7.5 tonne driver

truck driver

shift manager

delivery driver

owner operator driver

When i first started at dpd i was a employed driver , the pay wasnt brilliant but if you worked a saturday that helped to bring your earnings up to a reasonable level. So i then decided to go down the path of becoming a franchisee to increase my earning potential.The owner driver route was a avenue that i had contemplated goin down for a few years and the job was advertised at the time "run your own business" Earn 28K a year take home PLUS" so i handed over a 2k deposit for my franchise ,this meant i now did not get holiday pay, sick pay and if for some reason i was off sick(which i never was) i would then be fined £150 for each day that i didnt provide the service which is ok if your never ill. I was then told how many drops i would have to a day to come out with my so called minimum 28k per .Route milage fuel consumption and vehicle lease costs were all factored into this. I was then told that " We do not peanalise hard workers" this sounded good to me so i put in alot of hours and at first made alot of money. I was exceeding my targets which you would think is a good thing ..... No its not fellas! Because DPD lease the van to you and give you a fuel card they know exactly what you are taking home each month and as soon as you go over that 28k per year prediction (33k for london depots) your stop rate is cut so that you now have to do more stops than you used to to earn your 28k! This is not just an isolated case either , i know of several other drivers that this has happened to so please dont think this is just some bitter prat with a axe to grind, its not im just making people aware of what having a franchise with dpd is really like. At the depot i was working at when i was employed on their books they could not do enough to help me but as soon as they got the franchise deposit off me that changed and nobody seemed to care and more pressure would be put on you to take out more and more deliveries until you broke. You MUST stand up for yourself and say no otherwise they will walk all over you. I have been a multidrop driver for 10 years now and have worked for 2 of the biggest in the business. I worked for TNT for 8 years and it had its ups and downs but it was a decent place to work but DPD i can say was awful , They preach that they are the biggest and best which they are for the customer because they offer a 1 hour del time slot , but from a drivers point of view they have to be up there as one of if not the worst.The depots are chaos , parcels everywhere not in the right bays which can be put down to a lack of staff sorting on the belt not the staff themselves who are put under far too much pressure but management do not care aslong as the floor is clear when all the drivers have left so they can say theyve done their bit.So there you go thats my opinion on DPD , I think  they are getting too big too fast and too greedy and you are basically doing them a favour getting them out of certain employment legislation by being a franchisee and your paying them for the privlage too , ive worked at 2 of their depots and have experienced the same things in both. Dont get me wrong some people quite like it and are happy but i would say if your a man that wants to work hard to earn more dont even think about signing on the dotted line for DPD coz your tied for a fixed term with them and theyve got your deposit remember so you cant just walk away otherwise youll loose the lot! Cheers for reading and i hope this is helpful. Good luck

They will make you feel like you are the best delivery driver in the world and promise you everything and ironically deliver you none of what they promise. Management are kids who talk to people with no respect, they have values that they all go completely against. If your a favourite you might get a DPD cup but be expected to be asked to do more. Self employed insurance is more expensive then owing a Ferrari and they will cap you on your earnings being self employed is not self employed if your off you either get points on a licence or you have to get another driver to cover your route, no one follows the rules but if you don’t you will be punished but everyone else has reason why they don’t have to follow. Your holiday requests will be denied if your not liked by management. Management change all the time because they couldn’t even sell ice to an eskimo, collection customers are not looked after if a driver doesn’t collect and the company ring DPD depot the depot will just ignore. Debrief procedure is a massive waiting game. The belts always brake so you will never unload your van quick and always leave the depot late in the morning as the warehouse team don’t co—operate with drivers they just do what they want. If they don’t like you they will man manage you out, don’t ever get a job here near Christmas if you think your gunna have a permanent job as they will Chuck you out January maybe early feb (within probation even if your good) they will take you off your route just as you have got it down to a tee and built rapport with your customers. The further you drive away from the depot (route) the less you will earn and pay more for fuel also finishing late every night. Promise you a new van at interview , this does not happen. Have to wear steel toe caps in depot but most wear trainers but only get a bollocking when the big bosses visit for them to show that they are following in house rules. If you are out of work and desperate for money then maybe consider but having a franchise will initially cost you £400 and then £2000 spread over 5 months for the deposit on van. They will assign you a scanner but if it breaks it comes out of your pocket avg cost of scanner £1500 (they say) uniform is provided but you actually pay for that in your franchise fee but agency staff grr eg for free and end up keeping it whereas a franchise you have to give it all back if you leave!!!! You will think in the first two weeks of any month you are earning great money then the last two weeks your parcel rate plummets as they give you work to a agency driver to control what you earn. They will say and do whatever it takes to get the parcels off the depot floor and make you deliver them. Don’t ever feel you are vauled because you are not!!! The management will lie point blank to you face and will not be accountable for there actions. They will expect you to deliver even if your van is not road worthy, if you damage your van you have 21 days to get it fixed and if not your gone but if your like your van could be in bits livery hanging off lights not working , bold tyres but that’s fine because your liked. It’s a dog eat dog environment. Management will sleep with any female that walks into the building. The list goes on I’m sure you have read enough.

