Sodding agency drivers!

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

Ramon123:
BOO HOO !!!

It’s grand to see the FTW’s are whining and erm… whining on and on about the good ole agency bods.

It warms the cockles of my heart to hear the big Jessie’s crying, long may it continue. :smiley:

The country would grind to a standstill without agency hero’s like me carving up the job and don’t

you FTW’s forget it, you complete and utter wind instruments !

Agency motto…

" Those who can do, those who can’t become FTW’s and whine, whine, whine about those who can ". :stuck_out_tongue:

Carry on whining. :laughing:

If these agency drivers are carving the job up by 2 hours when the job is designed and priced for a specific time already, and the tm is happy with that, then some must be even pig ■■■■ thicker than even I thought if they are on an hourly rate themselves eh? :laughing: :laughing:

Tut tut :unamused: …Epic fail and idiocy of the highest degree I would reckon.
Look at me I can carve the job up by 2 hours and lose 2 hours potential pay, aint I good, aint I clever…err No. :neutral_face:

22

or look at it another way, happy with 10 hours pay and 2 hours to do with as I please, i.e. family ,social etc…

23

When I was on agency I had both scenarios. My policy was obey all speed limits (40 then) and plod on until the job’s done or hours run out.

One firm gave me six drops all over London and complained bitterly because I bought one back. The fact that the address on one was head office and not the warehouse mattered not - their own drivers would have known that. Another place sent me on a run through the Lake District and up to Scotland. I got back at tea time three days later and got the evil eye from their drivers who would have taken another night and half a day. Sometimes I was told by a company driver that a job took x hours so don’t come back too soon.

I am sure that agency drivers were generally given the easier jobs for obvious reasons, but it’s the planner’s job to decide these things. We also tended to get the crappy trucks and I learned fast to take checks seriously and even refuse to take them out on a couple of occasions.

24

:laughing: :laughing: :laughing: hahaha well that backfired on you didn’t it Cavey, talk about sour grapes :laughing:
Been a limper has to have its perks somewhere and picking & choosing your jobs is one of them.
Why would I do a ■■■■*y job when I can say no and be given your cushy little number instead, because as a ‘company boy’ you can’t say no! :laughing:
As for cutting the job up, that’s my prerogative too, if I want a bit of extra cash I’ll drag it out, if I have plans for the next day (I work nights) I’ll put my foot down and get back quick as I like.
And just for the record I’ve never hit a bridge, crushed a cop car or trashed a truck!..Yet! :smiling_imp:
Me a Diva? You bet ya!!
pops Caveys dummy back in his mouth
:wink:

25

Nightlord:
:lol: :laughing: :laughing: hahaha well that backfired on you didn’t it Cavey, talk about sour grapes :laughing:
Been a limper has to have its perks somewhere and picking & choosing your jobs is one of them.
Why would I do a [zb]*y job when I can say no and be given your cushy little number instead, because as a ‘company boy’ you can’t say no! :laughing:
As for cutting the job up, that’s my prerogative too, if I want a bit of extra cash I’ll drag it out, if I have plans for the next day (I work nights) I’ll put my foot down and get back quick as I like.
And just for the record I’ve never hit a bridge, crushed a cop car or trashed a truck!..Yet! :smiling_imp:
Me a Diva? You bet ya!!
pops Caveys dummy back in his mouth
:wink:

Eurgh! You could have wiped it first!!

26

Captain Caveman 76:

Nightlord:
:lol: :laughing: :laughing: hahaha well that backfired on you didn’t it Cavey, talk about sour grapes :laughing:
Been a limper has to have its perks somewhere and picking & choosing your jobs is one of them.
Why would I do a [zb]*y job when I can say no and be given your cushy little number instead, because as a ‘company boy’ you can’t say no! :laughing:
As for cutting the job up, that’s my prerogative too, if I want a bit of extra cash I’ll drag it out, if I have plans for the next day (I work nights) I’ll put my foot down and get back quick as I like.
And just for the record I’ve never hit a bridge, crushed a cop car or trashed a truck!..Yet! :smiling_imp:
Me a Diva? You bet ya!!
pops Caveys dummy back in his mouth
:wink:

Eurgh! You could have wiped it first!!

