Great job if you are just waiting for your life to end. Bumble along all day trying to beat your work colleagues record of a 89 vehicle conger, pretend your at a rave all the time by wearing your hi viz 24/7, you get your bacon, egg, and lard roll 4p cheaper in the supermarket canteen than you do at fat teds burger caravan, and you get to work out of an RDC 
Dont understand how having a uniform is a plus point tho 
No where to get your head down for a kip in those yellow Morrison`s day cabs,sleep on the seat then.
They could train Chimps to do supermarket runs! FFS!
Ex-International Trampers at Sainsburys Just shows Sainsburys will take on anyone! 
There is a very high percentage of our foreign friends doing this work on Agency these days! Trained Chimps! 
On agency for Tesco/Sainsburys usually on nights delivering round NI stores, approx Ā£100 take home per shift and a 5piece Ulster fry and unlimited free Kenco coffee for Ā£1.30 helps.
Never pushed, gift of a job 
Best paid and best conditions in trucking cant believe people slate it.
Its a shame here in scotchland neither morrisons or sainsburys has recruited in over 3 years despite sainsburys opening lots of new shops. Just about every driver i speak claims to have sent sainburys a cv at sometime and who can blame them. Ā£13ph days Ā£15ph nights and overtime, sainburys is the best. Stobbie drivers woud rather work for much less? wtf Dessy, do you drive for money or as a hobbie?
I think all these drivers on this thread woud go on the books with sainsbury if they had the chance. Afterall best you can hope for on general haulage is max Ā£9.50 with many earning much less Drivers bull coming through here i think.
I missed my chance some years back when tesco opened new rdc at livi was offered fulltime but turned it down cos had landed another job where i was allowed to take my dog. 
Well iv spent a year of my life at tesco and another year at sainsbury so i know what im talking about. Not nice being an agency bod with fulltime guys earning much more. A two tier workforce? Same as cant be nice being a stobbie driver and knowing everytime you pass a sainsbury wagon the drivers earning Ā£5ph more than you. 
dessy:
They could train Chimps to do supermarket runs! FFS!
Ex-International Trampers at Sainsburys
There is a very high percentage of our foreign friends doing this work on Agency these days! Trained Chimps!
thatās why the ex long haul boys all left!
Tempt you in Ā£30,000 odd a year & final salary pension, free gym etc etc, only had about 35 maybe 40 nights out in the 5 & a half years I was there but at the end of the day you can only take your brain out of gear for so long.
Bit of a shock to the system when I came back to tramping in 2008 but it only took about 2 or 3 weeks to get back into it & now the moneyās caught up anyway,plus Iāve always enjoyed my nights out,different town & pub most nights of the week 
Youāre dead right though,they were very choosy when they opened but by the time I left anyone with 2 years experience could get in 
Wonder if theyād have me back
Iv done a fair bit subbing for tescos out of welham green and I loved it easy runs only required to do two jobs a day( could be anything from 2 x Potters bar to 3 x express stores in London) or 10 hour shift which ever came firstā¦ donāt think I could do it full time tho stuck at 40mph everywhere at welham you were expected to have your breaks at the stores if we stopped in a layby we have tesco transport office on our case about it ā¦I think I had the best of the easiness of tesco but was able to sit at 56mph
I donāt know if itās the same at all Tescoās but the hoops you have to jump through to get in certainly weeds a few folk out. You have to sit the mock theory test and score 85/100, thats not percent eitherā¦100 questions and pass mark 85. Then its the reverse test, your allowed three goes to get it in(ooooerrr). Then they take you on a store delivery and assess your driving, then back and fill more forms in. Apart from the crappy units they have all that a driver would need to make the job easy. Like I said earlier itās very easy but not sure if I could do it full time, too boring. Good luck to all that enjoy it.
Fileep:
I donāt know if itās the same at all Tescoās but the hoops you have to jump through to get in certainly weeds a few folk out. You have to sit the mock theory test and score 85/100, thats not percent eitherā¦100 questions and pass mark 85. Then its the reverse test, your allowed three goes to get it in(ooooerrr). Then they take you on a store delivery and assess your driving, then back and fill more forms in. Apart from the crappy units they have all that a driver would need to make the job easy. Like I said earlier itās very easy but not sure if I could do it full time, too boring. Good luck to all that enjoy it.
