In a statement, Hermes said: “The average courier round takes up to six hours. As a result, we do not believe that if couriers choose to work on those Sundays there will be any safety risks.
Having seen this industry from the inside, I understand exactly what “voluntary” really means. And a round taking six hours? The one I did was supposed to do that and actually took double that. This is due to absurd expectations such as two minutes per drop and no allowance for people taking longer to get to the door, getting into blocks of flats and up several storeys and leaving packages with a neighbour. Not to mention a satnav system that didn’t recognise no-through roads. And six days a week is out of order. In reality these drivers will be working for around seventy two hours a week – most of that on the road.
I’m more inclined to believe the drivers, frankly.
“Hermes is expecting to deliver 750,000 parcels on the Sunday after Black Friday. It is offering a £40 bonus for couriers who work Sunday 27 November and Sunday 4 December to help cope with “unprecedented volumes”.”
£40?? I earn that for an hour’s work on a Sunday. Not only do these courier companies want the impossible, they want it for fuck all. Same thing with Yodel, except they are worse. The drivers should stick together and tell them to shove it. Let’s see how much “bonus” they would be willing to pay when they have no drivers.
The problem, as I discovered, is that they are preying on people with few options open to them. I was temping as I was temporarily unemployed. In the event, I decided to dig my heels in as my driving licence was worth more than the temporary relief from the jobseeker’s allowance that this dreadful company offered.
Well, I have worked for Hermes on an AS hoc basis and all I have seen and done as a driver was to deliver to local couriers (who then deliver on to customers in their area), the latter being housewifes/retirees/etc.. So yes, a round is fairly well timed. There is also a lot of time spent waiting around for the truck to be loaded/unloaded. That hermes could be better organised, I have no doubt but they have a lot of issues with drivers not showing up, what they call “high loss” issues (PC term for theft) and I was quite unique in the sense that I could speak English (although I’m French!). Plus, one is subject to hour limits as a truck driver, which precludes any abuses. Sunday’s routes are also quite good because there is much less traffic so you spend a lot less time doing it, and you get a minimum of hours even if you do less. As for preying? Please.
None of this applies to white van man, which is what this stuff is about. My experience reflected precisely what these drivers are complaining about. While not personally with Hermes, it does suggest an underlying problem
https://www.longrider.co.uk/blog/2010/10/07/agency-work/
And, yes, preying is exactly what these bastards are doing – abusing the fact that these people have limited options available to them.
You’re being inconsistent. Hermes asks that drivers do extra work precisely because there isn’t a large pool of people to prey on. People who have spent not an inconsiderate amount of money to get their license and professional qualification to become drivers, and there is no shortage of opportunities to work as such. Van drivers are also subject to hours restrictions.
No, I’m not being inconsistent. When I was doing it, much the same applied – they needed people to deliver and wanted us to work all hours. We are not talking HGV here, just an ordinary driving licence and a Transit. These people have few options open to them or they wouldn’t do it, which is precisely why the practises exist. All I can say is that six years on, nothing has changed. And that was my second experience of multi-drop delivery. The previous experience was the same – incompetent route-planning, underestimated drop timings, no allowance for any difficulties en-route and an expectation that the driver would just keep going, regardless of fatigue.
Transits aren’t fitted with tachographs, which is why they get away with it.
And my experience suggests that much the same conditions exist. It’s an industry wide problem.