What is the actual shortage , I’ve been in Waitrose , m@s , sainsbury & the shelf’s look fully stocked , if I didn’t know better I’d think there trying to create panic buying , get the profits up by a few million extra
Carryfast:
I maintain that’s exactly what ended my career 25 years early.
Yes I can see the difference in the case of forklift based operations but not insurmountable for the employers.
Especially if they think they are at a competitive disadvantage v loading dock/handball/cage/pallet truck type operations utilising drivers to cut the cost of warehouse staff.
You’ve never done pallet or parcel network night trunking have you?
I hope the government do what they did last time, ask the DVLA how many people have hgv qualifications on their licence and tell the hauliers its up to them to attract those people into driving.
Conor:
Carryfast:
I maintain that’s exactly what ended my career 25 years early.
Yes I can see the difference in the case of forklift based operations but not insurmountable for the employers.
Especially if they think they are at a competitive disadvantage v loading dock/handball/cage/pallet truck type operations utilising drivers to cut the cost of warehouse staff.You’ve never done pallet or parcel network night trunking have you?
Which part of almost 15 years on Carryfast/UPS didn’t you understand.
Ironically direct trunking trailer swaps and change overs.
Pallets and loose top loaded combined all loaded and tipped by warehouse staff with the former and hub system zb with the latter being put to work as a ‘driver’ handballing trailer loads which did the damage.
What have I supposedly missed.
mrginge:
I hope the government do what they did last time, ask the DVLA how many people have hgv qualifications on their licence and tell the hauliers its up to them to attract those people into driving.
Here’s a clue it’s the ‘government’ that wants trucks off the road and drivers working as labourers etc doing any other duties which may be required.
Handball isn’t allowed,any more.
Maximum weight single lifts…simply negate it as an efficient means of unloading a vehicle.
Carryfast:
mrginge:
I hope the government do what they did last time, ask the DVLA how many people have hgv qualifications on their licence and tell the hauliers its up to them to attract those people into driving.Here’s a clue it’s the ‘government’ that wants trucks off the road and drivers working as labourers etc doing any other duties which may be required.
Oh it’s moved on in your weird brain to a government conspiracy now then?
commonrail:
Handball isn’t allowed,any more.
Maximum weight single lifts…simply negate it as an efficient means of unloading a vehicle.
How else will you load and tip a trailer that’s loose loaded floor to ceiling.
youtube.com/watch?v=ufpx6TUCzuI
switchlogic:
Carryfast:
mrginge:
I hope the government do what they did last time, ask the DVLA how many people have hgv qualifications on their licence and tell the hauliers its up to them to attract those people into driving.Here’s a clue it’s the ‘government’ that wants trucks off the road and drivers working as labourers etc doing any other duties which may be required.
Oh it’s move on on your weird brain to a government conspiracy now then?
It’s fact not conspiracy.Unless you can show any evidence of any government minister calling for growth in the road transport industry in the form of more tonne miles of freight moved by it.As opposed to the opposite.
We certainly won’t get that at present rates of fuel taxation and gross weight limits.
Harry Monk:
Carryfast:
As for hub system work it’s only a matter of time until a manager out to make a name for himself says why are we paying drivers to sit around doing nothing when we can cut warehouse staff and replace them with the drivers.Well, not really because it’s a fairly basic requirement of hub warehouse staff that they have a fork lift licence.
Employers are clearly calling for forklift qualified truck drivers.
It’s not rocket science to then use that qualification to replace warehouse staff with truck drivers at hubs.Just like using drivers to self tip and load cages/pallets/loose load handball.
Carryfast:
Winseer:
Carryfast:
Conor:
Unfortunately one of the problems of the pallet and parcel networks is the amount of money you get paid to sleep whilst waiting for a reload, I know that when I was doing TPN I’d get tipped by around 10pm and not reload until 4am, so drivers tend to not mind getting paid a lower hourly rate because for half their shift they’re asleep.^ Until the management suddenly wake up and say no more sleeping or watching the night time tv or listening to the radio.Drivers have to work on the dock transhipping loads thereby saving a fortune in warehouse labourer costs.Just like UPS and that’s all handball not pallets.
As for sleeping on a night shift thereby confusing your body clock what could possibly go wrong.