FGS! spits on and wipes dummy and shoves it back in
Bloody drama queens! :unamused:
Agency driver looking after company boy again! :unamused:
:laughing:

27

Hmmnn…I wonder what percentage of temporary fodder jump at the chance of a full-time gig if one gets offered?

Got to be the vast majority. Wonder why that is? Perhaps it’s the Jan-Mar X-box session…

28

I’m not really interested in office (depot?) politics. I just get on with the job as quick as I can, as invariably along the route something goes wrong/I get lost/GPS stops working/equipment breaks, so I need a bit of ‘contingency time’. Invariably I do the job the same time as company drivers, and almost always faster than agency.

Was on laundry service yesterday in Bath, apparently they had some ■■■ agency driver who ■■■■■■ off that morning so I got called in, truck was ‘loaded and ready to go’, was full so couldn’t see how many straps were holding it all in so trusted the manager’s judgement. Halfway up a steep hill in Bath there’s a huge bang after I set off from a sharp stop, go up the hill, turn back, open the door to discover the single strap had sheared the webbing. 2.5 hours wait for a van to turn up with spare straps as the ones in the cab were ■■■■■■. I checked to see if there were spares but forgot to see if they were actually good.

Despite the 2.5 hour wait, still did the run 2 hours faster than ‘what agency normally do it in’. Without the delay would have been the same if not slightly quicker than company staff. I’m not interested in dragging out a job, if I can do jobs quicker than other agency cause I’m not taking the ■■■■, I’m more likely to get picked for work. Which I do. With the exception of wedging a 12m rigid down a back lane, I get good feedback every day from companies, so my agency is happy with me, and someone has already said they ‘may have a place for me but can’t be seen to be saying it’.

If I can get more work out of not ■■■■■■■■■■ about, and potentially fulltime offers, then why wouldn’t I do the job in the shortest time? And fwiw, I don’t rush, either. Well…not when I’m driving. I follow speed limits and drive carefully without holding up other trucks.

Yeh, I’ve had one or two incidents, one of which damaged the truck, but that was just down to inexperience, not my mode of employment. I agree, though, that some agency staff take the ■■■■. When I did C+D at DPD, they actually had a rule banning vans from going into the car park. When I asked why “too many agency drivers can’t drive, and kept hitting our cars”…and those were 7m sprinters ffs.

29

eagerbeaver:
Hmmnn…I wonder what percentage of temporary fodder jump at the chance of a full-time gig if one gets offered?

Give me a decent gig mate, and I’ll be there.
However the uniform has to fit nicely to add to my collection, and I expect an espresso machine in the truck! :grimacing:

But FFS people, WTF would you want to run around like a loon shaving as much time off the run as you can? :open_mouth:
Are you expecting the boss to give you a gold star, a pat on the head, or to first dibs when it comes to polishing their nob? :unamused:
How much of a cabbage do you have to be to not see that all you’re doing is setting the bar high, and when you don’t clear the bar next time, you’ll be having to do a debrief on what didn’t go exactly to plan this time. What’s the odds that the brain dead lap dogs here who do this racing around like headless chickens, are the same people that whine about having to do a debrief to explain why they went over the run schedule by 10 mins? :unamused:

You bring it upon yourselves you muppets, and I bet you also wonder why the FTW’s then treat you like lepers? :neutral_face:

It’s true, YOU CAN’T EDUCATE PORK… :unamused:

30

I did a day for a local company who’s main driver was off sick, standard regular run. Did the job and got back about 2 in the afternoon… the warehouse guy came out and told me to ■■■■ off somewhere, anywhere till 4.30 before the boss comes back and sees me there at that time. Apparently ‘Steve’ the regular guy wouldn’t be impressed if the boss started questioning his tip times.

I didn’t drive like a maniac - Getting paid hourly by the agency I’d be short changing myself if I did. No odds to me so I just went to a cafe till 4.30.

Maybe I had a ‘lucky day’ with the traffic.

