Multi drop company question

Yearly the silly season kicks off ( Xmas rush) and theres a glut of work as the over nighters cant cope without fools like myself who are happy to rock up and take over some of the work load. Have van , will travel.

This year im cruising through the posted online adverts of companys looking for couriers and ive spotted a little trend which has got me thinking. Within the advert the following is posted,

Successful applicants will be required to undergo a drug and alcohol test and will also be required to complete a CRB check.

This is a new one on me,,,,,,,,,, a drug and alcohol test?

I have spotted this on at least 3 adverts so far and none give an indication of what company they are recruiting for. For couriers who are not in the know what happens is a company will tender for a postcode from an overnighter . The person ( its always a 1 man band ) then recruits subbies who then do the actual work on a day rate and most companys tend to have somewhere between 30-50% of the work covered in this way.

So the simple question is does anyone know who the end user company is? I at a guess would think its Parcelforce but id be very interested in knowing whom it is and do wonder if this is to be a new industry standard ?

Most big firms now have a drug and alcohol policy as part of their health and safety policy especially if they are I S O19001 accredited. Simple pee sample is all it is. If you are an employee who tests positive you are usually offered help with kicking your particular habit before disciplinary action is taken. I guess it's now moved on to include survives and I guess if you do this job for a living you have nothing to be worried about as you won't be on the p1ss or taking drugs anyway... Well I hope not as there are enough nutters out there already.

Jeez I hate predictive text... should read SUBBIES

I've worked for some of the big firms in the past and this is a policy that has been in for quite some time. As there has been many pulled by the police and found to be taking drugs whilst driving and still smelling of alcohol from the night before. I suppose if you don't drink or take drugs, you have nothing to worry about.

Thought you needed drink an drugs to do multi drop

Youd have to be on drugs to run for some of the rates people are paying. Last year one agency near me wanted 80+ a day for 110 quid a day?

AJM sameday Couriers said:

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Thought you needed drink an drugs to do multi drop

You know it!

I do find it odd though. The CRB is a fair enough requirement depending on what you carry but i cant see it as an industry standard . I spent 3.5 years dropping sensitive items off which was mainly passports and credit cards. As you can imagine you dont want the wrong people to be dropping off say your immigration welcome to the country your legal card and paperworkoff to just anyone . Dont mention mobiles either . But i do find the drug and alcohol part interesting as i cant see a pertinence to the job beyond if someone is tripping they are not going to be able to capable of doing the job and drink of course doesnt even come into it . I like a drink but this means Friday and Saturday only ( i dont do Sunday just in case ) and only once its known next days a rest day. In the week then forget it , not a risk to be taken . The company im presently at employs polish lads with polish registered vans ( how i dont know , LHD also !) so a CRB check would be pointless . But back to the thread i found out that its RICO thats posted the advert and oddly it was a nice young lady from docklands who created the advert .

A E Delivery said:

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I do find it odd though. The CRB is a fair enough requirement depending on what you carry but i cant see it as an industry standard . I spent 3.5 years dropping sensitive items off which was mainly passports and credit cards. As you can imagine you dont want the wrong people to be dropping off say your immigration welcome to the country your legal card and paperworkoff to just anyone . Dont mention mobiles either . But i do find the drug and alcohol part interesting as i cant see a pertinence to the job beyond if someone is tripping they are not going to be able to capable of doing the job and drink of course doesnt even come into it . I like a drink but this means Friday and Saturday only ( i dont do Sunday just in case ) and only once its known next days a rest day. In the week then forget it , not a risk to be taken . The company im presently at employs polish lads with polish registered vans ( how i dont know , LHD also !) so a CRB check would be pointless . But back to the thread i found out that its RICO thats posted the advert and oddly it was a nice young lady from docklands who created the advert .

They might as well tattoo us with a barcode, and implant us with a gps tracker to make sure we are not being naughty. It would save a lot of bother in the long run.

Thats on its way lol. And all because some couriers are being naughty, just read one of the posts by Rob at speed couriers.