Lidl Driver

[homeward-bound]

Ten years ago if you had said to me I would be driving nights and self-loading/tipping on store deliveries for Lidl as I approach my 50th birthday I would have laughed at you.

After what can only be called a difficult time financially over the last two years, a few months ago (just after Christmas 14) I got wind of a local company in Bridgend South Wales looking for drivers to service their 24/7 Lidl contract out of Bridgend RDC.

I had been out the game a few years so I dusted off my soon-to-expire HGV license and I went along for an informal interview with the company in question, had the ubiquitous driving assessment and I was happy to be offered a start. It was by now February 2014.

As I write this I’ve been doing the job 4 months. I’ve read lots of accounts and experiences of doing Lidl work although precious few of them are written by drivers actually doing the job themselves and speaking from hard-won experience.

So in a retrospective diary fashion I thought I would share my experiences (warts & all) as well as some pictures to help you decide if Lidl is the job for you. Because if it is, work is plentiful and the money is OK (if not great). Not many drivers go for the jobs which call for ‘driver interaction’ with the load.

Its not rock n roll by any stretch of the imagination but this self loading and tipping business model seems to be the way forward as the economy flirts with the first shoots of improvement so chances are drivers looking for work now are liable to come across it.

So here are my experiences. Please feel free to jump in with any questions and I will answer as honestly as I can or tell you I don’t know with one caveat.

Questions which ask how much I earn will be ignored as thats my business alone. PLUS, as the poor relations of the UK what is a fair living wage in South Wales may well be sneered at by a driver from another part of the UK due to regional market forces, so wage comparisons, unless hyper-local, are almost useless.

There are 5 or 6 contractors working out of Lidl Bridgend, including the one I work for (Davies Logistics Ltd - 07825 077008), and each has its own way of doing things so if you want to find out out about money, call them and ask for a job.

In the meantime I hope you will subscribe and stay tuned to find out the inside track on driving for Lidl.

[homeward-bound]

You would think after 25 years in the job I would have learnt how to load and transport pallets right? In fairness I thought I knew. But that was before working for Lidl.

It was my third day on the job and I’ve been given a two part route through Swansea and Llanelli which works something like this. Report to Bridgend RDC at 1630pm, collect paperwork, load myself and get going as quickly as possible.

The route worked as follows.

Part 1. Load a primary load for a store (in this case Pontardawe), tip a few pallets of chilled or ambient goods to a store en route (Trallwn, Swansea), finishing with a waste collection in Penlan, Swansea. 3 stores, for a total of about 60 miles driving by the time I get back to Bridgend. Maybe 70.

At my first drop in Trallwn, I opened the back doors to back onto the loading bay when this happened.

Bringing a whole new meaning to the term ‘Death by Chocolate’

It was the first in a series of incidents which happened over the coming weeks. I sheepishly phoned my boss to tell him what had happened and to ask what I should do next to which he replied “Pick them up of course!”

I asked for that.

My next incident wasn’t nearly so straight forward…

…which finally compelled my boss to say “Perhaps I’ll come over to Lidl and show you how to load?”

I beg your pardon? I was livid My pride severely wounded.

My exact words went something like “I used to collect euro pallets of Wrangler jeans from Malta and deliver them safely into London. Now you want to come and teach me to carry pallets of yoghurt, or beans 20 miles to Swansea?”

But when I got back the following night, true to his word the gaffer was waiting for me and what I learned that night is not to be so hasty when someone offers free advice.

Each load is a puzzle of different shapes and sizes. Some tall and some small. There’s a right way and a wrong way to load it into 33 euro pallet spaces if you want it all to be the right way up when you get to where you’re going.

The really good drivers can solve this puzzle quickly. Getting their trailer loaded and out on the road in under an hour.

I’m back in work in a shade under 12 hours so I’ll grab some pictures of the loading process and the different pallets we carry and write some stuff about the individual problems each of them throw up.

Who knew pallets were so complicated?

[taffytrucker]

Pretty sure that’s my last truck I had in the UK. Great little company there everyone pulls their weight I enjoyed working there.

