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Ooh, very nice. Like Christmas Day. | 0:00:28 | 0:00:30 | |
Nobody actually knew that this was coming, | 0:00:45 | 0:00:48 | |
apart from the ones in charge of City Link. | 0:00:48 | 0:00:51 | |
I knew the company was losing money. We all knew that, but | 0:00:52 | 0:00:56 | |
we were always told that we were doing better. | 0:00:56 | 0:01:00 | |
And then all of a sudden it's just gone. | 0:01:00 | 0:01:01 | |
Someone turns round and says, | 0:01:01 | 0:01:03 | |
"Well, we're not making money, we're going to close you down." | 0:01:03 | 0:01:06 | |
MUSIC: William Tell Overture by Rossini | 0:01:24 | 0:01:26 | |
In 2014, the number of parcels delivered in the UK | 0:01:26 | 0:01:31 | |
would exceed two billion for the very first time. | 0:01:31 | 0:01:34 | |
Hello...? | 0:01:34 | 0:01:35 | |
Thank you, see you again! | 0:01:35 | 0:01:37 | |
City Link would handle over 60 million of these, | 0:01:37 | 0:01:40 | |
so City Link delivery men like Shabaz Ali | 0:01:40 | 0:01:43 | |
would be run off their feet. | 0:01:43 | 0:01:45 | |
About 140 stops a day, so every time I stop, I deliver. | 0:01:46 | 0:01:50 | |
See you again. Ta-ra. | 0:01:50 | 0:01:52 | |
I'm starting knocking doors about 8 o'clock in the morning | 0:01:52 | 0:01:55 | |
and I work all the way through. | 0:01:55 | 0:01:56 | |
All right, cheers. | 0:01:57 | 0:01:58 | |
-There you go. -Cheers. | 0:01:58 | 0:02:00 | |
Every three or four minutes I'm stopping, delivering... | 0:02:00 | 0:02:02 | |
Do you run the whole route? | 0:02:09 | 0:02:10 | |
I do, yeah. I tend to run cos it's, er, quicker. | 0:02:10 | 0:02:15 | |
While us customers might happily deliberate for weeks | 0:02:15 | 0:02:18 | |
about what to buy online, we're often less patient | 0:02:18 | 0:02:21 | |
when it comes to waiting for things to arrive. | 0:02:21 | 0:02:24 | |
Keeps you fit, running round, though. | 0:02:27 | 0:02:30 | |
It is hard. It is hard some days | 0:02:30 | 0:02:33 | |
when you're sat there with over 200 deliveries on your van | 0:02:33 | 0:02:36 | |
and you're thinking, well... | 0:02:36 | 0:02:38 | |
Then you get caught up in traffic | 0:02:38 | 0:02:39 | |
and you're pulling your hair out cos you're missing time slots. | 0:02:39 | 0:02:43 | |
But erm...you've just got to crack on with it, just don't give up. | 0:02:43 | 0:02:48 | |
Shabaz's commitment to the job | 0:02:49 | 0:02:51 | |
has made him one of the company's top delivery men, | 0:02:51 | 0:02:54 | |
and inspired his brother Naj to follow in his footsteps. | 0:02:54 | 0:02:58 | |
Tell me about the number plate. | 0:02:58 | 0:03:01 | |
I bought it to wind the wife up. But it is literally true, | 0:03:01 | 0:03:05 | |
I am never home. | 0:03:05 | 0:03:07 | |
Sign and print, just on the screen there... | 0:03:09 | 0:03:11 | |
Dinner time, coffee time's like a swear word in this game. | 0:03:14 | 0:03:18 | |
You don't even undo your seat belt! | 0:03:22 | 0:03:23 | |
No, no. It's easier to do it this way, it's a quick way of doing it. | 0:03:23 | 0:03:27 | |
He's always running! | 0:03:32 | 0:03:34 | |
We used to deliver a lot to businesses when I first started, | 0:03:34 | 0:03:38 | |
but now I think the houses have overtaken. | 0:03:38 | 0:03:41 | |
-I deliver more to houses than I do to businesses now. -Why is that? | 0:03:41 | 0:03:46 | |
Cos online shopping, it's what... It's the new thing, innit? | 0:03:46 | 0:03:51 | |
Buying online, shopping online. | 0:03:51 | 0:03:54 | |
A lot of people would rather sit there and shop online | 0:03:54 | 0:03:57 | |
than go out and buy stuff. | 0:03:57 | 0:03:59 | |
Christmas time, it's easier just to sit down at a computer | 0:03:59 | 0:04:03 | |
and do your Christmas shopping online, not even leave the house! | 0:04:03 | 0:04:08 | |
But it's good for us. | 0:04:08 | 0:04:11 | |
Right. Back to it, yeah? | 0:04:11 | 0:04:12 | |
# Dimples and cherry cheeks | 0:04:24 | 0:04:27 | |
# Cherry cheeks Cherry cheeks | 0:04:27 | 0:04:29 | |
# Those pretty dimples and cherry cheeks | 0:04:29 | 0:04:32 | |
# Sweet enough to eat | 0:04:32 | 0:04:34 | |
# I rode one day to Santa Fe... # | 0:04:34 | 0:04:37 | |
Poppy Sommerville owes her love of online shopping | 0:04:37 | 0:04:39 | |
to her prize puppies. | 0:04:39 | 0:04:41 | |
With her husband regularly away on business, | 0:04:43 | 0:04:45 | |
she can lavish her attention on Chloe, Harvey and Bonnie-Bow. | 0:04:45 | 0:04:51 | |
It is a no expense spared thing with my dogs. | 0:04:53 | 0:04:55 | |
They go more or less everywhere with me. They stay in hotels. | 0:04:55 | 0:05:00 | |
Most of my friends - | 0:05:00 | 0:05:01 | |
and I've got quite a long list of people who have said this to me - | 0:05:01 | 0:05:05 | |
they're going to be reincarnated as my dog. | 0:05:05 | 0:05:08 | |
I'm like, "Join the queue." | 0:05:08 | 0:05:11 | |
Cos there's just so many of them. | 0:05:11 | 0:05:13 | |
That's quite a compliment, isn't it? | 0:05:13 | 0:05:15 | |
I mean, everybody says it to me. | 0:05:15 | 0:05:17 | |
Unimpressed by the canine treats available locally, | 0:05:26 | 0:05:30 | |
Poppy turned to the internet... | 0:05:30 | 0:05:33 | |
and she's never looked back. | 0:05:33 | 0:05:36 | |
If everything could be done online | 0:05:43 | 0:05:44 | |
and I could have everything delivered, | 0:05:44 | 0:05:47 | |
and I didn't have to spend a day ever going shopping outside again, | 0:05:47 | 0:05:52 | |
I would be quite happy. | 0:05:52 | 0:05:53 | |
Because I just feel it's a waste of time, shopping. | 0:05:55 | 0:05:59 | |
So these are the crates which they sleep in at night. | 0:06:00 | 0:06:04 | |
So I order all of these on the internet, | 0:06:04 | 0:06:06 | |
and these are the doggy quilts. | 0:06:06 | 0:06:08 | |
So that's a summer harness, very lightweight, | 0:06:08 | 0:06:11 | |
and it's got the bows and the crystals. | 0:06:11 | 0:06:14 | |
So these are the dog collars. One for every occasion. | 0:06:14 | 0:06:18 | |
Some of the T-shirts are for when it's really hot, | 0:06:18 | 0:06:20 | |
so they don't get sunburnt. | 0:06:20 | 0:06:21 | |
"King Pup." | 0:06:21 | 0:06:24 | |
He looks nice in black, Harvey. | 0:06:24 | 0:06:26 | |
I do want to pull up the drawbridge and have peace. | 0:06:26 | 0:06:29 | |
Maybe that's why I like online shopping. | 0:06:30 | 0:06:33 | |
Because when I'm here, why do I want to go into a big town and shop? | 0:06:33 | 0:06:38 | |
I know that if I need to get something, | 0:06:38 | 0:06:41 | |
I probably will be able to get it, | 0:06:41 | 0:06:44 | |
without having to drive to a few towns to try and find it. | 0:06:44 | 0:06:49 | |
-# There's a rainbow -# You can see the rainbow | 0:06:49 | 0:06:53 | |
-# In the valley -# Way down in the valley | 0:06:53 | 0:06:57 | |
# Since you... # | 0:06:57 | 0:06:59 | |
When I've got a delivery, a lot of people can't find the house, | 0:06:59 | 0:07:02 | |
so I usually see them on the camera | 0:07:02 | 0:07:04 | |
driving up the road. | 0:07:04 | 0:07:07 | |
And then they'll drive back down the road, | 0:07:07 | 0:07:09 | |
and then they'll drive back up the road. And then they'll ring me. | 0:07:09 | 0:07:12 | |
'So is it on the right or left as I'm going up?' | 0:07:12 | 0:07:15 | |
If you're going up, it's on the right-hand side. | 0:07:15 | 0:07:17 | |
# He must know it's my lucky day... # | 0:07:17 | 0:07:22 | |
What have we got here, Bonnie? | 0:07:22 | 0:07:24 | |
I love getting parcels in the post. | 0:07:25 | 0:07:27 | |
Next day delivery is really important, | 0:07:29 | 0:07:32 | |
because it doesn't tie up the rest of the week. | 0:07:32 | 0:07:35 | |
These are cooling fans. To keep you nice and cool in your crates. | 0:07:35 | 0:07:41 | |
It's a fan. | 0:07:41 | 0:07:42 | |
And then that'll just act as a cooler. | 0:07:44 | 0:07:46 | |
