Hi All,
And so, as a further update, I have been in for my day’s ‘work experience’ with Stiller, at Newton Aycliffe, on Tuesday.
Keep reading for my speciality, a rambling account of the day - or go to the bottom for the tl,dr 
Turned up punctually, as requested, for a 07:30 start - and yes I know, most guys have done half a shift by then, so bite me 
Met John, who spoke to me during the initial interview, and he paired me straight up with a guy called Paul - who, of course, was elated to have some newbie trailing round with him all day 
I did find out later in the day why he probably wasn’t at first over the moon about this.
Anyway, turns out that that we’d be rolling in a 7.5t’er, which, although seemed a little strange to begin with, soon made sense after we’d got going and especially after a full day ‘on the job’.
Of course some of you guys will already know how Pallet delivery firms like Stiller operate, but basically it’s the same idea as how mail works.
Simply put, a company wants to move their palletized goods to one of its customers. So they give Stiller, or one of its partners a call somewhere around the country. Pallets are picked up and brought in to the local depot where they are sorted onto ‘trunk’ routes that transport them to the nearest depot to the customer. From there the pallet is delivered by the most appropriate vehicle for its weight and size as well as the access and facilities of the delivery address.
At this point the more savvy amoungst you will quickly be realizing that the above means only one thing. Yup, the 7.5t’ers end up with most of the awkward drops that the Class 1’s or 2’s can’t manage. And yes, as there is quite likely to be no forklift at the other end, you, the driver are using the taillift and a pallet truck to unload. Or, if that isn’t possible, then good old handball it is 
Our first drop was a perfect example.
A country village with its maze of small streets, cluttered with cars and a delivery of 2 heavy as hell slabs of stone for a big, old house and its restored fireplace apparently.
Getting near was tricky enough, but using the bottom half of the driveway was a no-go (even though it was nicely paved) as it wasn’t level enough to use the taillift. The 2nd half of the driveway up to the house was a definite no-go as it was gravel – the evil nemesis of a pallet truck 
As each of the slabs was just shy of a tonne each it was a struggle, and simply hard work just to get them manoeuvred on to the taillift. Once down we gathered a few of the builders from the site to help push it up the first part of the drive. Luckily they said they would take care of it from that point.
I guess I’ve got to this point and now realized that I’ve jumped ahead of myself somewhat.
I won’t go back and describe the entirety of the start of the day, but it involved a good few elements that, if planned correctly, can really make your day a good bit easier.
Unfortunately for us, events had already dealt us a bit of a blow as all the night trunks were in late for whatever reason.
The knock on effect was forkies buzzing around like bees trying to unload the trunks in amoungst which day drivers were trying to get their loads on for the day.
For us this meant playing ‘hunt the pallet’ for 10minutes, as well as relegating another missing pallet to an afternoon delivery.
This wasn’t a problem as such, as we would have to return to the depot irrespective, due to the weight of our morning deliveries.
So once paperwork had been picked up and completed, routes planned, walkaround checks done and pallets scanned and loaded, we were off.
The day progressed pretty much how I had anticipated.
It was good to have Paul there to show me the ropes – and this he did to great effect, giving me the opportunity to try my hand at most things.
Hopefully he’s not going to read this, but he also taught me the knock on effect of ‘mis-reading’ the delivery sheets in the morning and leaving with only one of two pallets that should have been delivered to the Marshalls yard.
Cue an extra trip and associated waiting time for the forkies after lunch.
As we got round the afternoon deliveries and chatted away, chewing the cud, I discovered why Paul hadn’t been so keen to see me on the morning.
Apparently he had been lumbered with another newbie the previous day – and let’s just say this guy didn’t cover himself in glory. In fact, after returning to the depot after making all their deliveries Paul told this lad to have the rest of the day off – telling him that the few collections they had to do were ‘just round the corner’ and that he would knock them off real quick.
Turns out, in fact, that Paul had just had enough by that point in the day and wanted a bit of piece and quiet.
The final nail in the coffin for this poor lad was the fact that Paul couldn’t even remember his name. I’d say that would classed as a pretty bad day when you are trying to earn yourself a job 
Well, after making as many collections we could in the time we had left, we headed back to the depot, fuelling up on the way.
Once we had offloaded and re-scanned, it was time to park up and finish off the day’s paperwork.
By this point it was around about 18:30, so I felt we had done a decent day’s work.
I thanked Paul for his help and he reciprocated by saying that he felt I would do well if I got offered a job.
Well, Wednesday quickly rolled around, I was a little stiff after the previous days exertions, but I thought I would try and strike whilst the iron was hot.
So I called and spoke to John and thanked him for the opportunity and to say that I had enjoyed what I had seen and nothing had totally surprised me and put me off the job.
After a few minutes of back and forth he then said those golden words – ‘Well Jon, would you be able to come in this Monday to start your official induction into the company? We’ll start you off on Class 2’s and once we’re all happy, get you up on to the Class 1’s.’
Too bloody right I would be there… bring it on 
Happy days.
Jon