I’ve met plenty of hub trunkers over the years - who relied on that “kip on the bay” at wherever the hub happened to be at the remote end of their run… Troubles started when said driver got switched to cover a different job running the same shift hours - which had rather more “warehouse content” on it, thus he’s been up with his family living a normal life, comes into work expecting 3-4 hours kip on his usual duty, and then bang - he’s on a different run, no sleep, and ends up coming to grief because he’s tired at the wheel - the REAL killer in this industry imo…
.You can’t be ‘up with the family living a normal life’ if you work nights.Day time is for sleeping night time is for working.
If you try to sleep during working hours to be ‘up with the family in the day’ your body clock will just shut down.
As for hub system work it’s only a matter of time until a manager out to make a name for himself says why are we paying drivers to sit around doing nothing when we can cut warehouse staff and replace them with the drivers.
Indeed. a certain manager once tried to switch me from a 10 hour duty starting at 6pm (I’d just turned up for the 6pm start…) to a 12 hour duty starting at 22:30, meaning I’d have to hang around for 4.5 hours before setting off on a 12 hour job… I refused, and told him that even performing a 15 hour shift is my discretion, rather than the firms… He told me he’d make sure I never worked at Fedex again, but after about 30 days, I was magically called in to cover that same 12 hour double leicester job that none of the full timers wanted… By that point, I’d taken a full time job at Brakes however, so I couldn’t give a toss what happened at Marsten Gate, Meridian Estate or Parkhouse any more by that point. Now Brakes was the easiest driving job ever BUT the managers used to lie to you, and ask you to come in on your day off (salaried) only to find out a month later that all those extra shifts I’d put in - were not paid!! I put in a grievance, but redundancy came before it was processed. They even paid me more in severance pay than in redundancy pay, they were so keen to get rid of me… As long as I get to line my pockets, they can treat me how they wish. It is when a firm robs me blind - I get upset. 
Winseer:
Indeed. a certain manager once tried to switch me from a 10 hour duty starting at 6pm (I’d just turned up for the 6pm start…) to a 12 hour duty starting at 22:30, meaning I’d have to hang around for 4.5 hours before setting off on a 12 hour job… I refused, and told him that even performing a 15 hour shift is my discretion, rather than the firms… He told me he’d make sure I never worked at Fedex again, but after about 30 days, I was magically called in to cover that same 12 hour double leicester job that none of the full timers wanted… By that point, I’d taken a full time job at Brakes however, so I couldn’t give a toss what happened at Marsten Gate, Meridian Estate or Parkhouse any more by that point. Now Brakes was the easiest driving job ever BUT the managers used to lie to you, and ask you to come in on your day off (salaried) only to find out a month later that all those extra shifts I’d put in - were not paid!! I put in a grievance, but redundancy came before it was processed. They even paid me more in severance pay than in redundancy pay, they were so keen to get rid of me… As long as I get to line my pockets, they can treat me how they wish. It is when a firm robs me blind - I get upset.
More than worth it, I’d say.
Interesting. We were given a £1.50 p/h raise the other week as management are ■■■■■■■■ it about losing drivers.
DCPCFML:
Winseer:
Indeed. a certain manager once tried to switch me from a 10 hour duty starting at 6pm (I’d just turned up for the 6pm start…) to a 12 hour duty starting at 22:30, meaning I’d have to hang around for 4.5 hours before setting off on a 12 hour job… I refused, and told him that even performing a 15 hour shift is my discretion, rather than the firms… He told me he’d make sure I never worked at Fedex again, but after about 30 days, I was magically called in to cover that same 12 hour double leicester job that none of the full timers wanted… By that point, I’d taken a full time job at Brakes however, so I couldn’t give a toss what happened at Marsten Gate, Meridian Estate or Parkhouse any more by that point. Now Brakes was the easiest driving job ever BUT the managers used to lie to you, and ask you to come in on your day off (salaried) only to find out a month later that all those extra shifts I’d put in - were not paid!! I put in a grievance, but redundancy came before it was processed. They even paid me more in severance pay than in redundancy pay, they were so keen to get rid of me… As long as I get to line my pockets, they can treat me how they wish. It is when a firm robs me blind - I get upset.More than worth it, I’d say.
Starting to sound like Carryfast has finally found his soulmate
aka AFFS. Any Five From Seven.
Carryfast:
Which part of almost 15 years on Carryfast/UPS didn’t you understand.
Ironically direct trunking trailer swaps and change overs.
Pallets and loose top loaded combined all loaded and tipped by warehouse staff with the former and hub system zb with the latter being put to work as a ‘driver’ handballing trailer loads which did the damage.
