“Love what you do, and you will never work a day in your life.”
This phrase certainly applies to Shears Bros. (Transport) driver John Wallis, whose role as a Collection and Delivery driver within the Pall-Ex network leaves him feeling fulfilled every day.
John took the time to speak to the Pall-Ex team, to explain why he loves his job so much.
What does your daily routine consist of working at Shears?
I get up every day and I am always looking forward to starting work. I get to the yard for 07:00 where I have my vehicle loaded up with pallets for the first run of the day, I then head out to make my deliveries.
Every day, I deliver to somewhere and someone new, so there is always an element of excitement, as you never know what to expect. Normally it takes me until around 11:00 to make all of my deliveries on my first run, after which, I return to the yard and collect the pallets ready for the afternoon deliveries.
Then the routine is fairly similar to the morning run, apart from the fact that I will often make collections once my deliveries have been made. I return to Shears for around 18:30 each day and then get home for around 19:00.
I’m normally in bed by 22:00 and ready for the next day!
You clearly enjoy your work. What is it in particular that you enjoy about it?
I love the fact that every day is different!
I am always meeting new customers and travelling to new places. Even after three and a half years of doing this job, I visit a new location every day which means I’m always seeing something new. When making collections and deliveries, I enjoy helping customers and making sure I do the very best I can for them to ensure they are happy. That gives me a real buzz.
Another thing that I love is that I am able to build relationships with people and really get to know my regular customers. Many people think that being a driver can be very solitary, but I often have a quick chat with them when making deliveries which always makes my day enjoyable.
Is logistics something that you always wanted to do?
The simple answer is no, I didn’t think that I would end up in logistics.
I have always enjoyed driving and I worked for over 30 years driving taxis and coaches so at the age of 60, I decided to make the switch to logistics and it’s the best decision I ever made.
You said that you changed to logistics at 60!?
Yes that may surprise a few people that I didn’t train to drive HGVs until I was 60. My background in driving coaches helped but it was still a big challenge when I decided to make the change.
At that stage in their lives, most people are thinking about retirement, but that wasn’t for me. As I’ve said, I love my job and everyday brings new experiences and challenges so I definitely made the right decision. I want to work in logistics for as long as I can.