I always opt for next day, or named day. | 0:07:46 | 0:07:49 | |
At least if it's named, you know when it's going to arrive. | 0:07:49 | 0:07:52 | |
Who wants to hang around for parcels being delivered. We don't, do we? | 0:07:52 | 0:07:57 | |
The demand for deliveries within 24 hours means the courier business | 0:08:02 | 0:08:06 | |
is now more competitive and pressurised than ever before. | 0:08:06 | 0:08:10 | |
A parcel can be sent from Scotland to Wales overnight. | 0:08:12 | 0:08:18 | |
It's er...it's crazy how they do it, but it happens every day. | 0:08:18 | 0:08:22 | |
Before it reaches the hands of the delivery men, | 0:08:23 | 0:08:26 | |
a parcel will travel from source to a central hub near Coventry, | 0:08:26 | 0:08:32 | |
where it's redirected to its final destination. | 0:08:32 | 0:08:34 | |
I wouldn't like to work there, in the hub. | 0:08:36 | 0:08:39 | |
Cos I bet it is absolutely manic there. | 0:08:39 | 0:08:42 | |
MUSIC: Blue Danube Waltz by Strauss | 0:08:42 | 0:08:45 | |
This is the heart of City Link's delivery network, | 0:08:50 | 0:08:53 | |
but with parcel volumes increasing every year | 0:08:53 | 0:08:55 | |
and greater demand for next day delivery, | 0:08:55 | 0:08:58 | |
the business has been struggling to cope, and haemorrhaging money. | 0:08:58 | 0:09:02 | |
When I joined in May of 2012, | 0:09:02 | 0:09:06 | |
for the previous company's financial year, | 0:09:06 | 0:09:09 | |
which is January to December, | 0:09:09 | 0:09:10 | |
they'd just posted a £34 million loss. | 0:09:10 | 0:09:13 | |
Bob Powner is an industry veteran, and has been recruited by City Link | 0:09:14 | 0:09:18 | |
to help get them out of the red and into shape for the future. | 0:09:18 | 0:09:21 | |
My own family don't appreciate what happens. They order online, | 0:09:24 | 0:09:27 | |
and they think that they press the enter key on the keyboard, | 0:09:27 | 0:09:31 | |
and somehow miraculously it gets delivered tomorrow morning. | 0:09:31 | 0:09:34 | |
We don't put any thought really into what happens - | 0:09:34 | 0:09:37 | |
we just all expect that it's going to be there tomorrow. | 0:09:37 | 0:09:39 | |
Trying to manually handle | 0:09:42 | 0:09:44 | |
the 200,000 parcels passing through the hub every day | 0:09:44 | 0:09:47 | |
has been proving a challenge. | 0:09:47 | 0:09:49 | |
So Bob wants to modernise, | 0:09:49 | 0:09:51 | |
and is overseeing the design of a new sorting machine | 0:09:51 | 0:09:54 | |
to help City Link cope with rising demand. | 0:09:54 | 0:09:57 | |
We're just coming up to the new sorter that we're installing. | 0:09:57 | 0:10:01 | |
It's a really exciting time because it's a big investment, | 0:10:01 | 0:10:03 | |
it increases capacity in the hub. | 0:10:03 | 0:10:06 | |
It weighs the freight, it scans the freight, | 0:10:06 | 0:10:09 | |
and it sorts the freight to a particular destination, | 0:10:09 | 0:10:12 | |
therefore reducing the risk of mis-sorts. | 0:10:12 | 0:10:16 | |
About to go bust in 2013, | 0:10:16 | 0:10:19 | |
City Link was taken over by investment company Better Capital. | 0:10:19 | 0:10:24 | |
Their appointed managing director Dave Smith is confident | 0:10:24 | 0:10:27 | |
that Bob is the right man to help turn the company round. | 0:10:27 | 0:10:31 | |
Better's view, shared really by the board of directors, | 0:10:31 | 0:10:35 | |
is that it's a growing marketplace, | 0:10:35 | 0:10:38 | |
and with the right investment in technology, in equipment, in people, | 0:10:38 | 0:10:44 | |
we can move into a very successful future. | 0:10:44 | 0:10:48 | |
And it says to our employees there's a bright future here. | 0:10:48 | 0:10:51 | |
With City Link trying to claw back its place as a contender | 0:10:57 | 0:11:00 | |
in the £6 billion delivery industry, | 0:11:00 | 0:11:03 | |
there's a lot riding on the success of Bob's machine. | 0:11:03 | 0:11:06 | |
This is costing well in excess of £1 million. | 0:11:06 | 0:11:09 | |
So that's quite a heavy investment. | 0:11:10 | 0:11:13 | |
I wouldn't say it was a brave move, | 0:11:13 | 0:11:15 | |
because I have so much confidence that it's going to work. | 0:11:15 | 0:11:18 | |
It's a journey we can achieve. | 0:11:20 | 0:11:23 | |
I mean, already we can start seeing light at the end of the tunnel, | 0:11:23 | 0:11:26 | |
and that light is quite bright. | 0:11:26 | 0:11:29 | |
And part of that light is in the sorter, | 0:11:29 | 0:11:32 | |
and that is a real big signal to everyone who works in City Link | 0:11:32 | 0:11:36 | |
that our owners are taking it seriously, | 0:11:36 | 0:11:39 | |
taking our strategy seriously, believe in us | 0:11:39 | 0:11:42 | |
and know that we'll turn the corner financially. | 0:11:42 | 0:11:45 | |
Between the courier companies and the customers | 0:11:55 | 0:11:58 | |
are the businesses, that must also embrace the future to survive - | 0:11:58 | 0:12:02 | |
even when their brand is a hymn to the past. | 0:12:02 | 0:12:05 | |
Fanny! Fanny... | 0:12:07 | 0:12:09 | |
What are we going to be putting up on the ceiling here? | 0:12:09 | 0:12:14 | |
We might actually put a chandelier, I'm not sure. | 0:12:14 | 0:12:17 | |
-OK, good. -Possibly the one that we've got next door - | 0:12:17 | 0:12:20 | |
we'll just put it up there and it'll just...bing! | 0:12:20 | 0:12:22 | |
It'll be a central... good eye-catcher. | 0:12:22 | 0:12:25 | |
-I think something sympathetic to the room would be fantastic. -OK. | 0:12:25 | 0:12:30 | |
Liz Mouat is Laura Ashley's Head of Buying, | 0:12:31 | 0:12:34 | |
and in charge of making their merchandise | 0:12:34 | 0:12:37 | |
irresistible to online shoppers. | 0:12:37 | 0:12:39 | |
What we aim to do is make our products | 0:12:41 | 0:12:44 | |
look really comfortable and at home in some amazing properties. | 0:12:44 | 0:12:49 | |
The idea is that they should be aspirational as well as inspirational. | 0:12:49 | 0:12:52 | |
-Yeah. It looks lovely there, doesn't it? -Yeah. Twinkle. | 0:12:52 | 0:12:57 | |
Right now, just 20% of the company's sales are made online, | 0:12:57 | 0:13:03 | |
but by harnessing the full potential of the web, | 0:13:03 | 0:13:06 | |
Liz is intent on seeing that figure grow. | 0:13:06 | 0:13:08 | |
What's fantastic about having the internet, | 0:13:09 | 0:13:12 | |
we essentially have, to a certain extent, elastic walls. | 0:13:12 | 0:13:15 | |
We call them elastic shelves, elastic walls. | 0:13:15 | 0:13:17 | |
We can get so much more product on the online website | 0:13:17 | 0:13:20 | |
than we can in stores. | 0:13:20 | 0:13:21 | |
Mel Mel Davies has been making the trip across town | 0:13:29 | 0:13:32 | |
to her local Laura Ashley store for the last 25 years - | 0:13:32 | 0:13:37 | |
but now all that's changed. | 0:13:37 | 0:13:39 | |
Since the internet came along, it makes it much easier for me | 0:13:39 | 0:13:42 | |
to buy things and have the parcels delivered to my house, | 0:13:42 | 0:13:45 | |
which is the bit I now enjoy immensely. | 0:13:45 | 0:13:47 | |
How does your home make you feel? | 0:13:47 | 0:13:49 | |
Safe and cosy, I think would be my two words. | 0:13:51 | 0:13:56 | |
Yeah, I like the idea of that kind of, like, cosy feeling | 0:13:56 | 0:13:59 | |
when I get home from work at the end of the day. | 0:13:59 | 0:14:01 | |
If I could have my ultimate dream, | 0:14:01 | 0:14:02 | |
I think it'd be a thatched cottage in a country village. | 0:14:02 | 0:14:05 | |
I grew up here in Moss Side - | 0:14:11 | 0:14:13 | |
busy, diverse cultural area - | 0:14:13 | 0:14:16 | |
and I don't think my house reflects sort of inside | 0:14:16 | 0:14:20 | |
what goes on outside actually, in this area. | 0:14:20 | 0:14:23 | |
I decided that when I bought the seat pad, I'd buy the bunting... | 0:14:23 | 0:14:27 | |
Nice little Laura Ashley frame here. | 0:14:29 | 0:14:30 | |
