MH was out of work for some time. To earn an income while looking for another job in his preferred sector, he took up work as a delivery driver. So what’s it like, being a delivery driver? Read on for MH’s experience. We’ve deliberately omitted his name and photo, so as not to compromise his ongoing career in cyber security.
This Way UP! A Day in the Life of a Delivery Driver
MH, London
Have you ever wondered what couriers get up to when delivering those much-anticipated parcels to your door? Or why, only after several days, do you find that missing parcel lurking in a puddle behind your wheelie-bin? Have you ever tried to decipher the hieroglyphic scrawl on the ‘Sorry we missed you!’ cards posted through your letterbox. That’s assuming the courier even remembered to leave one behind? And, why on earth does your average delivery driver think it’s OK to park right across your driveway, just when you’re trying to pull in from work?
No? Well, up until about six months ago, I hadn’t given it much thought either. Except to get frustrated waiting for my own deliveries. Since then, for a few days each week, I’ve been self-employed as a home-delivery driver for one of those courier companies we love to hate. It’s been quite an education.
Delivery-driving isn’t my career choice. But for me and many other drivers I’ve met, it’s been the principal source of family income. Having been made redundant from my long-term job as a cybersecurity consultant a year ago, I found myself struggling to land my next role.
Difficult Times led to a Delivery Driver
For over 25 years I’d been lucky and hardly ever been out of work for more than a week. So it was quite a shock for me and the family.
The redundancy payout was a relief as it helped pay off some of the mortgage. I also enrolled on some further professional training courses. It was an opportunity to spend quality time with the family – supporting our son with exams, and my wife in helping her develop her own small business.
I could see the redundancy money running out and I was keen not to deplete our family savings any more than absolutely necessary. So it was time to get creative. But as the months progressed, the job applications failed to bring the desired result. Anyone who has found themselves out of work for any length of time will recognise the growing anxiety about the future. And the self-doubt which inevitably arises. Then the sometimes soul-destroying task that is hunting for your next job. You go from the highs of an exciting prospect or a phone-call from an enthusiastic recruiter to the lows of an unsuccessful interview. Then those fateful words, ‘…but on this occasion we will not be progressing your application.’ Sharing the daily job-hunting update with one’s beloved at home was especially poignant…
Big Step towards being a Delivery Driver
For as long as I have been a member of the Philosophy School – 25 years now – I have valued the intrinsically practical nature of the teaching and the everyday practices we have. If there is truth in this teaching then it must surely be seen in practice. This was my experience.
Gradually it became clear that some interim employment was needed. So I rekindled my old IT Support practice for select friends. Although it was satisfying and fairly well paid, it is typically intermittent work. It became obvious that I needed to augment our income. Whilst continuing to search for my next cyber post, I decided to look for work in the casual labour market. That’s when I landed the role as a self-employed delivery driver.
At this point I should say that whilst it is far from lucrative, barely covering personal expenses each week, delivery driving has been a godsend. It’s something for which I will always be grateful.
Induction for a Delivery Driver
After purchasing my own PPE (personal protective clothing) and preparing my own car, I started the new job.
Day 1 – some training at the depot, configuring the Delivery App on my phone and then my first 20 parcels. Success.
Day 2 – no sooner do I leave the depot with a carload of parcels, than my car exhaust falls off. Two hours and several hundred pounds later I’m inspecting the new exhaust and clumsily drop my mobile phone. It’s unusable. No deliveries can be made without my phone. No deliveries, no pay. I return to the depot, offload the day’s parcels and plan how to fix my phone – fast!
All’s well until the end of the first week. Due to a recent company merger, all the drivers are notified that their routes are to be re-allocated. They may not have enough work for me in my local postal area.
The following week raises my hopes when the boss says they might just have three days work for me each week. And so it goes…
The Daily Routine of a Delivery Driver
Each day I’m delivering, I don my hi-vis vest, and steel toe-capped boots. I pack my lunch-box and drive the 9 miles to the depot warehouse. There I locate and wheel out my named parcel ‘cage’. I then load anything from 40 to 75 parcels of all shapes and sizes into my little hatch-back. Each parcel is scanned using an App on my phone and then daubed with the ‘sequence number’. This determines the running-order when I’m driving around my assigned postal area (my ‘Tour.’)
Delivery Driver required to Commit
Before leaving the depot I sign off my parcel load in the App. At this point each addressee will receive a text message giving them a 2-hour time-window in which to expect their delivery. The App posts back a message on screen, asking “Are you ready to commit?” and now the clock is running! Once on my way I’m guided by the Maps App on my phone to the first drop of the day. How did we ever cope before satnav? A croissant and a coffee keep my mind off the snarled-up traffic and the anxious feeling that comes with trying to meet my time commitments. There’s no knowing what to expect on my journey. No two days are the same. Keeping this in mind helps to allay any sense of boredom or indeed, any idea that ‘I know.’
Pop-up road-works and the curse of ‘three-way traffic signals’, grumpy customers eager to share their thoughts about their last courier, 20mph speed limits and days when 20mph is more an aspiration than a limit! Rain, wind and depressingly dark London skies, secure apartment blocks like Fort Knox, incomplete address labels, customers not at home when I only earn for the parcels I can actually deliver. ‘Sunday drivers’ who have forgotten what day of the week it is, or the ‘boy-racers’ clipping my wing mirror whilst I’m parked up – and don’t get me started on parking.
Parking Nightmare for a Delivery Driver
Now here’s a funny thing – parking in London is, as any metropolitan resident well knows, a complete nightmare. ‘Residents only’ parking, single yellow lines, double yellow lines, red lines, white lines, parking meters etc. How is a delivery driver supposed to cover the cost of a single Penalty Charge [parking fine] that takes a whole day’s earnings?
Some days the traffic jam eases more quickly, and there’s a parking spot just where you need it. Maybe the next customer greets you with a friendly joke. Then the sandwich for lunch tastes divine! All this said, most days I get through my deliveries and arrive home tired, but happy.
And therein lies the blessing of this job and, one imagines, of any job. The philosophic tradition we study in the School and the eternal wisdom it reveals remind us repeatedly of how best to meet our daily activities. Attend only to the present moment and to meet it with a sense of service and love.
Each Delivery is an Opportunity
Each road I drive down, each address I visit, each person I greet at the door and each parcel I place into their hands. All these are yet more opportunities to remember the most fundamental practice we have received from the advaita tradition. Switching the engine off and connecting with the senses, the sound of suburban London, the rumble of traffic and the sweetness of birdsong, all offer a moment of bliss. In that simple physical connection, a certain quietness settles in the mind and heart. And then it’s on to the next delivery.
These past twelve-plus months, I have drawn on what the advaita tradition has taught me about faith, hope and trust. This knowledge has been a precious companion and brought peace in the face of uncertainty. It has helped me remain steady for the family, upbeat for my friends and to be open to opportunity, however how far outside my comfort zone. May I wish this peace for all – and, of course, timely home deliveries!
Note from editor: MH has just started his job in cybersecurity again.
Video follows – please note this is not MH.