I want to start this review off by saying to anyone who’s is thinking of joining dpd DONT!! It’s the worst company I’ve ever worked at... when I first applied for the self employed driver aka..ODF owner driver franchise I was given a fake blue print on how much I would earn including charges for leasing there van insurance all that stuff everything seemed promising but it wasn’t till I got my first wage I realised none of what they were saying was true!! After all the costs which ended up being over 2000 pounds I was left with around 1800 before tax sometimes less and this is without holiday remember!! Now work that out that’s 90 per day before tax and no holiday pay!! Plus you are working 11 to 12 hours per day and your find yourself working 6 days a week just to earn a decent wage the worst thing is once you have been there for a while to true colours start to show.. with management who don’t even care if you have a problem with scanners which are the worst I’ve ever seen they will give you points if you are late on say a 10.30 delivery because the scanner won’t work.. this new system where if you get 21 points your franchise is terminated is a joke...and because you are self employed they think that it’s ok to treat you like garbage!! If you have a disagreement about anything that a parcel is to heavy to load or that you have to many drops they no joke will stand you down for the day and your lose a days wage.. and they know that... you see they do this to stop you complaining and I think this is disgraceful.. that a company can get away with this!! I worked at dpd in Exeter Devon for about a year delivering up to150 drops a day so I’m well experienced in multi drop and this company is the worst by far.. they don’t make money from parcels it’s from self employed drivers they will bleed you dry with theses charges.. and say you go on holiday for 2 weeks your come back work the other 2 weeks for nothing it’s just to pay off the charges like I said I was paying over 2000 every 4 weeks if I was told this before I started I never would of join dpd.. thankfully I’ve got another job as a courier on the books and already it’s the same as what I was earning at dpd and this is with holiday pay...you know dpd call it odf a franchise but I’ll tell you this people... after the charges there no way you could start your own business because all what you earn your have to give to your driver... you just wouldn’t make anything and this is why a lot of drivers are leaving and just because it’s a horrible place to work... So do your homework people read other reviews then make your choice... but remember if you join as a odf your self employed you have no rights and they will treat you as such, just remember that!! And also work out the hours if you were paid per hour and you did say 60 per week at 9 pounds which is the average wage for a courier and a standard working day is 10 hours for a courier thats 540 per week you do the math!!

