Noremac:
I"ve no idea why people can’t order things earlier rather than insist on next / same day delivery. What is so important that it needs to be there next / same day? Really? The world isn’t going to end ffs.
Quite often the customer can wait but its offered as a perk of ordering such as “spend over £30 for free next day delivery” and such.
But yeah I agree, very rarely I’ll order something so urgent that I genuinely need it tomorrow. Apart from a power lead I ordered yesterday to arrive today as I need it for work tomorrow
Noremac:
It doesn’t take a genius to work out that the ‘just in time’ method is fundamentally flawed.
I can never understand why pallet services offer next day delivery pretty much as standard. I’d say 98% of ours are next day but can’t understand why a farmer needs 2000L of sheep dip next day, or a cash n carry can’t forsee they’ll need 50 boxes of Persil in a few days time.
The thing is, next day costs a lot more than standard or 48 hour so what tiny amount they are earning in interest by delaying for a day is vastly outweighed by the extra costs of next day delivery.
TruckDriverBen:
your waiting in a queue however it doesn’t make sense as the marshal will let other lorry go infront of you
That’s because their depot is further away or it’s a busier one with higher volumes who send in more lorries to the hub so they get loaded before you do if you’re nearer or only have a couple of wagons going in. And just because there’s a town/city name on the side of the cab doesn’t mean that’s where the lorry is going to/has come from. For example YDL I’ve worked at is just outside Malton but they also have a sister depot up somewhere near Gateshead too who use lorries and trailers with the same livery on.
Noremac:
I’ve no idea why people can’t order things earlier rather than insist on next / same day delivery. What is so important that it needs to be there next / same day? Really? The world isn’t going to end ffs.
It’s down to storage costs. If you run JIT you don’t need to keep as much warehouse space for your own site’s stock than you do if you hold even 2 days stock, you literally only need to have enough to hold however many pallets worth of deliveries you typically take a day. And that means it costs you less money both in staff, buildings and business rates.
Conor:
It’s down to storage costs. If you run JIT you don’t need to keep as much warehouse space for your own site’s stock than you do if you hold even 2 days stock, you literally only need to have enough to hold however many pallets worth of deliveries you typically take a day. And that means it costs you less money both in staff, buildings and business rates.
I was more talking about the just-in-time on the transport side of things. The stuff comes up overnight and is going out the same day. I understand the thinking that the satellite depot isn’t storing as many pallets. I also understand the vehicles / trailers being in use 24 hours a day is desirable from a financial perspective. The only thing is that if there is any delay, the drivers are wasting a huge portion of the day sitting (getting paid) and then failing deliveries because customers are closing for taking deliveries. Obviously taking heavy goods on a day trip around the country and then bringing the goods back to store overnight anyway seems a little wasteful and costly.
I did also make a general point about people ordering things for same/next day. I didn’t really limit this to warehousing, just a general point.
TPN at Minworth are the same, up until a couple of weeks before Easter I would arrive about 0730 and I would normally be out by 0900, sometimes earlier, then it went crazy and I would be getting out around 1300. I was told the main reason was the easing of lockdown and shops rebuilding stock although there was a lot of garden/landscaping product coming through. Obviously by the time I got back to the yard it was too late to go out for delivery that day.
Perfect storm IMO, the “end” of lockdown, and the freight buyer edging their bets regarding cashflow, so leaving it to the very last minute, also Brexit apprehension is starting to subdue, and the cost of a pallet going through these networks is too cheap for the hassle involved…also certain networks are overloading their systems with “hub accounts”, so the balance of trunks in & out are compromised, leading to the “hub” dumping trailer loads on their “partners” without notice, so avoiding the “partner” reloading the trailer back to the hub, then charging crazy round-trip prices for the privilege of a one-way movement…
Harry Monk:
TPN at Minworth are the same, up until a couple of weeks before Easter I would arrive about 0730 and I would normally be out by 0900, sometimes earlier, then it went crazy and I would be getting out around 1300. I was told the main reason was the easing of lockdown and shops rebuilding stock although there was a lot of garden/landscaping product coming through. Obviously by the time I got back to the yard it was too late to go out for delivery that day.
