Is the current driver shortage the only issue

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
1

Something isn’t adding up folks.

I don’t do RDC type work myself and have no yearning, but lads i speak to tell me the turnarounds at supermarket RDCs arn’t really any better than they were 6 months or 6 years or 26 years ago when lorry drivers were regarded (and still are out there in real world don’t kid yourselves) as the scum of the earth and to treated by all and sundry jumped up fools appropriately.

If there was a real shortage of bums on seats they’d be working flat out to turn vehicles around which would improve overall efficiency, we all know that if RDCs and other loading and receiving sites got their collective fingers out of their arses there’s enough transport equipment and drivers to fullfill more than present needs, but the system needs improving all around…this isn’t a new thing by the way its been going on all of my working life either delivering to docks, who didn’t want to know, or direct to supermarkets, they didn’t give a monkeys either, as was the case almost everywhere before the age of the RDC came to pass.

If the current RDCs haven’t got enough staff, where the hell are they going to get the bodies to work in those mehusive bloody eyesore warehouses going up everywhere…next time you go up the M1 look over where the Rugby PO towers were, don’t worry you won’t miss these new buildings if you blink cos you’ll be driving for several minutes passing them by. They’re just one example, the same is happening everywhere you go…that the elite class don’t live.

Yes drivers are getting pay rises, substantial ones and about bloody time too, but for most drivers all they are doing is playing catch up (getting maybe 20% in one lump or several rapid increments totalling that 20%) to the unionised drivers who have been getting 2 or 3% every year for the last 10 or more years.

Something doesn’t feel quite right about this whole charade and i can’t put me finger on what it is.

2

If theres another conspiracy going on then I will SCREAM!!

3

Anything that causes ‘questions in the house’ is normally a smokescreen for something else. Can you hear JeffA scream? I can’t hear a ■■■■■ thing… :smiling_imp:

4

The large…

New ‘superbox’ warehouses will be filled with robots and driven by algorithms. Eventually more people will be employed on systems and bog cleaning than warehouse and order picking.

FWIW when I started, there were no bookings, just turn up and tip. That’s pretty much what it is now, we turn up at the correct time and then wait for hours because the systems gone down or there’s a fire drill or it’s a shift change or whatever load of bollox they’ve come up with this week to fob you off.

A great deal of delays could be stopped if ‘drop and drive’ became the adopted system. There’s never been any point in waiting for your load to be checked. If it’s short, you phone your gaffer. If it’s over, you phone your gaffer. If it’s damaged, you take a picture and phone your gaffer. Nothing has ever been gained by keeping a driver sitting on a bay whilst someone wanders around the warehouse scratching their arse looking for 300 boxes of Smarties and then making sure they’re all there. Just let us go and then count them.

5

Juddian:
If the current RDCs haven’t got enough staff

Something doesn’t feel quite right about this whole charade and i can’t put me finger on what it is.

Yeah you’ve not worked it out have you? I’ve posted several times what’s happening.

It’s not staff that’s the problem, its a self inflicted lack of space. Supermarket supplier’s hauliers conveniently bring along their own 360sq.ft of warehousing space which the distribution centre can use until they either have space elsewhere to move the stuff into or need what you’re carrying for a load. It is infinitely cheaper for them to abuse suppliers hauliers as free warehousing than it is to extend the warehousing they have which costs money both to build, staff and operate and also puts up their business rates bill as you’re charged more for every square foot that’s a building than yard space. Xmas is a good time to witness this especially at Tesco Donnie. Delivering there you arrive on time and are sent to the football stadium car park to sit along with everyone else. They keep quite a bit of space between rows because you’re not pulled into the RDC in order, you’re pulled in when they need what you’re carrying to load onto their own outbound trailers.

6

yourhavingalarf:
The large…

New ‘superbox’ warehouses will be filled with robots and driven by algorithms. Eventually more people will be employed on systems and bog cleaning than warehouse and order picking.

