Getting best out of their drivers

[robroy]

After reading the thread about a guy who had a blow out who got charged by his firm for the resulting damage, it got me thinking.

Taking away the aspect of firms having to deal with the inept and the idiotic, …(.I do stress that point btw, as this is the reason for this type of treatment ) …Why do many firms think that the best policy of dealing with drivers is to treat them with disrespect and contempt?
When I employed a small number of drivers,.I treated them like adults and got adequate reciprocation back off them for it.

There are many unreasonable rules, total bs, and policies that drivers have to put up with in today’s transport from their companies…Why is that?
it never was so, you were once treated with respect by guys who were once drivers themselves, and the idiots were treated like idiots, and were soon ‘educated’ or got shot of, where as today we are treated in a (to use Juddians phrase) a ‘One size fits all’ type policy.

So those of us who know what we’re doing,.and can be left alone to do the job without a ‘wet nurse’ (leave it. ) have to suffer injustices that insult our professionalism such as …

Pedantic and plain bloody stupid rules,.akin to a primary school, usually set by and monitored by those who have never done the job, and know very little about it except what they have read up on.

Cameras in cabs, ‘sold’ to us as ‘‘There to protect us’’ Aye right. …I know it’s been done to death, but nevertheless a valid point that illustrates what I’m on about.

As in the other thread, drivers being charged for damage, even in unavoidable circumstances.

And other forms of agitation that I’m sure you can think of or have experienced.

Do firms not realise that this type of treatment towards, as I said, those of us who know what we’re doing, is totally counter productive?..A reap what you sow situation in fact.

It just ■■■■■■ us off to the point where a ‘Them and Us’ scenario develops, where after being agitated by said policies, you adapt an …'‘Aye and ■■■■ you’ stance when they ask you to do something over and above the norm (not talking illegalities btw)
Where as if we were treated like adults (again deal with the inept idiots aside and seperately) it would be a ‘Team’ scenario, where you do go that extra mile to help out when required.

As soon as these bigger firms see this, the more they will get out of their drivers, respect is a mutual thing.

[toonsy]

Yeah but the job is still getting done even though they treat people like ■■■■.

I’ve just got an email through about job vacancies within “the group” and what I gleaned from it is that every depot is advertising for drivers, from 7.5t to class one, days and nights, forklift, warehouse, even two managing directors! In an era where a lot of people have lost jobs that says a lot.

Way I feel about my lot right is that they can stick their job beyond what I want to do. ■■■■ takers. Take today as an example. We’ve got a cushy contract where we get paid a good rate to move a trailer, normally with a handful of pallets on it. Today they’ve combined it onto one of our trailers so normally it’s one hit, today it’s the one hit plus another five drops. None of it is hard and I completely accept and understand why, but I’m also not naive enough to not realise that they actually made a killing on this load, and fair play.

But still the phone rings wanting more, trying to add 4/5hrs on the day and run to the max.

We are just drivers. That’s all we are. I’m the one who will say enough is enough and do my bit and go home, but I look at all the fannies in my yard who bend over and push it while moaning about it. Until that latter group shrinks nothing will change because drivers just will not stick together to make a stand.

Recently much to my surprise they actually did, and what the company was trying had to get quickly softened because it was impacting the business as drivers said enough, so it got watered down. I’ve been telling people look at what can be done when we work together but its a one off by the looks of it.

[robroy]

toonsy:
Yeah but the job is still getting done even though they treat people like [zb].

I’ve just got an email through about job vacancies within “the group” and what I gleaned from it is that every depot is advertising for drivers, from 7.5t to class one, days and nights, forklift, warehouse, even two managing directors! In an era where a lot of people have lost jobs that says a lot.

Way I feel about my lot right is that they can stick their job beyond what I want to do. ■■■■ takers. Take today as an example. We’ve got a cushy contract where we get paid a good rate to move a trailer, normally with a handful of pallets on it. Today they’ve combined it onto one of our trailers so normally it’s one hit, today it’s the one hit plus another five drops. None of it is hard and I completely accept and understand why, but I’m also not naive enough to not realise that they actually made a killing on this load, and fair play.

But still the phone rings wanting more, trying to add 4/5hrs on the day and run to the max.

We are just drivers. That’s all we are. I’m the one who will say enough is enough and do my bit and go home, but I look at all the fannies in my yard who bend over and push it while moaning about it. Until that latter group shrinks nothing will change because drivers just will not stick together to make a stand.

