I’ve not been getting many shifts at work. The last few weeks have been 2 shifts, 1 shift, 2 shifts. I think Wendy is getting worried about the money situation so I had a look for another job. I wasn’t expecting to find one, but I may have landed a beauty. The agency advertised it as £24.95 an hour, full time, permanent. Hmmm. Agencies. They said it was for a parcel distribution company and gave a postcode. I googled it, it’s a Yodel RDC, 2 stops away down the M62.
I applied on Saturday, they rang me back today (Monday) and sent me an application pack email, which I’ve filled in and returned. They said they could get me an assessment for Wednesday, start work on Thursday.
It’s 4 on, 4 off, 04.00 or 06.00 starts, doing a straight run to Glasgow and back. Around 12 hour shifts. Apart from the start times that’s about ideal. The driving involved with my current job is so tough, it feels like you are an inch from a crash at most drops. This is straight trunking. I’d know the route by the end of the first week, then just tootle up and back every day. I’ve just looked, Yodel, Glasgow looks to be less than a mile from junction 5 of the M74. So M62, on to the M6, carry on until it turns into the M74, come off at junction 5 and you’re there. Hard to make it easier.
The email pack has already made it sound like dodgy agency stuff. The email says the hourly rate is £18.54 for days. For nights it’s £22.25. He said on the ‘phone that there was a seasonal uplift in operation, so perhaps that makes nights £24 odd. Another thing is it says there is a 13 week period before you hit pay parity, which is what the email wages are supposed to be showing. Dodgy, dodgy agency stuff. I’ve just emailed for clarification. As I was asking about it, it occurred to me I’d better check something else. There’s a growing tendency for agencies to advertise the job £p/h, then slip in later that that rate includes holiday pay. So this £24.95 job could be £18.54 (after 3 months) minus £2 p/h holiday pay. If it’s less than that for the 3 months, it could be a £14 or £15 per hour job, in real terms. And overtime rate only kicks in after the 3 months, then it will be £27 p/h for over 40 hours.
Roughing up the figures to see if this would be worth it. A whole lot of ‘if’ coming off the workings out, but IF it is £18.54, PAYE, holidays separate, and IF it’s 12 hours a day, and IF I can get all the shifts I want, that would be 40k for 4 on 4 off. Or, if I was to do 5 on one week, 4 the next, around £56k. The latter would definitely be worth doing. I’d still have 3 days off, 4 days off, to do everything I want, tons of cash, and the easiest job in the world.
I mean, in an ideal world I’d get taken on full time doing the Glasgow run.
I’ll update this as I find out.
I emailed the agency, they got back at 08.55 with an answer, which is pretty impressive. It seems Yodel are on peak pay now, so new starters get the standard rate from the off, £18.54 p/h, holidays accrued separately, overtime after 40 hours of £27.81 p/h, 6th shift at £37.08 p/h. So it’s well worth doing. Presumably it will be peak rate until January, then drop down for 7 weeks, until I hit the 13 week pay parity. The next big flap was the email they sent today said agency aren’t from one fixed site, but must be flexible to cover all the North West. One site was Selby. I googled it, it’s the other side of Leeds, google maps said 2 hours 7 minutes drive. No way am I doing a 4.5 hour commute. I text the agency, saying the job advert said huyton, which is where I thought I’d be working, and I couldn’t do the other sites. (Selby, Leeds, Crewe and Preston). He said I would be working out of Huyton, that was just a standard email they sent out to cover all the branches. So it’s still on. I’ve got an assessment tomorrow in Manchester, if I pass that, straight into an induction. I noticed on their copious Ts&Cs that the notice period for leaving is 24 hours in the first month, a week thereafter, so I’ve told them I would give ADR a week’s notice, to be fair. If everything goes as it should tomorrow I’ll be available to start from Tuesday. Watch this space.
Meh. I passed the tests and such but the assessor as good as told me not to do it. He said the site out of which I’d be working only had 15 trucks, they were running day and night runs, they already had a full compliment of drivers but were recruiting for the busy period. I said they’d told me I would be doing Glasgow trunks. He said I was the fourth driver this week he’d assessed, and they were all promised the same run. He seemed very skeptical I’d get the run, and extremely dubious about me getting much work. He wouldn’t flat out say it when I asked him, just said things like “I’m just speaking as one driver to another”. It’s possible the job was everything I’d been promised and the assessor just took a dislike to me. Looking around that site though it seemed to confirm what he was saying. A tiny operation run on a shoestring. I decided not to risk it. Even if I got the runs, which he doubted, it would be no good to me in January. People will stop posting parcels in the January poverty, but they still have to eat, so I’ll stay where I am.
In other news I went for my eye tests at the hospital, after being referred by the opticians. They said there was nothing wrong. Cool.
I had that baseline ECG to monitor my heart when it’s normal. Now I’m waiting on the 24 hour (or possibly 48 hour) monitor. Luke’s partner was supposed to get one. Her first appointment was after 3 months of waiting, but they messed her about, so it took 8 months. I’m hoping they get it right with me so mine is 3 months, or fewer. If I get sorted and I’m working 4 on 3 off, I can soon get proficient at Muay Thai.
The other thing is my bike obsessing. Ever since Wendy said I should treat myself with the army pension money, I’ve been thinking about which bike I’d like best. Now that it’s getting around to winter temperatures again I’m missing having weather protection. And I want to get my knee down. So I am thinking sports/tourer again. I’ve been flipping between Yamaha Tracer 900, Honda VFR750 and VFR800fi, and Triumph Tiger Sport 660. The Tracer has a triple engine with 118bhp, is 189kg and handles very well, but they say no screen can stop the wind buffeting and noise, and it’s starting at £4k. The Tiger is a Triumph triple, good for 63mpg, but is only 80bhp and starts from £5k. If money wasn’t part of the equation it’s the one I’d probably get. The VFR800fi. It’s 108bhp, last of the gear driven cams models, fuel injection (fi), and the very last word bulletproof. It should be the perfect VFR… But I had one before and I thought it felt heavy and cumbersome. Some online reviews have suggested that it’s a suspension issue in older bikes. My memory is off lardiness. Then there’s the VFR750. 100bhp, gear driven cams, comfortable, good weather protection, nimble and sporty. But old. And carburetted. I’ve seen some immaculate looking ones with really low miles, one with 12k miles, one owner from new, just been professionally recommissioned. It would be like riding a brand new bike. For £2,225. It doesn’t escape my notice, or Wendy’s, that I sold my VFR750 to get the Bonnie.
See how this job goes. If I can if the ifs, I might get the Triumph after all.