BN16 PUV

Are those 6 speed semis or 8 speed automatics?

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That sounds crazy to me. Three years old and 260k km. Our 4 years old vans (6 speed) are a bit over 220k km. Your delivery range must be quite large.

We mostly have 6 speeds, we only got our first himatics about two years ago. The funny thing about those is, Tesco doesn't actually own them, they are on lease.

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Our weekly average is about 1200 km per van. Do you work whole days or just the morning+afternoon trips (1+2)? (I'm not sure how does it work in the UK, do you also have van trips 1A, 2D, 3J...?) As Tesco drivers, we used to only do 1+2 but Tesco CZ let all of their drivers go and hired an external firm to supply drivers to them, and some ex-Tesco drivers signed a work contract with this firm but we all work whole days now. I ran 365 km total today.

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When I first joined Tesco earlier last year, I worked two evening shifts (18.00-22.00), two day shifts (7.30-18.00), and then I had two days off. There were some agency drivers but I didn't know them and they didn't drive our Dailys as they had their Doblos. Last December, Tesco discharged all drivers and who wanted to, joined the agency. I did, and some others, though definitely not all, did too. And we all work 7.30-22.00 now. The planning's easier for the agency's shift managers but it's really tiring if I work four days in a row like that. Two of my colleagues from...the east work monday to saturday with no break, they only have a sunday off... I don't get it.

But I kinda like the shift planning better. Whenever I need a day off, I just tell my boss and he finds someone to cover for me. On wednesdays, when there's few orders to deliver, he sends me a text in the morning that I can sleep in. And I've been to six different Dotcoms around my country to cover for someone else, which is fun in itself as I get to drive on roads and towns I've never been to before, and seeing the differences between each Dotcom is interesting as well because some staple the receipts on the order summary list on the back and some on the front, some vans have assigned trips and some lets drivers draw trips in the morning, and the overall atmosphere among pickers and drivers is different (it's more hectic in Prague than in Kolín).



The agency's name is Dodo (I have some photos here, too), and they offered to take over part of Tesco CZ's logistics, and supplied manpower and vehicles (Doblos, yes we actually load the trays into the cargo area without any rails holding them in place, and we have to put the chilled/frozen goods into thermo boxes with ice bricks/dry ice). Dodo has the same deal with Tesco SK and wants to expand into PL and HU (cover the entire Visegrad group). Dodo also supplies drivers to Tesco's grocery competition Rohlik.cz and Kosik.cz, KFC delivery, and PPL (parcel logistic) and probably some more. If I didn't know any better (and I'm not sure I do), I'd think this is a beginning of some kinda cartel or something.

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Prague is covered by 3 Dotcoms so it's really easy for me to just take the subway west instead of east (since I live near the city centre) but unfortunately I don't get to do that very often since we definitely don't have "too many drivers". Guys come and go, most of them run quickly when they find out they'd be hauling heavy loads all day with no tips and I bet the whole-day shifts play a big role in that. There is no law or regulation of driving hours for car/vans here, though I think something may be a-brewing.

I don't think hiring a new driver costs that much here, some Tesco guy takes the new person for a ride to find out their ability to handle the big van, and then the person tags along with someone who already knows the job. We have a few guys who don't even want the big vans and stick with the Doblos, though most of us ex-Tesco drivers hate the Doblos. The uniform consists of a green Dodo-print t-shirt and a Dodo vest and jacket, and nobody cares what shoes or pants you wear, though the shoes should have a solid toe. And yes, it's kinda ironic that, from the customer's point of view, the shopping is delivered by "some dodo guy" that drove in in a non descript white car. At first, people were confused and kept asking "are you Tesco?" It was real tiresome. They are used to it now.

Our loading bay is pretty neat, it was converted from "underground" garages (in quotes since it's actually above the ground), though the actual store is one floor above so we need to use the cargo elevator to get the dollies to the cars downstairs, and it is not fun when the elevator acts up. We are the only Czech Dotcom that has an elevator that I know of but at least we have plenty of space for loading the cars, and the floor isn't sloping so we don't need to watch out for runaway dollies (unlike other Dotcoms).

Yes, the Doblos (the longer version, but still) are really not great for this job. There are no rails and you're constantly battling with space - at first there's not enough of it, and as you go suddenly there's too much of it and the remaining trays are sliding and flying around inside. However, the trip planner is counting on this, and if the trip is over ~220 kg, it splits the trip in two and actually gives you time to return to the store and load the other half. However, most of the time we manage to stuff everything in at once (the Doblo-assigned trips don't usually carry more than ~450 kg per trip) which results in you getting ahead of time and having an actual lunch and time to relax a bit, which is definitely not happening with Iveco-trips on Fridays and Saturdays.

Also, if you have a shift the next day, you can take the Doblo home, which is nice. Btw, those are CNG Doblos. You can squeeze up to 180 kph out of them (way above the speed limit), so that's kinda fun. They do have GPS trackers but we have no "driving score". Though they have a crappy turning circle and a low chassis so you gotta be extra careful when parking on a kerb.

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Interesting. My city has two large Tesco stores with dotcom areas. Whilst we operate the Ivecos at our larger store (with 19-20 vans), the other store has a fleet of 10 Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, mostly made up of brand new sprinter models, though with the odd older 2014-2015 Sprinters, and I have also seen 2014 Iveco Dailys being used as spare vans at that store too. I live closer to the smaller store, but drive maybe 7-8km to my store.

That's pretty much how the learning process is like with our store too, for new drivers. That, and there is 2 days of theory training, done in-store at the larger stores. I had to miss my original training at my own store when I joined, so I had to drive about 150km to another large store in Newcastle, though I was fully re-imbursed for both the fuel used, and 'wear and tear' costs. It's quite interesting to hear about the 'dodo' guys delivering shopping. That would never happen here, as we all have to wear corporate uniform (and most importantly, hi-vis vests, as we're often unloading on busy roads).

Ohh we are always 'required' to have a lunch/dinner break if we're doing a full shift, though this is not always possible at our store too, mainly due to time-constraints, and especially on busier days too. That's great that you can take your smaller Doblo vans home though. I struggle to park the Ivecos down my street (I don't even live on a small street). Our vans always stay at store overnight though.

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Yeah, reflective vests are a must here as well, though we're only required to wear them while at store which doesn't really make sense to me but oh well. They have plenty of pockets and a pen slot, so at least that's useful. From what I've seen though, the competing companies don't require their drivers to wear them. Seems like it's one of those rules that was put in place in the beginning and nobody bothered to revise them, ever.

Our vans must stay inside a fenced area overnight as well but if a van breaks down on the road and is towed back to the store it then stays at a separate parking area that's publicly accessible any time (the main part of our store's parking is height limited). Some other Dotcom stores, such as Prague-Zličín and Kladno regularly leave their vans outside since they have very limited parking space that's also shared with incoming trucks and forklifts and europalettes and such.

Taking the Doblo home is really great, especially on Sunday evenings, when public transportation service is limited, it takes me up to 40 minutes to get home by bus/tram but only 10 minutes by car. And don't worry, parking sucks pretty much everywhere these days. Imagine the typical communist panel house, 13 storeys high, 4 appartments on each floor and cars literally everywhere you look.

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