DrivingMissDaisy:
switchlogic:
fredthered:
Ah yeah, paying less money for things is a real pain in the arse.Oh yes that’s right. Achieving profit margins by selling us horsemeat and reducing their employees terms and conditions…
Yep, and I suppose you only ever shop in farmers markets and have an impeccable moral record in all your purchases.
DrivingMissDaisy:
switchlogic:
fredthered:
Ah yeah, paying less money for things is a real pain in the arse.Oh yes that’s right. Achieving profit margins by selling us horsemeat and reducing their employees terms and conditions…
do you think they knowingly sold us horse meat? do you think they wanted to sell us horse meat?
Exactly. None of the supermarkets profited from it. Most ended up losing money. Some faceless traders trying to make a quick buck made the money. Not the supermarkets. They are just guilty of trying to make something to a price. A price which people want to pay.
switchlogic:
DrivingMissDaisy:
switchlogic:
fredthered:
Ah yeah, paying less money for things is a real pain in the arse.Oh yes that’s right. Achieving profit margins by selling us horsemeat and reducing their employees terms and conditions…
Yep, and I suppose you only ever shop in farmers markets and have an impeccable moral record in all your purchases.
No? I wish! Like everyone else I have my faults. For the record I do not shop at Tesco having experience of how they operate and disagreeing with their approach. I had a choice. Shop with companies like Tesco and stop ■■■■■■■■ or take my business elsewhere. I go elsewhere. That was a considered decision on my part taken because I actually do TRY to put my money where my mouth is!
Work is work; if you don’t like it do something else.
When I first started driving I said I didn’t want to work Sundays and didn’t, just doing Monday to Saturday. When we started doing Middle East I wouldn’t do that because I couldn’t get home for the weekend.
After a few years away I came back and the job then included Sunday starts to run down to the boat with the week away and sometimes the nexxt weekend into the bargain. As was written into the manual; for those who didn’t want to work Sunday it wasn’t compulsory to work there (but I don’t think he meant you could just put your feet up) Four to five nights out per week every week was normal. Not ideal if you wanted a home life but it paid my mortgage.
Now I work for an agency and am home at the end of every shift. One job is on milk tankers which run 24/7/365. The employed drivers have a 5 on 3 off rota which includes Christmas day, as an agency driver I’ve already booked Christmas Eve through to Boxing day off. I prefer to work nights but there are start times every hour so there are always drivers starting and finishing, days of week or time makes no difference.
The other job I do is on fridges mainly intra depot or RDC work. There the employed drivers work 5 on 2 off rotas starting either Sunday or Monday, again with agency drivers filling in the gaps.
On both jobs the employed drivers enjoy the security of regular work but lose a little flexibility. Agency drivers have the flexibility but not the security.
Bottom line you do the job for what it’s worth, if it doesn’t suit you find something else, there’s plenty of choice out there. Every job has upsides and downsides it’s just getting the balance right.
This ‘weekend’ I finished at 10:30 Saturday, start again at 20:00 Sunday; next year I can hang my keys up 
stevieboy308:
DrivingMissDaisy:
switchlogic:
fredthered:
Ah yeah, paying less money for things is a real pain in the arse.Oh yes that’s right. Achieving profit margins by selling us horsemeat and reducing their employees terms and conditions…
do you think they knowingly sold us horse meat? do you think they wanted to sell us horse meat?
Do you think there are times when something is too cheap and maybe you should be a bit inquisitive?
DrivingMissDaisy:
stevieboy308:
DrivingMissDaisy:
switchlogic:
fredthered:
Ah yeah, paying less money for things is a real pain in the arse.Oh yes that’s right. Achieving profit margins by selling us horsemeat and reducing their employees terms and conditions…
do you think they knowingly sold us horse meat? do you think they wanted to sell us horse meat?
Do you think there are times when something is too cheap and maybe you should be a bit inquisitive?
they will of been inquisitive, i once worked on a own account job, they were trying to get into tesco, tesco came round and gave a list of improvements that would have to be made before they’d deal with them. the local fruit and veg man wasn’t that thorough 
i also used to work in a large food factory, it was a fairly regular occurrence that the factory would be getting inspections from supermarkets or other buyers etc.
regardless of the cost, if someone decides to do something dodgy to save money, what can you do? you can’t stand over everyone watching what they’re doing.
so, do you think they knowingly sold us horse meat? do you think they wanted to sell us horse meat?
The problem with the supermarkets - all or any of them, not just Tesco - selling stuff cheaply is that it merely means that someone else somewhere is paying the true cost of your shopping, whether it’s workers living in shanty towns built on rubbish dumps near salad farms in Spain or illegal agricultural workers living two families to a caravan on UK farms and working for less than minimum wage. Or indeed you the driver, having to work for a lower wage than you should be earning because the rate for the job has been cut to the bone. Like fredthered said earlier, it’s all a race to the bottom and while in the short term we might benefit from cheaper groceries, it’ll do no one any favours in the long term. I’m happy to shop in my local independent organic shop and pay more for my shopping (although in all honesty I don’t think I actually do pay much more) because I don’t want to participate any more than I absolutely have to.
