A pandemic of epic proportions!
I’m as guilty as anyone else… look in any cab in any RDC and you’ll see the driver staring at the phone, doom scrolling whilst waiting to be tipped. What did we do before this?!
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Roverman:
A pandemic of epic proportions!I’m as guilty as anyone else… look in any cab in any RDC and you’ll see the driver staring at the phone, doom scrolling whilst waiting to be tipped. What did we do before this?!
Read ■■■■■■■ or Mayfair (Other titles are available!)
Roverman:
A pandemic of epic proportions!I’m as guilty as anyone else… look in any cab in any RDC and you’ll see the driver staring at the phone, doom scrolling whilst waiting to be tipped. What did we do before this?!
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To be fair… whatever you did before’ a smart phone probably has it covered: news, reading a novel, ■■■■. political debate…
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Sometimes I find it inconvenient to take my model ship building collection or my caligraphy set with me just in case I’m stuck on a bay for hours…
In reality its just a form of entertainment. Whether that be hours of looking at other people’s lives via Facebook or catching up on news or sport or watching videos etc, you can do it all on one device.
Worst thing ever mobile phones. I wonder how we coped before them
Main problem I find.amd.ill.gove you am example that happened to me.
Collected some.lengths of skirting boards. Going to a hotel in Liverpool that was having a makeover while in lockdown.
Got there no flt. I said hanball it off theres only ablu 60 lengths.
Story short. Fitter phoned his.supervisor he came.out took pictures he.phoned his supervisor.
He phoned someone else In. The end wasted at least half an.hour had 3 people there on.there phones explaining the situation to God knows who
.beofre they decide to handball.it all off.
Before phones fitter would make an on the spot descion or handball or refuse. Mon.yjis.let me.phone.people and.ask and phone.more and more people
edd1974:
Worst thing ever mobile phones. I wonder how we coped before them
Main problem I find.amd.ill.gove you am example that happened to me.
Collected some.lengths of skirting boards. Going to a hotel in Liverpool that was having a makeover while in lockdown.Got there no flt. I said hanball it off theres only ablu 60 lengths.
Story short. Fitter phoned his.supervisor he came.out took pictures he.phoned his supervisor.
He phoned someone else In. The end wasted at least half an.hour had 3 people there on.there phones explaining the situation to God knows who
.beofre they decide to handball.it all off.Before phones fitter would make an on the spot descion or handball or refuse. Mon.yjis.let me.phone.people and.ask and phone.more and more people
There is a lot of truth in that.
But would the decision made by someone 30 odd years ago have been a good one?
Sometimes yes, sometimes no. It may have been “let’s get it off now” or may have been, “load refused, take it 100 mile back to base”. Would the load be sent later for handball off?
Bad decisions might be changed later in the process, involving more expense.
Are there fewer choices made now that are later over-ridden?
Always makes me laugh when these eejits start bleating on about stuff being better back in the day. There’s clearly a lot of amnesia and rose tinted glasses wearing going on. These people seem to think it’s better working harder than working smarter.
Conor:
Always makes me laugh when these eejits start bleating on about stuff being better back in the day. There’s clearly a lot of amnesia and rose tinted glasses wearing going on. These people seem to think it’s better working harder than working smarter.
Laugh away sunshine , it’s not rose tinted glasses when we formed a large circle of friends and aqaintances by interacting with each other , rather than sitting in our little bubble watching a screen . Also a little exercise hand balling now and then kept us fit , rather than paying good money for gym membership . Look at modern youth with limbs like knotty cotton , honest work within reason would benefit them , and maybe you too with your attitude .
Don’t get me wrong it annoys me. Same with the mrs burying her face in the phone looking at what everyone else is up to. Sometimes you into an RDC waiting room and you just see headless drones thumbing away. I always try and strike up a conversation and most of the time you can end up having a laugh and a gripe but some are just not interested or you get a very quick impression of whether the chat should carry on or not.
But say in your cab, chilling out, without the ability to talk to anyone face to face, without my shipbuilding models and calligraphy set I just entertain myself by watching a film on my phone or reading an ebook etc.
