So I’m multi-dropping around Worcs & Herefordshire Friday for a freight hub. Pick up & delivering pallets of cargo.
I pull in at a place in Hereford to pick up 3 pallets of whatever they are sending.
I walk in & explain what I’ve come for, their reply :“Oh, it wont be ready for at least an hour. I’ll try & find out after lunch.”
“Errr ok I reply, I’ll come back”. So I Leave & do another drop about a mile away & return 20 mins later open up my curtains & wait.
After waiting another half an hour I ask how things are progressing.
“Errr, oh yeah I’ll go & find out”. Ten minutes later " It’s gonna be at least an hour."
“Well sorry but I dont think I can wait that long” I reply. I phone up the hub I’m working for & they tell me to forget it & move on to the next job.
I tell the punter this & he gets all shirty & can’t understand why I won’t wait.
Why is it some folks seem to think it’s fine to call a truck in & keep it sitting there for two hours or more for a few poxy pallets of goods ? Screwing up the rest of your schedule in process which risks letting down your other punters in the process.
I wonder if when he calls a minicab, he keeps it waiting for 2 hours before he gets in it for his ten minute trip into town ?
It’s a shame others don’t pull out more often maybe they will get the message.
It’s very rare that we wait for loads or excesive tipping durations. But they get charged for our time.
Glad i’m not on fridge work anymore.
Didn’t you know that all people who work in warehouses think you only do one job a day and that’s theirs so they think its OK to leave you sat there for 2 hours and you don’t have anything else to do anyway.
This happened to me not so long ago in Spain, they left me there for 4 hours and my boss decided to re deliver the goods somewhere else for them to deliver, but when i went in to get my paperwork i forgot to tell them this, just picked up my paperwork and walked out, they were saying no no you cant go we are desperate for these computers, i then explained if they were that desperate they would have stopped all the Spanish trucks coming in after me and unloading and would of tipped me, said see you later got in cab and drove off with the bloke chasing me down the road trying to stop me. HAHA i had the last laugh
We always pull out after an hour but we must leave our depot address so they know where to collect it from if its a delivery or where to bring it if its a collection!
[quote="they were saying no no you cant go we are desperate for these computers, i then explained if they were that desperate they would have stopped all the Spanish trucks coming in after me and unloading and would of tipped me, said see you later got in cab and drove off with the bloke chasing me down the road trying to stop me. HAHA i had the last laugh [/quote]
If we deliver blocks they (The Customer) have 30 mins to tip you, if not done in that time they pay demurage at £300 per hour!!! Funilly enough we don’t have any probs tipping
Anything like that with me and I ring the boss. “Do you want me to wait or shall I go elsewhere”
If the boss says wait then I wait (couldnt be without a book and my laptop!) If he says move on then I tell the yard manager/the most senior person on duty, that I’ve been instructed to move on by my boss as they are taking too long, and at that I leave.
If its my call to wait or go then I decide whats fair, let them know, then leave at that time.
I don’t do the “endless wait” without the bosses permission, or if I can avoid it. Whats the point having load space sitting there idle when it could be out earning the company money, and thus increasing my chances of a new truck or a payrise!
i had this situation with asda at magna park during the last euro football thingy in 2004(?).
it was on a saturday and the load was booked in at 11.30…i didn’t know what the load was but a customer called me,and said my drivers refusing to take it as there’s an important football match on and he reckons they won’t unload it in time.we’ll pay the labour rate(for repairing a truck) if you will take it there.i did and after booking in and all that talking through a hatch stuff they said the earliest we can tip you is 7pm…i went outside and a load of other drivers were there and they were well upset.i rang through to the company whose truck it was and he said he couldn’t pay that much to wait for the load to be delivered so come back to the yard.
ooooh,what a comotion…asda said i could not leave,truck owner said i couldn’t stay…well after i left,with the gatehouse saying they hadn’t had this situation before and not knowing whether they could let me out.(just open the ■■■■■■■ barrier mate)i went back and parked up in thier yard(i had the keys)and locked her all away.i had a peek in the back…oh dear a full artic load of carling black label.
about 2 hrs later,asda were on the phone to said company threatening all sorts.but it never got delivered and went back to the pallet company on monday.
at the mo i,m delivering building stuff!! i know its gonna die ect but to be fair at the mo we are very busy but I do expect it to dry up soon which is why i,m in the market for a new job, anyway back to the post my boss gives the customer half an hour to tip/load any longer and they get charged, surprising how soon you gwt away when you point this out…
DEMURRAGE is a word this industry has forgotten !!! which is legal and if you want to try it out, try and hold up your tesco home delivery for 15 mins !!!
Part of our work is Pallets from hub and the general rule is - more than 20 mins or so phone in. Just one of the reasons why I think mobile phones are so great. Once I have phoned it in it’s not my problem any more.
Some of our customers keep us waiting though and I find that letting them know I am on overtime and giving them a cheery “wake me up when you are ready” works quite well:)
we like pulling out after an hour because we get paid more to bring back a loaded trailer. And then get paid again for taking it back…
stupid bozo in warehouse doesn’t realise his company have to pay twice and mean that it will effect his pay rise at the endof the year…
An hour thats quick, I went into DIFT Tesco at xmas and was told via the intercom at the gate you may want to ring your boss before we let you in as weve had some problems in the night it will be a 6 hour wait untill we get you on a bay and a further 3 before your tipped, rang the gaffer in you go he said have a nice day in the end I spent 12 hours in there from start to finish.
I just ring the boss and he usually tells me to sit there as long as they want me to. Small hauliers have to do as their told to get business!
When waiting for hours and hours I often daydream of driving through the security hut, tearing down the barriers in a shower of flames and sparks and making my escape… Reality isnt quite like that though!
to tell them this, just picked up my paperwork and walked out, they were saying no no you cant go we are desperate for these computers, i then explained if they were that desperate they would have stopped all the Spanish trucks coming in after me and unloading and would of tipped me, said see you later got in cab and drove off with the bloke chasing me down the road trying to stop me. HAHA i had the last laugh 
