Extended hours for HGV drivers -good idea?

[gaz1]

I was in one of the main Tescos in Swansea earlier. The night manager told me there were 10 vacancies for night shelf stackers and 15 for van drivers. Can't get anyone to do it. They had a few sent by the local job centre. None lasted more than a week!

not really surprised to be honest

shelf stacking is boring and what they dont tell you is your expected to clear so many pallets or better known as double height trolleys milk trolleys as a reference to you and me

as goes for the van driving well they dont tell you is its multi drop and you have 40/60 drops a day or more

 

[fizzy]

not really surprised to be honest

shelf stacking is boring and what they dont tell you is your expected to clear so many pallets or better known as double height trolleys milk trolleys as a reference to you and me

as goes for the van driving well they dont tell you is its multi drop and you have 40/60 drops a day or more

I thought it would be obvious being Tesco home delivery.
I can think of far worse jobs.
Stop their dole they would have no option.

 

[gaz1]

i dont agree with you fizzy would you settle for less than what you do now

just to stack shelves

i wouldnt expect anyone to do another job they are not trained for or expect someone to acheive the same amount of work as someone else thats been there years

 

[fizzy]

i dont agree with you fizzy would you settle for less than what you do now

just to stack shelves

i wouldnt expect anyone to do another job they are not trained for or expect someone to acheive the same amount of work as someone else thats been there years

If I lost my job I would take whatever I could get.

 

[gaz1]

I disagree with you on the grounds that the job might not be enough to pay your out goings that you have

you can also be sent as a picker on the local farms age dosnt matter your able enough to do the job
your still left claiming on a system thats only geared as a top up to your salary and thats sanctionable if you dont find another job to top up what you already have

 

[premmington]

If I lost my job I would take whatever I could get.

I too have this same attidude - if I needed a weeks shopping - I will take any job to put food on the table.

To be honest stacking shelves in a supermarket would get me 10% discount on my weekly shop. So if I was gonna have to take a low paid job - I don't think this would be so bad. It is mostly evening work - this would give me some time to earn some extra money in the mornings or time to look for better well paid job.

 

[jimbo84]

Jeeeeez, the hours for HGV would be thought of as "a nice relaxing roster" for Pilots. I lost count of the number of times we were both asleep at the wheel.

Maybe the case, but the plane flies itself for most of the flight, try having a snooze at the wheel of a truck and it'd be a different story.

 

[Edward Teach]

Oh,
Close the railways,
That's a good idea,
It's bitten their ar**s now,
The main transport system should have stayed on the railways,
But its too late now.
And now its all going electric
But what ever way was chosen, mismanagement has been the cause of our misery.
And will continue to be our misery.
Forward 20 years

 

[8ob]

If I lost my job I would take whatever I could get.

Same here, not proud and would sweep the streets if I had to. Do whatever it takes to keep going, couldn't do the benefits thing

Bob

 

[Mick Annick]

I too have this same attidude - if I needed a weeks shopping - I will take any job to put food on the table.

To be honest stacking shelves in a supermarket would get me 10% discount on my weekly shop. So if I was gonna have to take a low paid job - I don't think this would be so bad. It is mostly evening work - this would give me some time to earn some extra money in the mornings or time to look for better well paid job.

Me too - got made redundant on a Thursday morning from a good office job in my youth, went straight down the job centre to be told I couldn’t register until I’d signed on at the dole office (they were separate in those days), I want a job not dole says I. Looked through all the cards on the boards and saw a vacancy for a mechanic at a garage not too far away. Drove straight over there and blagged an interview, started the following Monday. In 45 years I never had a day when I wasn’t in paid employment.

 

[MattF]

Same here, not proud and would sweep the streets if I had to. Do whatever it takes to keep going, couldn't do the benefits thing

Bob

Bins, litter, sweeping etc. ain't too bad a job, generally. You come across some disgusting things, granted, but it's a steady task.

 

[premmington]

Me too - got made redundant on a Thursday morning from a good office job in my youth, went straight down the job centre to be told I couldn’t register until I’d signed on at the dole office (they were separate in those days), I want a job not dole says I. Looked through all the cards on the boards and saw a vacancy for a mechanic at a garage not too far away. Drove straight over there and blagged an interview, started the following Monday. In 45 years I never had a day when I wasn’t in paid employment.

