Are lorry drivers (or lack of) having an effect on any of your regular supplies?

[Dan]

HGV driver shortage: UK firms embark on the long road to plug the gap

Logistics sector ups its recruitment and training effort but big obstacles lie ahead

www.theguardian.com

Food, beer, toys, medical kit. Why is Britain running out of everything?

Poor pay and conditions for HGV drivers and the loss of many thousands of EU workers are plunging the UKs supply chain into crisis

www.theguardian.com

Minister urges firms to invest in UK-based workers in HGV driver shortage

Business secretary reported as saying foreign labour only offers ‘temporary solution’ as companies face supply chain crisis

www.theguardian.com

I keep reading news, hearing on radio and seeing on telly that the lack of lorry drivers is having more and more of an impact on our daily lives and wont stop any time soon. I was wondering if any of you guys and gals have felt this with suppliers running out of anything you use regularly?

Heard anything through the grapevine?

Started to stock up on basic things you use often to help get around this over Christmas etc?

 

[pirate]

Poor, deluded souls...i feel so sorry for you...here in Scotland we have Queen Nicola sorting everything, and those of you in the South are so jealous that all you can do is mock us!
and quite right too!
~this is a national problem...HGV drivers deserve a good wage...
nurses deserve a good wage...
so many sectors deserve more, but we have NO MONEY!
Printing money for Covid is ok...but why not print some more? We've done it for decades!
Furlough? We printed the money for that...nobody gave me any money though
I wanted to work but had none, so no furlough...
Now we have folks on furlough who don't want to go back to work because staying at home on 80% wages is far better than working...
Lorry drivers are essential workers
Plumbers are essential workers
Electricians are essential workers
and the list goes on and on...so many workers are essential for health, safety, everything we hold dear or deem essential to the way we live our lives...
but we reward those in the higher echelons who have stood out for no real merit, and ignore those who genuinely keep society viable...
What we need to take from Covid is a lesson about what and who matters, all the time. And learn the lessons.
Thank you for reading this.

 

[Zerax]

Hopefully this never happens. While I was (and remain) a strong advocate of Brexit, I honestly believe the EU is essential for the continued functioning of mainland Europe.

Agreed... we need a healthy and prosperous EU to sell our goods and services to... (the EU are to hell bent on revenge to realise that it's in their interest for the UK to also be prosperous).

One of the few reasons for us to stay in the EU was that we provided a stabilising force against the EU federalists.

 

[FatAlan]

What about wages going up? Prime example being HGV drivers finally getting some appreciation.

Too many people doing ‘nothing jobs’ in this country where nothing is produced. When you really boil it down most of these people are a drain in a crisis

No point in wages going up if prices go up at the same time. What’s a nothing job? Do you mean, the public sector where basically there’s no profit in their expertise?
I’m sure you can come up with something better than that? ??

 

[telectrix]

No point in wages going up if prices go up at the same time. What’s a nothing job? Do you mean, the public sector where basically there’s no profit in their expertise?
I’m sure you can come up with something better than that? ??

you could sack 50% of civil servants. redistribute their duties to the remaining 50%, and these latter would still have a cushy life.

 

[FatAlan]

So which civil servants have a cushy life then Tel? All I see is under investment, antiquated IT systems, lack of staff and those that are left are trying to manage mpossible workloads made even worse by increased bureaucracy imposed by politicians due to the latest media outcry over the latest high profile public service cock up most likely caused by lack of resources. Still, work a 12 hr shirt in A&E sounds pretty cushy.

 

[telectrix]

by civil servants, i don't mean public sector workers like nurses. i mean the suited shiny arsed pencil necks that turn every government decision into a 2 year nightmare of mountains of paper and costs, when a tick on a page is all that's required.

 

[nicebutdim]

No point in wages going up if prices go up at the same time. What’s a nothing job? Do you mean, the public sector where basically there’s no profit in their expertise?
I’m sure you can come up with something better than that? ??

I didn't see that comment as being aimed specifically at the public sector, but at the huge number of jobs out there that do precisely nothing for society.

While many service industries are vital, there are many others that simply exist as a means of tapping off money. This applies equally to public and private sectors.

 

[FatAlan]

by civil servants, i don't mean public sector workers like nurses. i mean the suited shiny arsed pencil necks that turn every government decision into a 2 year nightmare of mountains of paper and costs, when a tick on a page is all that's required.

Ok Tel, I’ll give you that one ?I think I read somewhere that the Tories had promised to cut down the number of shiny suited brigade but due to COVID thousands more had been taken on in London. That on top of the lucrative contracts they’ve been handing out to their management consultant mates.

 

[mattg4321]

Too many consultants and sales staff that don’t actually produce something. They just try and manipulate others to part with their money usually. I wasn’t really aiming my previous comment exclusively at the public sector although they are included.

The economy should be set up to pay the people who are useful to society more than the pittance they’ve become used to and some of the people at the middle/top should get a smaller slice of the pie.

HGV drivers who are away from home for 70/80 hours a week should be getting paid ‘Waitrose money’ ie. 50k plus a year. Funny how they don’t have a driver shortage now. Care home workers should be paid more along with most frontline staff in the nhs. The consultants who advise the nhs on how to spend their money should be shot at dawn!! Ask any of the relevant staff the same questions and you will get more sensible answers, for free.