I want to start this review off by saying to anyone who’s is thinking of joining dpd DONT!! It’s the worst company I’ve ever worked at... when I first applied for the self employed driver aka..ODF owner driver franchise I was given a fake blue print on how much I would earn including charges for leasing there van insurance all that stuff everything seemed promising but it wasn’t till I got my first wage I realised none of what they were saying was true!! After all the costs which ended up being over 2000 pounds I was left with around 1800 before tax and this is without holiday remember!! Now work that out that’s 90 per day before tax and no holiday pay!! Plus you are working 10 to 12 hours per day and your find yourself working 6 days a week just to earn a decent wage the worst thing is once you have been there for a while to true colours start to show.. with management who don’t even care if you have a problem with scanners which are the worst I’ve ever seen they will give you points if you are late on say a 10.30 delivery because the scanner won’t work.. this new system where if you get 21 points your franchise is terminated is a joke...and because you are self employed they think that it’s ok to treat you like garbage!! If you have a disagreement about anything that a parcel is to heavy to load or that you have to many drops they no joke will stand you down for the day and your lose a days wage.. and they know that... you see they do this to stop you complaining and I think this is disgraceful.. that a company can get away with this!! I worked at dpd in Exeter Devon for about a year delivering up to150 drops a day so I’m well experienced in multi drop and this company is the worst by far.. they don’t make money from parcels it’s from self employed drivers they will bleed you dry with theses charges.. and say you go on holiday for 2 weeks your come back work the other 2 weeks for nothing it’s just to pay off the charges like I said I was paying over 2000 every 4 weeks if I was told this before I started I never would of join dpd.. thankfully I’ve got another job as a courier on the books and already it’s the same as what I was earning at dpd and this is with holiday pay...you know dpd call it odf a franchise but I’ll tell you this people... after the charges there no way you could start your own business because all what you earn your have to give to your driver... you just wouldn’t make anything and this is why a lot of drivers are leaving and just because it’s a horrible place to work... So do your homework people read other reviews then make your choice... but remember if you join as a odf your self employed you have no rights and they will treat you as such, just remember that!! And also work out the hours if you were paid per hour and you did say 60 per week at 9 pounds which is the average wage for a courier and a standard working day is 10 hours for a courier thats 540 per week you do the math!!

By far the worst mistake I’ve done in my life was to accept to work for / with DPD. A lot of promises at the beginning, none of them were true. Here we go;

 1st: I was going from Monday to Friday apart of November which was a busy day... FAKA. I started in August and was doing Monday to Friday, when we got to the busiest period of the year they asked me to work as much as possible which I was ok with but then after the Xmas perdido, they start to give me last minute day off, calling me or sending me messages at 6am saying they didn’t need me on that day, after a month doing that every week, they decided that I’d have Monday off and if there would be any space, I could work Saturdays, so, 4 days of work which on my route, was it’s enough to pay the ridiculous amount of van hire and I’d have around 1.5K left for me... still have to pay TAx out of it. 
  2nd promise: that I’d get around 45K per year - Petrol and hire I would have around 30-35K... FAKE. I can prove that showing my invoices. Wasn’t getting any near that for 11-12 hours a day of hard work.
  3rd: van from DPD would be taken for service whenever needed and they would give a spare one for me to work that day.... FAKE. I had a problem with my can’s battery last month and I have to get a van in order to work. I regret doing it because i got around 70-75 pounds after paying for fuel, still lying for Van hora that was out for service and also paying for the van that I have to rent in order to work on those 2 days, stupid me. 
  4th: Extra mileage charges: I was using the Van not to get the parcels delivered, the Van was staying at the Depot but even though, I was getting charged for extra mileage every month 🤦🏻‍♂️.
 5th deposit: as ODF, we have to pay £200 for the first 10 months, that is our deposit which I think it’s fair but... BUT, they should not hold the last payment as its ilegal. I left DPD last week and received a letter sayin about my end of contract and on the letter, they mentioned about hold my deposit until the van is fully checked, I totally understand and agree with the procedure but on Friday 5th, I was mean to be paid for the last month of work and guess what? I didn’t. Sent a message about it and he said DPD hold the payment ... hold on, what is the deposit for then? On my last ODF invoice that DPD generated for me, it was saying the my payment would Be into my account on 5th July , weird isn’t it? Now I’ll have to take a lawyer and take them to the court as I was left with no payments and the office didn’t even replied to my email regarding this issue. 
  That’s not to mention that I was loading my van outside, on the raining days the boxes were getting soak wet and so was I, but they didn’t care about it as they (managers) were seated in their desks nice and dry.
 
 After all these points, please, stay away from this company. Great company if you are a customer but horrible if you are working for them.  Full of false promises and a lot of hassle.