Recently much to my surprise they actually did, and what the company was trying had to get quickly softened because it was impacting the business as drivers said enough, so it got watered down. I’ve been telling people look at what can be done when we work together but its a one off by the looks of it.

You illustrate and prove my point in a nutshell.
They could get have got more co.operation and credit if after combining those extra drops with the premium rate cap load job, they gave the drivers a bite from the same cherry in form of a bonus, even an extra tenner, that tenner would have gone on to have made them much more from satisfied and more productive drivers in the long run.
I ain’t talking outta my arse here about stuff I know nothing about btw.I used to do this sort of thing with my own drivers in another life, it just made things easier and made for smoother running.

You mention the ‘‘fannies’’ as you put it, those types of brown nosers and eager to please at any cost types , are the other 50% of the problem to the 50% provided by the contemptuous to drivers type companies, the ironic thing is these guys are no better thought of, and are treated the same if not worse, but are too ■■■■ thick to notice while being too busy trying to be the best mate of the boss.

[yourhavingalarf]

In the same…

Way you can put the start of the downfall of man on the same day the first supermarket moved the sweets to the checkout. You can similarly date the descent of the lorry driver into working for nothing as the same day that Scania came up with putting the hp of lorries in big letters on the door. Before that, English motors just said Marathon, Transcontinental, Warrior or Big J4, horses weren’t mentioned.

We work far too many hours for average cash. Why on earth anyone wants to do more hours for less than their colleagues has always baffled me.

It’s a long complicated discussion but IMO, the best way to solve things is to convince all drivers that the drivers hours are a maximum and not a target. How many threads here are entitled ‘I wanna do 8 shifts but only wanna show 6 on my card’?

For my own part, I can’t remember doing close to four and a half. Pretty much what ever I’m doing, you’ll find find me parked for at least 20 minutes after two hours. Night trunking/hub work is different but, you still have the right to stop when you want not when the computer tells you to.

Treat us with more respect, pay us more and we’ll happily do the ‘extra’ mile and help you.

[dozy]

It’s very easy to blame every one else for your own woes , but the simple fact is if things arnt going your way that’s down to you & you only , & upto you to do something about it

[pete_smith]

yourhavingalarf:
In the same…

Way you can put the start of the downfall of man on the same day the first supermarket moved the sweets to the checkout. You can similarly date the descent of the lorry driver into working for nothing as the same day that Scania came up with putting the hp of lorries in big letters on the door. Before that, English motors just said Marathon, Transcontinental, Warrior or Big J4, horses weren’t mentioned.

We work far too many hours for average cash. Why on earth anyone wants to do more hours for less than their colleagues has always baffled me.

It’s a long complicated discussion but IMO, the best way to solve things is to convince all drivers that the drivers hours are a maximum and not a target. How many threads here are entitled ‘I wanna do 8 shifts but only wanna show 6 on my card’?

For my own part, I can’t remember doing close to four and a half. Pretty much what ever I’m doing, you’ll find find me parked for at least 20 minutes after two hours. Night trunking/hub work is different but, you still have the right to stop when you want not when the computer tells you to.

Treat us with more respect, pay us more and we’ll happily do the ‘extra’ mile and help you.

In your first paragraph you have reminded me of an instance of a new Scania that had been ordered at a company, the brown nose driver went to see the TM and offered to do nights out for free if he got given the keys!

[juddian]

There has to be some sort of penalty for idiotic negligent easily avoidable damage, every man and his dog wants to drive around in nice new clean shiny top spec motors but how often do you see the usual suspects doing their share to help keep things in that condition, can’t even clean the windows or mirrors so washing the vehicle they received clean is completely out of ther question, and we haven’t even touched on damage let alone change the headlight bulb that blew 2 hours into their shift…s’ok the next bloke can sort it, its ‘his’ lorry when some routine maintenance/cleaning/damage fixing needs doing but it’s not ‘his’ lorry when he complains about half wits leaving it like a pig sty or wrecked.
Remember not so far ack when you had to earn the right to drive anything other than the yard wreck, you proved yourself and earned the next step up the ladder, every bugger now expects to start at the top regardless whether they are capable or not.

Yes its the company’s fault, they failed to cherry pick or attract worthwhile staff in the first place and lack the nous or courage to run the ship as it should be after numpties have proved beyond all doubt their level of competence and ■■■■ poor attitude, tarring all the staff with the idiot brush only compounds the poor decisions they made in employing said people and failing to deal with the issues as soon as they arose, numpties don’t usually take long to revert to type, certainly well within the 2 years necessary and usually within any probationary period.

