delivery driver

Ramkey Communications

You are a residential cable installer Rogers cable, a typical day at work is 8-12 calls within a certain city. The job itself is actually fun and keeps you active, its all the protocols around it which can cause a fairly high employee turnover rate.
The training is supplied and paid and is quite enjoyable, you learn the job very well then eventually you get your own company truck (which you can take home). The first couple weeks you will struggle alone but if you make it through you will realize how easy the job really is (most days)
The pay structure is piecework so you get a flat rate for doing certain jobs, so that means if you spend 20 minutes on a call or 2 hours you get paid essentially the same. However management acts as if they are completely blind to this fact and are constantly adding new things for you to do at each call. That is the real cause of stress around the job, management acts as if all the things they ask for aren't adding extra time to every call which hurts your bottom line every day. They were technicians at one point many years ago (when the pay codes were much higher) so to them the struggles of the current pay structures do not exist. 
On top of that you work a 6 week rotating schedule, which means your 2 days off a week are different every week, during the 6 week rotation you get 2 weekends off, and management are always asking you to work those days. It is one thing to ask for a Tuesday extra shift, but when you get very few weekends off it is almost insulting when they ask you to work and then give you a lecture when you say no.
The co-workers are awesome, with the exception of a few techs, most are very easy to talk to. You will do most of your learning on the job and from your co-workers. Even the team lead technicians are easy to talk to and learn from.
Advancement is kind of a double-edged sword, the only real advancement is the previously mentioned team lead technicians, however they actually get paid less than regular technicians most days and their job is extremely stressful. The main reason they take those positions is for a custom schedule so if you are into making money its best to avoid such promotions.
99% of customers are easy to talk to and generally good people, but that 1% of people that are just crazy or imbalanced from the get-go will supply you with some good life experience and a good story.
You will run into homes that are so disgusting and at that point it is up to you if you want to head in. I have left three calls that were all far too disgusting for me to work safely. You will also run into people who are not even your customer who are trying to bother you (a good portion of the work is outdoors, neighbors tend to get all antsy when they see you running cable outside) how you deal with them is up to you, be firm but not rude and they will leave you alone.
You are working for Ramkey which is contracted out to Rogers meaning on top of all the Ramkey protocols you need to adhere to Rogers protocols. Rogers periodically inspects calls you have been to, if the call does not meet their ever-changing requirement they will issue a fail and bill your company 40$. That 40$ bill is given to you to sign and be deducted from your paycheque. They will change what is a fail and what isn't but first they will fail you then let you know the rules changed. The 40$ hit is big considering most calls are under 20$.
The customer is king definitely applies here but sometimes you need to choose between wasting 3 hours fixing an entire call or leaving and giving someone else the call, it is a sad reality of the piecework system but sometimes techs leave bad calls. 100% you will leave a call with subpar service because wasting a third of your day to make 20$ is not worth it.
So knowing all this it is worth it to mention if you need a job they are always hiring, if you can handle all the aforementioned annoyances and focus on the positives you will be able to do this job.
In summary the pay is good, co-workers are awesome, the job is enjoyable especially with decent weather. Your ability to handle the annoyances will determine your longevity at Ramkey.

Definitely a difficult career somedays; but if you work hard, look at the big picture, and are willing to learn, you'll do well. 

It is extremely important to learn from your peers. Ask questions, stay positive. Expect long days for your first year, things become easier after that first year.

Great team support to help your development in becoming a competent technician! Many good people in the company.

They offer great opportunities. You get your own work vehicle. There are good training opportunities. after 3 months you can pay into benefits around $50-$100 a month for you and your dependants/spouse/partner. Good benefits. 

All-in-all; I recommend this company. Not suited for everyone; as it takes a special someone to adapt to the constant changes with work protocol.

If you don't like working with and/or near people - then do this field a favour and don't take on this career. Customers always come first. If you want to advance; respect customers and respect your fellow colleagues.

The only major downfall is work/life balance, especially between July-October. Expect very few days off around then.

The most enjoyable part of my job was my passion for working with Excel & Access. I enjoy creating & linking worksheets & workbooks, writing formulas and macros, and it's endless learning possibilities.

The hours of operation were 8:00-4:00 with a half hour paid lunch taken at your own time preference. There was a fully equipped lunchroom with flat screen TV, but, everyone stayed in their own office. Managers shared time in each others office, or left the building. I most often times did not take a lunch break in order to meet deadlines.

 I was required to make up for all time missed, before or after regular hours or weekends. Vacation time was restricted to one day 
per pay period, when approved. There was no cross training, back-up or support in place for this position until seven and a half years after it was created.

After years of loyal dedication to this company, I was forced to seek new employment.

Being a technician with Ramkey gave you the freedom to make as much money as you wanted by completing your daily required appointments/service calls and adding more calls to your call board. Given a company vehicle which you were able to take home each day as long as you were not using the company vehicle on personal time, with exceptions given approval by the Boss. Fantastic Company and wish I could still be working for them, unfortunately due to a medical incident, I couldn't continue being employed.

I really enjoy working for Ramkey Communications. They make you feel like family and you grow together as such. They have good long term benefits as well as incentives to produce. Managers are fantastic and the Owner himself treats his employees like every other person. It feels as if everyone is on an equal playing field and has equal opportunity to rise up in the company. This is a company that you could think of having a career with.

Its a good place to be for a strong mind, and driven driven driven people with there own ability to train themselves up and develop their own skills. This will get you along in your position, less than this, you will not be trained up or out, you will just fill a position and a need for business to thats needs to meet its customer needs minimally. Fake it till you make it. 

I worked for this company. They dont pay good plus work schedule is so bad. They charge you if anything goes wrong while you were working . They need to change whole management team so that they can understand the culture of working with their technicians and learn how to respect their techs. **POOR MANAGEMENT**

very good work culture, all techs stick together and help each other. management was very unorganized and didn't treat employees as valued assets to their company. shifts were cancelled randomly, on call without pay, confusing pay structure that management even has a hard time explaining.

I would wake up early and take the company truck to work. I would then stock up on supplies for the day. I would have a laptop and a Dispatcher to give the house calls. I would then proceed to my first call of the day. To either setup communications equipment or troubleshoot and fix them.I would do on average 8 or more calls in a days work.

A typical day at work would be a day that I learn something new wile getting along with other team members.

I enjoy being around people and working with people I get along with.

The hardest part would be learning something new but not knowing something gives me a drive to understand it better.

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