DPD create 700 jobs , how many lost ??

NATLOR

pgj2015 wrote: »

I bought a pair of football boots worth 100 euro lately on amazon, they have ripped after 3 games. I am currently trying to organize sending them back, it will cost 21 euro to post back and then it is up to the seller to see if I am entitled to get a replacement. I would have been way better off buying them in my local sports shop, they actually have them in stock. online shopping is a joke, you are far better off walking into your local shop.

You obviously purchased from a 3rd party seller
Buy directly from or fulfilled by Amazon and you will will always get free no quibble returns

Strumms

Sonics2k wrote: »

I just started working as a courier with a company. Three weeks in and it's honestly crazy work. Now I don't mind doing it, I don't mind hard work and I have kids to feed and bills to pay.

But I am literally in the depot at 6.30am from Monday to Friday. As of next week they'll want me in on Saturday too. It takes roughly 2 and a half to 3 hours to load up two vans and make sure everything is on the correct route and layout. Mess that up and your schedule is ruined for the day.
On a good day I get out of the depot at 9 and start doing drops by half 9. From then it's pretty much nonstop until I do my last drops around 4. Then I'm off to get my collections which takes roughly an hour. I'm back at the depot at about half 5, unload the van and out of there about 6.

Now, I'm currently working on getting a C license and I've been reading up on various laws. None of them would appear to impact van drivers. I've no assigned lunch break, no tacho etc.

As far as I can tell, we're not classed as professional drivers, rather professional delivery personnel so existing laws don't matter, and no chance will the Dail do anything about that.

I'll keep doing the job because it's grand, it's Covid safe and like I said, I have a family but it's certainly not long term work. I do know some lads finish their drop offs earlier than me, but usually they leave the depot sooner too and it depends on where they work.

It’s commonplace in the industry. I was never a courier but worked in the industry... It’s super competitive, super pressurized.. managers get it in the neck from senior managers, the hyper bullshîtters in sales.... over and above is an expectation from an employee on a daily basis. Do just 8 hours and 20 drops and collections and you’ll be lazy bones... breaks are often non existent, barring ‘lunch’ ahem.

Lunch is bonus, usually to be had over 30 - 40 minutes in the cab of the van at a petrol station forecourt just to keep on schedule... something doesn’t go to plan, it’s the biggest blame game industry going...

Customer might be walking he’s trying to nail the courier and their management and you’ll have sales putting the boot in too, why ? Because you said NO to the 30 minute break because you wanted your entitled hour to go home and check on your sick kid or get a bit of shopping in .... but the customer wants an early collection to go see HIS kid... not worth it, never would I return to that shîtshow.

whisky_galore

Sonics2k wrote: »

By all means, find those laws that cover courier drivers on B licenses and call out all the courier companies. So far as I can tell, it's only covers C licenses and taxi drivers.

Im by no means saying you're wrong, just that I can't find anything and if the laws existed the courier companies would have been called out years ago.

No unions like the buses or lobby groups like the taxis and truckers. Think Deliveroo with a van but worse.

Eric Cartman

Johnthemanager wrote: »

Priced a sander in my local hardware store €89, went on to screwfix.ie same make and model €30.

Ok but id say theres another hardware not too far away that had it for 40 , but you’ll keep buying on screwfix and the local hardware will close and the woodies will close etc.. and one day you’ll be 10 screws and a can of expanding foam short of finishing a project but there'll be nowhere to go get them and you'll be sitting on your hands for 2 days waiting on a delivery.

pgj2015

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Ok but id say theres another hardware not too far away that had it for 40 , but you’ll keep buying on screwfix and the local hardware will close and the woodies will close etc.. and one day you’ll be 10 screws and a can of expanding foam short of finishing a project but there'll be nowhere to go get them and you'll be sitting on your hands for 2 days waiting on a delivery.

And once screwfix have the monopoly they can and will charge what they like.

Kowerski

My local hardware shop, they have facebook which they update with offers, ring and they answer. They do deals if you buy lots etc. I have no problem giving them my business over others. But loads of other shops are not so helpful.

Cheerful Spring2

muddypaws wrote: »

How about the 2-3 hours spent in the depot first thing in the morning unloading the trailer, sorting the round then loading the van? Before you even get on the road driving to places. 6.30am start and from now until Christmas, probably a 6pm finish, 6 days a week. A truck driver wouldn't legally be allowed to do that, but van drivers can?

With the amount of jobs that have been lost because of covid, lots of people have started working as courier drivers rather than staying at home on the PUP. There aren't many options, especially in rural areas but you're right of course, people should consider their lifestyle and needs. Needing to eat and pay a mortgage/rent kinda supersedes everything else.