I’ve never been charged damage and i’d be very surprised if any more than a handful of drivers have either, i suspect a good number of those coming on these pages whining about damage stoppages are being economical with their version of the event and maybe not mentioning that part of their pay deal was a damage free bonus system.

Robroy, have you seen the standards of driving out there, i recently parked in Peterborough services for a break and frankly dare not leave the motor or relax for one second (never again), incompetent doesn’t attempt to describe the standard of maneuvering i witnessed, and when you look at the state of the vehicles they attend the steering wheel of , filthy with windows and mirrors that might as well have frosted glass panels for all the visibility, dents scrapes gouges down whole sides of trailers lights missing mudflaps ripped off or hanging, wheels caked in thick brake dust due to people who will never be lorry drivers as long as they have a rear orifice constantly on the brakes because, guess what? they can’t bloody drive a wagon…was glad when me break time was up and could get out the dump with me motor in one piece.

It must be a nightmare running a transport operation these days but it can be done well if the boss has nous, few miles from me a chap runs a small/medium fleet of impeccable vehicles driven by people who take a pride and actually give a monkeys and appreciate the good points of their employment.

attn Pete Smith.
Many moons ago a bloke i worked with told the govnor if he was issued a 2800 instead of 2300 Daf, he’d take a £25 a week pay cut, that was when £125 a week was a fair wage for 5 shortish days, no the boss just seemed bemused. I’d worked with the twerp before and he’d been a ■■■ there too.

[pete_smith]

attn Pete Smith.
Many moons ago a bloke i worked with told the govnor if he was issued a 2800 instead of 2300 Daf, he’d take a £25 a week pay cut, that was when £125 a week was a fair wage for 5 shortish days, no the boss just seemed bemused. I’d worked with the twerp before and he’d been a ■■■ there too.

Hi Juddian,
I’m glad, in a way, that someone else has had the misfortune to meet a like minded clown.

You mentioned also in the above post that running a transport operation these days can be a nightmare, yes I agree with you there 100% but only the hoops that you have to jump through, DVS system and camera’s etc and the endless courses the drivers have to attend to collect waste from rail sites being the biggest example and on top of this all the audits I have to endure to show I’m compliant and worthy of belonging to such an elite club, this is the biggest ball ache of the job in my opinion.

Drivers I have no problem with as I treat people the way I like to be treated myself, I have the occasional ear bashing off a driver but I can let that go over my head as it lets them vent off to me rather than a customer as it is nothing ever serious.
It is far from a dead mans shoes job I run but I like to think that I treat my drivers fair and have had only 4 leave in 5 years out of a total of 20 drivers.
Yes it is hard to recruit young drivers but I can see their point in not wanting to sleep in a truck whilst their mates are off out on the pull or knocking a round off but I put 2 x young lads through their test 5 years ago and they are still with me, they will do a 2 or 3 nights out a week as long as they are not all back to back which I can work around no problem.

As for the damage waiver liability Rob mentioned, yes of course I have had vehicles damaged but nothing serious and not worth any discipline or taking money off them, a dent in the bumper and a scuffed bottom step was the last damage last August and the driver concerned was very apologetic and the total cost was £210 to rectify, he makes that back up with the good fuel returns I get and his motor is still on its original clutch at 4 years old, 520,000 kms and a manual hook loader so I don’t think that is bad!
Apologies if I have bored you to death! Cheer’s Pete

[alamcculloch]

They would get the best out of drivers if there was a set of bonuses for bringing in new business/ or good new drivers on recommendation ,a fuel use bonus and a no damage or claim or needless absenteeism bonus. Those things would make the firm easier to run and more profitable.

[punchy_dan]

I’ve often thought of taking a pay cut up to £100,000 to drive a Scania ,it’s a serious decision.

[switchlogic]

Partly why so far I’ve spent over half my career driving for foreign companies. Much easier going

[switchlogic]

yourhavingalarf:
he same day that Scania came up with putting the hp of lorries in big letters on the door. Before that, English motors just said Marathon, Transcontinental, Warrior or Big J4, horses weren’t mentioned.

Just to be pedantic and point out Scania have been one of few companies that don’t put the power on the door. Yes, I’m that tedious

[dcpcfml]

alamcculloch:
They would get the best out of drivers if there was a set of bonuses for bringing in new business/ or good new drivers on recommendation ,a fuel use bonus and a no damage or claim or needless absenteeism bonus. Those things would make the firm easier to run and more profitable.