Isnāt that the same as 85% 85 out of 100 good job there isnāt a maths test 
shade:
+1
+1 more
Kirk Ella 71:
Fileep:
I donāt know if itās the same at all Tescoās but the hoops you have to jump through to get in certainly weeds a few folk out. You have to sit the mock theory test and score 85/100, thats not percent eitherā¦100 questions and pass mark 85. Then its the reverse test, your allowed three goes to get it in(ooooerrr). Then they take you on a store delivery and assess your driving, then back and fill more forms in. Apart from the crappy units they have all that a driver would need to make the job easy. Like I said earlier itās very easy but not sure if I could do it full time, too boring. Good luck to all that enjoy it.Isnāt that the same as 85% 85 out of 100 good job there isnāt a maths test
17 out of 20 is 85%, I was making the point that it was actually 100 questions.
surely you would have to get 0 out of 100 to qualify? only braindead people would be able to do supermarket jobs
i read all the bits about boring,but arnt most jobs
3.30, start work
5.50 pull onto bay to be loaded
9.45 loaded,pull off ,park up and fetch paperwork
10.00 drive from corby to cardinal
10.50 arrive cardinal,reverse on bay
12.45 tipped,leave and drive back to corby
13.30 arrive back,diesel up /paper work
14.00 debrief/go home.
not exactly scintilating stuff is it.my job for today
most jobs become boring when youve done them for a while,but id rather have 13.00 p.h,than 7.75p.h to be honest,youd have to be daft not to
n.b before you think i have too easy a life i was meant to do 2x cardinals,but they managed to cram it all on one truck,hence the waiting on bay in morning for 3 ish hours,they can be quite stressfull 2x cardinal
not for me , unless theyāre driving 16 speed ZF splitter roadwanger king or the road gearboxes & none of this trolley stuff either i want to handball the lot GGGRRRRRrrrrr company uniform ? nah , just a big check shirt & jeans i cant keep up round me waist 
nah the boredom & monotony would be too much, i did a few agency runs which i enjoyed but i dont think iād want to do it day in day out
mrx:
The easiest life?
New truck, legal running, slararied, pension, uniform, vosa green?
work for farmfoods , new truck no, legal running yes , salaried no , pension yes after 1 year
uniform yes
easy life no , because some times the start times are very early , 1:30 , 3:00
and quite a few 10 pallet handball deliveries,
we are all over Scotland and the North of England it is not repetitive or boring.
I look at what other drivers are doing and say ā ā ā ā that I am sure many will
do the same when looking at what we do.
I like it 
At the end of the day itās horses for courses.
When I was running all over Europe with my flashy left hookers 143ās & Globetrotters etc 6 weeks away & all the chrome you could polish I always said no way,bunch of muppets etc etc. But circumstances change for most of us eventually.
From my experience at JS most of the lads were decent lads & a few of them were cracking lads (& lasses too). They came from every transport background imaginable. Ex middle easters, ex european haz tanker lads,a lad whoād done Aussie roadtrains with picās to prove it & some whoād never done anything but supermarkets ( & even a couple of them were decent drivers ).
There were a few whinging willies that couldnāt run Hams Hall to Gt Yarmouth more than once a week for example & unfortunately the union backed them to the hilt & started spoiling a good job 
. but a lot of us rebelled when they tried to limit us to 9hr working days 
, you must remember that back in '07 we were on about Ā£19 p hr on overtime so if you could get two 15 hr o/t days in you had it cracked!
I never saw the alleged regimental side of the job,you just play by the book whilst at the RDCās & do it how you want when up the road but donāt go silly & that applies to speeds too. Me & a few of the lads have run the A47 on limiter quite often in the early hours but when itās daylight & Joe publicās about you have to be more careful because one 'phone call to HQ can drop you in it.
Like most things,donāt knock it 'til youāve tried it (& you have to give it at least 12 months to say youāve really given it a bash). Thereās different stuff to be done most days,you just have to volunteer & the craic & cash will come your way.
Big attraction for most experienced āold handsā is good wages for reasonable hours. Good pension. Up to 20% off your weekly shopping. Cheap car insurance. Healthcare, Free gym & cheap personal trainer if required. Cheap holidays & travel ( Ā£90 all in for long weekend in Dublin,Ā£225 for 3 nights New York all in etc etc,we went on loads!) Unlimited sick leave on full pay for genuine cases, one lad had a stroke & was off the road nearly two years but got full pay & guaranteed job when he was clear to drive again (a lot to be said for that).
