What’s prompted my post is that I’ve just been waiting 1 hour 40 mins to tip 4 pallets at a well known builders merchants, I’ve then come 2 miles down the road for another delivery of 3 pallets only to be told it will be over an hour (it’s 11am and they go on lunch at 12) so 2 hours really.
Compared to RDCs that’s a walk in the park but that’s a whole other problem.
I’m not one of these people that’s always in a rush but when the truck is at a standstill, it’s not earning and I just think to myself why does the industry let them get away with it.
I’m sorry to say that I have lost my temper a few times and stolen a few fork lifts and got the job done, don’t get me wrong, I patiently wait my turn and don’t mind waiting at all, like I say I’m in no rush but I’m just one of these people that likes to crack on nether the less. I’ve even hand balled a few pallets off before when it passes the point when I think they are taking the ■■■■.
So the question really is, is the jobs with moffets and bulkers any different? Or is it a case of turning up and tipping yourself as soon as you stop?
Is there any real waiting around like you get with curtain siders and fridges?
Is there any downsides or problems you face at delivery points similar to the standard curtain sider delivery of:
“Forklift driver ain’t in yet mate”
“We’re on lunch for an hour now drive”
“Just gotta clear some space in the yard first, 5 minutes mate (he means 45)”
On blocks I only ever waited about to be loaded. No massive waiting for forks.
Tippers is fairly obvious you turn up tell them you’re there and ask where they want it and wop it off.
Waiting at quarries is a pain at times, especially on HRA and the like. Waiting for Traffic Management on planning can be a fairly long affair but once you’ve started it’s GLF 'til it’s finished or you need a break.
FarnboroughBoy11:
What’s prompted my post is that I’ve just been waiting 1 hour 40 mins to tip 4 pallets at a well known builders merchants, I’ve then come 2 miles down the road for another delivery of 3 pallets only to be told it will be over an hour (it’s 11am and they go on lunch at 12) so 2 hours really.
Compared to RDCs that’s a walk in the park but that’s a whole other problem.
I’m not one of these people that’s always in a rush but when the truck is at a standstill, it’s not earning and I just think to myself why does the industry let them get away with it.
I’m sorry to say that I have lost my temper a few times and stolen a few fork lifts and got the job done, don’t get me wrong, I patiently wait my turn and don’t mind waiting at all, like I say I’m in no rush but I’m just one of these people that likes to crack on nether the less. I’ve even hand balled a few pallets off before when it passes the point when I think they are taking the ■■■■.
So the question really is, is the jobs with moffets and bulkers any different? Or is it a case of turning up and tipping yourself as soon as you stop?
Is there any real waiting around like you get with curtain siders and fridges?
Is there any downsides or problems you face at delivery points similar to the standard curtain sider delivery of:
“Forklift driver ain’t in yet mate”
“We’re on lunch for an hour now drive”
“Just gotta clear some space in the yard first, 5 minutes mate (he means 45)”
Stuff like that.
In my opinion, anyone that keeps a truck driver waiting that length of time to offload a couple of pallets is just being an assole, there’s no other word for it, as Ash said to Parker in Alien. “you have my sympathies”
I did turf for a few months 12 or so years ago with a Moffet, most times it was just straight off & away you go, sometimes we would have the dreaded B&Q-then you just had to wait !
I did grain on a Bulker during the winter same year & you could get some long waits/queues for silo’s.
when I was on waste with an Ejector/Pushout you could be on & off the tip in 20 minutes, but if it was wet or windy every thing slowed down & you could be on the landfill for hours & you would get lots of damage/punctures because they made you run over the rubbish (KNOBS).
That Merchant you speak of was it in Feltham by any chance? Been waiting here since 11 five lorries in front of me when I arrived and a few more have turned up in the time I’ve been waiting. I know our lot charge waiting time so surely if the others do it too its gonna add up?