FWIW when I started, there were no bookings, just turn up and tip. That’s pretty much what it is now, we turn up at the correct time and then wait for hours because the systems gone down or there’s a fire drill or it’s a shift change or whatever load of bollox they’ve come up with this week to fob you off.

A great deal of delays could be stopped if ‘drop and drive’ became the adopted system. There’s never been any point in waiting for your load to be checked. If it’s short, you phone your gaffer. If it’s over, you phone your gaffer. If it’s damaged, you take a picture and phone your gaffer. Nothing has ever been gained by keeping a driver sitting on a bay whilst someone wanders around the warehouse scratching their arse looking for 300 boxes of Smarties and then making sure they’re all there. Just let us go and then count them.

I dropped a pallet into a firm that does hampers and had to sit there whilst some spotty 12 year old insisted on breaking down the pallet, finding random boxes of chocolate bars and then proceeded to unwrap a few before signing off - got unpleasant when I told him I haven’t got time for this nonsense - it never ceased to amaze me how some places seemed to think that they are the only one that matters and that all the rest of the stuff on the lorry is just for show.
As an aside whilst I’m at it - the customer who seems to think it be ok if they unwrap/unpack what ever it is being delivered and then chucking the materials back on the truck - I used to kick the stuff back off onto the pavement and tell them the truck doesn’t have BIFFA written on it, get rid of your own rubbish. :smiley:

7

There is a lack of staff in all manual/warehouse jobs. this is ending up with no improvement in turning round trucks.

Maybe these 2000 squaddies will drive FLTs at night, trucks in the day.

8

I don’t do RDC deliveries either, but have to do a collection from an RDC of one of the big transport companies who collect lots of chemical products from various factories, and sort into orders, eg: washing products or farm chemicals before shipping out.

Problem being, you need 4 people do any order:

  • Reach FLT driver
  • Picker
  • Packer
  • External FLT or loader

In theory you could automate this like Ocado, but realistically you’ve still got to have someone picking from the original pallet and packing as its pretty much impossible for a computer to work out how to pack uneven pallet loads safely. Plus of course a real person to load the double decker.

It needs a lot of bods on the ground and that seems to be the problem. As Conor said, its been happening for years and its cheaper not to fix it than have to build new capacity elsewhere and find even more people.

FLTs will be the next people getting a payrise I think.

9

part of the issue i reckon is shortage of rdc staff as well. we dont know what goes on behind the shutter doors. maybe there short staffed and why we wait so long?

but think about it you go into any supermarket now theres more self service tills than anything now. they can save money reducing staffing levels in shops making us scan our own shopping etc… am suprised more havent gone like aldi and lidl load yourself.

10

Some excellent reply posts here, thankyou.

Everywhere you go in your lorry, weekends or weekdays you can’t move for thousands of cars full of people driving…who knows where, but they sure as hell ain’t going to work, you only have to look at the typical occupants to know this…so if there’s a massive shortage of RDC staff as well, what exactly are all these people no longer working but seemingly at leisure doing to earn a living?

Are the supermarket rdc’s offering large bungs to attract wage hungry people likely to be reliable, or, as Yourhavingalarf talks about, are these new massive warehouses being fully automated as they are built, is this part of The Great Reset we keeping hearing about, is Build Back Better (another favourite phrase of politicians and their handlers worldwide) actually happening inside those new buildings, will many of those currently causing traffic mayhem on our roads never actually return to work and find their furlough money they currently live on will morph into some form of basic income payments.

I don’t know and i don’t have any answers or explanations because there’s so bloody much going on you can’t get your head around it.
Maybe someone can explain what’s really happening, because whatever is going on now doesn’t feel anything like right.