This one room is done in Laura Ashley paint. Laura Ashley bed linen there. | 0:14:30 | 0:14:34 | |
Bought this from Laura Ashley, it's an initial of my name. | 0:14:34 | 0:14:37 | |
I bought this clock. | 0:14:37 | 0:14:38 | |
It's meant to look like the inside of a grandfather clock. | 0:14:38 | 0:14:42 | |
It gives you the inspiration to like, make a home, | 0:14:42 | 0:14:44 | |
and I think that's a lost art these days. | 0:14:44 | 0:14:47 | |
Liz wants to reinvigorate the lost art of homemaking, | 0:14:47 | 0:14:51 | |
as well as company profits, with the help of the latest gadgets. | 0:14:51 | 0:14:55 | |
It is amazing how much our customers really do want that ease of shopping, | 0:14:58 | 0:15:03 | |
especially on the iPad which enables you to be a bit more flexible | 0:15:03 | 0:15:06 | |
and you can move around the room. | 0:15:06 | 0:15:08 | |
That as a drape... would look lovely really. | 0:15:08 | 0:15:11 | |
I can visualise that, and I could put something next to it, | 0:15:11 | 0:15:14 | |
like a cushion or something, and see how I was going to work a colour. | 0:15:14 | 0:15:18 | |
Almost like I'm putting a tiny cushion on the sofa, | 0:15:18 | 0:15:20 | |
so you can get an idea. | 0:15:20 | 0:15:22 | |
If I was going to buy this chair and this footstool, | 0:15:22 | 0:15:25 | |
I probably would use it in an area like that in the corner of a room. | 0:15:25 | 0:15:27 | |
-Hi. Morning. -How are you doing, all right? -Good, thanks. Cheers. | 0:15:33 | 0:15:36 | |
Quite exciting actually. | 0:15:40 | 0:15:42 | |
Even though I know what I've ordered, I'm sort of still eager to see it | 0:15:42 | 0:15:46 | |
because you've got it in the house | 0:15:46 | 0:15:48 | |
and you can see where it's going to go. | 0:15:48 | 0:15:50 | |
Oh, that's good. | 0:15:52 | 0:15:53 | |
Two new seat pads, which will replace the ones I've got down there. | 0:15:53 | 0:15:57 | |
So it's nice, cos it's almost like it's come from a boutique | 0:15:59 | 0:16:02 | |
because you've got the nice tissue paper, and I like that | 0:16:02 | 0:16:04 | |
cos it makes it a bit special. | 0:16:04 | 0:16:06 | |
Mel Mel's dress, along with her other special buys, | 0:16:12 | 0:16:15 | |
have come from the company's warehouse in Wales, | 0:16:15 | 0:16:18 | |
where Helen Green oversees the picking and packing | 0:16:18 | 0:16:22 | |
of 90,000 online purchases every month. | 0:16:22 | 0:16:25 | |
This dress is, erm... | 0:16:26 | 0:16:30 | |
one of the most current dresses - | 0:16:30 | 0:16:33 | |
it's not actually part of the launch that we're in now, it's been a previous launch. | 0:16:33 | 0:16:37 | |
OK, I'm really pleased with this. | 0:16:42 | 0:16:44 | |
It looks pretty. | 0:16:44 | 0:16:46 | |
It certainly makes me feel special wearing a dress like this. | 0:16:46 | 0:16:50 | |
How many of these dresses came in originally, do you reckon? | 0:16:50 | 0:16:53 | |
Probably between 1,000 and 2,000 units, I would think. | 0:16:53 | 0:16:56 | |
Sold quite effectively, and we don't have a lot of these units left now. | 0:16:56 | 0:17:00 | |
This was £50, but it's an investment buy. | 0:17:00 | 0:17:03 | |
I know I'm going to get a lot of use out of that. | 0:17:03 | 0:17:06 | |
This again is a very popular version, another throw. | 0:17:06 | 0:17:09 | |
People pick a lot of bedding. An awful lot of bedding. | 0:17:09 | 0:17:13 | |
Nostalgia is what goes through your head when you think of Laura Ashley. | 0:17:14 | 0:17:17 | |
I do have a love of the '40s, | 0:17:21 | 0:17:23 | |
a feeling of times gone by. The simple life that people used to live. | 0:17:23 | 0:17:27 | |
You know, potentially growing your own vegetables, | 0:17:27 | 0:17:29 | |
and a sense of community that we've lost these days in a lot of places. | 0:17:29 | 0:17:33 | |
I think the technology is part of the life we're living now, | 0:17:37 | 0:17:40 | |
and I know some people would say, are we going to lose the whole thing | 0:17:40 | 0:17:43 | |
of the high street, are we going to lose that as a community centre? | 0:17:43 | 0:17:47 | |
But I just, you know... It's a difficult one. | 0:17:47 | 0:17:50 | |
I'm busy, so I don't get to get to the shops in the same way | 0:17:50 | 0:17:54 | |
that I used to. It's sort of like, a necessary evil, if you like. | 0:17:54 | 0:17:58 | |
Oh, shopping's changed immensely. | 0:18:00 | 0:18:02 | |
Most people are going internet now, aren't they? | 0:18:02 | 0:18:05 | |
Their lives are too busy and they're basically going the internet route. | 0:18:05 | 0:18:08 | |
I think the general town little shop areas is... | 0:18:08 | 0:18:12 | |
is going to be a thing of the past, unfortunately. | 0:18:12 | 0:18:15 | |
-Do you think? -I think so, yeah. Yeah. | 0:18:15 | 0:18:17 | |
It's been 20 years since a CD became the first item bought online. | 0:18:23 | 0:18:29 | |
And back then, our web purchases tended to be small and inexpensive. | 0:18:29 | 0:18:33 | |
But as our love of internet shopping continues to grow, | 0:18:37 | 0:18:41 | |
so too does the size and value of the packages being sent. | 0:18:41 | 0:18:45 | |
We'll do your baby seats, mattresses... | 0:18:46 | 0:18:50 | |
So we do do the larger freight, | 0:18:50 | 0:18:52 | |
which some of our competitors don't really want | 0:18:52 | 0:18:54 | |
and would never entertain putting on their automation systems. | 0:18:54 | 0:18:58 | |
Bob's new sorting machine is due to go live in just a matter of days. | 0:18:58 | 0:19:04 | |
So it's undergoing a series of last-minute tests | 0:19:05 | 0:19:08 | |
to ensure it's fit for purpose. | 0:19:08 | 0:19:10 | |
I hope things don't go wrong, | 0:19:11 | 0:19:13 | |
but if they are going to go wrong then I want to find them now. | 0:19:13 | 0:19:15 | |
Well, everybody's looking at this through, not just the eyes of | 0:19:23 | 0:19:26 | |
it's a piece of machinery and it'll work and that's fine, | 0:19:26 | 0:19:30 | |
but it's much more about the symbolism | 0:19:30 | 0:19:33 | |
of where it's taking the business | 0:19:33 | 0:19:35 | |
and the hope for the business for the future. | 0:19:35 | 0:19:37 | |
Cheers, buddy. Ta, mate. | 0:19:39 | 0:19:41 | |
But unfortunately for Bob, | 0:19:43 | 0:19:45 | |
the machine is malfunctioning. | 0:19:45 | 0:19:47 | |
Stop. | 0:19:48 | 0:19:49 | |
'Better are... They're like all shareholders, really. | 0:19:49 | 0:19:52 | |
'What they want is a business that's successful,' | 0:19:52 | 0:19:54 | |
and ultimately, do we make a profit | 0:19:54 | 0:19:56 | |
and do we make a return for the shareholders? | 0:19:56 | 0:19:59 | |
The data logic guy doesn't know what the issue is currently? OK. | 0:20:04 | 0:20:08 | |
It's absolutely vital that this piece of equipment works... | 0:20:10 | 0:20:13 | |
..because if it doesn't, | 0:20:17 | 0:20:19 | |
the next time the operation comes in and says we need something - | 0:20:19 | 0:20:23 | |
"You sure that's going to work? You haven't got a great track record." | 0:20:23 | 0:20:28 | |
How's it going? | 0:20:29 | 0:20:30 | |
-Not very well. -Why? -They're trying to work out the issue. | 0:20:30 | 0:20:34 | |
Confident, yes, but with a degree of nervousness attached to it | 0:20:34 | 0:20:38 | |
borne out of 20 years of experience watching some of those things | 0:20:38 | 0:20:42 | |
not work as well as you'd hope. | 0:20:42 | 0:20:44 | |
If it is the compressor, they knew about it yesterday, | 0:20:54 | 0:20:56 | |
it should have been sorted in time for today. | 0:20:56 | 0:20:59 | |
I am ultimately responsible, and it's started to get a bit hairy now | 0:20:59 | 0:21:05 | |
cos the company's reputation and my personal reputation's | 0:21:05 | 0:21:08 | |
hanging on this. | 0:21:08 | 0:21:09 | |
I can see me going a bit greyer in the next couple of days, to be fair. | 0:21:10 | 0:21:14 | |
