Gone very quiet
Discussion
skwdenyer said:
I hear you. But *every single load* I've had in 16 years has been badly-loaded (and, no, not just from a single supplier...), which looked like a pattern... 
Again, it's often not that simple. Do you know the weights of all the stuff on the bed? You can't put a load of heavy stuff at the front as you overload the front axle. It has to be placed in such a way to stay legal which will often put deliveries out of drop order.
Loading is much more of a mare these days tbh. You have to have the right stuff in the right place, as above. Load security etc. DVSA are regularly stopping us and checking. Thats why they are not splitting packs much easier to do on site regards loading.
The one thing I tell my lads is spend 5 mins in the yard to get it right, because its much harder to try and sort out on site. We always try and get the drops on in rear to front order but its often not possible.
Another issue is despite the route being planned (which costs money) drivers often just ignore the plan. Which can cause issues with getting the load off as its all now in the wrong order...
So its not rocket science but you do have to stick to the rules. For example there are plenty of sites we go too that you cant get on the wagon. Try unloading an 8 wheeler flat bed with a hiab but you cant get on it.... its a right PITA.
The one thing I tell my lads is spend 5 mins in the yard to get it right, because its much harder to try and sort out on site. We always try and get the drops on in rear to front order but its often not possible.
Another issue is despite the route being planned (which costs money) drivers often just ignore the plan. Which can cause issues with getting the load off as its all now in the wrong order...
So its not rocket science but you do have to stick to the rules. For example there are plenty of sites we go too that you cant get on the wagon. Try unloading an 8 wheeler flat bed with a hiab but you cant get on it.... its a right PITA.
Phooey said:
How are you guys that retail (online or/and high street) finding trade is at the moment? Particularly this weekend?
Online here, awful. Looking around a lot are in the same boat, it isn't been helped by the greedy b
ds Google filling the SERP's with bullst fluff pushing organic results off the page. I hope they realise when you bite the hand that feeds you it can all come crashing down!If I hadn't saved when times were good I'd be screwed right now.
_-XXXX-_ said:
Phooey said:
How are you guys that retail (online or/and high street) finding trade is at the moment? Particularly this weekend?
Online here, awful. Looking around a lot are in the same boat, it isn't been helped by the greedy bds Google filling the SERP's with bullst fluff pushing organic results off the page. I hope they realise when you bite the hand that feeds you it can all come crashing down!If I hadn't saved when times were good I'd be screwed right now.
jammy-git said:
Are you kidding? Google could have the first three pages be entirely paid results and they'd still be the only show in town.
Not when they miss earnings again & the anti trust cases kick in. There are only so many times you can screw people over & they keep paying for ads. Imagine if the much talked about Apple search engine appeared with hardly any ads (which is what made Google Google back then!). Google would be history.
Google currently pays Apple billions a year to be the default search engine on their devices. There's a good reason for that. People are waking up to privacy, something Apple is marketing themselves as being the best at (rightly or wrongly). Google's monopoly won't be around forever IMO, the sooner the better! Considering the st MicroSoft received over bundling IE with windows it's quite ridiculous what Google have got away with for so long.
Anyway, way OT here.
t MicroSoft received over bundling IE with windows it's quite ridiculous what Google have got away with for so long.Anyway, way OT here.
_-XXXX-_ said:
Phooey said:
How are you guys that retail (online or/and high street) finding trade is at the moment? Particularly this weekend?
Online here, awful. Looking around a lot are in the same boat, it isn't been helped by the greedy bds Google filling the SERP's with bullst fluff pushing organic results off the page. I hope they realise when you bite the hand that feeds you it can all come crashing down!If I hadn't saved when times were good I'd be screwed right now.
What really annoys me though are the media outlets talking us into a recession. The money is there but people are now sitting on it.
The way our retail is structured it should be fine this year but it’s come January I’m a little nervous of.
_-XXXX-_ said:
Not when they miss earnings again & the anti trust cases kick in. There are only so many times you can screw people over & they keep paying for ads.
