Is it your Job to load/un-load your waggon?
After a 10 hour shift would you be willing to off-load?
When you start a shift are you happy to help load your truck?
Do you see your Job as a driver, as a postman where its your job to put the load thru the letter box?
As a driver with a bad back its my opinion that my medical problem is because of sitting in a truck for hours and hours then having to hand ball a load! 
are you heading down the same slippery slope?
sometimes tc i’d rather load my own trl,that way i’d know that the pallets for one company are on the same side next to each other and save me double work.
as for bad back, maybe if some drivers got out of the cab and done a little bit there back might not be so sore.and i don’t mean that badly as my wife suffers from a slipped disc every now and then so i can sympathise with you’s
lets say you have just done 4.5 hrs driving you arrive at customers location,the last thing i’d want to do would be to sit in the cab till i’m tipped or loaded.if the customer lets you in the warehouse then you can at least let them know how you want it loaded to suit you as you have to travel with it in the back and the last thing you need is the load moving.you might not be loading the frieght,but at least your moving around.it will keep you active.
i pick up from a company in glenrothes every nite and they deal in all types of cable.and they put out all types of frieght.from pallets to boxes to small reels to really large reels.now if i did not bother entering the warehouse and i get a few very large reels on as i got today 6 of them.now most of the time i can block them in with heavy pallets,but today they did not have a pallet heavy enough to sit behind the reels.so i had to strap them down.now if i had sat in my cab ( which i’m entitled to do ) i would have had a problem strapping them down due to the freight in front of them.it’s easier to do it when they are putting them on and you are there.
this is why i’d never want to be a container driver no offence by the way,but it makes you lazy just sitting there all day waiting to be tipped or loaded.thats all they seem to do is sit in the cab and sleep,boring…not 4 me thanks 
I,m doing a spot of agency at the moment so after 8 hours its time and a half so yes most definately i would unload it with pleasure, on the other hand if i was on job and finish i would,nt be too happy.
But surely thats what Truck driving is all about. You go to a customer to collect a load and you are expected to load the truck, you are responsible for it so if some numpty decides it would be best to stack a load of heavy pallets on top of bales of wool or cotton, who do you blame when it all falls off?
I drove for a company carrying fertiliser and all they did was bring you a pallet to the rear of the truck, then take the empty pallets to the warehouse again. That was proper road haulage.
A tanker driver has to load and unload, your job finishes at the end of the flex.
Fork lift trucks and loading docks have made it easier, but there is still manual labour for the driver!
Even loading a tilt involves the driver stripping out or opening sides and removing posts.
In the present job, I have to scan the barcodes, sort and load my stillages and then put them on the trailer. The load is my responsibility.
Any silly bugger can steer a truck and fasten 4 twistlocks 
Look here trucknetuk.com/phpBB2/viewforum.php?f=19 for good reasons for loading, or at the very least taking responsability for it yourself.
Rarely found the need to load, as we used demount boxes which were ready for you on your return, but unloading garage doors took its toll on me.
Climbing on and off the box, was a damaging factor to my knees in my opinion, along with the driving distances.
I’m only 44 yrs old but my knees now feel like they belong to someone 60 yrs old, constant clickings when you bend them, rub your knees and you can feel the grinding behind the kneecaps, visit the doctors and simply be told it’s a fact of life and they dont really do anything until you get older.
Along of course with the fact that weight is not helping
Davey Driver:
I’m only 44 yrs old but my knees now feel like they belong to someone 60 yrs old, constant clickings when you bend them, rub your knees and you can feel the grinding behind the kneecaps, visit the doctors and simply be told it’s a fact of life and they dont really do anything until you get older.
I’m 27 and my knees have clicked for at least the last 10 years if not longer.
I guess that doesn’t bode well for me…
Paul
As a driver I used to do alot of container work, and yes it is a lazy job. But it also usually involves more driving then other types of work. I have also done alot of work for builders merchants as I have a hiab licence. When working for them it is stated that the driver will unload at the nearest safe accessible point. On one occasion a builder seemeed to think this was 100yds down a walkway and was expecting me to carry 60 fencing panals there by my self. He got a bit of a shock when he got back and found a 15ft high pile of fences.(you should never upset a hiab driver 
) What I am really getting to is where is the cut off point from being a professional driver to ending up being taken advantage of. I have also done alot of shop delivery work for the likes of pizza hut and alldays/co-op, I firmly believe there are massive health and safety issues here with what they expect the drivers to do.
