Last Xmas our place did a.bit of work for royalmial Oldham road Manchester.
I was working there…used send us to different depots around manchester.half time get there be nothing to collect or another driver would be there collecting the cages.
I did querie it was told well we have send so many trucks at certain times like it’s set in stone someware.
elsa Lad:
I work for one of the major blue chip companies and yes hauling fresh air between depots is common. You have to swap trailers though, to make it look like you are carrying something. Customer pays for each trip. As Stan said a quick phone call or even a email to say the load is cancelled is all it takes.
Yep, I used to work on the Argos contract and can confirm this is definitely true! 
Currently work for another high street retailer and it is very similar, although we do a lot of running about solo, either to or from our other depots rather than taking fresh air in a trailer. Usually the cause is being down to take an empty trailer out of another depot and back to ours on the run sheet, but when you get there they will send you back solo instead as they like to keep their empties ready to be loaded - despite the fact you have brought a trailer into them (albeit a loaded one). Makes me laugh when drivers start querying/questioning or even moaning, I just adopt the attitude that it is not my money and none of my business how they want to run the contract.
Work 4/4 and so do my planners who are 3000 kms away . The planner from my opposite shift is clueless , lucky guys that work for him 
and usually my first day back gets totally changed by my guy just after start up . 3 drops around Thunder Bay Ontario starting tomorrow apparently , whether this happens we’ll see . Own account btw .
If this practice could stop we wouldn’t have to have people climbing bridges, glueing themselves to roads, emissions standards continually tightened, road networks expanded to cope with traffic and the switch to electric vehicles.
stu675:
If this practice could stop we wouldn’t have to have people climbing bridges, glueing themselves to roads, emissions standards continually tightened, road networks expanded to cope with traffic and the switch to electric vehicles.
you forgot the holy grail the drivers wages could go up!
cooper1203:
stu675:
If this practice could stop we wouldn’t have to have people climbing bridges, glueing themselves to roads, emissions standards continually tightened, road networks expanded to cope with traffic and the switch to electric vehicles.you forgot the holy grail the drivers wages could go up!
Well, rates might go up, but total pay would go down as less drivers required.
see if anyone can make head nor tail of this…
told to go to location x for 6 pallets then onto location y for 17 pallets then bring them back. I get to location x and I am eventualy told that the 6 pallets have been squeezed onto the other 2 trailors to make full loads and that the yard knows this 3 hours before i started. Ring the office fet told well pick up one of the other trailors then go onto the second pick up. Had to point out to them that 6 pallets is a lot less than a full load so how was i going to get the other 17 on. After much thought they decided that someone else was on the way to pick up the other trailers so i should go to y to get the 17 pallets.
get to y pick up the pallets and back to the yard to be asked where is the stuff from x. so had to go back and pick up a trailor from there because they sudenly decided no one else was sheduled to pick it up even through it had more than the 6 pallets i was supposed to pick up.
Then had to go to another site an hour away for a trailor swap then deliver to a rdc an hour away. was given the job ay 2:15 was booked in to the rdc at 1:30 got to the rdc at 4:50 due to haveing to show 10 mins other work on the tacho to prove i did the trailor checks both when i hooked up and dropped.
total shift time 14h 58 to do 2 collections and 1 delivery
Done plenty of worthless runs for RM. Turning up at customers only to be told it all went on a previous trailer. Plenty of amazon collections of a single pallet or 2. The worst actual collection I did was for 2 boxes 125 mile away.
Customer pays for the trailer so RM don’t care but it’s amusing to go on said customers websites and read their Green credentials. They all rant on about saving the planet. But we know different eh.
I swear, next day delivery has a lot to answer for. If you need something tomorrow you should’ve bloody ordered it last week. All these parcel trailers whizzing around the country with barely enough to fit on a 7.5 tonner, it’s a joke.
cooper1203:
get to y pick up the pallets and back to the yard to be asked where is the stuff from x. so had to go back and pick up a trailor from there because they sudenly decided no one else was sheduled to pick it up even through it had more than the 6 pallets i was supposed to pick up.
Struggled a bit trying to understand the first paragraph from your original post above as it doesn’t make sense with you picking a trailer up from collection A with 6 pallets on then going to collection B to get 17 (that’s 23 and a standard 45ft trailer will get 26 on). Irrelevant of my misunderstanding, if the office have screwed up with miscommunication and/or poor planning then that is not your problem and you need to inform them of that rather than working nearly 15 hours then bringing it up on an internet forum. Just because you are a driver doesn’t mean you should allow yourself to be run ragged with working hours like so many do just because its accepted as part of the industry.
Occasionally my place will do this as far as run sheets go (we use the paragon planning system) because we have a separate department who “plan” our runs that is separate to our actual transport office.
Happened to me once a few months ago, came in, picked up run sheet and that was down as 14hrs 29 mins - had four different depots/3rd party places (all trailer swaps) but the distances between all meant it was a long shift. I informed transport at the start of my shift that I will see where I am after the first 2 and keep them updated as to what I will be doing because I will not be working close to my 15 hours based on poor planning (they were fine with this).