Management consultants don’t save the NHS money – new evidence

Millions of pounds are being wasted each year by the NHS on management consultants who are causing a service already under pressure to be less efficient.

theconversation.com

It appears some people want to avoid wage inflation for the people mentioned above so it keeps prices cheap for everyone else. They also don’t mind that we harvest the best of the workers from poorer countries to bring over here and work for peanuts. Never mind the fact that the countries they leave are then struggling with a shrinking and ageing population at the same time. Never mind that though as long as the 6 and 7 figure bonuses keep getting paid every year.

 

[FatAlan]

Too many consultants and sales staff that don’t actually produce something. They just try and manipulate others to part with their money usually. I wasn’t really aiming my previous comment exclusively at the public sector although they are included.

The economy should be set up to pay the people who are useful to society more than the pittance they’ve become used to and some of the people at the middle/top should get a smaller slice of the pie.

HGV drivers who are away from home for 70/80 hours a week should be getting paid ‘Waitrose money’ ie. 50k plus a year. Funny how they don’t have a driver shortage now. Care home workers should be paid more along with most frontline staff in the nhs. The consultants who advise the nhs on how to spend their money should be shot at dawn!! Ask any of the relevant staff the same questions and you will get more sensible answers, for free.

Management consultants don’t save the NHS money – new evidence

Millions of pounds are being wasted each year by the NHS on management consultants who are causing a service already under pressure to be less efficient.

theconversation.com

It appears some people want to avoid wage inflation for the people mentioned above so it keeps prices cheap for everyone else. They also don’t mind that we harvest the best of the workers from poorer countries to bring over here and work for peanuts. Never mind the fact that the countries they leave are then struggling with a shrinking and ageing population at the same time. Never mind that though as long as the 6 and 7 figure bonuses keep getting paid every year.

Agree with a lot of what you say. I do believe that management consultants have grown fat on ripping off the public sector. As for sales, that’s quite a niche job and would argue that a good sales team is essential to any business. Put it this way, none running a business would have a business with some sort of sales input.
The government has just raised NI to raise extra funds for the NHS. Funny how they’re not looking at extra taxes on the high earners and those who salt away their millions off shore like the Rees Moggs of this world.

 

[nicebutdim]

Agree with a lot of what you say. I do believe that management consultants have grown fat on ripping off the public sector. As for sales, that’s quite a niche job and would argue that a good sales team is essential to any business. Put it this way, none running a business would have a business with some sort of sales input.
The government has just raised NI to raise extra funds for the NHS. Funny how they’re not looking at extra taxes on the high earners and those who salt away their millions off shore like the Rees Moggs of this world.

I get your point, but think about the motor trade as an example. From a customer's perspective there are three main components to it: Sales, service and parts. Biggest bucks go to sales, service is next and parts a big drop down to very low wages. This is simply because car sales generate most income and parts generally the least - some garages almost resent having to operate a parts department, despite the fact it is essentail to the efficient running of their service department and could (if funded and managed properly) provide a reasonable income stream in itself.

Service and parts staff are essential - while salespeople encourage the public to part with their cash, they don't actually contribute anything useful. They sell aspiration and, while it's definitely a skill (and not a job I'd want to do), it's not a job that could be considered essential. If manufacturers made better quality cars, they'd sell themselves and salespeople would be redundant.

As for tax increases... rich people are, for the most part, happy to pay their taxes. What they aren't is happy to be treated as a cash cow, simply because they worked hard or were clever/lucky. Squeeze them too much and they won't take it - no different to anyone else, in that regard

 

[DPG]

Ok Tel, I’ll give you that one ?I think I read somewhere that the Tories had promised to cut down the number of shiny suited brigade but due to COVID thousands more had been taken on in London. That on top of the lucrative contracts they’ve been handing out to their management consultant mates.

I'm not sure why you have this blinkered view of only the Tories doing things like this. You need to think back to the many years of the Blair labour government.

I suspect you only listen to the media sources that publish things that match your political views?

 

[mattg4321]

Everyone knows that Blair was a ‘red Tory’.

Labour haven’t been looking out for their supposed core voter (the labouring person), the normal working person, for decades now.

The unions got too powerful at one time which killed old Labour and they switched to identity politics to try and compete with the Tories. Most people in this country want nothing to do with identity politics. They just want to be paid and taxed fairly and have good public services. They don’t care if the public service is full of balding white males or transsexual Muslims, they just want the job done properly.

Labour have missed their opportunity to pivot back to being a party for the working man or woman, they are full of lunatics now. We desperately need a proper opposition to the Tories in this country.

 

[DPG]

Everyone knows that Blair was a ‘red Tory’.

Labour haven’t been looking out for their supposed core voter (the labouring person), the normal working person, for decades now.

The unions got too powerful at one time which killed old Labour and they switched to identity politics to try and compete with the Tories. Most people in this country want nothing to do with identity politics. They just want to be paid and taxed fairly and have good public services. They don’t care if the public service is full of balding white males or transsexual Muslims, they just want the job done properly.

Labour have missed their opportunity to pivot back to being a party for the working man or woman, they are full of lunatics now. We desperately need a proper opposition to the Tories in this country.

That's the problem - if Labour don't behave how you want then they 'aren't proper labour'. It's like when people realised how much Neil Kinnock was earning as an MEP - ah, was never proper labour him.

And the 1970s?

Mmm, so - when exactly was the 'good labour' then? I'm struggling to see it to be honest

 

[telectrix]

pity Lord Sutch is deceased. they could have had a decent lunatic.