31

Good post for a limper Beez :laughing:

32

Typical perm drivers alienating the people who cover all your holidays and sickness. This is what’s wrong with workplaces. You don’t own the companies the companies own you!

33

Williams9881:
Typical perm drivers alienating the people who cover all your holidays and sickness. This is what’s wrong with workplaces. You don’t own the companies the companies own you!

It’s not really alienating though mate, is it?

The truth of the matter is that the unwashed mob watch their mobile phone like a kid playing snap.

34

If that weren’t a regular run I’d have told him to ■■■■ off and gone home. How the hell are you supposed to know what time you ‘should’ be coming back? I normally ask how long the route is so I can plan ahead with any rest breaks I need, but never get an accurate answer - usually “depends on traffic”. If you’re doing multidrop you can easily save 2 hours if you’re lucky with traffic and each site unloads you straight away.

35

eagerbeaver:
Good post for a limper Beez :laughing:

And I’m meant to be on the other side of the argument! :open_mouth:
:laughing: :laughing: :laughing:

Good news full time worker, the limper that’s been covering your run for the last week has shown that it can be done in 11 hours, and not the 12-13 that you normally take. So in the aim for efficiency and productivity, we’ve calculated that we can add another drop to your run, and you should be able to do it all in 14 hours! :smiley: You won’t get any bonus or incentive to run around like a loon, you’ll probably die 10 years earlier through stress, but I’ll be upgrading my motor with the increased profit of you working yourself into an early grave! :grimacing:

36

iomex:
If you’re doing multidrop you can easily save 2 hours if you’re lucky with traffic and each site unloads you straight away.

Or if Amazon is involved, it’s about 4 hours! :slight_smile:

As for doing the job quicker than the usual guys vs being hourly paid - can see the arguments for taking a long time, although personally I just do the job as quick as possible without breaking my back then I can get home and have a little chance of a life, before going out again. Also if you’re on agency to get the experience and time served, then doing it well is possibly a good way to get either asked back or maybe one day getting a fulltime job with them.

37

Tuckert92:
I had to have a few days off last week due to daughter being ill so work got agency in to do my run for 3 days, when I left the truck last week it was spotless, got in it Monday, windscreen has 3 cracks in, stains over the seats and carpet and endless amounts of food wrappers and to top it off the tw*t has been smoking in it and politely filled the ashtray up with ash! There are some incredibly good agency drivers and then there are some that are completely ridiculous!

No doubt you took photos…especially of the newly cracked windscreen. I mean, surely you took photos to show that to the insurance company? C’mon then, let’s have a look. I dare you to prove anything that you have posted.

…and no, I’m not an agency driver. I am a ■■■■■■■■ detector though…

38

Are full time drivers saying their trucks are always spotless or just plain tidy in their mind.I beg to differ but won’t mention the bald/flat tyres.lights inop,dry dipsticks,etc.I worked agency when I returned to the UK after 25 years the other side of the channel and immediately noticed the difference inattitude to us from transport companies and the general public.There are many companies I wouldn’t work for even as an agency driver.I am an awkward sod and if I say I won’t do it,I won’t do it.You will be tested but refuse and go home if necessary.I refused all car factories and dock work and sundry others who rattled my cage.If you are otherwise good at your job they will tolerate your foibles.I always worked nights.Why do full timers want to have 2 hours sleep at a service area 30 mins.from base.Do they think the office won’t notice.Is it only agency drivers who tip loads over or clatter bridges?No.It’s the muppets amongst us.I was offered full time employment at several firms over the years but always refused until one good offer with good pay and equipment.I accepted on the basis that I stayed on agency rate and they agreed.
If you roll over and do nowt but moan on a forum like this,you will be shafted from now to kingdom come.

39

I don’t understand how a run is ‘cushy’ if it takes 12 hours. Sounds crap to me.

If you need to drag the job out for 12 hours a day/60 a week to pull a decent wage surely that is a problem? Chances are the limpers on a better rate & a premium after 8 hours so it’s sitting pretty doing 10 hours, which is more than enough on day work anyway!

40

I would always empty my cab before going on holiday, completely empty it. Left all my gear in it once only to find the agency driver had helped himself to my food.