If I go out on my shift and get caught in an accident/delay of some kind and end up doing 14 hours then that’s the way it is with working as a driver as no-one from planning can foresee or plan for that. However I draw the line when it’s down in black from and white from their end based on where you are going from/to and they can see its a 14 hour 30 min shift before you even leave the depot.
tmcassett:
cooper1203:
get to y pick up the pallets and back to the yard to be asked where is the stuff from x. so had to go back and pick up a trailor from there because they sudenly decided no one else was sheduled to pick it up even through it had more than the 6 pallets i was supposed to pick up.Struggled a bit trying to understand the first paragraph from your original post above as it doesn’t make sense with you picking a trailer up from collection A with 6 pallets on then going to collection B to get 17 (that’s 23 and a standard 45ft trailer will get 26 on).
the 6 pallets had been put on 2 other trunks so rather than three trailers 2 with 20+ pallets at a guess and 1 with 6 on it would of ment picking up a trailer with 23+ pallets on and then trying to get on another 17
Terry T:
.I swear, next day delivery has a lot to answer for. If you need something tomorrow you should’ve bloody ordered it last week. .
That’s exactly what I was thinking after driving 150 miles and waiting 3 hours for punters to buy tat off the internet, and when they didn’t, I got sent home empty.
Mine are good 99% of the time but then you get the odd one in the summer. (I guess mainly because a lot of drivers and planners are on holiday)
I had a 2-3 hour drive 7 time multidrop with a Morrisons RDC last followed by a collection at the end!
Fair to say I got up to the Morrisons and a tramper met up with me and swapped trailer and I went back to the yard with an hour to spare. Saying that I did let them know early on the day it wasn’t going to happen and they sorted me out.
I remember the days when there was no such thing as planners, you got a handful of delivery notes and set off and used your own judgement in which way to do things, ringing up your destination to ask what time you could get in and basically planned everything yourself. Life seemed so easy then, ran smoother and not asking your whereabouts every 5 mins of the day. Seems now a planner messes up and you take the pressure of sorting out their mess and have more stress put on you than need be. Once again I can relate my job now as the old days, you get your itinarary left in the drivers room and go do it all week without a peep from the office. Been 6 weeks now and spoke with the office maybe 3 or 4 times. I email my time sheet and expenses to wages once a week and next week it is in my bank. No involvement from any office bod and that suits me fine.
Yorkshire Tramper:
I remember the days when there was no such thing as planners, you got a handful of delivery notes and set off and used your own judgement in which way to do things, ringing up your destination to ask what time you could get in and basically planned everything yourself. Life seemed so easy then, ran smoother and not asking your whereabouts every 5 mins of the day. Seems now a planner messes up and you take the pressure of sorting out their mess and have more stress put on you than need be. Once again I can relate my job now as the old days, you get your itinarary left in the drivers room and go do it all week without a peep from the office. Been 6 weeks now and spoke with the office maybe 3 or 4 times. I email my time sheet and expenses to wages once a week and next week it is in my bank. No involvement from any office bod and that suits me fine.
Your first paragraph just about sums up the job I do now which is why it suits me.
The only day I am ‘‘planned’’ as such is the first day of my shift where I do a ‘fill in’ job until my S.West trailer is loaded for me to set off and get so far down on a Wed night.
The next 2 days (2nd and 3rd days of my 4 day week) I am left to my own devices and decisions.
The lad who plans me now is spot on, he gives me a sensible job first day where I am going in for my trailer about 4pm with plenty driving time left, to get down somewhere between Preston and Staffs, …Where as the last guy had me going in for trailer at 7pm,.after doing about 6 drops, parking up,.and strapping and leaving in the morning,.where it became a ball ache to get all my drops off before Fri pm,.sometimes Sat morning.
The next time I speak to him is Fri pm when tipped to ask for my back load.
I could not work with some ■■■■ breathing down my neck and on the phone all day trying to micro manage me. 
like many do.
.
The job is great for me,.the only downside is the underlying crap to deal with on the sidelines, but I put up with it as I like the work…enough said.
My planners are actually very good at their job. Don’t have me running ragged all over the country and since most of our work (80%) straight trailer swaps it normally makes for a relaxing shift. Never more than 10 hours, average is around 7-8 a night. Normally get all our jobs via WhatsApp and even get sent my 1st job while I am still at home (6pm) so I can tell the other half what time I should be home at, which is a nice wee touch so she knows it’s only me coming home when the dogs bark and we can plan to do anything the next day because she’ll know roughly what time I will be out of bed.
They know the job and what’s involved so never plan unreasonable work loads and know we aren’t doing a wee fiddle if we ring in and say we are delayed etc etc, oh and they are polite and friendly and we normally have a good laugh when we do actually talk to them. Ive seen me working all week and maybe only speaking to them on the phone once or twice.
Most of my planning in this job is done by the bloke who owns the company, so carriage of “glider engines” is kept to a minimum. Only time I ever run empty is for one of his prime customers who pay him both ways, and even then he’ll find a return load somewhere along the route if he knows I’m coming back empty.
In the previous job at ForFarmers, bad planning was one of the primary reasons I quit. The planner is still there, none of my former workmates know how cos he’s totally useless; though as with most own account operators, cost of transport is far less important than it is in the hire and reward sector.
Sidevalve:
though as with most own account operators, cost of transport is far less important than it is in the hire and reward sector.
This. Having come from hire and reward to own account I was flabbergasted (cracking word 
) at sheer wastage. Or at least what I perceived as wastage.
The reality is we’re there to make sure that there stuff in the stores to crank the tills. That is where the money is made, not out of running trucks, but using them to fill the shelf to power the tills.
They can do it because trucks are so cheap to run ,they must be ,maybe if the hours were cut they might make the effort to structure the work…if the price was right they would find a way…it should be a criminal to run empty …if a load could be moved
I’m employed, I don’t give a ■■■■ how they plan it, as long as I get paid on a Friday…