got offered some work at there stoke depot, via a agy but full time/perm just wondered what there shift work patterns are etc.
Dunno about that depot, I’ve done a bit out of Sainsbury’s at Allington and most of the day seemed to consist of sitting in the canteen.
Not at that depot but I’ve done a bit for them through the agency. Easy work and all you really do is drive and sit about a lot, the staff at the stores do the unloading. I refuse to go back in there these days but that is for reasons unconnected with the actual work.
Nice easy job. Roll cages on and off. If you have pallets on you just have a kip as you’re not allowed to touch them. If they are putting pallets of waste back on you then you have a longer kip !!
sounds not too bad then, there only offering £8-50 an hour up to a gaurenteed 8 hrs, then £10-80 after that, but i bet you only do 8 hrs if your lucky, got my assesment on thurs so will see 
xxicelandicxx:
…but i bet you only do 8 hrs if your lucky…
All the shifts I did for them were at least 12 hours, they were always keen to get you back out on a 2nd run when you returned from the first.
The’yre not a bad Company to work for being an agency driver. Having said that, I have a vested interest as I work for them… 
Careful though about the kipping when unloading. As a driver you’re still responsible checking the goods off the trailer. Yes you can’t move pallets for H&S reasons but don’t expect to have a kip and not get it in the earhole if you’re found out
Well, that is the way it works in the depot I work at… not too sure about Stoke but I expect they have similar procedures.
And as Coffeeholic says, the more hours you can do the better, unless you’re working on a slightly slower Sunday.
Mark 
I work out of Stoke depot. You won’t be working for Sainsburys but for D.H.Hell and in 36 years driving I’ve never worked for such a bunch of clueless muppets. Apart from that though,the job itself is a doddle. You won’t be having a kip at your drops though. All the load is on roll pallets and you have to help the back door man unload. Shifts are mainly on a rolling 16 week rota, earlies(4-8am).mids(9-4) and lates(4-?). Early shifts pay the least(£10 per hour). No overtime rate,no bank holiday rate,annualised hours. All vehicles and trailers are satellite tracked(isotrack) and some of the office muppets 
(team captains?) like to ask questions on your debrief like: " I see you stopped at Strensham for 10 minutes. Why?"
The wagons are ok though and are well maintained
If you are the type who can stand up for yourself and refuse to be bullied by the office muppets(most of whom have never driven a wagon in their lives),then the job isn’t too bad. Like I said,the work itself is easy enough but the company(DHL) is the pits.
Just keep smiling,have a laugh and let all the office crap go over your head.
The drivers however are a great bunch to work with (mainly) and thats worth something.
Must be different from depot to depot as in all the shifts I did for them I never did any unloading. I also never did any checking as it was unloaded and just sat in the cab. The trailers are pre-loaded and sealed when you hook them so if it is short when they unloaded it isn’t my problem. Also, if it is short, standing watching it being unloaded won’t make it any less so. You have a PIN number you have to enter in the handheld thing they use when unloading is completed to sign off, if the totals on it don’t match those on the paperwork you aren’t going to enter it anyway.
interlog:
. Yes you can’t move pallets for H&S reasons but don’t expect to have a kip and not get it in the earhole if you’re found out
The having a kip when you are delivering pallets was not a little ‘ruse’ by me. It was standard at every store i went to, they said ‘get your head down drive or wait in the canteen if you want we’ll shout you when we’re done’…? Also, we (from Haydock) never had to check anything, all the store had to do was make sure the seal was intact, i’ve never seen a cage count or anything.
It must be different for each depot then.
Though, as a driver would you not check the load before taking it out? At the end of the day, if no restraining bars are used and the load falls out of the back of the trailer (happened once at our depot ) the driver is the one that is going to be asked the questions by VOSA/police. Surely it is a shared responsibility.
For that reason, as a matter of routine, all the trailers at our depot are not sealed until it gets to the security outgate. If a sealed trailer is trunked by another depot for onward delivery by us, the driver has to undo the seal, check the load and re-seal it.
We have drivers who have been disciplined for not being at the back of trailers whilst loading/unloading. If drivers are advised by the store to have a kip, they have instructed to ignore that request.
Mark
Just to add:
The reason the drivers are expected to count the number of rollers/pallets off is due to the internal politics.
Each and every case that gets shipped from the depot to the store is being charged by the depot. The depot is one cost centre, the store is another cost centre.
Some of the stores are not as honest as others and would take the opportunity to somehow “loose” a roll cage when a driver is not there supervising the unloading.
It has happened before and only the driver can stop such practices.
As I said - internal politics. It doesn’t affec the Company’s bottom line but when people’s bonuses are at stake 
Mark
You’re right, I had forgotten that they are in fact sealed by security at the gate and I did use to look in the back to check there were bars across the load. That was all though, it isn’t easy to do a check count at that point so it wasn’t something that I did.
As for being disciplined for not being at the back of the trailer, it would never happen. I didn’t actually work for them so discipling me would have been impossible, if they had started ranting I would have just walked away and they would have been talking to an empty space.
yeah, we had to lift the back doors up and make sure we where happy with the way it was restrained. It then got sealed at the Gate on the way out. Nevr had to count anything though, if they have shortages as Neil says, they ring the depot up before entering that 4 digit pin number. All the different depots must operate a bit differently or they’ve changed a bit.
My brother does nights out of Stoke, and he’s an idle wotsit, so the work can’t be too difficult.
Not much help really…
Kate:
My brother does nights out of Stoke, and he’s an idle wotsit, so the work can’t be too difficult.
Not even remotely difficult. It’s one small step up from being paid to do nothing.
Whilst I agree with all the comments made about the job not being difficult (it is sometimes being compared with a chauffeurs job rather than drivers job ), I thought I would mention what I said so that xxicelandicxx who posted the original question does not get into trouble for thinking he can be “lazy”.
At the end of the day, as a driver you get paid to work. And whilst you can quite happily sleep when you’re on break, sleeping during any other time is susceptible to disciplinary matters (for employees) / bannng (for agencies).
And yes, drivers are expected to check the load when hooking up to the trailer to make sure it is secure, but are not expected to count what is on the trailer.
The reason for counting the goods off, have been explained above.
Mark