Team Member Focus September: Derek

Last month we put Paul Wilkie, one of our skilled dispatch controllers in Edinburgh, in the spotlight.

This month it’s the turn of Logistics Manager, Derek Thompson, who ensures some of our most challenging deliveries are made.

Derek shares with us his weird taste in pizza toppings, the superpower he would pick given the choice, and why if he had to pick another creature to be in all of the animal kingdom, he would want the life of a lion.

Read on to find out about Derek:

What do you do at Eagle Couriers?

I am the Logistics Manager, so I make sure all our deliveries in trickier places are met and use a bit of problem solving to do so.

How long have you been working at Eagle Couriers?

I have been at Eagle Couriers for the last 18 years – making me one of the newbies!

Do you have any strange delivery stories/encounters from your time at Eagle couriers?

A while ago there were these prop palm trees for a TV shoot. They had went missing, so I was phoning round various depots asking if they had any unclaimed palm trees.

Every time I asked the response was “Eh?”.

In the end they had been delivered to the right place and put away out of sight.

What do you most enjoy about working at Eagle Couriers?

I enjoy the satisfaction of getting a job done, especially when it’s a bit more complicated. The end result is the customer’s happy and we’re happy.

What’s something unexpected about you?

Nothing, I’m not too complicated and like the simple things in life.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I’m a massive football fan, I enjoy playing and watching the sport. For my sins Hibs is my favourite team. I also enjoy hill walking and generally being outdoors as well, and we’re very lucky to have some of the best of Scotland practically on our doorstep.

What’s one food that you can’t stand?

Believe it or not I hate all fruit. I find it really boring and unappetising.

My favourite food though is pizza, it’s basic but it does the job. My go to topping is a surf’n’turf combo of salami and anchovies, I picked it from a menu some 20 years ago and it’s been my choice ever since.

If you could live inside the world of any book/ TV / series or film which one would it be and why?

I’d like to be Blofeld in the James Bond movies because he always seems to get away.

What kind of animal do you think you’d be?

I would be a lion because then I’d be king of the jungle.

If you could have dinner with any 5 people living or dead, who would it be and why?

The original 4 members of Depeche Mode plus the one who joined when one of the original members left who subsequently left himself and now there’s only 3 of them

If you were stranded on a desert Island – and you could only bring three things with you – what would they be and why?

I think I would take a telescope, microscope, and a hat.

I would use the telescope so I could see the stars, the microscope so I could see things near me as I’m longsighted and the hat is obviously so I don’t get sunburnt. I’m practical in my daily life as well as my work life!

If you could have any superpower what would it be and why?

To have the ability to fly, then I could escape difficult situations, whenever I want.

If you could travel to any point in time, where would you go?

Probably 100 years into the future. I would like to see if the Arctic Circle is still there, they have been saying in 100 years boats will be sailing over where it currently is.

If you could teleport yourself anywhere in the world right now where would it be?

Iceland. I would love to explore its volcanic landscape and wouldn’t just stop at Reykjavik.