I always made sure I had the milk hidden in front of the freezer boxes move a couple of boxes back a bit and wheel the milk around them.

[nick2008]

looks like no bars or restraints used so what happened

[cosmic]

Personally I don’t have a problem with self-tip. The way i see it, you start out on class 2 and its all self-tip isn’t it? And often self-load as well.
As for roll cages I have occasionally let one or two get away from me and you better just hope nobody is standing in the way.

Oh and thanks for the post. I do enjoy a good diary-style post with pics!

[dipper_dave]

Great thread and very well written, can’t beat real hands on experience- keep it going…

[pete_smith]

I second what Cosmic and Dipper Dave wrote,keep us informed,its nice to see that you are honest as well,showing dropped goods,how many of us would have posted those pics eh?ta,Pete

[midlifetrucker]

I let my hgv lapse on 45 birthday. Hadn’t used it for 20 years. 4 years later by business gets in trouble and I have to look at a way of raiding some more cash. Did the medical and bought a digi card and blagged my way into some part time work to get back in the swing. Now do anything from a day a week to a full week. Got to be honest I enjoy it. Don’t think it is harder than the old days. Trucks are a piece of pi$$ to drive. Comaraderie seems to have gone but hey that’s the modern era. I do anything from multi drop to rdc work and book clients direct. Most pallets I have moved in a day physically with a pump truck -156.

[dipper_dave]

midlifetrucker:
I let my hgv lapse on 45 birthday. Hadn’t used it for 20 years. 4 years later by business gets in trouble and I have to look at a way of raiding some more cash. Did the medical and bought a digi card and blagged my way into some part time work to get back in the swing. Now do anything from a day a week to a full week. Got to be honest I enjoy it. Don’t think it is harder than the old days. Trucks are a piece of pi$$ to drive. Comaraderie seems to have gone but hey that’s the modern era. I do anything from multi drop to rdc work and book clients direct. Most pallets I have moved in a day physically with a pump truck -156.

+1 Similar story to mine, business went ■■■■ up, HGV licence dusted off, digi tacho arrived then back in the driving seat with a bit of help from the agency. Cab happy all over again, although luckily I found myself on the wrong ind estate on the first job and got some reversing practice in- surpised after 10 ish years off how quickly it came back- well i was always crap at reversing anyway

[drift]

Dipper_Dave:

midlifetrucker:
I let my hgv lapse on 45 birthday. Hadn’t used it for 20 years. 4 years later by business gets in trouble and I have to look at a way of raiding some more cash. Did the medical and bought a digi card and blagged my way into some part time work to get back in the swing. Now do anything from a day a week to a full week. Got to be honest I enjoy it. Don’t think it is harder than the old days. Trucks are a piece of pi$$ to drive. Comaraderie seems to have gone but hey that’s the modern era. I do anything from multi drop to rdc work and book clients direct. Most pallets I have moved in a day physically with a pump truck -156.

+1 Similar story to mine, business went ■■■■ up, HGV licence dusted off, digi tacho arrived then back in the driving seat with a bit of help from the agency. Cab happy all over again, although luckily I found myself on the wrong ind estate on the first job and got some reversing practice in- surpised after 10 ish years off how quickly it came back- well i was always crap at reversing anyway

Pretty much the same for me after being made redundant and then getting a labouring job, being asked then to take the medical and dust off the licence and a wagon appeared in work with a wage rise

Rise of the old ■■■■■

[dipper_dave]

Drift:
Rise of the old ■■■■■

… although even at 44 I’m surpised to be considered still a bit of a youngun theses days.
Not as bad as driving a wagon at 21 back in the day when people either asked me if me mum knew I was out, was it past my bedtime, or had I knicked it… [sorry to highjack the thread a bit whilst waiting for the next installment]…

[midlifetrucker]

Drift:

Dipper_Dave:

midlifetrucker:
I let my hgv lapse on 45 birthday. Hadn’t used it for 20 years. 4 years later by business gets in trouble and I have to look at a way of raiding some more cash. Did the medical and bought a digi card and blagged my way into some part time work to get back in the swing. Now do anything from a day a week to a full week. Got to be honest I enjoy it. Don’t think it is harder than the old days. Trucks are a piece of pi$$ to drive. Comaraderie seems to have gone but hey that’s the modern era. I do anything from multi drop to rdc work and book clients direct. Most pallets I have moved in a day physically with a pump truck -156.