Me too - something I am proud of as well. In 38 years - I have not had a day out of work either.

 

[fizzy]

Same here, not proud and would sweep the streets if I had to. Do whatever it takes to keep going, couldn't do the benefits thing

Bob

I am so pleased most people on here share the same attitude. And I am sure plenty of people here have had much worse jobs than shelf stacking!

 

[Brad93]

I'm sorry but I agree with not letting the Eastern European drivers in. Many are absolutely atrocious drivers, many on their phone, watching videos. There should be a push for UK residents to fill the roles.

 

[fizzy]

I'm sorry but I agree with not letting the Eastern European drivers in. Many are absolutely atrocious drivers, many on their phone, watching videos. There should be a push for UK residents to fill the roles.

There is Brad but even with the higher wages they will never close the gap. Too many people cosy on benefits. It isn't the job for everyone. Especially people who value family life.
There are over 2 million on the dole despite such a huge shortage of workers. How do you suggest getting them back to work?
There is an easy way. Stop their dole! But who has the political balls to do that in this namby pamby society?

 

[fizzy]

It seems this isn't just a British problem either. Yes it's worse here, we have had a double whammy to deal with, but it seems people around the World have become far to comfortable on furlough schemes.

 

[MattF]

It isn't the job for everyone. Especially people who value family life.

That applies to many jobs.

 

[KimB]

I'm sorry but I agree with not letting the Eastern European drivers in. Many are absolutely atrocious drivers, many on their phone, watching videos. There should be a push for UK residents to fill the roles.

I have to say, I’ve worked with some fantastic foreign drivers and some not so. Same as the British and any other culture. With good drivers there will always be bad.

Yes every now and then I see some drivers are on their phones, and even rarer I see a laptop on the dash (3times I think in the last 6 years) for the percentage of foreign drivers on their phones I bet the same is matched or close for British ones.

 

[fizzy]

I have to say, I’ve worked with some fantastic foreign drivers and some not so. Same as the British and any other culture. With good drivers there will always be bad.

Yes every now and then I see some drivers are on their phones, and even rarer I see a laptop on the dash (3times I think in the last 6 years) for the percentage of foreign drivers on their phones I bet the same is matched or close for British ones.

Well said Kim.
It does worry me that we are going to see an influx of unsuitable inexperienced new drivers coming through.
The best drivers are the ones who WANT to drive. Not the ones who just want to earn good money.
No matter how much training you get there will always be good and bad drivers.

 

[James1979]

Me too - something I am proud of as well. In 38 years - I have not had a day out of work either.

Ditto. Only time off I have had was 6 months when I just felt like it. I could afford to so I did. After 20 odd years I thought i deserved it! Had a bit of a holiday and saw stuff, worked on my house and did some agency driving and the odd day here and there so wasn’t totally not working.

I take all sorts in to pay the bills. Especially now. I have been ill for a number of years and the Specialist tells me to stop working. I idly enquired once with the DWp and they said I’m not I’ll enough. I think even if I officially stopped I’d always find ‘something’ to do. I’d rather be working than living on handouts or benefits anyway.

As far as @gaz1 tesco chap said - If I was doing multi drop I’d rather do it for them. Nice organised load in a decent van and to be fair 60 loads a day in multi drop is sod all. Last agency I went out for in a 3.5t I had 120 drops plus pickups plus stuff that came in during the shift.

I’ve said it before but I blame minimum wage. I worked for Tesco when I was 16/17. I was on about £8/h I think. Maybe £9 when I left. You got a basic plus a few pence here and there for extra skills and training you had. Plus overtime which was anything outside 9-5 Monday to Friday.

Bring in minimum wage and it’s all “we exceed minimum wage” which means they can pay you £8.73 and that it. It’s across the board. If you can keep your costs right down and send most of that £8.73 to Romania or somewhere then it’s actually worth doing. It is not a long term viable solution if you’re living here and running a house, family etc etc