Week 5 of our drivers diary takes place on Week 44 of the year. I know, it’s a bit weird how we started this so far through the year, but that’s how things go sometimes. Have you never heard that saying “Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can”? Well now you have, and that’s what we’re doing.
This weeks diary entry should be called “Whose fault is it anyway?”. Because there were a lot of things that didn’t quite go as well as they should have (sidenote: they weren’t our mistakes).
Monday 31st and Tuesday 1st November 2022
Pretty quiet start to the week for deliveries, but MASSIVE couple of days for our side-line project ‘Couriers TV’, a website that helps couriers and drivers to grow their business. More on that to come at the end of the year.
Wednesday 2nd November 2022
Small van deliveries are usually fairly easy. And this day was as easy as it gets. 2 drops near Manchester then collection from Cheadle over to Bradford. All done and dusted and back home with feet up by 3pm. That’s how it should be.
Thursday 3rd November 2022
This is the real poop-show of the week. I regret the statement above that small van deliveries are fairly easy.
They SHOULD be, but sometimes things go horribly wrong.
Job 1 – customer books courier service in Manchester to deliver to Leigh (very close to our home base). After 40 minutes of dealing with traffic, we arrive at the collection address. Only for the customer to advise the job’s been supplied the wrong way round.
It should have been collected at LEIGH, deliver to Manchester. Oh no.
Back to Leigh we go.
When we get there the new collection site has a delay because the lift isn’t working.
The delays here meant also missing out on another booking which cancelled when we were about 100 yards from their site.
Sometimes you will have days like this as a courier. You just have to roll with it.
Friday 4th November 2022
Now we’re talking. This is how things are supposed to work.
Total of 3 jobs, but all interlinking perfectly to create a nice little earner and some interesting drops too (except one smelled horrendous).
2 collections out of Warrington, 2 drops in Liverpool – one of which was at the water-treatment works which smelled like Satan’s private bathroom, then under the water to make an extra collection in Hoylake, 1 drop in Ellesmere Port and a final stop in Wrexham.
Here, there and everywhere in about 4 hours.
Nice end to the week and a stop-off at the chippy for tea (we’re northerners, it’s the rules).
Look out for a video version of the diary in conjunction with Couriers TV – coming soon.