I work as a courier driver, we've had alot of new drivers in the last few weeks, at least half of them have left after a day or two because they can't handle it.

I worked in a very busy warehouse distribution center for over a year to pay the bills. I have the utmost respect for workers who do this kind of work. I found it personally to be one of the most mentally and physically draining jobs i had undertaken. I was working very hard for not enough money.

I remember i had to be aware every second of the day to do the work (there was driving the reach and forklift picking work) and there was a lot of manual on the ground work i had to do. Can very easily mess up a customer order if you lost concentration during the day. Keeping your mental concentration at peak performance for 8 to 10 hours a day when the mental and physical fatigue sets in is very difficult!

Regards this. A delivery driver out and about on the road, you are sitting down for most of your day until you drop of your goods to customer. The complaint from what i see here is the hours are long and that's fair enough complaint. Driving a van is not slave labour. The hardest part is making sure you recieve the right load and you get it to customers on time during the day.

oceanman

Cheerful Spring2 wrote: »

I worked in a very busy warehouse distribution center for over a year to pay the bills. I have the utmost respect for workers who do this kind of work. I found it personally to be one of the most mentally and physically draining jobs i had undertaken. I was working very hard for not enough money.

I remember i had to be aware every second of the day to do the work (there was driving the reach and forklift picking work) and there was a lot of manual on the ground work i had to do. Can very easily mess up a customer order if you lost concentration during the day. Keeping your mental concentration at peak performance for 8 to 10 hours a day when the mental and physical fatigue sets in is very difficult!

Regards this. A delivery driver out and about on the road, you are sitting down for most of your day until you drop of your goods to customer. The complaint from what i see here is the hours are long and that's fair enough complaint. Driving a van is not slave labour. The hardest part is making sure you recieve the right load and you get it to customers on time during the day.

no money would pay you for that kind of work.

Eire Go Brach

Edgware wrote: »

Many of the big outlets carry minimum stock levels now.

This is not true at all. It makes no sense to do this. If you don’t have stock. You lose the sale.

I see a lot of people comparing Irish retailers to Amazon in terms of online sales and customers service. What people fail to realise. Amazon have been doing this for a very long time. Most Irish retailers online stores are up by over 200% They are struggling to handle the volume of orders. For many reasons. Buy simply they just don’t have that experience. It’s not that easy to just scale up overnight and all is grand. It takes planning and time.

Cheerful Spring2

Eire Go Brach wrote: »

This is not true at all. It makes no sense to do this. If you don’t have stock. You lose the sale.

.

Rarely happens because customers can "backorder" a product thats not currently in stock. The company will send out the product when its arrives in the warehouse. It's important the business doesn't delay that long filling that back order. Most companies with warehouses do have minimum stock levels. You have to be careful the product doesn't sit there for too long and expire. Food inventory would have to be watched more closely compared to other products that don't have an expire date.

MrMusician18

Eric Cartman wrote: »

Ok but id say theres another hardware not too far away that had it for 40 , but you’ll keep buying on screwfix and the local hardware will close and the woodies will close etc.. and one day you’ll be 10 screws and a can of expanding foam short of finishing a project but there'll be nowhere to go get them and you'll be sitting on your hands for 2 days waiting on a delivery.

But there won't be a local guy that has it for 40, speaking from experience for a low end tool it will be at least twice the online price.

It would appear that a lot of specialist retailers have decided not to compete on price, probably because they can't. What they do is aim for the individual that either needs it right now or cannot manage online.

Geuze

Sonics2k wrote: »

I just started working as a courier with a company. Three weeks in and it's honestly crazy work. Now I don't mind doing it, I don't mind hard work and I have kids to feed and bills to pay.

But I am literally in the depot at 6.30am from Monday to Friday. As of next week they'll want me in on Saturday too. It takes roughly 2 and a half to 3 hours to load up two vans and make sure everything is on the correct route and layout. Mess that up and your schedule is ruined for the day.
On a good day I get out of the depot at 9 and start doing drops by half 9. From then it's pretty much nonstop until I do my last drops around 4. Then I'm off to get my collections which takes roughly an hour. I'm back at the depot at about half 5, unload the van and out of there about 6.

I'll keep doing the job because it's grand, it's Covid safe and like I said, I have a family but it's certainly not long term work. I do know some lads finish their drop offs earlier than me, but usually they leave the depot sooner too and it depends on where they work.

6:30am to nearly 6pm, five days, how much do you get paid for that?

Sonics2k

Geuze wrote: »

6:30am to nearly 6pm, five days, how much do you get paid for that?

