Been working for an agency for a little while now doing a night delivery contract in to shops . Its a BIG company and i still cant believe how they treat their drivers and agency drivers.
give you 5-6 drops hand you keys for shops and say off you go!
Address ?
Instructions on alarms?
Any problems to deliver etc?
“what cant you find the shops??” - not without an address!!
Alarm- umlock the door find touch pad!! - gee thanks
Problems? - ask the other drivers we dont know!!! - typical & means they do know but arent telling!
Dont give you any info on drops- have to ask for an address!
Tail lift is too small for chep pallets without dropping the flaps
loaded top heavy and not wrapped properly etc
Their drivers dont complain as they are told " if you dont like it- doors over there!!!"
Get to some shops and find it has to be handballed - IE found note stuck to door on one drop " del driver please unload pallets to up stairs landing"
3 sets of stairs - about 75- ! Me driver not labourer!!! called company and said there is no where to leave 4 pallets! they just said " youve got to empty the pallets into a small lift then run up stairs and unload it all!!!
■■■■ TAKERS!
so you end up moving approx 4 tons twice!!! dont think so.
Again at another shop they want you to carry 3 pallets of stuff up 3 flights of stairs!!
Best one- delivered to a store with a lift from outside to store room - pallet just fits in but its the old concertina doors- you have to pull the pallet in so then you cant reach doors/buttons without climbing over the pallet then lift jams between floors!!! managed to unjam it and get out after about 20 mins, called the depot to tell them and they say “again? happens all the time!!” if they knew it happened it should be a 2 man drop for safety- what if someone got stuck in their all night- no phone service!
These ■■■■■ have no idea about safety .
Think they have got confused- when i signed to the contract it said DRIVER!!
Dont mind doing a bit of handball but that just takes the ■■■■!
Seems they think if they pay you a wage they think they can treat you like crap.
Told them and agency that if you keep trying to give me this crap- lorry comes back full!
Don’t blame ya, i wouldn’t do it either, i can remember a job i did for an agency soon after passing my class 1 it was driving a bulker (artic) collecting coal from the pits and taking it to fleet wood docks to go to the i.o.m anyhow the probs with that job where loading as it was guess the weight, they would just fill the empty trailer until you was happy with it, then you would have to be weighed on their weigh bridge before being allowed onto the roads, if you where over weight you were expected to climb inside and use a shovel to shovel the excess out, which i refused on HSE grounds ,i opened the doors partly at the back of the trl and reversed and slammed on the anchors sure enough plenty came out, cleared the channel so the doors would close again drove back to weigh bridge got weighed again your under drive they said, i replied “Well unless you want to load me upto my max weight on these scales it’s staying a bit light” lol
Then on my way back to the motorway the phone rang, agency saying that they had me booked in the same place the next day, i told em not a chance, and told em why,
demonbiker:
Been working for an agency for a little while now doing a night delivery contract in to shops . Its a BIG company and i still cant believe how they treat their drivers and agency drivers.
give you 5-6 drops hand you keys for shops and say off you go!
Address ?
Instructions on alarms?
Any problems to deliver etc?
“what cant you find the shops??” - not without an address!!
Alarm- umlock the door find touch pad!! - gee thanks
Problems? - ask the other drivers we dont know!!! - typical & means they do know but arent telling!
Dont give you any info on drops- have to ask for an address!
Tail lift is too small for chep pallets without dropping the flaps
loaded top heavy and not wrapped properly etc
Their drivers dont complain as they are told " if you dont like it- doors over there!!!"
Get to some shops and find it has to be handballed - IE found note stuck to door on one drop " del driver please unload pallets to up stairs landing"
3 sets of stairs - about 75- ! Me driver not labourer!!! called company and said there is no where to leave 4 pallets! they just said " youve got to empty the pallets into a small lift then run up stairs and unload it all!!!
■■■■ TAKERS!
so you end up moving approx 4 tons twice!!! dont think so.
Again at another shop they want you to carry 3 pallets of stuff up 3 flights of stairs!!
Best one- delivered to a store with a lift from outside to store room - pallet just fits in but its the old concertina doors- you have to pull the pallet in so then you cant reach doors/buttons without climbing over the pallet then lift jams between floors!!! managed to unjam it and get out after about 20 mins, called the depot to tell them and they say “again? happens all the time!!” if they knew it happened it should be a 2 man drop for safety- what if someone got stuck in their all night- no phone service!
These [zb] have no idea about safety .
Think they have got confused- when i signed to the contract it said DRIVER!!
Dont mind doing a bit of handball but that just takes the ■■■■!
Seems they think if they pay you a wage they think they can treat you like crap.
