Hi all, been a member on here for quite a while, but not posted up until now.
Back in early October I saw an advert posted by Pertemps for Xmas work with the RM. They were offering £17 an hour PAYE, which is pretty good imo. As I won’t entertain umbrella or LTD schemes, I rang them up and went and registered with them. I had to undergo a CRB/DBS check which took forever to come back. Then went and did the assessment. So then I was all clear to work for RM, asked them when I could start and got told “it’s a bit quite at the moment, it’ll soon pick up”. Well, that was in November and to date, I haven’t had a single shift with them. All I have been offered is a couple of odd shifts in two of their depots up north. I’m based in Hertfordshire and the work I’d applied for was at their Hemel depot. It’s just not worth my while travelling that far for a single shift.
Has anyone else had a similar experience with Pertemps and the RM Xmas work? I definitely think things are quieter this year. In previous years you could take your pick of work and get a good rate. Personally, I’ve had a few dubious agencies cold-call me with crappy work at laughable rates. We all know that’s the norm for agencies, just seems to be getting worse.
Having started some of this three weeks back, alongside my other agency work with supermarkets - I’m surprised at how bitty the work seems to be this close to Christmas…
Got 2+1 days 3 weeks ago, 2+2 days 2 weeks ago, 0+4 days last week, and 0+1 days so far this week.
I was expecting to be 5-6-5-6 by this point!
Maybe the ASOS results yesterday - point to a rather sharp fall in the retail sector coming this Christmas now?
I’ve had two supermarket shifts cancelled last week, one this week… A bit worrying, if a sharp downturn is on the way this side of Christmas huh?
Winseer:
Having started some of this three weeks back, alongside my other agency work with supermarkets - I’m surprised at how bitty the work seems to be this close to Christmas…
Got 2+1 days 3 weeks ago, 2+2 days 2 weeks ago, 0+4 days last week, and 0+1 days so far this week.
I was expecting to be 5-6-5-6 by this point!
Maybe the ASOS results yesterday - point to a rather sharp fall in the retail sector coming this Christmas now?
I’ve had two supermarket shifts cancelled last week, one this week… A bit worrying, if a sharp downturn is on the way this side of Christmas huh?
Which colour supermarket?
We have all been put on Rota. So we are guaranteed our shifts. I have been sent home a few times after just 3 hours with 8 hours money. And plenty of drivers have been sentenced home before even sitting in a truck again with 8 hours wonga. Mad thing is they have also brought in a ton of subcontractors. They may as well use cash to keep the place warm - but I’m not complaining.
Winseer:
Having started some of this three weeks back, alongside my other agency work with supermarkets - I’m surprised at how bitty the work seems to be this close to Christmas…
Got 2+1 days 3 weeks ago, 2+2 days 2 weeks ago, 0+4 days last week, and 0+1 days so far this week.
I was expecting to be 5-6-5-6 by this point!
Maybe the ASOS results yesterday - point to a rather sharp fall in the retail sector coming this Christmas now?
I’ve had two supermarket shifts cancelled last week, one this week… A bit worrying, if a sharp downturn is on the way this side of Christmas huh?
Which colour supermarket?
The one that is paying £14.75 weekday nights and £18.75 all day sunday.
We have all been put on Rota. So we are guaranteed our shifts. I have been sent home a few times after just 3 hours with 8 hours money. And plenty of drivers have been sentenced home before even sitting in a truck again with 8 hours wonga. Mad thing is they have also brought in a ton of subcontractors. They may as well use cash to keep the place warm - but I’m not complaining.
Lots of stuff seems to be getting quieter currently. We do pallets and I think without the ADR stuff we’d be struggling when it should be absolutely manic. Luckily people still want to wash their clothes, so washing power deliveries are still at ok level. Maybe folks have finally seen sense and figured its not worth the crazy christmas rush - plus Amazon are likely doing alright.
They might go mental in the supermarkets this weekend but even if they do I reckon it must be one of the quietest in a long while.
The amount of Christmas cards we get definitely gets noticeably less every year.
Speaking to one of my old bosses at one of the big logistics companies, he said volumes are not as high as expected and they are not using as many agency drivers this year. So while they have to pay for the hire kit, they are not forking out for drivers.
I went into our local town centre today. I had expected crowds, but it was pretty much the same as any normal Wednesday. I also went to the big out-of-town Tesco and they were surprisingly quiet too.
Own Account Driver:
They might go mental in the supermarkets this weekend but even if they do I reckon it must be one of the quietest in a long while.
The amount of Christmas cards we get definitely gets noticeably less every year.
It does indeed seem to have gone mental all of a sudden. Got booked for five seperate shifts across the weekend and next week today - all within minutes of each other!
I’ll now be having the tuesday & wednesday lull of this week as an impromptu 45 hour weekly rest…
The daft thing for me is that this year, back on agency - I’m gonna get Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off…
I’ve been working both Christmas Night and Boxing Night for the past three years before that as a full timer though, for no extra pay as it turned out and all.
To be honest, it was a total waste of my time and not something I’ll bother with again. My area must be particularly bad if they can’t offer any shifts at all. I’ve had a belly full of agencies this last year, registered with four different ones, all promise you the earth and fail to deliver. Just getting odd days on the run up to Xmas is rubbish. Like politicians, you can spot when they’re lying…their lips move!
As far as I can tell, Manpower had the main contracts for Royal Mail this year. What Manpower couldn’t fill, Pertemps got a shot at.
My local Manpower branch seemed to have taken on too many Christmas temps as there wasn’t enough work to go around for the longer term guys, let alone the temps… Talking to drivers who have previously done temping for RM around this time of year, the money doesn’t seem as good as it was then…
Both Royal Mail and Hermes appear to have been quieter than expected this year which didn’t help things. I wonder how Yodel and DPD did - Almost everything I ordered online around Christmas time came via those 2 companies.
I started out with RM and parcelforce like 9 years ago as agency, back when you got silly money for doing nothing, got a 15 hour shift on a sunday at like 20 odd quid an hour and i did nothing but watch tv.