As more sophisticated systems are developed, | 0:21:34 | 0:21:37 | |
it's become possible to deliver | 0:21:37 | 0:21:39 | |
even the most delicate and fragile of goods to our front doors. | 0:21:39 | 0:21:43 | |
It's one of the things that we quite enjoy, that | 0:21:46 | 0:21:48 | |
if it's someone coming for the first time | 0:21:48 | 0:21:50 | |
there's nothing at the front that gives a clue, | 0:21:50 | 0:21:52 | |
and they walk through what looks like a fairly normal terraced house | 0:21:52 | 0:21:57 | |
and they come out the back and - "Oh! Wow." | 0:21:57 | 0:21:59 | |
Gaz Jones has created an exotic jungle | 0:22:02 | 0:22:06 | |
in the back yard of his two-bed semi in Luton, | 0:22:06 | 0:22:09 | |
and most of his precious plants have reached their new home | 0:22:09 | 0:22:13 | |
by overnight delivery. | 0:22:13 | 0:22:14 | |
We like to buy things from specialist nurseries, | 0:22:15 | 0:22:18 | |
because they have the things | 0:22:18 | 0:22:19 | |
that the big garden centres and the big boxed sheds just don't have. | 0:22:19 | 0:22:22 | |
I think online is so crucial to that, because first of all | 0:22:22 | 0:22:25 | |
you wouldn't find out about a lot of these plants very quickly. | 0:22:25 | 0:22:29 | |
Would having this garden be possible without online shopping? | 0:22:33 | 0:22:36 | |
You'd be able to create something similar - | 0:22:36 | 0:22:39 | |
the Victorians loved exotic plants and they didn't have the internet - | 0:22:39 | 0:22:42 | |
but it would have been a slower process. | 0:22:42 | 0:22:45 | |
Do you think the garden is a reflection of your personality? | 0:22:45 | 0:22:49 | |
I'm not sure. Probably. | 0:22:50 | 0:22:52 | |
I work for an accountancy firm | 0:22:52 | 0:22:55 | |
so I guess accountants have a reputation | 0:22:55 | 0:22:57 | |
for being boring, introverted characters, | 0:22:57 | 0:23:00 | |
so I don't know whether this is that kind of garden. | 0:23:00 | 0:23:03 | |
I like to think it's not. | 0:23:03 | 0:23:05 | |
Gaz has been nurturing his tropical paradise for the last nine years, | 0:23:06 | 0:23:10 | |
ably assisted by his equally green-fingered partner. | 0:23:10 | 0:23:14 | |
For a lot of people we know that are growing gardens like this, | 0:23:15 | 0:23:18 | |
the husband or the wife that's the non-gardener reins them back in | 0:23:18 | 0:23:22 | |
and says, "No, we've got to go and see Great Auntie Mabel" | 0:23:22 | 0:23:24 | |
or whatever it might be at the weekend, whereas we go to a garden centre and we both get excited. | 0:23:24 | 0:23:29 | |
Gaz and Mark have been together for ten years, | 0:23:32 | 0:23:35 | |
and for Mark, their garden is a little slice of home. | 0:23:35 | 0:23:39 | |
I'm originally from the Philippines. I'm a nurse. | 0:23:41 | 0:23:44 | |
I like the fact that I take care of patients | 0:23:44 | 0:23:47 | |
and at the same time when I get home, I take care of plants. | 0:23:47 | 0:23:50 | |
So I suppose in that manner it matches with my nature. | 0:23:50 | 0:23:54 | |
I like to care, as cheesy as that may sound. | 0:23:54 | 0:23:57 | |
I saw these ducks. Something not so serious. | 0:23:59 | 0:24:02 | |
It was my idea, I saw them in the shop and thought, "Ooh, I like it." | 0:24:02 | 0:24:06 | |
Knowing me, I don't just stop at one so I bought a couple more, | 0:24:06 | 0:24:08 | |
so I've got three of these rubber duckies now. | 0:24:08 | 0:24:13 | |
How much do you think you've spent on plants online? | 0:24:13 | 0:24:16 | |
Can we plead the Fifth(?) | 0:24:16 | 0:24:18 | |
How long is a string? | 0:24:22 | 0:24:24 | |
There's no need to know, we don't need to know. | 0:24:24 | 0:24:27 | |
And you'd probably look at the number and go, ouch! | 0:24:27 | 0:24:29 | |
-But thousands? -Yes. -Yes. | 0:24:29 | 0:24:32 | |
Like many couples with busy careers, | 0:24:36 | 0:24:38 | |
almost all of Gaz and Mark's shopping is now done | 0:24:38 | 0:24:40 | |
via their computer, and delivered to their home. | 0:24:40 | 0:24:44 | |
All the roof tiles, garden furniture - | 0:24:44 | 0:24:47 | |
even the double glazing, electronics, appliances. | 0:24:47 | 0:24:50 | |
Our dining chairs. | 0:24:50 | 0:24:52 | |
Even one of our cats we bought via an advert on Gumtree. | 0:24:52 | 0:24:55 | |
-The cat's called Knickers. -Knickers. | 0:24:55 | 0:24:58 | |
But today, it's a selection of exotic shrubs | 0:25:02 | 0:25:05 | |
that have tickled their fancy. | 0:25:05 | 0:25:07 | |
-You happy with this one? -Mm-hm. -OK, "add item to my wheelbarrow". | 0:25:07 | 0:25:10 | |
With a tap of the keyboard, Gaz and Mark put in motion a chain of events | 0:25:11 | 0:25:16 | |
that should ensure their precious plants arrive safe and sound | 0:25:16 | 0:25:19 | |
and within 24 hours. | 0:25:19 | 0:25:21 | |
MUSIC: Flight Of The Bumblebee by Rimsky-Korsakov | 0:25:26 | 0:25:29 | |
Deep in the mountains of Snowdonia lies Crug Farm, | 0:25:31 | 0:25:35 | |
where Gaz and Mark's exotic order is just arriving. | 0:25:35 | 0:25:39 | |
You get the feel of what sort of garden people have. | 0:25:39 | 0:25:43 | |
This person looks as if he's got sort of a tropical type of garden. | 0:25:43 | 0:25:46 | |
Arran Flame... | 0:25:50 | 0:25:51 | |
Can you get me one from the back too please, cos they're flowering... | 0:25:51 | 0:25:55 | |
'We're really out of the way here. | 0:25:55 | 0:25:57 | |
'I think without going into the mail order, we might have closed.' | 0:25:57 | 0:26:01 | |
So this has been our saving grace, I'm sure. | 0:26:01 | 0:26:03 | |
The main secret is not to have them rattling about in the box. | 0:26:09 | 0:26:12 | |
The whole thing is to get the plants to the customer in good condition. | 0:26:19 | 0:26:23 | |
I also like the packaging to look neat... | 0:26:23 | 0:26:27 | |
..rather than scruffy. Like me. | 0:26:28 | 0:26:31 | |
-All right, CJ? -Yes. How you doing, John? | 0:26:41 | 0:26:44 | |
-How many have you got for us? -Three. -OK. | 0:26:44 | 0:26:47 | |
-OK, CJ, see you tomorrow. -Yeah. | 0:26:51 | 0:26:54 | |
Next stop for Gaz and Mark's package | 0:26:54 | 0:26:57 | |
is the local depot in Wales, | 0:26:57 | 0:26:59 | |
where it's loaded onto a lorry | 0:26:59 | 0:27:01 | |
ready for the 200km drive to the Coventry hub. | 0:27:01 | 0:27:04 | |
And as most of us are settling down for the evening, | 0:27:08 | 0:27:10 | |
lorry driver Rob is beginning his shift. | 0:27:10 | 0:27:14 | |
This is my home for the night. | 0:27:16 | 0:27:18 | |
I have my satnav, so I don't get lost! | 0:27:18 | 0:27:21 | |
Crisps, chocolate bars. I know I shouldn't. | 0:27:21 | 0:27:25 | |
Music as well - Stereophonics, Meat Loaf. | 0:27:25 | 0:27:28 | |
I've got my Welsh flag, there's a bed, | 0:27:28 | 0:27:30 | |
I've got a little oven. | 0:27:30 | 0:27:31 | |
A pasty or something and warm it up - 20 minutes, boiling hot. | 0:27:31 | 0:27:35 | |
HORN TOOTS | 0:27:38 | 0:27:40 | |
I love driving, I totally love it. | 0:27:42 | 0:27:45 | |
It's the best job I've had. | 0:27:45 | 0:27:47 | |
Rob makes a round trip between Wales and Coventry five nights a week. | 0:27:48 | 0:27:53 | |
With another two hours till he arrives, | 0:27:53 | 0:27:55 | |
the central hub is already reaching its nightly peak. | 0:27:55 | 0:27:58 | |
Why is it so busy? | 0:28:11 | 0:28:12 | |
Every day, we're getting a lot more freight in. | 0:28:19 | 0:28:22 | |
So we've got extra trailers, more freight's coming in. | 0:28:22 | 0:28:24 | |
Do you feel the pressure? | 0:28:24 | 0:28:26 | |
No, it's an everyday thing for me. | 0:28:26 | 0:28:29 | |
-Are you on time? -Yeah, I'm ahead of my time tonight. | 0:28:31 | 0:28:34 | |
So er...yeah. Everything is good, so far! | 0:28:34 | 0:28:37 | |
An army of 200 work through the night | 0:28:52 | 0:28:55 | |
to ensure the parcels are sorted and sent out to the correct locations. | 0:28:55 | 0:29:00 | |
