AvangoCouriers

Delivery Drivers Diary – No.1 – Week 40 (2022)

Avango Couriers delivery driver going up narrow lane

Welcome to the very first entry in our new series called our ‘Driver Diary’. A weekly report on where we go and what we deliver. We’re starting on week 40, commencing 3rd October 2022.

We want to give our customers a bit more insight into what we do and how we do it. Why? Because delivery work features more challenges and interesting moments than you probably realise.

We think that by giving a behind-the-scenes view of our world, more people will understand the best ways to work with your courier services provider.

Due to some reasons outside our control, we can’t always share information about every item we deliver. But for the most part we will talk about where we get to and events along the way.

All posts come from our small-van driver. That’s the van that’s small, not the driver, just to be clear.

So here goes;

Monday 3rd October 2022

Make Hay while the Sun shines was the story of Monday. We had heard that there was bad weather expected for Wednesday so we wanted to get on and get some work done early in the week.

First up was a collection from south banks of the river Mersey. Actually I think it’s the Manchester Ship Canal to be more precise? Runcorn. One large, flat box needed to be taken over to Macclesfield urgently.

This is the type of delivery I really enjoy. Not too challenging on the physical side, but it’s great fun to drive a wide mix of roads.

After this we were called to collect 2 more boxes (or cartons as they’re called in the trade) from one logistics hub to another. Fairly simple work. The most difficult part is the red-tape aspect.

It’s incredible how many different reference numbers are required by logistics operators. And the ones you’re given by one company are not always the right numbers you need by the second company.

More time was spent looking for codes on the shipping labels than it actually took to load/offload the goods.

Tuesday 4th October 2022

Only one delivery today but it was a winding adventure in the backroads of Derbyshire and Cheshire. One lesson we’ve learnt over the years is to never trust a sat-nav. When one decides to navigate you through roads that are marked ‘unsuitable for HGVs’, pull over and take a look at your route to see if there’s a better option.

Luckily on this occasion the road was ok (not great) and was the shortest way to way we needed to be.

4 boxes loaded and over to a small village off the A49 in Cheshire.

Then back to a small service station for a bite to eat while waiting for another job. Didn’t happen so headed home.

Wednesday 5th October 2022

Day off the road today due to some meetings and other matters to attend to. The bad weather that had been forecast never really arrived although there was some rain and it got windy later in the day.

Thursday 6th October 2022

Started out with a simple short run from Wythenshawe (south Manchester area) up to Reddish near Stockport with a selection of metal pieces.

As is the case with many courier journeys, parked up after delivery hoping for another job to happen near by. Gave up and headed home, then got a call moments after walking through the door.

Back in the van and off on an adventure over the hills from Darwen to Todmorden. Sat-nav did the same trick with the roads. Luckily small vans fit almost anywhere.

Load was 1 pallet containing a large metal piece. Was told it was 75Kg but actually think it was missing a ‘2’ from the start of that, because it was MUCH heavier.

Friday 7th October 2022

I really shouldn’t have made the comment that ‘small vans fit almost anywhere’. Friday’s first job was building supplies from a pouring down Travis Perkins depot to a building site outside Ramsbottom.

The final road (given that name very loosely) was hardly wider than our little Ford Transit Connect and seemed to be less of ‘a road with some potholes’, more ‘a pothole with some road’ (see main photo at top).

And just as this whole week had worked out, headed to the services on the M62 expecting the next job to be around Manchester. Instead it was back in Blackburn closer to where I had just come from.

More wasted miles, but a simple 1-pallet job to Middleton and then home early afternoon to start the weekend and that’s week 40 complete.

Look out for a video version of the diary in conjunction with Couriers TV – coming soon.

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