The good old days had their plus points. But I’ve recently bunned off most of my old map books apart from the latest bridge height one because time has moved on and technology means I no longer need them so much.
Mobile phones are costing this industry millions in lost productivity,
drivers used to take pride in their workspace but now most cabs are
5hitholes, I can’t believe grown men are addicted to mobile phones
Before smartphones, drivers would be reading a copy of the sun, star or mirror. How often nowadays do you see a copy of the newspaper in the drivers window compared to 15 years ago?. When i used to be stuck at a place for hours, i would read every last bit of the newspaper including the pages which i’d normally skip. Thank god for smartphones i say, i’m actually on here now because i’ve been sat about for 2 hours and i’ve exhausted all other options.
One thing i hate about smartphones is seeing parents on them when their child is trying to get their attention, and i’ve been guilty of this too.
I’m guilty of being on my phone too much… I’ll.admit it. 
I have not bought a newspaper for about 5 yrs, I read the ‘‘paper’’ on my phone, but I do miss the daily crossword.
I used to read about 4 or 5 books a year, but I’m down to about 2 now. 
Can’t be arsed with Facebook and the like,.I’ve seen too much agg caused by it, so I give it a wide berth, I do however dip into Trucknet (too 
) often in the day, and I also get numerous what’s apps sent by about 6 or so different mates every day, I usually leave them to night to read if I’m out in the pub (not lately ) but some of the dodgy content does not go down well if you are in a crowded bar and people can see your phone. 
As for the phone it’s self regarding using it for calls…, just ring family and mates, but not everyday apart from talking to my Mrs, maybe twice or three times a day.
A guy I know is constantly on it from morning to night, it’s like a bloody mobile switchboard, he’ll ring you then 2 mins later say…‘‘Got another call coming through, I’ll ring ya back’’ …Aye right 
.
He’ll ring the entire amount of drivers on the firm, 2 or 3 times a day, he knows exactly where everybody is and what job they are doing,.I simply could not be arsed, in fact I don’t give a flying ■■■■ what any of em are doing tbh, too busy with my mind on my own work.
They are very handy on the rare occasion I am in rdc.s to avoid getting force fed drivercrap by some helmet or another…I do enjoy conversation now and again btw, but ffs,.some of em. 
Got to admit,.I would miss my phone now.
rigsby:
Conor:
Always makes me laugh when these eejits start bleating on about stuff being better back in the day. There’s clearly a lot of amnesia and rose tinted glasses wearing going on. These people seem to think it’s better working harder than working smarter.Laugh away sunshine , it’s not rose tinted glasses when we formed a large circle of friends and aqaintances by interacting with each other , rather than sitting in our little bubble watching a screen . Also a little exercise hand balling now and then kept us fit , rather than paying good money for gym membership . Look at modern youth with limbs like knotty cotton , honest work within reason would benefit them , and maybe you too with your attitude .
And I have a vastly bigger and wider circle of friends and acquaintances thanks to my smartphone and the internet. A vast group that rescued my mental health over the past year when otherwise I’d have been in a very dark place. I talk to more people in a week online than I’d have interacted with in a year previously, all from my sofa, on a massive variety of topics that interest me as well as useful information and education. Not to mention the fact that my extensive social media usage, someone tried to take ■■■■ out of fact I’ve written over 100k tweets a while ago, has helped me enormously with my memory problems. It’s effectively an information rich diary that I’ve been keeping really. And talking fitness my smart watch has helped no end as I learned to walk again and got back to health. It drove me on, gave me targets, recorded my progress.
Technology like anything is what you make it. Approach with a negative attitude and you’ll get negativity back. Approach with positivity and seeing it for the useful educational tool it is and you get positivity back in shedloads.
Conor:
Always makes me laugh when these eejits start bleating on about stuff being better back in the day. There’s clearly a lot of amnesia and rose tinted glasses wearing going on. These people seem to think it’s better working harder than working smarter.
I guess it’s a bit like people bleating on about how good agency work was back in the day
Conor:
Always makes me laugh when these eejits start bleating on about stuff being better back in the day. There’s clearly a lot of amnesia and rose tinted glasses wearing going on. These people seem to think it’s better working harder than working smarter.