The lynchpins in the system are the 66 forklift truck drivers, | 0:29:01 | 0:29:05 | |
who must load and unload the lorries at breakneck speed. | 0:29:05 | 0:29:09 | |
'It's organised chaos. | 0:29:10 | 0:29:12 | |
'Turnaround roughly about 180,000, | 0:29:12 | 0:29:15 | |
'200,000 plus parcels in a four-and-a-half-hour window. | 0:29:15 | 0:29:18 | |
'So the pace of the job is quick.' | 0:29:18 | 0:29:20 | |
'It's not a job for the faint-hearted. | 0:29:23 | 0:29:25 | |
'When you've got 66 trucks in a warehouse, | 0:29:25 | 0:29:28 | |
'shooting out of 48 doors, | 0:29:28 | 0:29:29 | |
'100-and-some-odd drivers, | 0:29:29 | 0:29:31 | |
'it's going to have danger.' | 0:29:31 | 0:29:32 | |
Tony has been a forklift driver for the past 15 years. | 0:29:44 | 0:29:48 | |
And he's one of the most skilled in the business. | 0:29:48 | 0:29:51 | |
The job itself, because I've been doing it so long, is second nature. | 0:29:51 | 0:29:56 | |
It takes... Oh, you can't really explain it. | 0:29:56 | 0:29:59 | |
You're a little bit different. | 0:29:59 | 0:30:01 | |
-It's just a job that not everybody can take to. -No. | 0:30:01 | 0:30:05 | |
And you need that sort of... | 0:30:05 | 0:30:07 | |
..capability to be able to drive a truck to a certain level. | 0:30:08 | 0:30:13 | |
-If you haven't got that level... -There's no point being out there. | 0:30:13 | 0:30:16 | |
..you wouldn't do it. | 0:30:16 | 0:30:17 | |
-Concentration is a must. -Yeah, definitely. | 0:30:17 | 0:30:20 | |
You cannot afford to switch off. | 0:30:20 | 0:30:22 | |
You switch off, and you'll have an accident or... | 0:30:22 | 0:30:26 | |
unfortunately cause some damage. | 0:30:26 | 0:30:28 | |
What do you buy online? | 0:30:32 | 0:30:34 | |
I don't shop online. | 0:30:34 | 0:30:35 | |
Truthfully, I've never had a mobile phone. I don't use PCs. | 0:30:35 | 0:30:39 | |
I don't drive. I haven't got a licence. | 0:30:39 | 0:30:41 | |
I've never been to the bank and I've never had a credit card. | 0:30:41 | 0:30:45 | |
So obviously I live a life which is a simple life. | 0:30:45 | 0:30:48 | |
I'm not into modern technology. | 0:30:48 | 0:30:51 | |
To be honest, I don't really buy online myself. | 0:30:55 | 0:30:57 | |
-RADIO CHATTER -I have a few times in the past. | 0:30:57 | 0:30:59 | |
I prefer to go to shop and just buy something then and there. | 0:30:59 | 0:31:03 | |
Do you shop online yourself? | 0:31:03 | 0:31:06 | |
No! | 0:31:06 | 0:31:07 | |
Nah. | 0:31:08 | 0:31:09 | |
Buying online? HE SIGHS | 0:31:09 | 0:31:12 | |
I suppose it's all right. | 0:31:12 | 0:31:14 | |
I haven't tried it yet, personally. | 0:31:14 | 0:31:16 | |
It's going to take a great force to twist my arm to try it as well! | 0:31:18 | 0:31:22 | |
RADIO: Since You Been Gone by Rainbow | 0:31:22 | 0:31:27 | |
What do you buy online? | 0:31:27 | 0:31:28 | |
Very little. | 0:31:30 | 0:31:32 | |
Um... | 0:31:32 | 0:31:33 | |
The last thing I bought online was my marker lights | 0:31:33 | 0:31:36 | |
on the front of the lorry. | 0:31:36 | 0:31:37 | |
They were the last things I done. | 0:31:37 | 0:31:39 | |
And I got another truck driver to do it | 0:31:39 | 0:31:41 | |
cos he had an eBay account. I haven't got one. | 0:31:41 | 0:31:45 | |
Just before midnight, Rob pulls in at Coventry... | 0:31:48 | 0:31:52 | |
..and the forklift team sets to work unloading his cargo of parcels. | 0:32:02 | 0:32:06 | |
That's our new multi-million pound sorting machine. | 0:32:10 | 0:32:14 | |
Is that making your job easier? | 0:32:14 | 0:32:16 | |
Well, they said it's going to be easier, | 0:32:16 | 0:32:18 | |
but when it's fully up and running. | 0:32:18 | 0:32:21 | |
By 3:00am, Rob's ready for the three-hour journey | 0:32:25 | 0:32:29 | |
back to his depot, | 0:32:29 | 0:32:30 | |
his trailer refilled with parcels destined for homes around Wales. | 0:32:30 | 0:32:36 | |
RADIO: Bat Out of Hell by Meat Loaf | 0:32:36 | 0:32:39 | |
HE SINGS ALONG: # Like a bat out of hell | 0:32:39 | 0:32:41 | |
# I'll be gone when the morning comes | 0:32:41 | 0:32:44 | |
# When the night is over Na-na-na hell | 0:32:45 | 0:32:48 | |
# I'll be gone, gone, gone... | 0:32:48 | 0:32:51 | |
# Like a bat out of hell | 0:32:51 | 0:32:52 | |
# I'll be gone when the morning comes... # | 0:32:52 | 0:32:55 | |
If I get four hours' sleep, I know it doesn't sound a lot, | 0:32:55 | 0:33:00 | |
but four hours' sleep seems to work for me. | 0:33:00 | 0:33:04 | |
A lot of people say, "Oh, I couldn't do your job." | 0:33:04 | 0:33:08 | |
I say, "What, drive a truck or work nights?" | 0:33:08 | 0:33:11 | |
And nine times out of ten, the answer is work nights. | 0:33:11 | 0:33:15 | |
I think you get used to being on your own. | 0:33:15 | 0:33:18 | |
I've been doing it for eight years | 0:33:18 | 0:33:21 | |
and I don't regret...working nights. | 0:33:21 | 0:33:26 | |
Because I love the job I'm doing. | 0:33:29 | 0:33:31 | |
I love driving, | 0:33:31 | 0:33:33 | |
and driving a truck is just the icing on the cake. | 0:33:33 | 0:33:38 | |
Are nights bad for relationships? | 0:33:40 | 0:33:42 | |
Um... | 0:33:45 | 0:33:47 | |
..I'd probably say yes to that. | 0:33:49 | 0:33:51 | |
I'd probably say yes to that. | 0:33:52 | 0:33:54 | |
-Can we pull in by here? -Yeah. | 0:33:58 | 0:34:00 | |
Yeah, that's a sore subject with me at the moment, that is. | 0:34:00 | 0:34:03 | |
Well, I'm divorced now. So... | 0:34:03 | 0:34:08 | |
Yeah, that one's a bit of a sore... | 0:34:08 | 0:34:12 | |
..sore subject, that one is. | 0:34:14 | 0:34:16 | |
HE CHUCKLES | 0:34:16 | 0:34:18 | |
By 6:00am, | 0:34:27 | 0:34:28 | |
Gaz and Mark's plants have arrived at a depot outside London | 0:34:28 | 0:34:33 | |
after a 400km journey through Wales and England. | 0:34:33 | 0:34:36 | |
Do you know what that is? | 0:34:39 | 0:34:41 | |
If you see someone making that effort | 0:34:41 | 0:34:44 | |
it should be something that's very exotic, | 0:34:44 | 0:34:47 | |
probably something maybe a bit expensive. | 0:34:47 | 0:34:49 | |
Yeah, probably some very expensive plants. | 0:34:54 | 0:34:56 | |
Posh plants! | 0:34:56 | 0:34:58 | |
And hopefully it won't get crushed by any heavy boxes. | 0:34:59 | 0:35:03 | |
-Should be all right. -You hope. | 0:35:03 | 0:35:05 | |
It should be all right. | 0:35:05 | 0:35:06 | |
Not I hope, it should be all right. Cos that's my job, to get it... | 0:35:06 | 0:35:09 | |
You have to be careful. Even if... | 0:35:11 | 0:35:13 | |
If I was sending a parcel, I don't want it to be damaged. | 0:35:13 | 0:35:16 | |
So I always try and take care of all the parcels with the utmost care. | 0:35:16 | 0:35:20 | |
Elton Chirata has a whole day of deliveries ahead of him | 0:35:26 | 0:35:29 | |
before he's due to hand over the precious plants. | 0:35:29 | 0:35:33 | |
I've been very excited. | 0:35:44 | 0:35:45 | |
Something nice to look forward to after a stressful day at work, | 0:35:45 | 0:35:49 | |
to have nice goodies, nice plants to add to the garden. | 0:35:49 | 0:35:52 | |
Gaz and Mark's estimated delivery time is between 4:00 and 6:00pm. | 0:35:53 | 0:35:58 | |
But Elton is battling to stay on schedule. | 0:35:59 | 0:36:03 | |
I'm about 20 minutes behind on my ETA, | 0:36:04 | 0:36:07 | |
but I'm still within the window so I'm still good. | 0:36:07 | 0:36:10 | |
'A little bit of hesitation and anticipation. | 0:36:12 | 0:36:14 | |
'Excitement of what they're actually going to look like.' | 0:36:14 | 0:36:18 | |
Ooh, very nice. Like Christmas Day! | 0:36:23 | 0:36:25 | |
Fantastic. | 0:36:25 | 0:36:27 | |
-Wow. -Enjoy your plants. -Thank you so much. | 0:36:27 | 0:36:29 | |
All right, bye-bye. | 0:36:29 | 0:36:31 | |
Welcome home, guys. | 0:36:36 | 0:36:38 | |
Welcome home, guys! | 0:36:42 | 0:36:43 | |
You know, I've been doing it for years | 0:36:46 | 0:36:48 | |