Imagine if the much talked about Apple search engine appeared with hardly any ads (which is what made Google Google back then!). Google would be history.
I know this is off topic but it is an important point. Way back in 'the beginning' google was the best search engine because all the results were organic so you knew you were getting a true unbias/relevant search. Engines like Altavista, yahoo etc took paid ads and their traffic declined. Now google is a mess of paid commercial listings often without true relevance. I'm getting bored of google searches that take me to websites that dont have what I am googling for, but have paid to be listed as relevant. History will repeat itself, the thing google (and others) forget about is the user is only one click away from going elsewhere. It will happen.Imagine if the much talked about Apple search engine appeared with hardly any ads (which is what made Google Google back then!). Google would be history.
As you were.
BEP said:
What really annoys me though are the media outlets talking us into a recession. The money is there but people are now sitting on it.
The way our retail is structured it should be fine this year but it’s come January I’m a little nervous of.
Yep we get this even with the weather. As soon as the DM etal put "major storm" on the top of the home page our phones stop ringing. Does not matter the storm is for Kent and Sussex and we are in Lancs!!!The way our retail is structured it should be fine this year but it’s come January I’m a little nervous of.
People are very fickle and it does not take much to rock the boat.
I used to think back in the day that the "fake news" was really just BS but now having seen how people react to stuff I can totally believe you could take down an economy for a time if you really wanted with a bit of work on Facebook etc esp once you get a bit of panic in the system.
BEP said:
What really annoys me though are the media outlets talking us into a recession. The money is there but people are now sitting on it.
It's clearly very dependent upon market. For many businesses, the money really isn't out there - the cost of living issues really are impacting a lot of people, right now.In sectors I track, many are going backwards quickly, as people cut back.
Yes, in addition, there are many who do still have money who are hunkering down and cutting spending in anticipation of what's to come. For those, positive media would be good. But this isn't just a manufactured problem in the general sense.
Mainland Europe is fairing better, FWIW. Initiatives like Germany's €9 train tickets really are making a difference according to people I know there - trains are rammed, people are going out and spending, it's achieving a subsidiary objective of reducing car journeys, and so on.
Two very quiet days for me.
As I’ve explained before, my rounds are spread over three different areas.
Area 1; Quite poor
Area 2; Solidly working class
Area 3; Millionaires Row.
I’ve seen the biggest dip in my ‘Millionaires Row’ round, (dropped by around 50%).
Which then begs the question why? Why have I seen the biggest reduction in custom in this one specific area?
It isn’t school holidays, so it isn’t like most customers have gone away.
Are the people who live in this area more clued up, more savvy, can see the storm coming so are cutting back in preparation? Or are they already stretched to the brink as it is trying to keep up with the Jones’s?
I’m expecting to see a brief flurry over the Bank Holiday / Jubilee weekend, then for things on all three rounds to plummet.
As I’ve explained before, my rounds are spread over three different areas.
Area 1; Quite poor
Area 2; Solidly working class
Area 3; Millionaires Row.
I’ve seen the biggest dip in my ‘Millionaires Row’ round, (dropped by around 50%).
Which then begs the question why? Why have I seen the biggest reduction in custom in this one specific area?
It isn’t school holidays, so it isn’t like most customers have gone away.
Are the people who live in this area more clued up, more savvy, can see the storm coming so are cutting back in preparation? Or are they already stretched to the brink as it is trying to keep up with the Jones’s?
I’m expecting to see a brief flurry over the Bank Holiday / Jubilee weekend, then for things on all three rounds to plummet.
105.4 said:
Two very quiet days for me.
As I’ve explained before, my rounds are spread over three different areas.
Area 1; Quite poor
Area 2; Solidly working class
Area 3; Millionaires Row.
I’ve seen the biggest dip in my ‘Millionaires Row’ round, (dropped by around 50%).
Which then begs the question why? Why have I seen the biggest reduction in custom in this one specific area?
It isn’t school holidays, so it isn’t like most customers have gone away.
