Well not strictly true but compared to the plant hire work I’ve been doing earlier this week it’s nowhere near as challenging and fun. My favourite bit of plant is a JCB telehandler, its big, yellow and has 4 wheel steering which is odd at first. Plus you get to drive everything else which is a bit nerve racking at times, worst one for that was picking up a new 360 excavator, only an 8 ton one and it was the first time I’d ever driven one of those!
A few things I like about pallet work is its easy - deliver palleted goods here, collect some from here and so on. Its also cleaner than the plant jobs, which makes for a happy fiancee 
. But a lot of the time the pallets are either loaded badly, so they wobble, start leaning over or the actual pallet collapses. Sometimes you find a few pallets that are mega heavy, I had one that the pump truck wouldn’t lift! Most of the ones I had today were either too low for the pump truck to fit under or too narrow, so I ended up constantly looking for the ellusive forklift drivers. Shame most places won’t let me use them myself even though I have the right tickets.
Thats roughly what this week has been like so far, more pallets of things to deliver tomorrow!
Hi Charley
lol 
Ive had some of that but i dont mind mate goyya be better than cages and handballing store work eh …some pallets are s**T I know but I just take my time and say oh well nevr mind get the FLT driver i will have a brew while i wait 
I really hate pallets. But then the pallets I usualy get are ones that have left over materials stacked on them and have been standing around on site for several months whilst the shrink wrap deteriates. If they don’t collapse whilst craning them on, it’s a like carrying a timebomb, are they going to suddenly let go on that roundabout?
Give me the plant any day of the week, although it is undoubtedly messy and dangerous it’s the only job I’ve got any interest in. Off to load a 535-140 now along with 2 tip skips and fuel bowser, bit of a squeeze to get that lot on but that’s the challenge.
8wheels:
I really hate pallets. But then the pallets I usualy get are ones that have left over materials stacked on them and have been standing around on site for several months whilst the shrink wrap deteriates. If they don’t collapse whilst craning them on, it’s a like carrying a timebomb, are they going to suddenly let go on that roundabout?Give me the plant any day of the week, although it is undoubtedly messy and dangerous it’s the only job I’ve got any interest in. Off to load a 535-140 now along with 2 tip skips and fuel bowser, bit of a squeeze to get that lot on but that’s the challenge.
I spent most of last week reading your blog and diary, even though I had done some plant before but only small stuff it helped out a lot. Most I’ve had on was a 3 ton dumper, mini digger and a couple of fuel tanks. Back on it on Monday, then got an easy van job taking some cakes to Leicester on Tuesday. Maybe have a permanent job or two lined up as well, choice between tramping doing kitchen equipment for fast food places (greasy work ) or day work doing pallet multidrop.
Glad it helped.
It’s a job that needs a basic understanding of stuff to do it, with a little bit of knowledge you can do quit a lot. With a lot of knowledge and experience then it is amazing what can be done. I tend to spend a bit of time to think about what I’m doing and what goes where, I’d rather spend 15 minutes extra loading than half a day doing another round trip.
Once you’ve got a bit of confidence with putting stuff on it’s easier, looking to see how other people have loaded is also useful. I’ve never been shown how to load or secure anything but have worked out my own routine and way of working based on experience and seeing how others have done it. I’ve been doing this work for years now, but even yesterday I tried something new and found it worked quite well with a pair of excavators.