It seems that more and more yards are advertizing of late…
Numbers to phone on the backs of passing wagons, “Apply Within” seen today outside Nicholls @ Sittingbourne, or even “VACANCIES - ASK ME!” written on another driver’s FW high viz…
With so many drivers out on furlough at present, how come yards are after “cover” - ANY kind of cover whilst those staff are stood down?
…Wouldn’t it make more sense to call people back to work in stages at very least?
…I’d be getting a bit nervous if I found the job I was doing before - had already been dished out to someone else, AND I’d not yet been given a re-activation date…
I did a trailer swap this week using a yard with mothballed palletliners in it for the double shunt involved…
Does that mean that pallethubs are still all furloughed, or just those in the South East?
Roads are as busy as ever, if not moreso bearing in mind it is the weekend…
The big question for those who are aware of their yards advertizing - to save the rest of us the leg work - just tell us who’s actually offering direct contracts and at what rates, rather than this now toxic blend of lies and the truth that comes with the old agency patter of “100’s of jobs, ongoingly” and “full time contract (via agency)” etc…
I have had umpteen phone calls from my agency asking me to do work, I have refused lots of jobs as I don’t need it, but for those that do, there is plenty to be had.
I’m sure you are aware the sign outside Nichols is a permanent fixture
chester1:
I’m sure you are aware the sign outside Nichols is a permanent fixture
I wasn’t actually… I drove past Nicholls a couple of weeks ago in my car - didn’t notice any signs outside.
Drove past yesterday, and now there’s this massive sign offering not only direct employment, but "apply within" - which is something I’ve not seen since reading Dennis the Menace in the Beano when I was a kid, aeons ago…
I am already aware of course that Nicholls have got a reputation for low pay and all, like Yearsleys - BUT we’re still talking actual direct contracts being offered during the lockdown - are we not?
Let’s see if the take-up of such “jobs” is now as scant as the even-less takeup of such jobs would be on agency…
If a firm wants to pay say, £9ph for drivers, cannot fill the vacancies, and is forced to use agency instead for cover - they are still going to have to pay a premium to that £9ph at very least…
Make it £10ph - and there will STILL be no takers, I suggest… 
Make it £18ph - and there might be the beginnings of a competetive offer from said agency out in the marketplace once again…
I can’t be the only one who’s shifted their personal goalpost now, to compensate for the stick agencys have been dishing out this past year in particular… 
Winseer:
chester1:
I’m sure you are aware the sign outside Nichols is a permanent fixture
I wasn’t actually… I drove past Nicholls a couple of weeks ago in my car - didn’t notice any signs outside.
Drove past yesterday, and now there’s this massive sign offering not only direct employment, but "apply within" - which is something I’ve not seen since reading Dennis the Menace in the Beano when I was a kid, aeons ago…
I am already aware of course that Nicholls have got a reputation for low pay and all, like Yearsleys - BUT we’re still talking actual direct contracts being offered during the lockdown - are we not?
Let’s see if the take-up of such “jobs” is now as scant as the even-less takeup of such jobs would be on agency…
If a firm wants to pay say, £9ph for drivers, cannot fill the vacancies, and is forced to use agency instead for cover - they are still going to have to pay a premium to that £9ph at very least…
Make it £10ph - and there will STILL be no takers, I suggest…
Make it £18ph - and there might be the beginnings of a competetive offer from said agency out in the marketplace once again…
I can’t be the only one who’s shifted their personal goalpost now, to compensate for the stick agencys have been dishing out this past year in particular…
The sign has been there as long as the gateway . One side of the gate is drivers wanted apply whitin or call… other side of gate is commercial mechanics apply within or call
Ah - that explains it.
Two things there,
(1) I drove my car left to right on that picture, missing the left sign entirely having already driven past it by that point it was visible.
(2) The Right sign, I only saw the top of the advert sign (higher grass) and it was an advert for “Mechanics” rather than drivers. I didn’t see the “apply within” bit, or I would have noted it as “unusual” as stated in previous post…
I never got sent in there for agency over the years, presumably because I had a minimum level I wasn’t prepared to work beneath… 
I also popped over to the new “Cook” depot on the other side of town, that the road going to it hasn’t even been built yet - according to both the GoogleEarth overhead AND streetview… 
It was retuning from this new place where I ended up driving past Nicholls from the opposite direction, and then noted the sign for drivers that I hadn’t seen coming in… I also note I can no longer see the Firmins yard further down towards Knauff and Morrisons, because some new small unit industrial cul-de sac has been put up inbetween last time I was in the area and this time…
I never worked for the in-house firmins agency, but got sent in there as a sub a few times, doing rather dull runs like running cardboard across to Dark Satanic Smith across the road, picking up trailers of Plasterboard from Knauf at other times, or even taking a tractor into Morrisons to run the odd store delivery for them in a better cab than what Morrison staff would actually get… Velvety Wolf Motif making up the wall of the bunk, if memory serves. Decent Kit! 
Winseer:
Ah - that explains it.
Two things there,
(1) I drove my car left to right on that picture, missing the left sign entirely having already driven past it by that point it was visible.
(2) The Right sign, I only saw the top of the advert sign (higher grass) and it was an advert for “Mechanics” rather than drivers. I didn’t see the “apply within” bit, or I would have noted it as “unusual” as stated in previous post…
I never got sent in there for agency over the years, presumably because I had a minimum level I wasn’t prepared to work beneath…
I also popped over to the new “Cook” depot on the other side of town, that the road going to it hasn’t even been built yet - according to both the GoogleEarth overhead AND streetview…
It was retuning from this new place where I ended up driving past Nicholls from the opposite direction, and then noted the sign for drivers that I hadn’t seen coming in… I also note I can no longer see the Firmins yard further down towards Knauff and Morrisons, because some new small unit industrial cul-de sac has been put up inbetween last time I was in the area and this time…
I never worked for the in-house firmins agency, but got sent in there as a sub a few times, doing rather dull runs like running cardboard across to Dark Satanic Smith across the road, picking up trailers of Plasterboard from Knauf at other times, or even taking a tractor into Morrisons to run the odd store delivery for them in a better cab than what Morrison staff would actually get… Velvety Wolf Motif making up the wall of the bunk, if memory serves. Decent Kit!
Unsure where the cook depot is but I assume you mean the new road between the mill and the top end of eurolink that’s been there a few years now. Firmins are/where a good bunch strait forward people with run of the mill work nothing exiting and paid a fair rates when I was a subby for them a few years ago . I’m sure all the hauliers over that way pay pretty much the same for drivers wages
Yes, it’s off the last roundabout, in this field showing as empty on google earth… (center of pic)