I am at the moment a transport manager with 25 vehicles and drivers, my drivers know full well that if they are asked to do something at a customers which they are not happy with or they feel is a H & S issue then they ring me. At that point I tell them not to do it, I then discuss it with them in person after I have spoken to the customer.I will always support the driver in the first instance, If it then transpires he is having a laugh then he is given his marching orders. It is based on mutual respect, and most of my drivers now understand that. They are there to do a job, not help run somebody elses business. If the customer wants it up 15 flights of stairs then he can have it there. But he has to pay a premium for it or do it him self.
WHoah smcaul, you sound like a good chap to have a job with. Makes a delightful change. Keep it up mate.
Cheers allikat,
Have been trying to get the boss to up the wages as well (new drivers are on more when they come in now) they are also on job and finish, some still think grass is greener on the other side though. Their money still isnt great though, but overtime is there for those who want it, but I dont force it on anyone who dosent want it. I think me and the big boss are heading for a fall out though as he dosent like the truth as to why the business is not doing as well as he wants ( it is not down to the drivers).
You considered driver training schemes too mate? IE upgrades from car to class 2, and from class 2 to class 1? Then you’d be heading for perfection.
Ahead of you there, have been given the go ahead from the area director to look into putting some of the younger van drivers forward to have training to get them their c1 licence. just difficult to find the time to do it this time of year. (Holidays etc.)
smcaul:
Ahead of you there, have been given the go ahead from the area director to look into putting some of the younger van drivers forward to have training to get them their c1 licence. just difficult to find the time to do it this time of year. (Holidays etc.)
You deserve a medal, If only all bosses were like you
simon
I can and do load and unload the vehicle (17.5 tonner) whilst I’m doing fridge work with a pallet truck (take pallets as far as the back doors anyway). If I turn the pallet over whilst I’m doing this, I won’t re stack it if it’s not my fault (poor wrapping by dispatch that I’ve pointed out to the client - do you want me to shift this mate, it might turn over?) I really don’t mind it, it keeps me fairly fit, that and I was aware I’d have to do it from day one of the job . I don’t feel quite as guilty about driving (sitting on my rear end) for a living 
.
Load/unload myself 
Don’t be silly. Don’t get paid enough to do that.
There are two sides to my work. In the first instance there is the pallet work where I very rarely have to touch the load or at most wheel it to the back of the trailer. In those cases I try to, if allowed at least watch the loading or unloading. This morning for instance I just watched the trailer being loaded to make sure nothing going on was damaged and I made sure it was all secure at the end. Tomorrow however I will just drop the trailer on the dock and leave it to be unloaded at their leisure.
The other side of my work can entail depalletising equipment and moving it into place inside buildings that are usually not warehouses and can have very limited access. This can involve moving it several hundred metres, negotiating stairs or lifts and even partly assembling the kit once it is in place, the longest one I did took three days to complete but of course there is extra money involved in that kind of work and it is more fun than the other.
So in answer to the original question I would say more.
I sometimes have my trailer/wagon loaded for me if I need a quick turn-around when going back for another load - but I prefer doing it myself so I know that the first drop isn’t at the front of the wagon behind 20 other trolleys.
As for unloading, it’s part of the job isn’t it? If you’re delivering pallets and the customer doesn’t have a fork-lift - what choice do you have? However as smcaul (best sounding gaffer in the world - it’s official!! 
) says, if there’s a H&S issue - I won’t risk a hurt back.
Box Jockey at the moment, say no more!
at the moment i do shop deliverys so when i turn up i have to jump on the back and wheel rails ,totes and cages off.
ok theres not much weight to them but im still on the go from sitting on my arse for 4 hours.
i don’t load it (though like some i do wish i could 
) but i do tip the emptys off when i get back to the dc.
but that will change soon to lieing on the bunk for 6 hours tipping 2 pallets at tescos 
jon