My temporary contract (not driving) came to an end yesterday, which was expected. I had reinstated my HGV and PSV earlier this year with a view to taking the dcpc course before September. I enquired about courses with a local dcpc provider yesterday and they actually have a course running next week with available places.
Here is where I am at now. Not really driven trucks much in last 12 years, but obviously in current job market every advantage helps as they say. So where’s my problem? Well when I used to drive before it used to be industrial work, steel, machinery, general haulage etc. Mainly flats, but some curtain work. All the jobs I see advertised nowadays (predominantly through agency), seemed to be geared to shop deliveries or palletised work, which I am guessing would also involve an element of shop deliveries. Needless to say I would rather be poked in the eye with a sharp stick, than try to spend my entire day trying to get access to shops with a truck. 
Question: Is my perception of the current job market correct. Has it shifted from industrial to retail over the last couple of decades. Whilst the money for the course is not an issue, I am concerned that if it is just shop or home deliveries out there at moment, then it would not be worthwhile taking the course.
All input would be welcome, as been out of the industry for a while.
Thanks…
LIBERTY_GUY:
My temporary contract (not driving) came to an end yesterday, which was expected. I had reinstated my HGV and PSV earlier this year with a view to taking the dcpc course before September. I enquired about courses with a local dcpc provider yesterday and they actually have a course running next week with available places.
seemed to be geared to shop deliveries or palletised work, which I am guessing would also involve an element of shop deliveries. Needless to say I would rather be poked in the eye with a sharp stick, than try to spend my entire day trying to get access to shops with a truck.
Thanks…
Have you looked at where the delivery’s for ASDA and alike go …
its not front door stuff like co-op
I work for a Palletline Company, we do local pallet deliveries on 10 tonners & distance work on 4/6 wheelers & Artics (I do mostly distance with a bit of local now & again) but we have night Trunkers who run up to Solihull & back to MK twice a night for the pallets.
Most of the big stores are back door/yard deliveries.
There’s still a need for flats on bricks n blocks & machinery, tippers for grain, waste, muck, containers, tankers, Tautliners, Euroliners (take forever to strip down, although they look a lot easier than Tilts) for Europe.
Multi drops are a pain IMO, I’d rather take 28 tons to Scotland than do 26 single pallets round Milton Keynes.
So there’s a varied demand for all sorts of Modes.
I would recommend it (as long as your not 60 next birthday ? Lol)
I guess it depends where you live, where I live it’s all reefers, in Sheffield it’s probably all steel, in Herefordshire it’s probably mainly cattle, if you live around a densely populated area it’s probably going to be shop deliveries with a lot of general to boot, near a port will be boxes etc etc.
If you don’t want to do reefers where I live there is no point driving, unless it’s on the bins or septic tank collections
Shop deliveries can be easy work…it depends on the shop.
For example, drivers delivering to the small Tescos are given an exact plan for getting to each shop, even including how to reverse in to the bay etc. The staff at the shop have responsibility for making sure you can access the place properly and that they are ready to open the gate, door etc as soon as you arrive.
Not really OP. You target what you want to do int it, Maritime are recruiting at all depots& so are most other firms in panic for the up stroke.
If you’ve done general, stores are a piece of ■■■■■■ be honest as long as they ain’t metros. Most supermarkets are large enough to cope with an artic delivery. Most supermarkets also have dd trunking as well.
GasGas:
For example, drivers delivering to the small Tescos are given an exact plan for getting to each shop, even including how to reverse in to the bay etc. The staff at the shop have responsibility for making sure you can access the place properly and that they are ready to open the gate, door etc as soon as you arrive.
In theory maybe but the reality is a nightmare with tesco. I’d stay clear of retail work if I were you OP, it’s too much stress.
Pimpdaddy:
GasGas:
For example, drivers delivering to the small Tescos are given an exact plan for getting to each shop, even including how to reverse in to the bay etc. The staff at the shop have responsibility for making sure you can access the place properly and that they are ready to open the gate, door etc as soon as you arrive.
In theory maybe but the reality is a nightmare with tesco. I’d stay clear of retail work if I were you OP, it’s too much stress.