So not pallet network stuff where you turn up in a double decker, you drive your lorry into the warehouse and are bombarded by half a dozen forklifts.
What have I supposedly missed.
Apparently everything given your asinine comments about them getting drivers to do it. Either you’ve not done it, haven’t done it at any point in the last 20 years or you lack the mental capacity to work out why it is a none goer from the start.
The lad at pallet force was re-stacking pallets outside , flt drivers bought him palls out & he was restacking them onto them , same as I moved some stuff I wasn’t happy with before strapping up , so no I’ve never done any work inside the building but have done sorting out the thrown on load outside
Conor:
Carryfast:
Which part of almost 15 years on Carryfast/UPS didn’t you understand.
Ironically direct trunking trailer swaps and change overs.
Pallets and loose top loaded combined all loaded and tipped by warehouse staff with the former and hub system zb with the latter being put to work as a ‘driver’ handballing trailer loads which did the damage.So not pallet network stuff where you turn up in a double decker, you drive your lorry into the warehouse and are bombarded by half a dozen forklifts.
What have I supposedly missed.
Apparently everything given your asinine comments about them getting drivers to do it. Either you’ve not done it, haven’t done it at any point in the last 20 years or you lack the mental capacity to work out why it is a none goer from the start.
Carryfast was first and foremost a ‘pallet network’ it was just loading docks not warehouse floor load unloading.We weren’t bombarded by anything warehouse staff forklifted, pallet trucked and handballed the loads on and off.
Which part of we just did direct trunks picking up and dropping the pre loaded trailers didn’t you understand.
We still did pallets topped with loose load just the same when we gradually changed to hub system operations and the rumours of drivers being planned to be involved in the resulting transhipment operation started then but we laughed at them.
All hub sytem operations present the economic conflict of interest of drivers sitting around doing zb all while paying warehouse staff.
In the type of operation you describe all they need to do is to offer a warehouse to wheels scheme gradually displacing any unqualified or unwilling to get qualified ‘drivers’ after an offer they can’t refuse.
While I was specifically referring to the majority of loading dock type operations.
Strange why so many ‘drivers’ are so keen to leap to the defence of the employers here.Turkeys voting for Christmas.
In your example all it takes is an order for drivers to get trained and qualified for forklifts combined with a warehouse to wheels scheme.
You do know that refusal of training and qualification is grounds for dismissal assuming you’re stupid enough to sign up to a contract stating any other duties as maybe required.You’ve effectively thereby signed your employment rights away. 
Instead of posting that lot you could have said:
“I don’t know WTF I’m talking about.”
DCPCFML:
Winseer:
Indeed. a certain manager once tried to switch me from a 10 hour duty starting at 6pm (I’d just turned up for the 6pm start…) to a 12 hour duty starting at 22:30, meaning I’d have to hang around for 4.5 hours before setting off on a 12 hour job… I refused, and told him that even performing a 15 hour shift is my discretion, rather than the firms… He told me he’d make sure I never worked at Fedex again, but after about 30 days, I was magically called in to cover that same 12 hour double leicester job that none of the full timers wanted… By that point, I’d taken a full time job at Brakes however, so I couldn’t give a toss what happened at Marsten Gate, Meridian Estate or Parkhouse any more by that point. Now Brakes was the easiest driving job ever BUT the managers used to lie to you, and ask you to come in on your day off (salaried) only to find out a month later that all those extra shifts I’d put in - were not paid!! I put in a grievance, but redundancy came before it was processed. They even paid me more in severance pay than in redundancy pay, they were so keen to get rid of me… As long as I get to line my pockets, they can treat me how they wish. It is when a firm robs me blind - I get upset.More than worth it, I’d say.
Heh. Don’t say that - I run regular upto your locale these days, don’t forget… People tend not to complain about me when they keep a healthy distance, as more northerners seem to do as standard… It seems to be a southern thing where Driver A puts their oar in at Driver B who they don’t like for none-of-their-goddamned business reasons all the time…
I keep myself to myself when out on the road. I have already learned the harsh lesson from the Liberal Left Unionized full timer scumbags that “Having an opinion that the general shop floor doesn’t share” - is a short cut to brutal contrived exit strategies, courtesy of a few repeated lies and staged upsets, like having a barrier deliberately lowered as I was passing under it… Couldn’t possibly be a faulty mechanism or a deliberate act by a mischief-minded gatekeeper eh…?