About €430 per week before tax, it's not much but it'll pay bills.

oceanman

Sonics2k wrote: »

About €430 per week before tax, it's not much but it'll pay bills.

jesus! for those kind of hours you should be on at least three times that..

NATLOR

Sonics2k wrote:

About €430 per week before tax, it's not much but it'll pay bills.

That's 11 hours a day/ 55 a week works out at 7.80 an hour, that can't be right!

Sonics2k

NATLOR wrote: »

That's 11 hours a day/ 55 a week works out at 7.80 an hour, that can't be right!

The official working hours are 7am to 5pm. Most, if not all the people in there go in early. They all want to have their vans filled by 8am so they can be out delivering by 9.

Its in their interest to start early, the day doesn't end until you've delivered all packages and gotten all collections.

oceanman

Sonics2k wrote: »

The official working hours are 7am to 5pm. Most, if not all the people in there go in early. They all want to have their vans filled by 8am so they can be out delivering by 9.

Its in their interest to start early, the day doesn't end until you've delivered all packages and gotten all collections.

sounds like slave labour...

Darc19

whisky_galore wrote: »

This.
And all min wage high staff turnover race-to-the-bottom companies but they get their free advertising on de telly firing out a few seasonal crumbs for the plebs.

Can you show where these companies are paying min wage and race to bottom or are you talking sh1te as usual?


I know my local dpd depot have many of the same staff for several years and the guy that delivers to me has been doing so for over 2 years.

Sort of blows your ridiculous argument out of the water.

Eric Cartman

Darc19 wrote: »

Can you show where these companies are paying min wage and race to bottom or are you talking sh1te as usual?


I know my local dpd depot have many of the same staff for several years and the guy that delivers to me has been doing so for over 2 years.

Sort of blows your ridiculous argument out of the water.

and if they didn't hire more drivers, the same people would be on saying the current ones are overworked and its slavery.

whisky_galore

Darc19 wrote: »

Can you show where these companies are paying min wage and race to bottom or are you talking sh1te as usual?


I know my local dpd depot have many of the same staff for several years and the guy that delivers to me has been doing so for over 2 years.

Sort of blows your ridiculous argument out of the water.

Would you work there so?

Geuze

Sonics2k wrote: »

About €430 per week before tax, it's not much but it'll pay bills.

Approx 55 hours for 430 gross?

Under 8 euro per hour??

Geuze

Sonics2k wrote: »

The official working hours are 7am to 5pm. Most, if not all the people in there go in early. They all want to have their vans filled by 8am so they can be out delivering by 9.

Its in their interest to start early, the day doesn't end until you've delivered all packages and gotten all collections.

So it's meant to be 9hrs * 5 = 45 hrs for 430 gross?

9.56 per hour?

Below the min wage?

ltd440

NATLOR wrote: »

That's 11 hours a day/ 55 a week works out at 7.80 an hour, that can't be right!

That's average in the business, most of these courier companies pay a day rate of say 90 euros per day.
The job is usually advertised as a 9-4 day but never is.
Also most companies will not pay by the hour because even at minimum wage if they paid by the hour it would cost 700 to 800 euros per driver

Geuze

ALDI pay starts at 12.30 for caretakers, then 14.10 for Store Assistants.

90 a day is poor for such long hours.

It's not a completely unskilled job, and yet the wage is low.

Ellie2008

If people are going to buy online could they not make an effort to buy from Irish companies. Tons of Amazon packages delivered to my estate every day.

NATLOR

Geuze wrote:

ALDI pay starts at 12.30 for caretakers, then 14.10 for Store Assistants.

Ellie2008 wrote:

If people are going to buy online could they not make an effort to buy from Irish companies. Tons of Amazon packages delivered to my estate every day.

I'll gladly buy Irish if the price is competitive unfortunately that's very rarely the case

Eric Cartman

NATLOR wrote: »

I'll gladly buy Irish if the price is competitive unfortunately that's very rarely the case

interestingly but those 2 posts you quoted make everything really incompatible. Amazon can only deliver such low prices through cutting as many humans out per item fulfilment and the staff that are there work them to their limits.

if people want to complain about amazon and low wages they have to be willing to buy things at prices many Irish retailers charge, if not more.

NATLOR

I never meant to quote the Aldi comment. My mistake

Ellie2008

NATLOR wrote: »

I'll gladly buy Irish if the price is competitive unfortunately that's very rarely the case

Smaller businesses don’t have the same buying power so to a point need to charge more.

NATLOR

Ellie2008 wrote:

Smaller businesses don’t have the same buying power so to a point need to charge more.

I'm aware of the economics but if I can get a product abroad at 20%/ 30% less and delivered free to my door then that wins out all day long.