I did a weeks agency work a long. long time ago, of which about a third of the drops were shops. The delivery addresses where of course the front doors and not where the loading bays were at. Then you have the problem of not every shop back door has a sign on it saying whose door it actually is. Some of the drops you’d ring the bell but nobody would come, meaning you’d have to walk all around the block to get in the front entrance and try to find a member of staff, by which time you’d find yourself blocked in by other vehicles.
Then you had the corner shops where trying to just park without blocking the road was a real challenge and dragging a cage or pallet truck 200 yards along a rough surfaced footpath, or potholed road was a real bummer. You win a cigar if you can figure out why I didn’t touch shops with a barge pole after that…
LIBERTY_GUY:
You win a cigar if you can figure out why I didn’t touch shops with a barge pole after that…
The canal was some distance from the shop? 
(Am I warm?) 
I’ve worked for agencies on & off for years and have yet to do a shop delivery for one. Not all of them have that type of work so it’s just a case of ringing around or trawling through the ads to see what they’re looking for. I’ve done plenty night trunks, day trunks, palletised work &simple trailer swaps. Basically I just do what I fancy & I don’t fancy shop work so I don’t do it, the agency know this & don’t even ask.
LIBERTY_GUY:
Pimpdaddy:
GasGas:
For example, drivers delivering to the small Tescos are given an exact plan for getting to each shop, even including how to reverse in to the bay etc. The staff at the shop have responsibility for making sure you can access the place properly and that they are ready to open the gate, door etc as soon as you arrive.
In theory maybe but the reality is a nightmare with tesco. I’d stay clear of retail work if I were you OP, it’s too much stress.
I did a weeks agency work a long. long time ago, of which about a third of the drops were shops. The delivery addresses where of course the front doors and not where the loading bays were at. Then you have the problem of not every shop back door has a sign on it saying whose door it actually is. Some of the drops you’d ring the bell but nobody would come, meaning you’d have to walk all around the block to get in the front entrance and try to find a member of staff, by which time you’d find yourself blocked in by other vehicles.
Then you had the corner shops where trying to just park without blocking the road was a real challenge and dragging a cage or pallet truck 200 yards along a rough surfaced footpath, or potholed road was a real bummer. You win a cigar if you can figure out why I didn’t touch shops with a barge pole after that…
Oh boy - This one made me log in! Had a drop in Cambridge town centre last Saturday lunchtime. Address and postcode (no map, no contact number) turned out, predictably, to be the customer main entrance in a rammed pedestrianised precinct. On arrival, no entry signs, no loading at any time, and absolutely nowhere to pull up and ask a friendly native or get out and explore my options with a quick walkaround. After a great deal of stress and mental meltdown, I established that Id approached from the wrong side of the town. Not simply a case of "going round the block" - oh no! - not in Cambridge. With the words of a lovely, helpful lady bus driver ringing in my ears " I dont envy you," I had to circumvent the town, negotiate two complex roundabout systems, cross over the river (by bridge), sling a couple of sneaky turns towards my target and finally got to approach on the right street to the rear loading entrance. Was then greeted by a long line of cabbies hogging the loading area, which the two young lads at my intended venue went along one by one and moved em out of the way (thanks, lads!). This all transpired in the middle of what I can only describe as Cambridges answer to Glastonbury taking place all around me, and cost me an extra hour and then some, despite having earlier being less than thirty seconds from the place, albeit at the wrong end of the “street”. I havent seen so many people crammed into one place since I went to Charles and Dis wedding night fireworks display in Hyde Park, and how I got a rigid with a 30 foot box through all that without squashing a few dozen of the dozy buggers, Ill never know! Come Monday morning, I had a light-hearted gripe about my ordeal at the depot, only for one helpful soul in the office to say "oh - didnt they give you a map? You have to come in from the police station side". Priceless.
Oh well I’ve finally bit the bullet now and booked to do my drivers cpc course next week at a cost of £275 all in. The way I looked at it was it will last for the next five years which equates to an investment of just over a pound a week. Even if I just did one solitary week’s driving during the next five years it would pay for itself.
As to whether I will ever drive a truck again is another matter, but none of us will ever know what options will be available to us in the future. What was interesting though, is that most training providers seem to have multiple availability on courses, which would suggest a lot of drivers will not perhaps be doing the drivers cpc?
Thanks for your input everyone, as always it is much appreciated. 