Hi, I'm Pete The Courier Driver and this video is going to be how to minimize the damage to
anything you're carrying when you're doing your courier runs when you're doing your deliveries.
We're going to go for about four topics in this video, basically, how to identify what is fragile,
where to place it in the van, how to secure it in the van, and how to drive it there
and minimize any damage to goods. Before we go into it, if you like the videos,
has a few other videos on the Channel. If you could, please hit the ‘like’ button,
hit the thumbs up button, and hit the notification bell. All very much appreciated. Anyway,
on with it. Basically, you got to work out what is dangerous, and what is fragile.
Common sense comes into this. I mean, there will be things that are going to give it away. If it
says fragile on the box, chances are it's fragile, but that's no guarantee because sometimes they
stick CDs in boxes that say fragile and sometimes they stick glasses in a box and go, there you go,
mate, and just expect you to get on with it. Another thing you want to look out for is if
you're doing pallets or stuff like that. If they have a little yellow triangle on top of the box
or something that says, do not stack, don't put anything on top of it. Because that means
there's something fragile on that, which means you don't want to put on top of it. Machines,
if you're loading machines, and you've got to use common sense, you've got to have a look it.
You've got a look at the top and go, what if I throw a strap over the top of that machine?
That looks a little bit fragile. Wood is another one. That little bit
of wood at the top looks a little bit thin. As I crank that strap down, there's a chance that
I could do damage myself, in which case, you look for somewhere lower. Is it bolted to the palette?
I can then just strap the palate to the floor. No problem. That bit there looks a bit dodgy,
but it's obviously secured to that by nuts. I'm just going to go over the bottom. You've got this
every situation individually. Talk to the people that you're picking
up from. Is it safe to strap, can I strap it there? Excuse me. Because if you can,
then if you talk to them and they go, I can strap it this way, and then something goes wrong you've
got some comeback. Then you got to work out where to put it so you've got a way up two things here.
You've got to weigh up the weight, and you've got a way up securing the loading transit.
Regarding the weight, the best place to put it is near the back axles, because that's
balances the load out an awful lot better. Regarding movement, the best place to put
it is up against the bulkhead. Because if you put it up against the bulkhead, if you break suddenly
can't go anywhere. It's up against the bulkhead. It could shift side to side, depending how wide
is. The only way that's ever really going to move is either you're going uphill,
or someone smacks into the back of you at great speed. If someone smack in the back
you at great speed, you're in trouble anyway. But the best way really is to make sure that the
load is secured. The way we make sure the load is secured, if you've got a lot of gear on board, you
can use the load itself to secure it. What we do is, we load the big items first, because that way
you can make sure that they can't move. Then you put the medium items in between the big items,
and then you put the small items in between the medium items.
The problem we got with that is, then you got to find them off the other end. This is
where the Circuit Package fFnder comes in. If you've got a lot of boxes on board and you're
not sure where they are going to be, it does that wonderful thing. As you put the box in,
you can actually...You can identify on the app as it goes in so you'll know where it is.
If you haven't got a lot on board, then there's many different things at your disposal that you
can use to strap the load. You can use normal straps, tiny ones, or you can use the five-ton
straps. We're going to do something on them that we think we might have done already in fairness.
Blankets, remove all blankets, very handy. If you've got things that are fragile, got glass,
you got wardrobes with mirrors in throw a blanket over the top before you put the strap on.
You can use bubble wrap. You can use corners. Another one that is going to be one of your big
friends, get yourself a roller shrink wrap. We've only before where we've turned up,
one of our drivers turned up to pick up, it was a palate of alcohol, and he was in the loo and
he had to pick it up. The way they had stacked it, it had stacked all the light empty boxes
on the bottom and all the heavy stuff on the top. What he should have done, he didn't, in fairness,
he should have said, that's no good. We need to restack that with a heavy on the bottom and
the light on the top. As a result of which, when they went to get the palate off the other side,
if we try to take up the pallet fell over. Then there's a big to and from in whose fault is it? Is
it the driver's fault? Is it the people that stack its fault? In the end, we come to some agreement.
The truth of the matter is, once it's on board, it's your problem.
If it falls over, you've got your goods in transit insurance. But no one wants to go down that route.
You really just want to make sure that the thing is on board, strapped properly. If
you got a pallet and the pallet is not right, what you can do, do a bit of jiggery-pokery,
knock it around yourself, get the shrink wrap nice and tight
all the way around it. Then you know you got peace of mind when you're driving that when you
get to the other side, you're going to be okay. On the subject of driving, driving stuff, I mean,
we should all drive relatively safely anyway. But I find when I'm heavily loaded in mind,
certain things that I will do. Firstly, I will do corners and roundabouts slower,
because that's when you're trying to minimize your side-to-side movement. Look at the roundabout,
leave plenty of space, try and approach it. Couple of cars in front of me, I slow down a little bit,
let them clear, and then I can go around round about like that. Rather than having to go all the
way around in the outside lane, I can go outside inside that. I can cut the corner off a little bit
straight lines, keep it smooth and in straight lines. That's the best way around it.
Other things that I would say, increase the size of your bubble. The bubble is the distance
between you to the lorry in front or the car or a van in front, and the distance between
the vehicle behind you. If you've got a load on board you want to make sure that you want to be
extra careful about it. Leave bigger gaps that way if the guy in front of you hits the brakes,
if he slams his anchors on, you've got time to slow down gradually. The problem is, you leave a
nice big gap in front of you, someone goes, he's left a big gap in front, I'm going to overtake.
When they do, I zoom in space, ease off again. It might cost you a couple of minutes on your
journey, but trust me, it's worth it for the piece of mind. I would recommend that anyway.
That's basically it. That's how to identify, how to stack it, how to strap it, and how to drive it.
At the end of the day, the main thing is preparation. Have your straps,
your blankets, your corners, you shrink wrap on board. Make sure the load is solid,
put it in a place you're happy, put the straps on up, put it so you're happy,
and then drive it smoothly. It's all about preparation. With all these things,
it's about preparation, taking a little bit more time, it is less haste, more speed. Was the other
way around. I remember that one. But just giving it a little bit of time to make sure that the
load gets there safely, because then you haven't got that nightmare scenario when you open up the
back doors and everything's everywhere. The geezer looks at you, like, and goes "I'm not taking that
mate", and you're like, "Oh my God". That's it. Anyway, if you like the video, like I say please,
if you can like, subscribe, hit the bell. Also, there are some videos over on my YouTube Channel,
Pete The Courier Driver, all helpful videos all there to try to help you guys. Get there safely,
do the job, get the job done and help you take care and take money.