+1 Similar story to mine, business went ■■■■ up, HGV licence dusted off, digi tacho arrived then back in the driving seat with a bit of help from the agency. Cab happy all over again, although luckily I found myself on the wrong ind estate on the first job and got some reversing practice in- surpised after 10 ish years off how quickly it came back- well i was always crap at reversing anyway

Pretty much the same for me after being made redundant and then getting a labouring job, being asked then to take the medical and dust off the licence and a wagon appeared in work with a wage rise

Rise of the old ■■■■■

Rise of the old ■■■■■. I print t shirts as part of my other business. I think I might do that on one. Well put

[drift]

[juddian]

This is going to be a good positive thread, keep them coming, pics are great too.

[dilbert]

Great first post . Real world driving. I’m in the same sort of position as you only I ended up on the buses. I done Hgv for most of my working life ( not really a career!) although not done self load& tip for many years doing sacks of rice, paving slabs and the like when on general haulage in the 80s and 90s. I see lidl deliveries in my area ( southampton) are done by firms from the West Country mostly at night when the shop is shut and always seems to me a bit dodgy , anyway keep us all up to date .

[homeward-bound]

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement.

I must say my own story is similar to a lot of those who have commented above. I was running my own small online business when the bottom dropped out of it with the credit crunch and I was ultimately forced back into driving even though I had promised myself “Never Again”.

Maybe its as a result of being older, but I find I’m enjoying my job and at my age I’m inclined to see the whole self load/tip thing as a good lifestyle choice although the first month quite literally nearly killed me off after ‘years’ sitting in front of a computer. Today I’m a stone and a half lighter and fit as a flea so the loading and unloading doesn’t even register as a chore as its what the job was when I started it so I know no different.

I also find I’m far less bothered by stuff which once upon a time would have wound me up like a cheap watch. So when the job turns into a bit of a mess about (as it inevitably does every now and again) I let it wash over me, smile obligingly at the idiot who’s messing me about, and just go and get on with it.

Its the quiet life strategy and up to now its working just fine.

taffytrucker:
Pretty sure that’s my last truck I had in the UK. Great little company there everyone pulls their weight I enjoyed working there.

I always made sure I had the milk hidden in front of the freezer boxes move a couple of boxes back a bit and wheel the milk around them.

Hi taffytrucker. Thats solid advice about the freezer boxes although best practice seems to be to sit a pallet loaded with chill goods behind the milk and then drop a freezer box behind the chill pallet. Some of the floors in our fridges are less than stellar, and the steel skids the boxes are mounted on tend to slide under heavy braking. Causing a terrible mess if the milk gets free as my earlier picture illustrates. But putting a wooden pallet loaded with chill goods behind the milk and then putting a freezer box behind that, tends to keep them where I initially put them as the wooden pallet hangs onto the floor better than the steel skids and is less likely to move.

nick2008:
looks like no bars or restraints used so what happened

Well spotted nick2008. All the trailers used to have their own bars but over time drivers leave them on various loading bays and they go missing. After buying literally dozens of sets of loading bars over the last 12 years or so my gaffer is loathe to spend the money and on the quiet I cant say I blame him.

Incidentally the trailer I had today had two bars so some do still exist. Not many though.

[kitbuilder123]

Sure self tip is easy if your doing it like that lol!
Only joking mate. Sure every day in this job is a learning curve. At least your willing. Fair play

[homeward-bound]

One the great benefits (for me) of working out of Lidl in Bridgend, is proximity. I live less than a five minute drive from the DC so I tumble into my car outside my house at 2:15pm and by 2:30 I’m backed on a bay ready to start work.