Are the people who live in this area more clued up, more savvy, can see the storm coming so are cutting back in preparation? Or are they already stretched to the brink as it is trying to keep up with the Jones’s?
I’m expecting to see a brief flurry over the Bank Holiday / Jubilee weekend, then for things on all three rounds to plummet.
Interesting, what service do you provide?As I’ve explained before, my rounds are spread over three different areas.
Area 1; Quite poor
Area 2; Solidly working class
Area 3; Millionaires Row.
I’ve seen the biggest dip in my ‘Millionaires Row’ round, (dropped by around 50%).
Which then begs the question why? Why have I seen the biggest reduction in custom in this one specific area?
It isn’t school holidays, so it isn’t like most customers have gone away.
Are the people who live in this area more clued up, more savvy, can see the storm coming so are cutting back in preparation? Or are they already stretched to the brink as it is trying to keep up with the Jones’s?
I’m expecting to see a brief flurry over the Bank Holiday / Jubilee weekend, then for things on all three rounds to plummet.
105.4 said:
Which then begs the question why? Why have I seen the biggest reduction in custom in this one specific area?
IMHO, because people with money know A) how hard it is to manage a situation like this esp if you have a business rising costs on all fronts and decreasing sales is *really* bad.
B) have their ear to the ground so know just how bad some places are
C) are probably 50+ so remember hard times in the 70-90s.
I think the coming financial hit is going to be sharp and I think its going to hit everyone in some way or another.
The last major recession was quite specific in who it effected tbh in the UK and we got off quite lightly.
My gut feeling is the next 12-18 months we are going to be in trouble but then hopefully we come out the other side. The last thing we want is a prolonged period of financial hardship. That can lead to much, much bigger problems. Hopefully I am wrong and by the end of the summer its all back to normal..
Govt are clearly aware and apparently going to issue some sort of statement towards the end of this week.
lornemalvo said:
Interesting, what service do you provide?
Courier. A subby for one of the well known carriers.An average load on my van would be split something like 10-15% click & collect orders for a couple of well known High Street stores.
10% medication.
10-15% eBay, (it could be anything in those parcels).
60-70% fashion, soft furnishings and small furniture, (bed side tables etc).
gotoPzero said:
IMHO, because people with money know
A) how hard it is to manage a situation like this esp if you have a business rising costs on all fronts and decreasing sales is *really* bad.
B) have their ear to the ground so know just how bad some places are
C) are probably 50+ so remember hard times in the 70-90s.
I think the coming financial hit is going to be sharp and I think its going to hit everyone in some way or another.
The last major recession was quite specific in who it effected tbh in the UK and we got off quite lightly.
My gut feeling is the next 12-18 months we are going to be in trouble but then hopefully we come out the other side. The last thing we want is a prolonged period of financial hardship. That can lead to much, much bigger problems. Hopefully I am wrong and by the end of the summer its all back to normal..
Govt are clearly aware and apparently going to issue some sort of statement towards the end of this week.
Id say A & B in your assessments are the most accurate. There’s a lot of 30-40-somethings on that round.A) how hard it is to manage a situation like this esp if you have a business rising costs on all fronts and decreasing sales is *really* bad.
B) have their ear to the ground so know just how bad some places are
C) are probably 50+ so remember hard times in the 70-90s.
I think the coming financial hit is going to be sharp and I think its going to hit everyone in some way or another.
The last major recession was quite specific in who it effected tbh in the UK and we got off quite lightly.
My gut feeling is the next 12-18 months we are going to be in trouble but then hopefully we come out the other side. The last thing we want is a prolonged period of financial hardship. That can lead to much, much bigger problems. Hopefully I am wrong and by the end of the summer its all back to normal..
Govt are clearly aware and apparently going to issue some sort of statement towards the end of this week.
105.4 said:
Turn7 said:
They didnt become millionaires by spunking cash on chinese shyte from the 'Zon every 12 minutes... ?
You’d think so, but the Wives still order copious amounts from Pretty Little Thing / BooHoo, Next, ASOS etc.In the bad times, it's easy enough to turn off that tap.
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