Life as a pallet Driver from the eyes of our HR Director

Given her role is to look after our people, Natasha Stansby, our HR Director, is always keen to experience different job roles across Gregory Group. Recently, she did exactly that with one of our pallet drivers. Here’s a summary of her day:

“The day started by meeting Steve, a seasoned multi drop driver who has been delivering pallets for 17 years, and Chris Hodge, a Training Business Partner who regularly joins our drivers to help ensure they are getting the best from their vehicles and maximising safety. Despite having a double audience, Steve was unphased and carried on with his normal day! His first task was to collect the paperwork from the office and while he waited for his lorry to be loaded with the relevant pallets, he studied the paperwork to see what the day ahead holds.

As we leave the depot, Steve tells me a bit about a typical day. Basically, there isn’t a typical day! He will visit regular customers, but the next job could be a delivery to a residential address that he’s never been to before. One drop may see the pallets unloaded by forklift while the next may need to be lifted off by hand. But it is this variety that he seems to thrive on.

We arrive at our first drop – a regular customer. It is clear that our drivers are a critical cog in our service delivery. Steve has a brilliant rapport with the customer and having been delivering here for many years, he knows the quirks of the site that make the process that little bit more efficient.

Onto the second delivery and Steve is very conscious of the time. Some customers pay a premium for a crucial timed service, so it is critical that he arrives within the pre-agreed time slots.

With the second delivery complete it becomes apparent that driving is only a small proportion of the job! There are so many other things to consider, from how to access the location safely, to completing the right paperwork, to re-strapping the load on the lorry every time a pallet is moved, to ensuring the right breaks are taken.

Our day continues with further deliveries and collections, each one unique to the other. Not only is this a physically demanding job, it is also a mentally demanding job with Steve having to adapt to curve balls as they are thrown at him.  

At the end of the day, we return to the depot with all pallet deliveries complete and a lorry load of new pallets ready for distribution across the country.

While we all know the goods we use are delivered by someone, it is enlightening to see the process. More specifically, to see the hard work of the people who deliver these items. Steve is a real ambassador for this industry – his desire to deliver an excellent service really shone through. And having spoken to Chris, who gets to observe many of our drivers, he confirmed that Steve is in good company – our drivers genuinely care about the service they deliver.

Spending the day with Steve and Chris has really helped me to understand the role of a pallet driver so much more.”