The forās outweigh the againstās imho. Just swallow your foolish pride & try it when the needs dictate, As I say Iām no longer there because my circumstances changed again. Itās not for everyone but then again neither is living in a super duper xxltrotterspaceliner.
And here endeth the lessson from one whoās tried living at both ends of the spectrum & is now happily perched in the middle
glencarron:
mrx:
The easiest life?
New truck, legal running, slararied, pension, uniform, vosa green?work for farmfoods , new truck no, legal running yes , salaried no , pension yes after 1 year
uniform yeseasy life no , because some times the start times are very early , 1:30 , 3:00
and quite a few 10 pallet handball deliveries,we are all over Scotland and the North of England it is not repetitive or boring.
I look at what other drivers are doing and say [zb] that I am sure many will
do the same when looking at what we do.I like it
Farmfoods is in a league of its own. One of the toughest driving jobs out there. Deffo not to be compared with the big four. Not only that its crap pay. Yes the hourly rate is high but normaly only 8hr shifts and starting very very early. No farmfoods is low of the low.
During 2009 new year not much work about no one recruiting but farmfoods who still were struggling to get and keep drivers. The shops aint desigh for artics and they dont use 20ft trailers like iceland. Iceland is a piece of cake compared to farmfoods much better pay as well.
When i was on agency i woud work anywhere no problem but like most sensible drivers not farmfoods, strictly for the desperate.
FLIP:
At the end of the day itās horses for courses.
When I was running all over Europe with my flashy left hookers 143ās & Globetrotters etc 6 weeks away & all the chrome you could polish I always said no way,bunch of muppets etc etc. But circumstances change for most of us eventually.
From my experience at JS most of the lads were decent lads & a few of them were cracking lads (& lasses too). They came from every transport background imaginable. Ex middle easters, ex european haz tanker lads,a lad whoād done Aussie roadtrains with picās to prove it & some whoād never done anything but supermarkets ( & even a couple of them were decent drivers
There were a few whinging willies that couldnāt run Hams Hall to Gt Yarmouth more than once a week for example
I never saw the alleged regimental side of the job,you just play by the book whilst at the RDCās & do it how you want when up the road but donāt go silly & that applies to speeds too. Me & a few of the lads have run the A47 on limiter quite often in the early hours but when itās daylight & Joe publicās about you have to be more careful because one 'phone call to HQ can drop you in it.
Like most things,donāt knock it 'til youāve tried it (& you have to give it at least 12 months to say youāve really given it a bash). Thereās different stuff to be done most days,you just have to volunteer & the craic & cash will come your way.
Big attraction for most experienced āold handsā is good wages for reasonable hours. Good pension. Up to 20% off your weekly shopping. Cheap car insurance. Healthcare, Free gym & cheap personal trainer if required. Cheap holidays & travel ( Ā£90 all in for long weekend in Dublin,Ā£225 for 3 nights New York all in etc etc,we went on loads!) Unlimited sick leave on full pay for genuine cases, one lad had a stroke & was off the road nearly two years but got full pay & guaranteed job when he was clear to drive again (a lot to be said for that).
The forās outweigh the againstās imho. Just swallow your foolish pride & try it when the needs dictate, As I say Iām no longer there because my circumstances changed again. Itās not for everyone but then again neither is living in a super duper xxltrotterspaceliner.
And here endeth the lessson from one whoās tried living at both ends of the spectrum & is now happily perched in the middle
^^ This
One of the worst driving jobs I had was for a supermarket distribution company. Max hours every day, 20+ drops, mostly handball into poxy corner shops. mostly London (central too), Sometimes 2 full loads a day, 6 days on ,1 off. 6 on, 1 off. 5 on 2 off. Cages with crap wheels overloaded with heavys like cases of beer/ bottles of pop, bits of chequerplate to push cages up kerbs, no parking near the drop, wardens, robbers (booze and ā ā ā ā ), kids nicking stuff as you wheeled the cage up the street, cabs broken into while you delivered. Bloody awful, but decent money!! Anyone else worked for Capper and co (Hastings) doing Spar supermarkets!!!
It was a means to an end, i.e after I was made redundant from European work, but a bloody culture shock
Regards,
Mark.