but the excitement is still exactly the same each time, you know? | 0:36:48 | 0:36:51 | |
Every shipment is, ooh, very exciting. | 0:36:51 | 0:36:54 | |
I can't wait to open it. | 0:36:54 | 0:36:55 | |
But I'll take pictures first because this is something to relish. | 0:36:55 | 0:36:59 | |
What I'll do is I'll just relish the box, | 0:37:02 | 0:37:04 | |
pay homage to it, take a few pictures | 0:37:04 | 0:37:06 | |
and I'll send them to Gaz before I open it. | 0:37:06 | 0:37:08 | |
I should have enough. | 0:37:10 | 0:37:11 | |
There you go. | 0:37:12 | 0:37:14 | |
This should make Gaz's phone buzz. | 0:37:14 | 0:37:17 | |
PHONE BEEPS | 0:37:17 | 0:37:19 | |
Box from Crug Farm has arrived. | 0:37:23 | 0:37:25 | |
-Oh, hello. -Hiya. -Hiya. Did you see the photo? | 0:37:31 | 0:37:34 | |
Yeah, I did see the photo. | 0:37:34 | 0:37:36 | |
-Ta-da! -Ta-da! -Wow. | 0:37:37 | 0:37:40 | |
Ooh-la-la. | 0:37:40 | 0:37:41 | |
Have you ever given any thought to how these parcels get to you? | 0:37:41 | 0:37:46 | |
Not in any great detail, really. | 0:37:46 | 0:37:48 | |
You kind of just sort of imagine it... | 0:37:48 | 0:37:51 | |
probably a smaller operation than it really is. | 0:37:51 | 0:37:54 | |
You think there's a guy with a van | 0:37:54 | 0:37:55 | |
who picks it up and brings it to your door. | 0:37:55 | 0:37:57 | |
-I bet it's not! -But clearly there are depots and all sorts in the way. | 0:37:57 | 0:38:00 | |
You only care really when something goes wrong. | 0:38:00 | 0:38:03 | |
I think you expect it to work and to arrive when it is supposed to arrive | 0:38:03 | 0:38:07 | |
and that's kind of down to them, | 0:38:07 | 0:38:09 | |
to work out how to schedule all of that. | 0:38:09 | 0:38:12 | |
As the customer, you just want it to turn up without any damages | 0:38:12 | 0:38:16 | |
at the point in time when it's supposed to arrive, | 0:38:16 | 0:38:20 | |
-with minimal fuss, really. -Mm-hm. | 0:38:20 | 0:38:22 | |
Hannah speaking, how may I help you? | 0:38:30 | 0:38:32 | |
Can I take your consignment number, please? | 0:38:32 | 0:38:35 | |
It's James calling from the escalations team... | 0:38:35 | 0:38:38 | |
My name's Jamie, I'm calling from the escalation team in Hatfield. | 0:38:38 | 0:38:42 | |
'When you order something online, | 0:38:42 | 0:38:44 | |
'it's not a single person making that... You know, packaging it | 0:38:44 | 0:38:47 | |
'and delivering it to your doorstep. | 0:38:47 | 0:38:48 | |
'It has to go through weighing, it has to go through packaging, | 0:38:48 | 0:38:51 | |
'it has to go from A to B. | 0:38:51 | 0:38:53 | |
'And it's not often that things go wrong, | 0:38:53 | 0:38:55 | |
'but unfortunately things DO go wrong.' | 0:38:55 | 0:38:58 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:38:59 | 0:39:01 | |
City Link, Hannah speaking, how may I help you? | 0:39:01 | 0:39:05 | |
Hannah is part of a customer service team | 0:39:05 | 0:39:07 | |
that takes around 2,000 calls a day. | 0:39:07 | 0:39:10 | |
Though not all complaints, if a delivery HAS gone astray, | 0:39:10 | 0:39:14 | |
they're certain to hear about it. | 0:39:14 | 0:39:16 | |
It is easier to be horrible to someone over the phone | 0:39:23 | 0:39:25 | |
than it is face to face. | 0:39:25 | 0:39:26 | |
But what I say to my agents | 0:39:26 | 0:39:27 | |
is it's harder to be horrible to someone that's nice on the phone | 0:39:27 | 0:39:30 | |
so smile whilst you're talking. | 0:39:30 | 0:39:32 | |
No, no. | 0:39:32 | 0:39:34 | |
Listen to what they're saying, and often when they're shouting | 0:39:34 | 0:39:37 | |
they'll say it, and if you allow them to say it | 0:39:37 | 0:39:39 | |
they'll run out of energy and then they're willing to listen. | 0:39:39 | 0:39:42 | |
Mm. | 0:39:42 | 0:39:43 | |
How far can people go? | 0:39:46 | 0:39:47 | |
People have wished cancer upon myself and other agents. | 0:39:47 | 0:39:50 | |
They've wished death on family members. | 0:39:50 | 0:39:52 | |
We've had bomb threats. | 0:39:52 | 0:39:54 | |
We get it all. | 0:39:54 | 0:39:55 | |
He called me a monkey and then called me an ape | 0:39:55 | 0:39:57 | |
and that I should go back to my zoo. | 0:39:57 | 0:40:00 | |
And I found that quite offensive. | 0:40:00 | 0:40:02 | |
You get some people that are abusive towards women. | 0:40:02 | 0:40:05 | |
We've had homophobic abuse. We've had racial abuse. | 0:40:05 | 0:40:07 | |
At the end of the day, it is a parcel that we're delivering | 0:40:07 | 0:40:10 | |
but some people take it too far. | 0:40:10 | 0:40:12 | |
'This is the end of a catalogue of cockups.' | 0:40:12 | 0:40:15 | |
'Well, I'm glad it is being recorded, actually!' | 0:40:15 | 0:40:17 | |
PHONE RINGS | 0:40:17 | 0:40:18 | |
There's no-one that you can speak to in the call centre | 0:40:20 | 0:40:23 | |
who is higher than myself. | 0:40:23 | 0:40:25 | |
What's the worst thing anyone has ever said to you? | 0:40:25 | 0:40:27 | |
Er...they wished that my unborn child dies. | 0:40:27 | 0:40:30 | |
Yeah... | 0:40:31 | 0:40:33 | |
-Were you shocked? -Um... | 0:40:34 | 0:40:37 | |
At the time, yes. | 0:40:37 | 0:40:38 | |
I look back now and I just think that's ridiculous. | 0:40:38 | 0:40:41 | |
But, yeah, for someone to be that vile | 0:40:41 | 0:40:43 | |
about just a delivery that they'd ordered, then yeah, | 0:40:43 | 0:40:46 | |
that was extreme. | 0:40:46 | 0:40:49 | |
I used to take it personally and now I think it's part of my job. | 0:40:49 | 0:40:52 | |
I'm not going to ever bump into them, they don't know who I am, so... | 0:40:52 | 0:40:55 | |
I don't think they mean it directly at me | 0:40:55 | 0:40:57 | |
but I am the voice of City Link | 0:40:57 | 0:40:59 | |
so I just have to take it and get on with it. | 0:40:59 | 0:41:01 | |
When customer patience runs thin, | 0:41:09 | 0:41:12 | |
it's not just the voice of the company that bears the brunt of it | 0:41:12 | 0:41:16 | |
but also the face. | 0:41:16 | 0:41:18 | |
Thankfully for the delivery men, | 0:41:21 | 0:41:23 | |
there is an incentive. | 0:41:23 | 0:41:25 | |
We get paid per stop, | 0:41:30 | 0:41:32 | |
so every time I stop we get a payment for it. | 0:41:32 | 0:41:36 | |
So if I've got, like, 140 stops a day, | 0:41:36 | 0:41:40 | |
you can make serious money out of it. | 0:41:40 | 0:41:43 | |
Well, you're talking footballers' wages, basically! | 0:41:47 | 0:41:50 | |
I wouldn't say Premiership, | 0:41:50 | 0:41:51 | |
obviously they're in a different league! | 0:41:51 | 0:41:54 | |
Yeah, yesterday I delivered to number 11, which is next door, | 0:41:56 | 0:42:00 | |
and number 15, which is there, | 0:42:00 | 0:42:01 | |
and today I've got number 12. | 0:42:01 | 0:42:04 | |
The more you deliver, the more you get paid. | 0:42:04 | 0:42:06 | |
So probably tomorrow I might have 14 and 16! | 0:42:06 | 0:42:09 | |
If you can do 200 deliveries, like I do in Christmas, | 0:42:09 | 0:42:13 | |
you're going to... You're on serious money, you know what I mean? | 0:42:13 | 0:42:16 | |
They see us delivery drivers like, obviously, | 0:42:16 | 0:42:19 | |
thinking it's a minimum wage sort of thing | 0:42:19 | 0:42:21 | |
but it's not. | 0:42:21 | 0:42:22 | |
It's nice to have something nice to get into at the end of the day. | 0:42:49 | 0:42:52 | |
It's a perk, isn't it?! | 0:42:52 | 0:42:54 | |
Why did you decide to buy yourself this? | 0:42:54 | 0:42:56 | |
Well, I had the opportunity to get one. | 0:42:56 | 0:42:58 | |
I'd been looking for a while. | 0:42:58 | 0:42:59 | |
And I've always had nice cars, | 0:42:59 | 0:43:00 | |
and this came up and I had to have it. | 0:43:00 | 0:43:02 | |
So I went and bought it! | 0:43:02 | 0:43:04 | |
But, yeah, best thing I've bought. | 0:43:05 | 0:43:07 | |
Are some people quite surprised | 0:43:07 | 0:43:09 | |
when you say you're a delivery driver? | 0:43:09 | 0:43:11 | |