At this time, on a Bank Holiday Monday there are only two trucks in sight. Mine and another Davies Logistics motor at the other end of the building (driven by a lad who bears an uncanny resemblence to Harry Potter - I’ll try and get a pic )

I’m backed on Bay 50 which is in the chilled goods warehouse. This is a pic looking in from my trailer on the bay. The box with B585 printed on it is one of mine;

So the first five lanes from the end of my loading bay (257 to 261), contain all my chilled goods, which is handy. It doesn’t always work out like that.

257 and 258 contain goods for Risca in Gwent, and 259, 260 and 261 contain goods for Swindon. So thats my part 1 route established so without further to do, lets get loaded.

[homeward-bound]

I mentioned earlier how the job can be a bit of a mess about at times and today was one of those times.

We run twin compartment fridges allowing us to carry freight at two different temperatures.

So we can carry chilled goods at +1 in compartment 1 on the headboard, and ambient goods, fruit and veg at +14 on the rear, or vice versa.

So normally I would load a primary load for Swindon and a part load for Risca. Only when I find out what temp the Risca freight is, can I decide which way around I will load my fridge.

Today however they wanted to load both chill and ambient, for both Risca and Swindon. Which ties my hands on how I can load.

So I loaded Swindon chill, Risca Chill, then I closed the internal door and loaded Risca ambient and finished off with four pallets of fruit & veg for Swindon, which would have to be unloaded at Risca and put to one side whilst I tipped the Risca ambient and chill.

With everything loaded except the 4 pallets of F&V for Swindon, I wait for one of the pickers to bring them to my lane.

Pretty soon we’re ready to roll. By this time its quarter past 4 and I’m already running about half hour behind my own schedule. So I won’t get back to Bridgend much before 10pm to load part 2.

[newlad]

homeward-bound:
Ten years ago if you had said to me I would be driving nights and self-loading/tipping on store deliveries for Lidl as I approach my 50th birthday I would have laughed at you.

After what can only be called a difficult time financially over the last two years, a few months ago (just after Christmas 14) I got wind of a local company in Bridgend South Wales looking for drivers to service their 24/7 Lidl contract out of Bridgend RDC.

I had been out the game a few years so I dusted off my soon-to-expire HGV license and I went along for an informal interview with the company in question, had the ubiquitous driving assessment and I was happy to be offered a start. It was by now February 2014.

0

As I write this I’ve been doing the job 4 months. I’ve read lots of accounts and experiences of doing Lidl work although precious few of them are written by drivers actually doing the job themselves and speaking from hard-won experience.

So in a retrospective diary fashion I thought I would share my experiences (warts & all) as well as some pictures to help you decide if Lidl is the job for you. Because if it is, work is plentiful and the money is OK (if not great). Not many drivers go for the jobs which call for ‘driver interaction’ with the load.

Its not rock n roll by any stretch of the imagination but this self loading and tipping business model seems to be the way forward as the economy flirts with the first shoots of improvement so chances are drivers looking for work now are liable to come across it.

So here are my experiences. Please feel free to jump in with any questions and I will answer as honestly as I can or tell you I don’t know with one caveat.

Questions which ask how much I earn will be ignored as thats my business alone. PLUS, as the poor relations of the UK what is a fair living wage in South Wales may well be sneered at by a driver from another part of the UK due to regional market forces, so wage comparisons, unless hyper-local, are almost useless.

There are 5 or 6 contractors working out of Lidl Bridgend, including the one I work for (Davies Logistics Ltd - 07825 077008), and each has its own way of doing things so if you want to find out out about money, call them and ask for a job.

In the meantime I hope you will subscribe and stay tuned to find out the inside track on driving for Lidl.

Your quite fortunate to work for the best Lidl RDC in the UK bar none, try going to Belvedere or Enfield and having the same experience, I think also it generally the delivering to a Lidl RDC rather than a store people have a problem with, I don’t mind tipping myself, it’s about the only form of exercise you get in this job, it’s the 5hr wait for your paperwork when you’ve tipped and broken the pallets down that get my back up.