They will offer you the world the more stops you do the less you get for a stop. 60 stops at 2.20 sounds ok eh ha ha because you won't do any less than 100 stops they will pay you 1.50 it's all a con.the charge hands are bonus driven get every parcel on your van to get the bonus you are working until 8 doing over 100 stops get about 150 but have all your deductuions work out about 70 a day if you don't do as your told you will be stood down. Not to mention there mates that have 4 or 5 runs having boys working on the side means they can get back handers. Sit every morning going throu the stops for there mates and you get what is left. Not to mention you will not leave the depot until afternoon and still not made a penny you are looking at 2000 outgoing before you makea penny they charge you vat on every thing and if a parcel has a signature dispute you will be charged what ever it is missing no case to answer you are guilty straight away. I was doing 140 stops a day 5 days a week and came out with 1600 still tax to come off please please don't do this they will say you will get help when you start as 2\ 500 payments but they take it back over the next few months I was doing 70 excess parcels a day you only get 10 p a parcel 7 pound a made 140 stops with 70 excess parcels as I said the more you do the less you get paid due to them saying as you are on the same street you dont need the fuel so they give you less. You will get a blueprint it's the most useless piece of paper you will see as it's not true it's a estimate to make it look good it's not true please please don't go here you will be charged a 1000 non returnable deposit for a van that's been used with 10 different drivers then they will charge you to get the van out back into showroom. Days off if you have a death or need the hospital forget it or you will be stood down the managers at edingburgh all got 5000 bonuses they will charge you for there bonuses please please don't do it wait until you get messages from there CEO the cheek of this man just taking the p??? Until you c his messsages you won't no what I'm taking about they make millions every year all the drivers hard work they can't lose you used to do your own scanning so your excess parcels won't be as high so you make more money the have stopped it they scan it for you now so it's 10p a excess parcel see you get a stop of 30 boxes on the 4 th floor a 40 minute job you will make 1.50 plus 29 at 0.10 yes you guessed it minimum wage and trust me that's a common delivery

This a job that is all dependent on your route, if you get a good route you’ll make money. 

Be prepared to work long hours and also make sure you realise you won’t be getting the advertised salary unless you get a good route and manage to learn it. 

I was doing 12-13 hour days, had very little in the way of consistency even tho we were told learning your route would be the way you make money and increase the stops you do. 

Everyday I worked I was pretty much sent out to areas I didn’t really know and that were a hour away from the depot. 

The rent for the van and fuel is expensive it was working out about 2000 a month which when that’s taken off what you earnt doesn’t leave you with much. When you compare that to the hours you would have worked you’ll be left with less then minimum wage after tax if you're lucky. If your unlucky you’ll be left with less the minimum wage before you’ve even paid tax as you are self employed and therefor responsible for paying your own tax and national insurance. 

If you can afford to wait for decent wages and don’t mind working long hours then maybe you’ll be able to stick around and enjoy it. 

The depot in the morning was a nightmare and loading up can be stressful especially when there isn’t enough loading bays for the amount of people. 

I’d be spending a long time each morning just finding missing parcels for my route so that would add time onto your day. 

Management were pretty decent tho at helping you find parcels that you couldn’t and genuinely were quite helpful and approachable. 

Just like I said be prepared to be earning a lot less then they advertise and be prepared for high can costs. Also if your van breaks down you’ll have days without work were you won’t earn anything which if it isn’t your fault, ie you’ve broke down and the van has failed you you will still be paying for the van for the days you are not working and you won’t be earning money to pay for it.

I can honestly say my time at dpd was not worth it and has ended up costing me money instead of making it which is not the point of a job. The only positive was I actually enjoyed delivering but not how it all works behind the scenes. 

All in all if you haven’t got time and a bit of money saved up I wouldn’t recommend or at least look into getting a van elsewhere before committing as it will save you money and help you hopefully make it. Just don’t believe the figures you’ll see that they advertise for what you’ll make. 

