killsville:
One of their drivers drinks in the same pub as me and he was furious last bank holiday.
He put his name down to work (double time and all that!) and was refused as they only needed a few drivers to work. He went in the following day to find that they had brought half a dozen agency drivers in for the bank holiday.
Stupid or what?
One (ex-Exel) DHL depot I worked at did this a lot. They argued that they had to ‘keep the agency sweet’ for when they needed lots of agency drivers.
The DHL depot I currently work at (where the management is ex Securicor Omega Logistics, and was Russell Davies before that) won’t have any agency drivers unless there is absolutely no other way. That said, if it was a bank holiday, the job would be cancelled rather than pay £30odd per hour for agency staff. In reality - there is always plenty of staff volunteers to work bank holidays anyway.
I’ve seen the TM do a day’s work in the office, then, to avoid agency costs, go out on a six hour run to cover a job due to driver sickness. I’d never seen that happen until I worked here. 
They seem have the principle that if you look after your own drivers, you shouldn’t need to use too many agency drivers.
In response to the original point, it really does depend on the site you are talking about, and how the management got there.
These are my personal opinions of DHL Exel Supply Chain (formerly DHL Freight). I cannot comment on DHL Express (parcels) as I have never worked on that side of the firm.
Ex Securicor Omega Logistics / Russell Davies depots tend to be more ‘old school’, i.e. traffic office staff tend to be C+E holders and have done your job in their time, trucks kept in very good condition both mechanically and cosmetically, customer service of a good standard, meeting delivery times is of vital importance. Days tend to be quite long, and you can get close to your max duty and driving hours so you need to keep a close eye on these. Planners are usually clued up about where places are and what is realistically achievable. Empty running is minimal, as is use of agency drivers.
Ex Exel / Tibbett & Britten depots are often run by accountants and people with no practical transport experience, have trucks which are dirty, covered in damage, though mechanically roadworthy. They are very concerned about legal compliance / health and safety, but slightly less worried about meeting delivery times. Days tend to be shorter and you rarely get anywhere near your max hours. Emphasis is on getting the trailer back to the depot ASAP, rather than looking for a return load. Planner’s favourite phrase is ‘why can’t you do it, my computer say you can’. Agency driver use quite frequent.