Told them and agency that if you keep trying to give me this crap- lorry comes back full!
This Thread Is Worthless Without Company Names.
No, seriously, who is it?
Anyway, these jobs are for mugs because they are the only people that would do them. I’d have been in my car on my way home as soon as they mentioned 1. “we don’t have addresses, find them yourself” and/or 2. “here’s the keys to the stores”. And I’m not joking.
You’re not the only one who’s fed up with this sort of thing, in fact I’m going to speak to an agency today about never going back to brakes in grantham.
I dont see the problem, both my truck driving jobs Ive had deliveries where Ive had to break down the pallet and put it into the store room!!!
Usually because a) its usually in the contract with the company and the client and b) there isnt usually room in the shops store room!
It’s a Wincanton contract and yes there are high value items included
In pallets, but it’s ok no one wouldknow as
It has a big sticker saying " high value security
seal - report if broken" !!!
Yeah your working alone sometimes in dodgy
loading areas or alley ways. App drivers have
had stuff taken at drops I. E east London early
in morning. Don’t even have cab phones. It’s ■■■■.
There is plenty of other work around, I’m waiting
for a start date on another contract with a different
agency, then I’m gone £10 ph isn’t enough for this crap!!
DAF95XF:
I dont see the problem, both my truck driving jobs Ive had deliveries where Ive had to break down the pallet and put it into the store room!!!
Usually because a) its usually in the contract with the company and the client and b) there isnt usually room in the shops store room!
It’s because mugs like you accept it as being the norm that the rest of us get landed with this BS. 'Bout time drivers starting finding their balls and using them, eg. breaking down pallets and putting stock away is the job of warehouse people, not drivers, unless of course you are being paid at least £15hr standard time (driver wage + warehouse man wage) which I think is highly doubtful.
Sounds like a nightmare, had a similar thing with Palmer and Harveys but at least you had a drivers mate to help shift it. Also helped if the shop owner lent a hand which was rare.
demonbiker:
It has a big sticker saying " high value security
seal - report if broken" !!!
Although you havn’t named them, let me guess, its a large discount supermarket chain?!! If it is i reckon an artic full is worth about £500, high value only applies to some thing near the five pound mark
Sounds a bit like farmfoods, meself i will do that sorta work tho try to avoid it, best way to do it is take your time and do it with a smile. Some drivers like it as there getting exercise ie bad back sat driving on trunks…
I did a month at JJ Foods in Basingstoke, work 12 hour days like a navvy and get paid for 8.
Carry all sorts of stuff up flights of stairs, deliver to doggy kebab shops, etc. all was cash on delivery, most days we came back with £4-5k in our pockets. They still owe me 42 hours of overtime.
I had a spell between jobs in a dealers parts department and we had the stock delivered overnight from MK.
The drivers had a key and a security code but I made sure the lock up was left clear and there was room for two roll cages or a pallet. If there wasn’t or if the parts included engines or gearboxes etc. then the driver reversed his drops and would be there when I opened up. We would never leave a driver to sort himself out with heavy stuff for his own safety.
I remember one driving job we had many years ago which was fun. We used to load Ever Ready Batteries from Leeds and had a bunch of keys for the reps lock ups, it was hard work but they normally left the driver a small envelope, or a couple of bottles, one even left 40 cigs. And the added bonus was that you never had to buy bulbs or batteries. If the rep was there you just asked him, if not, they just accepted natural wastage
At my old place of work the deliveries started to be done in the early hours of the morning. There was a security guard that came around to unlock and keep everything safe while being unloaded, then lock up after it all. Pallets just put in the front then everything run up in the morning by the staff.
Where i am now it comes in the day, and that involves bringing it in, filling up the lift, running up the stairs and getting it all out at the top. Then going back down to get some more. Not too bad, just the idiots that work there. Keeps me fit.
But then saying that, theres a security guard about 24/7 there.
I wouldnt like to be about in the dodgy places at that time without someone about keeping a check on whats happening outside.
Big Rig said it, Don’T Do IT, I would have turned round at the first drop and took the lot back, that’s IF and its a big IF, I had left the yard at all, saying that I am surprised at Wincanton, I have usually found them reasonable to work for.
I read these threads and I am amazed what some of you lads put up with!, In my experience since I started work 45 years ago there is one unfailing thing you can guarantee, the more you do, the more you are expected to do.
You have to stand up for yourself, nobody will fight for you, if its too much work tell them, and if they say do it or else take the or else, BUT MAKE THEM SACK YOU, and go to a tribunal, leave and crack a couple of raw eggs in the fuel tank, leave truck as far away as possible and get the bus home, go to sleep in a lay by and take load back at proper time and go home, fight back.
This 