DrivingMissDaisy:
switchlogic:
fredthered:
Ah yeah, paying less money for things is a real pain in the arse.Oh yes that’s right. Achieving profit margins by selling us horsemeat and reducing their employees terms and conditions…
If beleave that by going to your local friendly butcher, that he’ll be able to give you trace-abilty any better than the Supermarkets on the meat he’s selling you, then I’m afraid you are seriously deluding yourself. Most local butchers buy from wholesale companies, which source their products in a very similar way to the large supermarkets, then they may sell direct or through meat markets, and then down to the independant butcher.
Running your own slaughter house is prohibitely expensive, well on the scale off sales that a high street butcher or even butchery chain can achieve. I know off only one in my area, and theyre part of a large mixed farming concern, of which the butchers shops make up the happy freindly face to the public. I also know off a another high street butcher in my area, who sells localy reared organic produce, but negates to mention that it has to be slaughtered in Yorkshire to maintain its accreditation. Thats not a mmtm, because I’ve driven the float
Rhythm Thief:
The problem with the supermarkets - all or any of them, not just Tesco - selling stuff cheaply is that it merely means that someone else somewhere is paying the true cost of your shopping, .
I agree with you about the stuff being sold to cheaply, but I wouldnt narrow it down to the Supermarkets, they’ve just become a spotlight to the problem. If we still had a thriving high street, then the shop keepers would be doing, with a few expemption the same thing. Look at road haulage, you cant purely and simply (as much fun as it might be)put all the blame on Stobart for rate cutting, it has allways been so, hauliers go in and undercut each other to get work. Well I would suggest that shop keepers as indepedant business are just the same, its just that some, Jack Cohen for one, was far more succesful than many others
eddie snax:
I agree with you about the stuff being sold to cheaply, but I wouldnt narrow it down to the Supermarkets, they’ve just become a spotlight to the problem. If we still had a thriving high street, then the shop keepers would be doing, with a few expemption the same thing. Look at road haulage, you cant purely and simply (as much fun as it might be)put all the blame on Stobart for rate cutting, it has allways been so, hauliers go in and undercut each other to get work. Well I would suggest that shop keepers as indepedant business are just the same, its just that some, Jack Cohen for one, was far more succesful than many others
I think that’s what they call competition & it’s seen as a good thing, keeps prices down etc…
The problem is that it’s gone beyond competition. Tescos (and the other big supermarkets) are disproportionately powerful and can consequently bully their suppliers into providing their products cheaper. (Incidentally, it’s also one of the reasons why drivers spend so long waiting at supermarket RDCs with their trailers acting as free warehouse space.) That’s not just healthy competition between rival retailers.
Buy one get one free. Who do you think takes the financial hit on that, the supermarket? Nope, they TELL the supplier that they’re doing a BOGOF on product x and the supplier then stands the cost!
I didn’t really need a reason not to shop in Tesco’s, but here is one nonetheless … bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24803378
And the Daily Mash’s take on it … thedailymash.co.uk/news/busi … 3110480848
the maoster:
Buy one get one free. Who do you think takes the financial hit on that, the supermarket? Nope, they TELL the supplier that they’re doing a BOGOF on product x and the supplier then stands the cost!
Some hauliers lose out as well in some cases depending on volumes etc…
Rhythm Thief:
I didn’t really need a reason not to shop in Tesco’s, but here is one nonetheless … bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24803378And the Daily Mash’s take on it … thedailymash.co.uk/news/busi … 3110480848
Tesco are upfront about targeting advertising, look at the toolbar at the top right corner of your screen you probably have the word Google in the box, now every search you have ever done from your IP address is kept in the Google archives where do you think all those pop up ads come from, now that is worrying.
cheersdrive:
I work for Morrisons and work four weekends out of my six week pattern. Starting very early in the morning means I do have a bit of time in the afternoons for social things.God I hope I am retired by the time I am asked to work Christmas day. I have thinking for years how sad it is that people have nothing better to do on boxing day or new years day than go shopping for a new sofa.
I like working when most people are in bed, but I do work too many weekends for my liking. However, the relaxed nature of the job and reasonable pay are a big draw.
What is happening down in that Bridgwater RDC? I work weekends for ADR for Morrisons/Co Op (refuse to wpork for Co op at Avonmouth anymore) and get nothing but cancellations @ Morrisons. Last 7 weekends I have been available, I have had 2 days total the rest all cancelled off by ADR…and surprise…cancelled again this weekend too. Now nowhere to go as no agencies open to talk to.