re all 2 faced lying ■■■■■■■■ who in turn will stab you in the back without so much as a warning. You will have trucks that scrap yards will turn away and be expected to drive them and if you refuse you wind up being made to wait an age so your doing a 15hour shift regardless. None of the rear boxes are properly sealed as they are old so ice on the floors is always a scary problem especially pulling pallets around, and while we’re back on the subject of pallets, they’ll always be stacked ■■■■, they will be loaded wrong and if you do eventually get onto cages there will always be the ones with wonky wheels or bits of the steel wire sticking out that catch you oas you walk past or snag in the customers premises.
Good point is they have a union, bad point is you’ll be seeing your union rep constantly as they hand out disciplinary a for ■■■■■■■ it seems.
I will admit there are worse places in the world to work, being a British soldier in Syria for example?,
Good luck
adokeefe:
graemem106:
Anyone know what Bidvest are like to work for, just got offered a job with them seems good money £30000 pa basic plus over time they have said it’s hard work so I’m not expecting to have a nice easy day but would like to know how they are to work for long termThanks
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I was with them a while and your right the money’s good but everything else is [zb].
When you start you aren’t straight onto cages your on pallets, sometimes these pallets could have 3/4/5 separate orders on them and the stuffs never together so you’ll spend 5/10 minutes before you even get the stuff off the Lorry, it’s all on a sack barrow and if it’s subways or pubs you’ll always be bouncing it up and down stairs. Also if you have a phone throw it away cause you’ll get endless phone calls from customer services wanting ETA’s.
Then you come to the transport office, they’re all 2 faced lying [zb] who in turn will stab you in the back without so much as a warning. You will have trucks that scrap yards will turn away and be expected to drive them and if you refuse you wind up being made to wait an age so your doing a 15hour shift regardless. None of the rear boxes are properly sealed as they are old so ice on the floors is always a scary problem especially pulling pallets around, and while we’re back on the subject of pallets, they’ll always be stacked [zb], they will be loaded wrong and if you do eventually get onto cages there will always be the ones with wonky wheels or bits of the steel wire sticking out that catch you oas you walk past or snag in the customers premises.
Good point is they have a union, bad point is you’ll be seeing your union rep constantly as they hand out disciplinary a for ■■■■■■■ it seems.
I will admit there are worse places in the world to work, being a British soldier in Syria for example?,
Good luck
The disciplinary stuff dose sound a bit over the top they were going on about it on my induction today and the paperwork sounds like a nightmare to get used to though on a plus side they are half way through getting a new fleet of trucks all brand new mercs still a few older scanias that look a bit rough which I imagine I’ll be put in. I think I’m going to give it a good go and see if I can last at it as they said I might be able to get on to the class 1 trunking after a while which is what I really want to do as I just passed it last month but decided to go for this cause of the money, Thanks for the advice
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Actrosman:
Fair play Simcor, 3 days in and minimal training, you did well. Our drops were indeed closer together and most were either up or down bloody stairs! Just out of curiosity, what depot were you in?
Nottingham mate.
Simcor…one of the ‘newer’ ones then. Think most of the old ones are going or gone these days, new one in Slough opens for business Monday so it’s goodbye to the shed in Bourne End…they’ve asked is to work on clearing it out of stock on 4 reefers and just keep going till its empty…drop & swap all day, 2 units, 4 trailers…if we work it right they’ll be dropped loaded, back for a full’un, take that & drop and hopefully fetch an empty back and repeat at other end…I use the word ‘hopefully’ loosely as I doubt it will run like that…might end up with 4 still loaded at Slough and knobbers at BE jumping up & down! Oh well, it’s paying well
I would also ass it’s not just a Bidvest thing of no job training, it’s happens at most places, because you can drive a truck most places think or assume you know everything.
A lot of jobs are very different to just driving a truck we know that, but I see drivers who have absolutely no idea about half the buttons in the trucks etc, some don’t even barely know how to use a pump truck let alone anything more complicated 
simcor:
some don’t even barely know how to use a pump truck
Hey! Why would I want to know how to use a pump truck? I’m allergic to hard work
F-reds:
simcor:
some don’t even barely know how to use a pump truckHey! Why would I want to know how to use a pump truck? I’m allergic to hard work
Well it’s hard to get stuff out of a box if there is not bay to go on lol
simcor:
F-reds:
simcor:
some don’t even barely know how to use a pump truckHey! Why would I want to know how to use a pump truck? I’m allergic to hard work
Well it’s hard to get stuff out of a box if there is not bay to go on lol
If its not coming off mechanically, it’s not coming off!
Well it might be, but I’m not doing it… 
F-reds:
simcor:
F-reds:
simcor:
some don’t even barely know how to use a pump truckHey! Why would I want to know how to use a pump truck? I’m allergic to hard work
Well it’s hard to get stuff out of a box if there is not bay to go on lol
If its not coming off mechanically, it’s not coming off!
Well it might be, but I’m not doing it…
Lazy sod
A mate of mine works for Bidvest Logistics out of Banbury and he seems to like it. Does 4 on 3 off and has his own run that doesn’t include any Londons. He used to do flour deliveries so he’s used to lift and shift work. His usual shift is between 11 to 13 hours long but he told me yesterday that he may soon be “owing” them hours due to the annualised system.
Then he said “you could do this, no different to lugging flour sacks about…”
Not a chance. My idea of manual handling and load interaction involves using a Palfinger grab.