First block at DHU2
Hi all,
Yesterday, I had my first block at DHU2 Hull. I’d never tried Flex before, so I was a bit nervous about how it would go. The block I booked was from 4pm to 7:30pm. Since I live only 4 miles from the depot, I thought Flex might be something I could do regularly.
However…
I arrived at the depot 15 minutes before the block started. There were a few cars queued up, being directed by a guy in a hi-vis vest. I joined the queue and parked up, but no one asked for my driving licence or anything like that. People were running around like crazy. After a few minutes, someone showed up with a crate, asked if I had a 3.5-hour block, and when I confirmed, he just left the crate and disappeared. That was it. I was left to figure things out on my own.
I scanned the parcels and realised I had 40 stops on the other side of the Humber, in Cleethorpes... My first thought was, “WTF, this can’t be right.” But I scanned everything, loaded up, and left the depot at 4:10pm.
I started delivering at 5pm and finished at 7:20pm, running like mad the whole time. Parking in Cleethorpes was a nightmare, everything’s double yellow lines, and people were arguing with me for parking on the pavement. 🫣 Oh, and it was raining the entire time.
I finally got home at 8pm, soaked through, after driving 72 miles in total (home-depot-deliveries-home). Now I’m wondering, is this normal or just bad luck? On top of fuel, insurance, and wear and tear, I also had to pay the toll for the Humber Bridge. How do people do this for the base rate of £54? It feels insane.
Luckily, my block was £80, but I’ve seen plenty of blocks taken for the base rate, and the crates/routes were distributed randomly. Someone else could’ve easily ended up with my crate for just £54.
So, a few questions for those of you with more experience:
- Is this a typical route and day?
- Can you refuse a route and ask for a different one?
- How do you justify doing Flex for the base rate?
I'm not sure if I want to do it again 🥲