Maybe these ‘eejits’ have a fair point when they are…‘‘bleating on’’.
It ain’t black or white, it’s more swings and roundabouts.
You are partly right, a lot of things were worse in those days, but other things were better, on the whole job was a non pushed, non timed delivery, non tracker, more initiative left alone to do the job style, in a safe non stressful manner, and as the thread goes, no phones … well the 3 co.s I worked for were until I became an owner driver, then it was every man for himself.
(This is the point where Conor refers to my account as ‘‘hanging the job out/lead swinging’’ etc after interpreting it in that inimitable ‘black or white’ way that he has )
It’s like today’s job,.a lot of things are better, …legal running, better quality trucks, and if I could think of anymore I’d list them.
On the other hand, we have micro management, non job dicks who know f.all about transport, telling experienced drivers how we should be doing things, and of course cameras, of which you (although in a very small minority) tell us you condone and even embrace.
Maybe a happy medium between the two would be preferable, but it won’t happen,.so the rest of us are stuck with what you love.
,
peirre:
I guess it’s a bit like people bleating on about how good agency work was back in the day
My posts about agency work have been entirely consistent in all the time I’ve been on this site. Agency work has only improved over the years as we’ve got more and more rights that permanent employees have such as holiday pay and SSP which never existed when I first started. The amount and quality of work I’ve had has never really changed.
robroy:
You are partly right, a lot of things were worse in those days, but other things were better, on the whole job was a non pushed, non timed delivery
When was that then? I was doing timed supermarket RDC deliveries when I first started in the early 90s. Mid 90s I still remember going into Kimtrans office on Hull docks one dinner time, being asked how much driving time I had and asked to get a load down to a printers in Southampton ASAP when they’d been let down by Longs of Leeds because they were paying a per hour penalty charge if it were late. I remember doing that and twice an hour getting a bloody phone call from Kimtrans head office asking what my ETA was all the way down.
In fact I could sum up my first several years in haulage as running around like our arses were on fire, constantly chasing the clock, tipping and loading on break much of the time so you could get the work done, get back and manage to get the following morning’s load on before everyone went home at 5-6pm. If you stopped to take a 15,30 or 45 and you weren’t tipping or loading you were the exception not the rule.
Like I said…rose tinted glasses.
Conor:
robroy:
You are partly right, a lot of things were worse in those days, but other things were better, on the whole job was a non pushed, non timed deliveryWhen was that then? I was doing timed supermarket RDC deliveries when I first started in the early 90s. Mid 90s I still remember going into Kimtrans office on Hull docks one dinner time, being asked how much driving time I had and asked to get a load down to a printers in Southampton ASAP when they’d been let down by Longs of Leeds because they were paying a per hour penalty charge if it were late. I remember doing that and twice an hour getting a bloody phone call from Kimtrans head office asking what my ETA was all the way down.
In fact I could sum up my first several years in haulage as running around like our arses were on fire, constantly chasing the clock, tipping and loading on break much of the time so you could get the work done, get back and manage to get the following morning’s load on before everyone went home at 5-6pm. If you stopped to take a 15,30 or 45 and you weren’t tipping or loading you were the exception not the rule.
Like I said…rose tinted glasses.
Well in my case 1979 to 83 (I’m older than look ) , worked for a small haulage outfit started long distance tramping on a Transit pick up progressing (if that’s the right word) to an artic, then on 2 reasonably 'reputable ’ outfits Robert Frazer Group, and National Carriers, both jobs a doddle, then reality kicked in when I (foolishly) bought my first motor.
Like I said, in MY experience, obviously different to yours. 
i don’t possess a smart phone,just an old school nokia all the other driver’s at our place have,and are all on various whats app groups.my mate gives me all the gossip when i ring him when i’m on break,he’s the Ena Sharples of our depot
our office compliance man,no idea of his title,tell’s the drivers any incidents/accidents/issues or problems to send him photo’s…bar me of course
mind you…could have done with a smart on Friday,when i was close to my Collection in Christchurch,and the road was being dug up 
no proper diversion route,and after making a couple of detours ended up back at the roadworks asking the geezers how to get to my destination 