More like landscaping ,
I do spot type loads where I could be loading any thing any where , twice I’ve taken a full load of slabs up to Fradley , one place I was the 2nd truck full of slabs for the day
Having reached the grand old age of 63 in March, I’ve now decided to only work 2 or 3 days a week at my local pallet firm. The work itself is fairly straightforward delivering up to 20 pallets per day in a 16 ton Daf around Norfolk on two runs then collections. The trouble comes when the trunks from the hub are late and you don’t leave the depot till after 0900 (start time is 0700) and you have timed deliveries on board (pre 1000 or AM). A further complication is that the number of domestic customers has risen during lockdown so you are trying to find “The Cottage” on “The Street” in a remote part of the countryside to deliver a shed or something similar. Turf is a killer as is stone slabs esp. with a manual pallet truck. I get home knackered and need the next day to recover. The pallet volumes are going crazy and the drivers are just not out there. Generally, I enjoy the job - the firm I work for is reasonable and willing to accommodate part time working (our oldest drivers are coming up to 70) but it’s not an industry I would want to get into now if I was in my 20’s.
Zeethron:
Having reached the grand old age of 63 in March, I’ve now decided to only work 2 or 3 days a week at my local pallet firm. The work itself is fairly straightforward delivering up to 20 pallets per day in a 16 ton Daf around Norfolk on two runs then collections. The trouble comes when the trunks from the hub are late and you don’t leave the depot till after 0900 (start time is 0700) and you have timed deliveries on board (pre 1000 or AM). A further complication is that the number of domestic customers has risen during lockdown so you are trying to find “The Cottage” on “The Street” in a remote part of the countryside to deliver a shed or something similar. Turf is a killer as is stone slabs esp. with a manual pallet truck. I get home knackered and need the next day to recover. The pallet volumes are going crazy and the drivers are just not out there. Generally, I enjoy the job - the firm I work for is reasonable and willing to accommodate part time working (our oldest drivers are coming up to 70) but it’s not an industry I would want to get into now if I was in my 20’s.
Those electric pallet trucks are the way forward, but with the ease of operation comes the demand to go further with the pallet other than the “doorstep”
Stanley Mitchell:
Those electric pallet trucks are the way forward, but with the ease of operation comes the demand to go further with the pallet other than the “doorstep”
When I was on pallet work through lockdown last summer(with electric pallet truck), my level of service always depended on customer attitude.
When Karen came flying out the house telling me that her Chinese palletised 3 piece suite HAS to be taken upstairs to the 3rd floor because the seller told her it would be, it gets dropped politely on the pavement as per small print.
When the old boy in his 80s who had ordered a set of large and heavy garden furniture starts to struggle with just the pallet wrap and does not ask for help, I strip the pallet down and carry it all through to the back garden for him and it’s a pleasure. (Some driver grassed me up for this to the office, what a guy!)
Generally very easy work and I only saw a trunk come in late once and that was due to a tyre blowout
Anyone read the guy in this article? Claims that he can’t get enough drivers because the hours drivers can work have been reduced? Would be more accurate to say the increased emergency hours got put back to what they were previously but it doesn’t make the point quite as well does it
Anyone read the guy in this article? Claims that he can’t get enough drivers because the hours drivers can work have been reduced? Would be more accurate to say the increased emergency hours got put back to what they were previously but it doesn’t make the point quite as well does it
They have changed their hours to suit “the business” from what I`ve seen
Not so many years ago, you used to see their kit parked in various lay-bys and service areas ect all along the M1 & A38 on an afternoon/evening, so to me, it looks like they have changed their modus operandi and it aint working…
Anyone read the guy in this article? Claims that he can’t get enough drivers because the hours drivers can work have been reduced? Would be more accurate to say the increased emergency hours got put back to what they were previously but it doesn’t make the point quite as well does it
They have changed their hours to suit “the business” from what I`ve seen
Not so many years ago, you used to see their kit parked in various lay-bys and service areas ect all along the M1 & A38 on an afternoon/evening, so to me, it looks like they have changed their modus operandi and it aint working…
Yeah, but chaging the hours to suit the business is slightly flawed based on temporary emergency dated legislation.