Just left the job after many years working as a collection / delivery driver.  It used to be a fantastic company to work at.  The vast majority of drivers were owner driver franchisees with a regular nailed down route.  Everyone knew their areas well and had good relationships with their customers.  DPD were worlds ahead of their competitors.
It began to change.  Quantum and precise came in ( systems that almost dictated the way your daily route was planned out ). A respected CEO suddenly exited the company and to be fair he was a strong link between the very top and the workers.  Single franchise drivers began to be shifted from their regular routes to be replaced by multi route franchise drivers ( normally one person operating a number of drivers and routes ).  Standards began slipping.  Experienced loyal drivers were now coming in and were being switched from route to route.  The stress of learning different areas constantly and keeping up with time slot deliveries is immense.  Earnings constantly nosediving.  The company seems to bang on about its green strategies and the awards it wins for saving the planet.  A lot of this is incorrect.  You can often find yourself in the middle of nowhere arriving at an address with a parcel when another driver is there at the same time with the other part of the consignment !  There is also a system now where you can card a customer if they’re not in and you have no choice but to take it to a convenient pick up shop location.  Trust me these shops are often not convenient for you to make an extra journey to let alone the customer ( extra vehicle journeys too from both sides is that green !! ?? ).  The final straw was the decision by the company to take the saturns ( scanners ) out of use for drivers and the new requirement to use your own phone with the app for your work.  Navigation isn’t as good on Google Maps and your battery and device will get pounded this way.  Going forward I just can’t see how DPD will attract good drivers now ( which used to be their back bone ).  The management’s view used to be “ there are people queueing out the door for your job “ .. that is definitely not the case now.  I’d say avoid working as a driver for DPD .. the stress , the toil isn’t worth it.

A typical day at the depot I worked at would usually start at 6am-7am and end between 4pm-8pm most of year except X-mas time when its usually busy and you could find yourself starting as early as 4am but still finish around same time as above. As a courier I would start by loading the van on usual assigned bay and will often deliver to same route midweek except weekend where you could deliver anywhere assigned by management. A typical working week would be 6 days (Mon-Fri +either Sat or Sun). This was a very fast paced working environment that often left many ppl feeling stressed because of work demands and I saw many drivers and junior managers come and go as they couldn't cope with some of these demands. Pros of this job would be: once out delivering you are your own boss, no gym membership necessary as you walk a lot and you learn or at least improve planning and organisation skills, management, bookkeeping, timekeeping skills, geographical knowledge - skills you can takeaway and use in other fields be it taxi driver, business, customer service etc. Perhaps hardest part was it was a physically demanding job, you work to very strict time constraints which could be very dynamic especially working in London where traffic and traffic wardens are a joke. Also, the wage was constantly getting a chop year on year while the cost of living was going up during my time there. Therefore, you need to be thick skinned and very personable because after all that - a customer wants to see a smiley face delivering their packages. Nevertheless you always feel part of a team though because every time there's someone always willing to give a hand when you need help.  

This gets the extra star only because you get to build good customer relationships! Which really helps with good customer service skills etc.
Ok its SIMPLE! If you get a position here, Life is over! They are liars to your face and behind your back! They definitely need new management, They have absolutely no care about your health mentally and physically, I was there long enough to see it all, no sympathy for bereavement either, they are so heartless! How they even sleep at night is beyond after the way they treat you.
You are just a name and number and dont be fooled by the salary, just times it by your hours, once upon a time the salary was good, infact great, but then over the years things such as 50p deductions after you achieving target means they just taking it all back, Not getting the right volume is also an issue as they split down your route and add or deduct what they want to when they want to. 
They will use you at peak and then 99% of the time you are out the door after peak, for the ODF position, this is NOT self employed as they control everything you do, what time you start, finish, where you go, how many parcels you take out and at worser measure control your road speed times. Also be careful to take on drivers of your own as this can be part of a training scam meaning they wont care to take that driver from you and keep them on for themselves.
The best part of the job is OUT of the depo and meeting new people on the roads etc, problem is because your morning starts sooo BAD! You have to try wind down to make the day as good as can be.
Evening shift managers are ALOT better than morning shift managers.
I honestly dont have anything good to say and I am not usually a negative person, If you can block out all the rubbish and you want to see it for yourself then feel free, but other than that stay well clear! And make note this is all based on the depo I have worked in, others could be better I dont know! But overall there is much better jobs and opportunities out there in my opinion.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
7.5 tonne driver 96 salaries reported	£16.14 per hour
Truck driver 245 salaries reported	£16.71 per hour
Shift manager 107 salaries reported	£39,890 per year
Delivery driver 76 salaries reported	£14.04 per hour
Owner operator driver 252 salaries reported	£54,794 per year

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