11

I jacked the Tramping, etc after 27 year, 2 year ago but I’m not into conspiracy theories. It may be a Big Reset but I’m more inclined to think it’s simply “Project Fear”. It’s all about getting society to comply with whatever the government ask, a bit like “Do As We Say, not as We Do”. Only reason England lifted all the recent restrictions was so they could all bail onto their Euro Holidays in FR / ES while the schools are off without some newspaper reporter exposing them for breaking the rules (ShortCummings :wink:)

12

I stopped driving in November last year and went back to working for the Local Government as a Income Officer (rent collector if you’re over 35) What I can tell you is that a lot of people (tenants) are still on furlough of some description, full or Flexi and being topped up with Universal Credit. I’m only on temp contract so still keeping my ear to the ground on this forum-just in case[emoji3]

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

13

If there is a shortage of drivers because of the lack of cheap labour then it stands to reason there is a lack of cheap RDC staff as well.

14

Great reset. BuildBackBetter. 4th industrial revolution.

It’s all online….nothings hidden. Uk Gov website. UN website. World Economic Forum website. Etc.

15

Every revolution over time has caused job losses.
This revolution with automation, artificial intelligence, the Internet of things etc.

The jobs lost no doubt will be huge.

16

Looking at Wikipedia “Internet of things” clearly going to be a massive amount of jobs voided over coming years.
The process has started….

17

The only conspiracy there is is to keep wages as low as possible (agency rates are not wages)

18

ETS:
The only conspiracy there is is to keep wages as low as possible (agency rates are not wages)

The 4th industrial revolution isn’t a conspiracy.
We’ve had 3 previous. All changed the way work was done.
The last 5 years it’s accelerated.
5G takes it to another level.

19

Juddian:
Some excellent reply posts here, thankyou.

Everywhere you go in your lorry, weekends or weekdays you can’t move for thousands of cars full of people driving…who knows where, but they sure as hell ain’t going to work, you only have to look at the typical occupants to know this…so if there’s a massive shortage of RDC staff as well, what exactly are all these people no longer working but seemingly at leisure doing to earn a living?

Are the supermarket rdc’s offering large bungs to attract wage hungry people likely to be reliable, or, as Yourhavingalarf talks about, are these new massive warehouses being fully automated as they are built, is this part of The Great Reset we keeping hearing about, is Build Back Better (another favourite phrase of politicians and their handlers worldwide) actually happening inside those new buildings, will many of those currently causing traffic mayhem on our roads never actually return to work and find their furlough money they currently live on will morph into some form of basic income payments.

I don’t know and i don’t have any answers or explanations because there’s so bloody much going on you can’t get your head around it.
Maybe someone can explain what’s really happening, because whatever is going on now doesn’t feel anything like right.

I am in complete agreement, something just does not feel right.

I have stopped going out at weekends as there are too many people and not enough room, thus it is not relaxing and it seems to me that everyone is trying to get a fix of happiness.

I go out in the week on my motocycle for a bit of a chance of peace & quiet, but it is still busier than it ever was, which I find very strange.

I am just in the end process of completing the sale of my house and getting rid of my vehicles, so I am coming into contact with people once again and it seems to me that they are buying stuff because they have money they don`t know what to do with and just want to buy some happiness.

All I know for myself is that I made life changing decisions because I knew what was coming in 2011 and I have made life changing decisions once again because I am not happy with what is coming very soon to the populated Western World.

Just look at what the billionaires are doing regarding New Zealand and the prospect of societal breakdown.

Its coming and it aint gonna be pretty.

20

Looking back in history at various jobs and trades including where children were made to go up chimneys have all fizzled out through people not putting up with it and looking for a better way of making a living, shopping has changed through the likes of Amazon and more retailers are going on line. So the high street is going through the mode of fizzling out too. Likewise HGV driving is fast becoming one of those jobs that is being written into the history books with its rubbish facilities and long working hours. Easier to drive a van doing parcel deliveries or delivering peoples shopping to their homes rather than goods to the stores. HGV driving will soon be looked upon rather like the old ships rivetters type jobswhere people just simply don’t want to do it anymore. Better rates and T&Cs will be the only way forward to save it or keep looking for people less fortunate than ourselves to sit in the drivers seat. I myself have recently come off the road now to take up shunting work and have not regretted a single day. I think this is what we are seeing and experiencing at the moment.