MONDAY
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I arrive at the office at 08:00hrs and begin the day by consulting transport in all areas to find out what happened over the weekend. About an hour later I meet our company accountant to plan the coming week's arrangements. We have several projects on the go at present, including the acquisition of building land and new lorries and trailers. At lunchtime I have a meeting with the depot manager to go through continuing customer needs and new customer commitments. Go into transport to oversee the running of a new contract. Speak to several contacts throughout the day and stay in constant contact with other depot managers. Leave office at 21:00hrs.
TUESDAY
Arrive to find transport off to a busy start. We specialise in temperature-controlled distribution, so planning is essential. At the moment we're running 70 tractors and 80 trailers. Introduce myself to two new office staff: staffing levels of about 200 are on the increase yet again in preparation for anticipated growth. I have an important meeting today with an existing customer to discuss a change in work patterns, and so spend the morning assessing requirements with managers before the meeting. Fortunately, this goes well and the outcome is successful. I am pleased with our preparation and the support given by the management team.
WEDNESDAY
Arrive at the office at 07:45hrs because I plan to help run transport today. I do jump in there now and again to understand work levels and keep hands-on experience of day-to-day problems. I always look at our weekly accounts on a Wednesday to see If any controls have slipped. Back into transport—surprising how busy this time of year can get. Can't get away until late evening, and then I volunteered to go on call! Strange. but no-one said no...
THURSDAY
A busy night last night. We have all-night shunters on all five depot sites at all times. However, calls still come through, and problems need to be dealt with immediately. With chilled, shortlife goods there is little room for manoeuvre when a problem does arise. We have cover for every eventuality—except for the call you have at 03:00hrs in the morning when no one wants to talk to you. As soon as I've passed on details of night calls to transport, one of my drivers corners me asking about—what else?—pay. When is the next pay rise? I must say we have a good team of drivers headed by good managers in all areas. However, pay is always an issue, especially with the shortage of drivers and the limited number of experienced drivers. Speak to our training officer about driver problems, including vehicle accident damage and their handling of proof-of-delivery papers. We discuss the idea of setting up a new attractive training scheme which, we hope, will encourage drivers to work for us.
FRIDAY
An excellent start to the day, with requests to quote for three new contracts generating from £5,000 to £20,000 of turnover per week. Preparing for quotations involves a lot of work and can take anything up to three weeks. Consideration must be given to staffing levels, equipment, logistics and planning, to name but a few things, in order to give a realistic and competitive quote. Speak to the accountant and made a start: I can see I'll be working several hours over the weekend...