Every time I’ve recommended a good driver they’ve let me down in some way, ranging from pranging the truck/trailer, to road rage incidents to arguing with the t/o staff/customers. This was a long time ago now and at first I thought I was just unlucky, but as the years progressed I soon came to realise that all drivers are two-faced backstabbers. Now I don’t bother.

Fuel bonuses are so easy to rig. There’s literally 101 different ways you can easily elevate yourself to the top of the mpg leaderboards. One trick at a place I used to work where the units were double parked due to lack of space was to get the keys from the office citing that the unit was blocking you in, then use that truck’s fuel fob along with pin which was on a sheet in the office and fill your own truck with their fob .

No damage bonuses are fine if you’re the only person who drives the truck. If you share it then I guarantee if the other driver does some damage he won’t mention it and hope you don’t notice it next time, which you’ll then get blamed for next time the other driver has it.

[yourhavingalarf]

switchlogic:
Just to be pedantic and point out Scania have been one of few companies that don’t put the power on the door. Yes, I’m that tedious

You’re absolutely…

Correct Switchy. Skarnia don’t put the numbers on the doors. As I typed the piece out, I thought to myself ‘now who would be pedantic enough to point that out?’.

But it was defo the ‘110 Super’ in big letters on the front grille that I think started the power race between drivers.

[biggriffin]

dozy:
It’s very easy to blame every one else for your own woes , but the simple fact is if things arnt going your way that’s down to you & you only , & upto you to do something about it

Says the man who gets shafted on a regular basis,by a you’ff in pointy shoes,

[switchlogic]

yourhavingalarf:

switchlogic:
Just to be pedantic and point out Scania have been one of few companies that don’t put the power on the door. Yes, I’m that tedious

You’re absolutely…

Correct Switchy. Skarnia don’t put the numbers on the doors. As I typed the piece out, I thought to myself ‘now who would be pedantic enough to point that out?’.

But it was defo the ‘110 Super’ in big letters on the front grille that I think started the power race between drivers.

Well, I’m nothing if not pedantic. And tedious, I’m fairly tedious too

[franglais]

switchlogic:

yourhavingalarf:

switchlogic:
Just to be pedantic and point out Scania have been one of few companies that don’t put the power on the door. Yes, I’m that tedious

You’re absolutely…

Correct Switchy. Skarnia don’t put the numbers on the doors. As I typed the piece out, I thought to myself ‘now who would be pedantic enough to point that out?’.

But it was defo the ‘110 Super’ in big letters on the front grille that I think started the power race between drivers.

Well, I’m nothing if not pedantic. And tedious, I’m fairly tedious too

So?
“Tedious” or “fairly tedious”?
.
.
.
[emoji3]

[jimbo47]

Hell a post I’m nodding along with , as above any time I’ve given a nod to a driver they have shown to be cabbages( well apart from mark w), and yup people are expecting the top o the tree super trucks the next day after passing ,it happened in the past people went straight to class1 from car , but I’m sure many were like me and did so long on rigids proved there selfs and went up then. People are talking about paying for damage as if it’s a new thing? Wrong I can mind being asked this in 85 and let’s be honest if we were not working 25hrs a day sleeping at traffic lights there would have been no damage but the company was to greedy to see this(just for notice I refused and walked). Let’s talk bonuses paid every six months one screw up papers wrong no bonus So why would a driver give a shot for say 5 months if not getting the bonus ( apart from some o us that try to be professional) do the companies not realize the drivers don’t give a shot… ach enough from me my time has gone now looks like I’m done driving for good unless I wake up and my brain has healed itself james

[commonrail]

Not interested in the model of truck I drive.

Give me…

Enough money for a good standard of living,for a realistic amount of time spent at work.
48 hours is plenty.

Sick pay

Rising holiday entitlement(dependant on service)

You won’t here a peep from me.the only evidence of my attendance,will be a signed POD at the end of each day.

Make me work 65 hours…just to make ends meet…and you’ll get nothing from me.

[switchlogic]

Franglais:

switchlogic:

yourhavingalarf:

switchlogic:
Just to be pedantic and point out Scania have been one of few companies that don’t put the power on the door. Yes, I’m that tedious

You’re absolutely…

Correct Switchy. Skarnia don’t put the numbers on the doors. As I typed the piece out, I thought to myself ‘now who would be pedantic enough to point that out?’.

But it was defo the ‘110 Super’ in big letters on the front grille that I think started the power race between drivers.

Well, I’m nothing if not pedantic. And tedious, I’m fairly tedious too

So?
“Tedious” or “fairly tedious”?
.
.
.
[emoji3]

That depends entirely on who you ask…