Evri

[pieoftheday]

Article in the Manchester Evening news about being an Evri driver, sounds pants. I'm rubbish with compooters so cant do a link

[yellowbelly]

‘The worst job I’ve ever had’
AT DELIVERY FIRM
Manchester Evening News
7 Feb 2023
By SOPHIE HALLE-RICHARDS newsdesk@men-news.co.uk @MENnewsdesk

Delivery drivers working for Evri have spoken out on their concerns over pay and conditions
IT’S just past 11am and Craig has already been on the road for several hours. But so far, he claims he hasn’t made a penny. He arrived at his local Evri delivery depot in Manchester at 8.30am. But by the time he’s loaded his stack of parcels into his car in the pouring rain, it’s gone 10am.

After knocking at the first house on his round, the customer isn’t in, and they’ve not selected a safe space for him to leave their parcel. He leaves frustrated and out of pocket.

Craig – not his real name – is one of several Evri couriers in Manchester who’ve spoken to the M.E.N about what life is really like working for the delivery firm.

He claims drivers are having to work harder for less money, and face having their rounds “slashed.”

Evri deny this, and say all couriers earn in excess of the minimum wage after expenses, and this includes time for collection and re-delivery.

But tensions have become so heightened at one depot in south Manchester that drivers were involved in a stand-off with bosses.

They say they worked hard over Christmas to help clear a huge backlog of parcels, but claim the tipping point came when changes to their routes were implemented.

Craig, who started working for the firm when it was Hermes, says his experience of the job has got ‘progressively worse.’

Craig claims he has to work six days a week in order to keep his round. In a typical month, Craig, who is self-employed, makes around £1,000. He gets paid for every parcel he delivers, but says changes to the packaging sizes mean he makes less money than he used to. “For a standard parcel you might get 60p but they’ve changed the sizing so you could have a massive Dunelm parcel which is huge, but doesn’t really weigh that much, that’s put down as a packet,” he said.

“So someone will be delivering that for the same cost as an ASOS parcel but it will take up the whole boot and you’ve got to come back to the depot again to reload.” Craig claims he and his colleagues only get paid for the parcels they deliver to customers.

“If I go and knock on someone’s door and they are not in and there’s nowhere for me to leave the parcel, I don’t get paid for that,” he said. “You pay for your own fuel as well, so you’ve lost money. That’s why you see drivers delivering them wherever they can, otherwise you’re just losing money. Some people will refuse to leave the shed open or things like that. They want it in their hands but then they are never in.” Evri say that when petrol costs spiked they introduced an additional fuel payment. But Craig says that for him, this only amounted to an extra £8 a month. Craig claims the first part of his shift is spent exposed to the elements as he and fellow drivers are forced to load their cars without any shelter from the weather. Evri say couriers have access to rain shelters, but Craig and other drivers who spoke to the M.E.N claim this isn’t the case.

Craig said: “The other week it was snowing and the parcels all got wet. As soon as the customer came to the door the bottom just fell out and it’s just embarrassing.”

Evri has previously apologised for delays experienced by many customers over Christmas, citing staff shortages, Royal Mail strikes and bad weather. Craig claims his own local depot saw a mass exodus of drivers during the festive period due to working conditions and pay.

Several couriers at the south Manchester depot said the backlog of Christmas parcels, which totalled around 16,000 at their depot alone, was only cleared days ago.

Evri say they hired an extra 5,000 staff over the festive period to help clear the backlog.

Another driver, who has worked for Evri for several years, said: “The pay is awful. We have to stand in the rain and cold for 40 minutes every morning sorting the parcels without getting paid. It’s the worst job I’ve ever done in my life but there is nothing else out there for us.”

“If I could get a job somewhere else I would love to.

“I earn about £800 a month but that’s before petrol and my phone bill and all the other bills I have to pay. The environment, treatment and pay is awful.”

Couriers at the south Manchester depot, who claim they normally deliver on average over 150 parcels a day, say in the last few days they’ve arrived to find just a few dozen parcels allocated to them, meaning they say they will earn less than £20 a round.

They claim they won’t be able to survive on this and there were chaotic scenes outside the unit in Wythenshawe last week, as a group of angry couriers refused to pick up parcels as they demanded answers over what was happening.

If I knock on a door and they aren’t in and there’s nowhere to leave the parcel, I don’t get paid ‘Craig’

What Evri told the M.E.N
Manchester Evening News7 Feb 2023

A SPOKESPERSON for Evri said: “We are unable to respond to anonymous allegations about specific disputes or even verify that these individuals work for Evri without their details.

“However, we can confirm that as our couriers are self-employed, they are able to choose the number of parcels they deliver and the time frame they do it.

“All our couriers earn in excess of the minimum wage after expenses such as fuel costs (the average is over £15 an hour) and this includes time for collection and redelivery. This is independently audited by the GMB Union.

“When fuel costs spiked we introduced an additional payment which was tailored for round types two-thirds of our rounds are less than one square mile and the average courier will do 15 or less miles per day. All parcels are sorted into cages inside the depots and then loaded into vehicles outside with access to rain shelters.

“We are in discussions with a small number of couriers at one of our local delivery units who are unhappy with some changes to delivery rounds we have implemented.

“These are designed to ensure that every courier has viable earnings during these quieter months. We can confirm that deliveries are not affected as a result of this.”

[Shirtbuttons]

Is that trying to make us feel better? Why are they still working there? You’re better off on the dole.

[Wolf91]

This is Simon/Keith/ the board’s wet dream, to make us like this. That would be firmly mission accomplished in their eyes.
Vote yes.

[ted_e_bear]

It takes "Craig" an hour and half to load his parcels in to his car

[Barnacle]

Anecdotally, people are getting rid of the extra car due to fuel costs and the hundreds of £s extra in energy bills. On my road alone, which has residents parking down both sides, there are now plenty of parking spaces where once there was none.

People aren’t going to be able to survive and keep a vehicle, on owner driver wages. It isn’t worth it. It’s a model that has a limited lifespan.

[mjd24]

Evri little help.

[pieoftheday]

Anecdotally, people are getting rid of the extra car due to fuel costs and the hundreds of £s extra in energy bills. On my road alone, which has residents parking down both sides, there are now plenty of parking spaces where once there was none.

People aren’t going to be able to survive and keep a vehicle, on owner driver wages. It isn’t worth it. It’s a model that has a limited lifespan.

Yeah and when the place where you live becomes a 15 minute city, owner drivers will.get shafted. Granted there are proposed exemptions but they'll soon disappear

[antcpfc]

So ever I drivers around my area earn £250-300 a day. Admittedly they work 12 hours for it but if you are quick you can earn.

[pieoftheday]

They'd have to do 300 parcels a day a 60p.each to get £180, the 2 evri drivers say they're on £800 to £1000 a month.

[employee1]

Evri? Who score about 1.7 in reviews!
Most customers complain that the review system won't let them give 0 stars out of 5. Its a matter of time when the public wake up to how rubbish they really are.
Not a great employer either, owner drivers with no paid sick or holiday, no pension.
Sounds a bit like ST's plan for RM, I know, but he is a passing phase, remember RM has had lots of CEO's!
All said and done, I'm proud to be a postie and will fight to keep the service as close to what it is now as is possible, God willing.

[Barnacle]

They'd have to do 300 parcels a day a 60p.each to get £180, the 2 evri drivers say they're on £800 to £1000 a month.

It’s just not worth it.