It's just past 11am and Craig has already been on the road for several hours. But so far, he claims he hasn't made a penny.
He arrived at his local Evri depot in Manchester at 8.30am. But by the time he's loaded his stack of parcels into his car in the pouring rain, it's gone 10am.
After knocking at the first house on his round, the customer isn't in, and they've not selected a safe space for him to leave their parcel. He leaves frustrated and 'out of pocket.'
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Craig, which isn't his real name, is one of several Evri couriers in Manchester who've spoken to the M.E.N about what life is really like working for the delivery firm.
He works at a depot in the city where morale is reportedly at rock-bottom, amid claims drivers are having to work harder for less money, and face having their rounds "slashed." Evri deny this, and say that all couriers earn in excess of the minimum wage after expenses, and this includes time for collection and re-delivery.
But tensions have become so heightened at one depot in south Manchester that drivers were involved in a stand-off with bosses this week. They say they 'grafted hard' over Christmas to help clear a huge backlog of parcels, but claim the 'tipping point' came when changes to their routes were implemented. Evri say they are in discussion with a 'small number' of couriers affected.
Craig, who started working for the firm when it was Hermes, says his experience of the job has got 'progressively worse.' Evri say that drivers are able to choose how many parcels they deliver and in what time frame, but Craig claims he has to work six days a week in order to keep his round.
In a typical month, Craig, who is self-employed, would expect to make around £1,000. He gets paid for every parcel he delivers, but claims changes to the packaging sizes mean he makes less money than he used to.
"For a standard parcel you might get 60p but now they've changed the sizing so you could have a massive Dunelm parcel which is huge but doesn't really weigh that much that's put down as a packet," he said.
"So someone will be delivering that for the same cost as an ASOS parcel but it will take up the whole boot and you've just got to come back to the depot again to reload."
Craig claims he and his colleagues only get paid for the parcels they deliver to customers, and explains this is why couriers have previously been filmed leaving parcels in bizarre places.
"If I go and knock on someone's door and they are not in and there's nowhere for me to leave the parcel I don't get paid for that," he said. "You pay for your own fuel as well, so you've lost money.
"That's why you see drivers delivering them wherever they can, otherwise you're just losing money. You knock on the door and the customer doesn't come down for several minutes so you go to find a safe space and then they come out and ask why you're leaving it.
"Luckily I have quite a good thing going where I deliver and people have my number so I can let them know updates but you'll always get someone who will make it difficult. Some people will refuse to leave the shed open or things like that. They want it in their hands but then they are never in."
Evri say that when petrol costs spiked they introduced an additional fuel payment, which was 'tailored for round types.' But Craig says for him, this only amounted to an extra £8 a month.
Craig claims the first few hours of his shift are spent 'exposed to the elements' as he and fellow drivers are forced to load their cars without any shelter from the weather.
Evri say couriers have access to rain shelters, but Craig and other drivers who spoke to the M.E.N claim this isn't the case. He gets to the depot around 8.15am, but claims often the deliveries don't arrive until 9.30am or later.
"By the time you've sorted the parcels you've been there for two hours without getting paid, getting absolutely soaked if it's raining or standing in the boiling sunshine.
"The other week it was snowing and the parcels all got wet. As soon as the customer came to the door the bottom just fell out and it's just embarrassing and makes us look bad."
Evri has previously apologised for delays experienced by many customers over Christmas, citing staff shortages, Royal Mail strikes and bad weather. Craig claims his own local depot saw a mass exodus of drivers during the festive period due to working conditions and pay.
Several couriers at the south Manchester depot said the backlog of Christmas parcels, which totalled around 16,000 at their depot alone, was only cleared days ago. Evri say they hired an extra 5,000 staff over the festive period to help clear the backlog.
Another driver, who has worked for Evri for several years, says it's the 'worst job he's ever had,' but claims he's found it impossible to find work elsewhere. The courier, whose name has been changed to Richard, told the M.E.N he 'works hard for not a lot of money.'
"Everyone is always just thinking 'oh my parcel is late' but it's not that simple. We have to manually load our car and then walk around the houses come rain or shine," he said.
"The pay is awful. We have to stand in the rain and cold for 40 minutes every morning sorting the parcels without getting paid. It's the worst job I've ever done in my life but there is nothing else out there for us."
Richard says most of the customers he deals with are understanding, but that a select few make life very difficult. "The majority of people we deal with are okay but some of them are so demanding," he said.
"The hoops we have to jump through for the sake of 50p is a lot. If I could get a job somewhere else I would love to but there is nothing else out there.
"I earn about £800 a month but that's before petrol and my phone bill and all the other bills I have to pay. Sometimes it feels like we are slaves. The environment, treatment and pay is awful."
Another courier working in Manchester told the M.E.N that once he's out delivering parcels he enjoys the job, but claims the firm are "squeezing" money out of the couriers.
"My gripe is that they are always penny pinching with the parcels," he said. "They keep saying a standard parcel is actually a packet and we are not getting paid what we should for it.
"At the depot we are left completely to the elements. If it's raining we are just open to the elements and all the parcels get wet. Evri doesn't care about us, it's just like it or lump it.
"If the parcels are cardboard they are just getting soaked so when it comes to giving it to the customer they blame you. The couriers are coming and going all the time.
"They advertise it as a job to suit your lifestyle but you end up just doing what suits them. If you are young and you have lots of bills to pay you'd have to work very long hours to earn enough."
Couriers at the south Manchester depot, who claim they normally deliver on average over 150 parcels a day, say in the last few days they've arrived to find just a few dozen parcels allocated to them, meaning they say they will earn less than £20 a round.
They claim they won't be able to survive on this and there were chaotic scenes outside the unit in Wythenshawe last week, as a group of angry couriers refused to pick up parcels as they demanded answers over what was happening.
Craig said the move by Evri had left some workers 'in tears.' He said his own round had been affected by the change, and that one large housing estate had been removed from his round, and another area he'd never covered before was added in. Other drivers said their entire round had "disappeared."
What Evri say
A spokesperson for Evri said: "We are unable to respond to anonymous allegations about specific disputes or even verify that these individuals work for Evri without their details.
"However, we can confirm that as our couriers are self-employed, they are able to choose the number of parcels they deliver and the time frame they do it. If couriers are unable to do their round for any reason we have cover couriers in place and over the Christmas period we added another 5,000 to offer support.
"All our couriers earn in excess of the minimum wage after expenses such as fuel costs (the average is over £15 an hour) and this includes time for collection and redelivery. This is independently audited by the GMB Union.
"When fuel costs spiked we introduced an additional payment which was tailored for round types – it is worth noting that 2/3s of our rounds are less than 1sq mile and the average courier will do 15 or less miles per day. All parcels are sorted into cages inside the depots and then loaded into vehicles outside with access to rain shelters."
In response to the recent dispute in Wythenshawe, a spokesperson for the firm added: "We are in discussions with a small number of couriers at one of our local delivery units who are unhappy with some changes to delivery rounds we have implemented.
"These are designed to ensure that every courier has viable earnings during these quieter months. We can confirm that deliveries are not affected as a result of this."
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