Yeah, but it's the old saying, isn't it? | 0:43:11 | 0:43:13 | |
You never judge a book by its cover. | 0:43:13 | 0:43:15 | |
You know, they see me in the van driving around, delivering, | 0:43:15 | 0:43:18 | |
you know, grubby clothing and all, from working. | 0:43:18 | 0:43:21 | |
And then all of a sudden they'll see me drive up in this | 0:43:21 | 0:43:24 | |
and they're very shocked, like, "How could you do that?" | 0:43:24 | 0:43:27 | |
It's hard work, like. I've done it for 20 years. | 0:43:27 | 0:43:30 | |
I managed to save and get one of these | 0:43:30 | 0:43:32 | |
and I'm happy with it. | 0:43:32 | 0:43:34 | |
For some of us, the rise of online shopping has opened the door | 0:43:37 | 0:43:41 | |
to worlds that we may otherwise have never ventured into. | 0:43:41 | 0:43:44 | |
For the last 20 years, | 0:43:55 | 0:43:57 | |
Roberson Wine has operated | 0:43:57 | 0:43:59 | |
from a shop on one of London's most exclusive streets, | 0:43:59 | 0:44:03 | |
selling wine worth up to £3,500 a bottle. | 0:44:03 | 0:44:07 | |
My office is a reflection of my life. | 0:44:23 | 0:44:26 | |
I bought that at an art fair but it's great. | 0:44:26 | 0:44:28 | |
The expression is fantastic on his face. | 0:44:28 | 0:44:30 | |
And he's doing pretty well at cards, as you can see. | 0:44:30 | 0:44:34 | |
I like this one, too. I like the nail varnish. | 0:44:34 | 0:44:36 | |
And this is a head I bought that some people don't like. | 0:44:36 | 0:44:40 | |
The trouble is that the teeth and the eyes look pretty real. | 0:44:40 | 0:44:43 | |
This is my mouthpiece if I...if I need people! | 0:44:43 | 0:44:46 | |
And here it is, "His master's voice." | 0:44:46 | 0:44:49 | |
Ooh! Bang bang. | 0:44:50 | 0:44:52 | |
Cliff Roberson has done well on the profits from the shop. | 0:44:52 | 0:44:56 | |
But business has really boomed since his company expanded online. | 0:44:56 | 0:45:00 | |
I'm just looking at your desk. | 0:45:02 | 0:45:03 | |
Where's the technology on your desk? | 0:45:03 | 0:45:05 | |
Uh - you caught me out! | 0:45:08 | 0:45:10 | |
Erm...I don't have any. | 0:45:10 | 0:45:12 | |
I'm very low-tech. | 0:45:13 | 0:45:15 | |
I am an old-fashioned guy in that sense. | 0:45:15 | 0:45:17 | |
How can you function without e-mail and a computer on your desk? | 0:45:17 | 0:45:21 | |
Well, I have Jacquie. | 0:45:21 | 0:45:23 | |
So Jacquie does all of my e-mails in and out, | 0:45:23 | 0:45:26 | |
all of that particular side of my business. | 0:45:26 | 0:45:29 | |
-Do you ever touch a computer at all? -No. | 0:45:29 | 0:45:32 | |
-So iPads, all that kind of thing? -Nothing. | 0:45:32 | 0:45:36 | |
I have to confess, I've never even sent a text. | 0:45:36 | 0:45:39 | |
So... | 0:45:43 | 0:45:45 | |
Here we are, where all our stock is held. | 0:45:45 | 0:45:49 | |
This is all fine Bordeaux, here. | 0:45:49 | 0:45:51 | |
Gruner Veltliner from Austria. | 0:45:51 | 0:45:52 | |
Corison from California. | 0:45:52 | 0:45:54 | |
Minuty from the South of France. | 0:45:54 | 0:45:58 | |
Wines from Chile. | 0:45:58 | 0:45:59 | |
We're holding here about 10,000 to 12,000 cases, | 0:45:59 | 0:46:02 | |
in this warehouse. | 0:46:02 | 0:46:04 | |
How much do you reckon it's all worth? | 0:46:04 | 0:46:06 | |
I really don't know. I would guess... | 0:46:08 | 0:46:10 | |
..2.5 million. | 0:46:12 | 0:46:14 | |
Historically it was a fairly upper-class business, | 0:46:15 | 0:46:20 | |
supplying wines to fairly maybe upper-class customers. | 0:46:20 | 0:46:24 | |
This has changed now. | 0:46:24 | 0:46:26 | |
It's so broad that everybody drinks wine, from... | 0:46:26 | 0:46:30 | |
It's...you know, the common tipple, to a certain extent. | 0:46:30 | 0:46:34 | |
In the last eight years, | 0:46:37 | 0:46:39 | |
online wine sales have grown nearly 500%. | 0:46:39 | 0:46:43 | |
And in Essex, | 0:46:47 | 0:46:48 | |
Tony and Simone Holland are recent converts. | 0:46:48 | 0:46:52 | |
Some of the finer wines actually are not as expensive as you think. | 0:46:55 | 0:46:58 | |
Don't get me wrong, some of them cost quite a lot. | 0:46:58 | 0:47:01 | |
But some of the real nice ones... they're not that expensive. | 0:47:01 | 0:47:07 | |
DOORBELL PLAYS THE FOUR SEASONS | 0:47:07 | 0:47:10 | |
-Morning. -Hello, mate, are you all right? | 0:47:12 | 0:47:14 | |
-Is it your wine? -Wine's arrived. | 0:47:15 | 0:47:19 | |
-Packaged quite well. -I know. | 0:47:19 | 0:47:21 | |
It is good, cos they put them in them sleeves, don't they, | 0:47:21 | 0:47:23 | |
the bubble wrap sleeves. | 0:47:23 | 0:47:25 | |
Nice. They do package them good, don't they? | 0:47:29 | 0:47:31 | |
-Go on. Do you want me to move this? -Yeah. | 0:47:31 | 0:47:33 | |
-It's like a lilo, isn't it? -Shall I get this one out as well? | 0:47:35 | 0:47:37 | |
No, shall we leave that one for the minute and do this? | 0:47:37 | 0:47:40 | |
Oh, it is a different one, so we haven't tried that yet. | 0:47:40 | 0:47:43 | |
Yeah, we've not tried this one but it is a Shiraz. | 0:47:43 | 0:47:46 | |
We've come to realise that we like Shiraz, | 0:47:46 | 0:47:48 | |
but we didn't know that at first, did we? | 0:47:48 | 0:47:50 | |
It was only after we'd got a few and thought, "Oh, that's nice." | 0:47:50 | 0:47:53 | |
And then you looked up, didn't you, | 0:47:53 | 0:47:55 | |
and had a look at the ones you had bought. | 0:47:55 | 0:47:57 | |
It's only dawned on me as we started reading the labels | 0:47:57 | 0:48:00 | |
it was all Shiraz, so we've got no... | 0:48:00 | 0:48:02 | |
-But you didn't used to like wine. -No. | 0:48:02 | 0:48:04 | |
You never used to like wine, you used to drink beer. | 0:48:04 | 0:48:06 | |
I mean, it's only, literally, since our wedding | 0:48:06 | 0:48:09 | |
that you've got into wines. | 0:48:09 | 0:48:11 | |
I mean, you don't really like whites or roses, do you? | 0:48:11 | 0:48:14 | |
You are more red. | 0:48:14 | 0:48:15 | |
Tony and Simone both work in the finance industry, | 0:48:16 | 0:48:20 | |
and have been married for three years. | 0:48:20 | 0:48:23 | |
We got married at the Ritz, up in London. | 0:48:23 | 0:48:26 | |
And we had a sommelier pick wines | 0:48:26 | 0:48:30 | |
that would accompany our dish and canapes. | 0:48:30 | 0:48:32 | |
And we went along, didn't we, had a try, | 0:48:32 | 0:48:34 | |
picked what one we wanted and that's how you got into wines. | 0:48:34 | 0:48:38 | |
Because Tony, as we say, was always a beer drinker if we went out. | 0:48:38 | 0:48:42 | |
After that he was like, "Cor, that was amazing," and the sommelier guy | 0:48:42 | 0:48:46 | |
explained it all, where it came from. | 0:48:46 | 0:48:48 | |
And then I don't know what happened, but even on the day | 0:48:48 | 0:48:51 | |
people say, "Were you nervous on your wedding...?" I wasn't. | 0:48:51 | 0:48:54 | |
I knew I was getting married, that was it. | 0:48:54 | 0:48:56 | |
I remember sitting there drinking red wine, and we had a few glasses that day, | 0:48:56 | 0:49:01 | |
but I had the clearest head in the world. And I was like, "Wow! Can that happen?" | 0:49:01 | 0:49:04 | |
I thought, "I've got to get this wine," and I looked through a couple of websites | 0:49:06 | 0:49:10 | |
and I remember thinking, "That's hard work, it'd be easier to go in me car and drive somewhere," | 0:49:10 | 0:49:16 | |
and then I went onto the Roberson one and found this wine. | 0:49:16 | 0:49:19 | |
I saw the postcode and it was SW, I thought, they've got their shops in Kensington High Street, | 0:49:19 | 0:49:23 | |
"That's quite posh." And I thought, "Oh, I'm buying wine from there and perhaps I shouldn't be," | 0:49:23 | 0:49:30 | |
and I thought, "Hold on, it's quite reasonable." So I'd never have known. | 0:49:30 | 0:49:34 | |
Do you think we're getting to a more cultured, French style of drinking? | 0:49:34 | 0:49:39 | |
