Some other types of work that nobody wants is septic tank emptying or sewage tankers or fallen livestock collection from farms , zoos and safari parks, as you can imagine a cow that’s been dead for a few days tends to have its body expand with gases from the bacteria, if a hole is made and it explodes the smell would make a billy goat puke.
As said, forget the emails, I suspect they are not even looked at, another option is to look on the website for DVSA applications and decisions pages that lists all the owner operators ,owner drivers, small to large fleets in area that you never knew they existed to drive to and ask a few questions.
When calling at their premises it’s best to avoid the busy times.
Wearing a suit is not necessary, casual and tidy and all the gear including PPE in case a driver has called in sick that day and they ask you to cover a shift.
Many new starters who get a full time job tend to start with class 2 on pallet multi drops, you can either hate or love it, a Marmite job,the customers do not live in the real world sat at home ordering cheap tat off the internet, what they are told by whoever is selling their stuff is totally different to what they expect on delivery.
The drivers job is kerb side drop only,as in the pallet is pump trucked off on to the tail lift and dropped there and not what the customer expects which is pump trucked over their long driveway over shingle stone or cracked and uneven paving because the regular or last driver always does it they always say.
A pallet of turf can weigh a lot and one customer expected five pallets to be pump trucked over the lawn, another wanted six pallets of paving slabs taken up a steep driveway in to the rear of his property.
Or they want the pallets stripped down then hand ball every small item in to their garage or house.
If it’s hotel, bar or restaurant their storage area is down a cellar and the chef or manager wants it hand balled down there.
Some pallets can weigh a ton ,or the heavy ones are compost, turf, bricks,stone, patio slabs, horse feed, haylage,pet food, stoves, ovens, Aga’s, marble,granite, kitchen packs, bathroom packs, flat pack furniture, exercise bikes and the list is endless.
Because customers get a good deal on their purchases online they still expect a premium first class service for the delivery and are shocked that the drivers job is to just drop the pallet.
Ignore them if they say the regular driver always does this or does that.
Any problems or issues you phone in and if the customer is messing about and being awkward the planner will say to you refuse the delivery and move on to the next drop.
You can’t afford to mess around arguing with these people as some customers have paid extra for timed deliveries such as pre 09.00 am or pre- 12 pm, the hauliers are penalised by the pallet hub networks for being late.
One wealthy and posh lady in a posh village expected her ten pallets of peat and compost to be hand balled over her garden wall to her house, the garden centre flogging it must have said to her that the driver will do that.
After five phone calls it transpired that she had to ring her husband to get him to come over and do it.