If I can I’ll tip myself with the hiab but a lot of merchants are refusing to let me do it now because of health and safety, or because I might damage the blocks when unloading. Bloody annoying though when you sit there as one forklift unloads you (there may be two of three forklifts there but you can bet they’re skiving) and they take forever, 1/2 pallets off then they stop and chat to their mate/have a coffee etc
Grayham:
That Merchant you speak of was it in Feltham by any chance? Been waiting here since 11 five lorries in front of me when I arrived and a few more have turned up in the time I’ve been waiting. I know our lot charge waiting time so surely if the others do it too its gonna add up?
If I can I’ll tip myself with the hiab but a lot of merchants are refusing to let me do it now because of health and safety, or because I might damage the blocks when unloading. Bloody annoying though when you sit there as one forklift unloads you (there may be two of three forklifts there but you can bet they’re skiving) and they take forever, 1/2 pallets off then they stop and chat to their mate/have a coffee etc
No not in feltham but not far.
See what you’ve just said there about not letting you use your own Hiab, it’s just pettiness like that is just making our job needlessly awkward.
Maybe it’s me, maybe I just expect to much from an industry which is ran on lies and bull ■■■■.
The whole lot just needs crashing and starting again.
Most builders merchants are good as gold except that crowd where it’s like Apocalypse Now in there with everyone intermingling with each other, amazed they don’t get shut down by HSE, bet they have some cracking accidents/fights in there.
I had Lidl Enfield earlier, self tip, no problem. The problem usually arises when you want your paperwork, been there on a Sunday with 6 pallets before and waited 3hrs for my paperwork, today was… 50 mins from pulling into the gate, telling them I was there, through the barrier to the back, on a bay, tip (fella was checking it by the time I’d got the 3rd pallet off , shut doors, find a place to park round front, go inside paperwork done, I could have fallen over with the shock!
I do local drops and the one run we have, no body likes as you start at 7 in the morning and your lucky to get back by 7 on the night and the only reason is building sites and delivering to schools…walk on a building site and all you get is ‘talk to this guy’ and ‘it’s nothing to do with me’ and you waste more time than need be… Go to a school and they are so slow thinking everybody has as much time as them, they spend hours ringing around to see where they want it even tho I tell them we only do doorstep delivery so I xant take it where they want it anyway
FarnboroughBoy11:
Compared to RDCs that’s a walk in the park but that’s a whole other problem.
Not at all RDCs it isn’t. I went to LIDL RDC at Weston Super Mere last week. Arrived on site and booked in at office, handed key to electric pallet truck and told to use bay 14. Open rear doors, reverse onto bay, put dock leveller into trailer, tip 33 pallets and depart site in 30 mins start to finish.
They trust you to not kill or injure yourself or others and they overcome the handing in of the keys issue because you can’t pull off a bay whilst unloading in the back.
It’s the future for RDCs, they could certainly teach Tesco and Morrisons a thing of two.
I have seen from the warehouse side of the fence, they very often don’t care & have left the drivers waiting ages before tipping them yet it its stuff they urgently want, they are out there asap to get them tipped so that they have work coming in for themselves!
I used to do ALDI Bathgate when it first opened. I went on the same bay every morning, tipped myself and loaded my empty baskets, (I was tipping bread) and by the time I’d done that the girl had finished checking the load and I was off out the door. I used to love going there, even with a full artic I wasn’t there more than 50 minutes start to finish, and no security gate to ■■■■ about at, just drive in and on a bay.
I used to then drive round to Morrisons Bathgate to tip and the difference was shall I say, stark! I’d be there at least twice as long and I usually had the same for them as I’d had for ALDI. Took ages to tip, and I was helping, then they’d fanny around with the paperwork forever.
I always preferred it when we were busy and could only fit ALDI on the trailer, far better day all around.
, shut doors, find a place to park round front, go inside paperwork done, I could have fallen over with the shock!
yet it its stuff they urgently want, they are out there asap to get them tipped so that they have work coming in for themselves!