So what he’s aying is that he can’t get staff because they arevunabke to work MORE than standard law allows? Nothing about pay, tackle or conditions then?
Anyone read the guy in this article? Claims that he can’t get enough drivers because the hours drivers can work have been reduced? Would be more accurate to say the increased emergency hours got put back to what they were previously but it doesn’t make the point quite as well does it
They have changed their hours to suit “the business” from what I`ve seen
Not so many years ago, you used to see their kit parked in various lay-bys and service areas ect all along the M1 & A38 on an afternoon/evening, so to me, it looks like they have changed their modus operandi and it aint working…
Yeah, but chaging the hours to suit the business is slightly flawed based on temporary emergency dated legislation.
So what he’s aying is that he can’t get staff because they arevunabke to work MORE than standard law allows? Nothing about pay, tackle or conditions then?
True…^^^
Many years ago, I used to take beer & biscuits into their gaff @ Willenhall, and if it was busy, you had to park in the trailer park and await your call, so you always got talking to someone in there, and they always seemed a happy bunch to me, with a “dead mans shoes” attitude to the job…I might of got it completely wrong, but it seemed that way to me
trevHCS:
Regarding Palletforce and similar, I do wonder if there’s something in the partner contract stating if you can’t deliver in a reasonable time, you get booted or hit with a penalty? Its not good for the reputation of the people sending the pallets into the network.
They certainly do. Shippers pay a premium for ‘next-day’ and if the depot fails to deliver without good reason, they get penalised. In fact, a good deal of three-day traffic gets delivered ‘next-day’ because the depots want to clear the warehouse if they can. It’s the customers at the edges of the territory that can be problematic.
trevHCS:
Regarding Palletforce and similar, I do wonder if there’s something in the partner contract stating if you can’t deliver in a reasonable time, you get booted or hit with a penalty? Its not good for the reputation of the people sending the pallets into the network.
They certainly do. Shippers pay a premium for ‘next-day’ and if the depot fails to deliver without good reason, they get penalised. In fact, a good deal of three-day traffic gets delivered ‘next-day’ because the depots want to clear the warehouse if they can. It’s the customers at the edges of the territory that can be problematic.
I know the haulier I was working for until a few weeks ago had a crisis video conference with the pallet network they work for just before I left and from what I can gather from my mole, the pallet network were on the back foot all the way. Which is fair enough, if I’m supposed to be back in my depot being unloaded by 10:00 so the stuff can go out on the rigids and I don’t get back until 15:00 then there’s no chance of the deliveries being done that day. I very much doubt there will be “penalties” being paid.
trevHCS:
Regarding Palletforce and similar, I do wonder if there’s something in the partner contract stating if you can’t deliver in a reasonable time, you get booted or hit with a penalty? Its not good for the reputation of the people sending the pallets into the network.
They certainly do. Shippers pay a premium for ‘next-day’ and if the depot fails to deliver without good reason, they get penalised. In fact, a good deal of three-day traffic gets delivered ‘next-day’ because the depots want to clear the warehouse if they can. It’s the customers at the edges of the territory that can be problematic.
I know the haulier I was working for until a few weeks ago had a crisis video conference with the pallet network they work for just before I left and from what I can gather from my mole, the pallet network were on the back foot all the way. Which is fair enough, if I’m supposed to be back in my depot being unloaded by 10:00 so the stuff can go out on the rigids and I don’t get back until 15:00 then there’s no chance of the deliveries being done that day. I very much doubt there will be “penalties” being paid.
Similar thing happened at our place with another pallet network. I’m guessing it’s been happening nationwide hence why some aren’t guaranteeing service to some parts of the country.
From what I can gather from this thread is the pallet networks have tried to be like the parcel networks and it’s bitten them in the rear [emoji23][emoji23]as you can’t move and sort pallets as quick as parcels
Generally, I enjoy the job - the firm I work for is reasonable and willing to accommodate part time working (our oldest drivers are coming up to 70) but it’s not an industry I would want to get into now if I was in my 20’s.
