Meet the team: Rob Trivett, Launceston Intermediate Depot

Rob Trivett is our Intermediate Depot Manager at British Wool's recently opened site in Launceston Cornwall. 

How did become involved with British Wool?

After 32-years in newspaper production, I joined British Wool in 2012 and I’m now in my 10^th season. I was offered a position at Liskeard Grading Depot after our newspaper presses closed in Plymouth and my aim was to assist the Depot Manager with providing the best possible service to producers. My previous career was very focussed on customer service and I very much enjoy getting to know our producers and whilst helping them unload, discuss how the farming industry is treating them and getting to know them on a personal level. Producers are always very friendly and they appreciate us taking interest in them which is always reciprocal. In addition to meeting producers I enjoy the challenge of receiving the maximum amount of wool per day and ensuring it is processed efficiently and completed by the end of each day ready to start afresh the next.

Give us an example of a typical working day for you during the summer months.

A typical summer day at work means getting to the depot early to get the doors open and ready to greet our first delivery at 8am. Our producers are very rarely late and in most cases arrive early so we need to be ready. After unlocking and carrying out the daily safety checks, the morning consists of mainly unloading wool sheets and weighing in with my two very good temporary assistants whilst receiving regular phone calls from producers either requesting sheets, making appointments to bring their wool in or general enquiries.

As we get towards the end of the day we endeavour to process all the received wool sheets and clear the floor ready for the next day, checking that all the relevant paperwork is completed, that everything tallies ready to input onto the database. Finally we have a tidy up and ensure there are plenty of empty wool sheets, strings and labels available for the next day’s producers to take as required.

What motivates you day to day in your work?

The thing that motivates / satisfies me most about the job is the feeling that we have received the maximum amount possible of wool per day, which ensures that the producers are able to deliver to us when convenient to them and knowing we’ve done a good day’s work. In addition, I like to make sure my fellow colleagues know their efforts are greatly appreciated and that we all work as a team.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?

Outside of work I enjoy spending a lot of my time on DIY and love to continually improve our home. I am currently in the process of putting a new roof and velux windows on our utility room which has turned out to be a challenge as being an old cottage nothing is ‘square’! We have a couple of polytunnels where we grow veg and these require a lot of tending, but I don’t enjoy the weeding! I also spend a lot of time visiting family.