No, I don't think that. | 0:49:39 | 0:49:41 | |
I don't think we're like the French, no! | 0:49:41 | 0:49:43 | |
Maybe years ago you had to go to a nice restaurant to | 0:49:43 | 0:49:46 | |
get a nice bottle of wine, I don't know. Maybe. But you don't now, do you? We're proving that today. | 0:49:46 | 0:49:50 | |
I think it's more elegant having a glass of wine, you know? | 0:49:52 | 0:49:56 | |
Yeah, you wouldn't get ten rugby players standing round drinking wine, would you? | 0:49:56 | 0:50:00 | |
-So you're right, perhaps it's more... -Classier, maybe? | 0:50:00 | 0:50:03 | |
-Yeah. -I think it's classier, yeah. | 0:50:03 | 0:50:06 | |
Yeah. It doesn't matter where you're from, you can | 0:50:06 | 0:50:08 | |
-have a bit of class, can't you? -Yeah. | 0:50:08 | 0:50:10 | |
In Coventry, it's a very special day. | 0:50:26 | 0:50:29 | |
Deano. Got a knife? | 0:50:31 | 0:50:33 | |
Give us a knife. | 0:50:36 | 0:50:37 | |
Cheers, mate. | 0:50:40 | 0:50:42 | |
The multi-million pound sorting machine is glitch-free and about to | 0:50:42 | 0:50:46 | |
be launched, fuelling the company's hopes for a return to profit and a | 0:50:46 | 0:50:50 | |
brighter future. | 0:50:50 | 0:50:53 | |
MUSIC: Fruhlingsstimmen by Strauss | 0:50:53 | 0:50:55 | |
Puts a smile on everyone's face. | 0:51:01 | 0:51:04 | |
It should see us through | 0:51:04 | 0:51:06 | |
the future, and if it works we'll get another one in and get more freight | 0:51:06 | 0:51:09 | |
and bigger customers in. | 0:51:09 | 0:51:12 | |
That looks great, yeah, absolutely. That looks fantastic. | 0:51:14 | 0:51:18 | |
As the mastermind of the entire project, | 0:51:18 | 0:51:22 | |
the last few weeks have been stressful ones for Bob. | 0:51:22 | 0:51:26 | |
So we are ten days behind where we wanted to be, but that has allowed us | 0:51:26 | 0:51:31 | |
to do some further testing. | 0:51:31 | 0:51:33 | |
So we're pretty tested out, to be honest with you. | 0:51:33 | 0:51:37 | |
There's a small group of us | 0:51:37 | 0:51:39 | |
that have been working a horrendous amount of hours over the last two or three weeks. | 0:51:39 | 0:51:43 | |
So you can see our freight ready to go onto the sorter this morning. | 0:51:46 | 0:51:50 | |
The sun's shining, the balloons are up - it's looking good. | 0:51:55 | 0:52:00 | |
With the machine about to go live, | 0:52:03 | 0:52:06 | |
Bob's invited the whole company to witness the fruits of his labour. | 0:52:06 | 0:52:10 | |
You all right? Five minutes, yeah? | 0:52:10 | 0:52:13 | |
Top man. Mikey...! | 0:52:13 | 0:52:15 | |
Two minutes, two minutes down here. | 0:52:17 | 0:52:20 | |
Get the team over. | 0:52:23 | 0:52:25 | |
We need 'em over here. | 0:52:25 | 0:52:26 | |
Get all the team over, two minutes. | 0:52:26 | 0:52:28 | |
I don't want them to miss this, yeah? | 0:52:28 | 0:52:31 | |
Top man, thank you. | 0:52:31 | 0:52:33 | |
Bob's boss has the honour of officially launching the machine. | 0:52:38 | 0:52:42 | |
Morning, everyone. | 0:52:43 | 0:52:45 | |
Today is a tremendous day for the business. | 0:52:45 | 0:52:48 | |
A year on from when we started to develop the idea | 0:52:48 | 0:52:52 | |
that Bob came to me with, | 0:52:52 | 0:52:54 | |
and after six months of testing and trialling, | 0:52:54 | 0:52:57 | |
we've finally come to the big day where | 0:52:57 | 0:52:59 | |
City Link can be proud to say | 0:52:59 | 0:53:02 | |
that it now has sortation equipment | 0:53:02 | 0:53:04 | |
in its main hub. | 0:53:04 | 0:53:05 | |
So, without further ado, | 0:53:05 | 0:53:07 | |
I'd just like to say thank you, everyone, enjoy the new piece of kit and good luck with it! | 0:53:07 | 0:53:13 | |
CHEERING AND APPLAUSE | 0:53:13 | 0:53:14 | |
Faster! | 0:53:20 | 0:53:22 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:53:22 | 0:53:24 | |
I feel shattered. | 0:53:33 | 0:53:34 | |
HE LAUGHS | 0:53:34 | 0:53:36 | |
Bob, I just wanted to say congratulations, | 0:53:44 | 0:53:47 | |
this is an amazing day for the business and for you personally, | 0:53:47 | 0:53:50 | |
-a triumph, a real triumph. -Thank you. | 0:53:50 | 0:53:52 | |
It's a proud day for me. | 0:53:57 | 0:54:00 | |
Are you having a pint tonight or something? | 0:54:00 | 0:54:04 | |
I'll have a rest, to be quite honest with you. | 0:54:04 | 0:54:07 | |
There is a sense of relief that the lights have come on | 0:54:07 | 0:54:10 | |
and it's started to sort parcels. | 0:54:10 | 0:54:12 | |
I'm not going to have a pint to celebrate tonight. | 0:54:12 | 0:54:15 | |
I might have eight hours' sleep. | 0:54:15 | 0:54:17 | |
Stood in front of all of the night shift, and I said, I need | 0:54:26 | 0:54:29 | |
to be here one day looking in the whites of your eyes and say, | 0:54:29 | 0:54:33 | |
"Bloody hell, it's been tough and on occasions it's not been pleasant, | 0:54:33 | 0:54:39 | |
"but look where we are now." | 0:54:39 | 0:54:41 | |
Good evening, Happy Christmas, | 0:54:51 | 0:54:53 | |
and welcome to BBC News. | 0:54:53 | 0:54:55 | |
In the past hour we've been hearing the parcel delivery company | 0:54:55 | 0:54:58 | |
City Link, which employs more than 2,500 people, | 0:54:58 | 0:55:00 | |
has gone into administration. | 0:55:00 | 0:55:02 | |
I ask myself all the time, you know, how could a company, | 0:55:02 | 0:55:07 | |
a multi-million pound company, just close in a day? | 0:55:07 | 0:55:12 | |
They got the Christmas deliveries out of the way, thank you | 0:55:12 | 0:55:16 | |
very much, that's the end of your job, and 14 years, | 0:55:16 | 0:55:20 | |
which I've put in there, | 0:55:20 | 0:55:23 | |
I thought, "Thank you very much, it's the best Christmas present I've ever had(!)" | 0:55:23 | 0:55:26 | |
Especially to find out off the news on Christmas Day that I was being | 0:55:26 | 0:55:32 | |
made redundant, and I just find that very, very hard. | 0:55:32 | 0:55:38 | |
So people who invest in business obviously want | 0:55:39 | 0:55:42 | |
to see a return on their investment. | 0:55:42 | 0:55:45 | |
Our owners were obviously not convinced | 0:55:45 | 0:55:50 | |
that that was either going to happen, or happening quick enough, | 0:55:50 | 0:55:55 | |
and clearly that would have been the reason that they decided | 0:55:55 | 0:56:01 | |
not to invest any further money into the business. | 0:56:01 | 0:56:04 | |
We were expecting a bumper payday, cos Christmas is the time of year | 0:56:04 | 0:56:09 | |
when you go out and earn the money, you go out and | 0:56:09 | 0:56:14 | |
slog your guts out and earn the money. | 0:56:14 | 0:56:17 | |
But I'm owed almost £6,000. I mean, it's just a hammer blow. | 0:56:17 | 0:56:21 | |
We spoke to the administrators, they wouldn't come down | 0:56:22 | 0:56:25 | |
to tell the City Link staff, right. | 0:56:25 | 0:56:28 | |
We had a word, | 0:56:28 | 0:56:31 | |
and he said you'd be lucky to see a penny in every pound. | 0:56:31 | 0:56:36 | |
And that was his words - "lucky to see a penny in every pound." | 0:56:36 | 0:56:41 | |
I was angry, I was emotional. I was no different than anyone else | 0:56:43 | 0:56:46 | |
who heard the news on Christmas Day. | 0:56:46 | 0:56:50 | |
There's dust on the sorter, there's no parcels left any more. | 0:56:50 | 0:56:55 | |
It's a warehouse with a big piece of red kit in there, and some empty cages. | 0:56:55 | 0:57:00 | |
The parcel industry is competitive, | 0:57:00 | 0:57:02 | |
and gets more competitive as each week passes by. | 0:57:02 | 0:57:06 | |
Everyone needs to be on top of their game, on top of their strategy, | 0:57:06 | 0:57:10 | |
think about the future demands of the customers, and how they can react to that quickly. | 0:57:10 | 0:57:15 | |
There's enough parcels out there to support the parcel industry - | 0:57:15 | 0:57:18 | |
let's just hope there's not another City Link around the corner. | 0:57:18 | 0:57:21 |