Is truck driving a well paid, enjoyable job? Whats u view?

Im new to hgv driving but as i was doing my training for my licence i found that there were so many diffrent views on the job,

Some would say its a brill job, exciting, get to travel, get peace from the family etc,
But many would also say its crap, not well paid, bad hours, etc,

Tho i have seen things to prove all these things can be wrong and right , i no people getting £600 a week for class one, but i also no people getting £300 for class 2,

Personaly i think its a great job, get to travel, get to drive a brilliant unit, get peace from everything when your away,

Whats your view■■?

I started on the class 2s about three months ago and I love it! And at £400 a week after tax I love it even more!

up until the contract ended a few weeks ago I was getting £600 per week easily for Class 2 trunk work. It’s a good job but you need to find the good ones and even the best jobs don’t have the best money. it’s a fine balancing act.

I’ve been driving Cars, Minibuses and HGV for a living fo the past 27 years - and have loved every minute of it.

Is it well paid? I did have a job where the wages were really poor, but we were kept busy and there was lots of overtime. Having said that it was all tipping work and I loved it.

Is it enjoyable? Abso~bloody~lutely

Got my class 1 licence in March so took any artic job to get experience - milk tankers first, trunking, 12 hour plus shifts for £90 a shift and £10 an hour after 12 hours. Lots of nights, 2.30 am starts, so not well paid but enjoyed it so long as I could stay awake…

Did a selection of other agency stuff including parcel trunking - £85 for a 12 hour shift, nights again.

Now driving artic and curtainsider delivering building materials - £8.50 an hour, quite stressful as have to find builders merchants and sites all over the south and in wales and having found them (a) find and deliver the right products and (b) get in and out of very tight yards and sites. Reckon it can be fun - todays run was one drop in kent so lots of driving and not much map reading and getting in and out. 50 plus hour weeks so over £400 before deductions, night trunking pays £10 an hour so £500 a week but don’t enjoy long night time motorway runs or working nights!!

Well paid - not yet. Enjoyable - I reckon it will improve! Once I’ve got a year or more under my belt and know what I’m doing (!) and can look around for other jobs…

The thing is . . . there are LOTS of different jobs out there that only have the aspect of driving a large goods vehicle in common.

With respect, if you’re new to the job, then you won’t know that there’s a BIG difference between trunking a loaded lorry from warehouse to warehouse & loading your own lorry at the warehouse, then hand balling it all off again into 12x High St. fast food restaurants.

Personally, I would hate to do a job that involved long mileages between drops, I get bored, restless, bored, fidgety, bored, hungry, bored & bored as early as 40mls into an 80ml drive. I much prefer to be in & out of the cab 10x a shift & getting a little exercise whilst climbing up to the Hiab.

There are so many different views on the job because there are so many different jobs.

Some people are in the wrong job & they’ll moan all day long about it, but try not to judge it as a good job all round till you’ve tried something truly ■■■■■■ like roadsweepers, parcels, tramping, etc. etc. etc.

I’m approaching the year mark now and I have to say one the whole I’ve made the right choice. This particular job may not suit me in the long run, but driving itself I’m quite happy with.

What’s the pay like? It’s different for everything, we do store deliveries in artics and I’ve heard tales of guys in rigids for other store chains on 4 grand more per year. To the guys who are used to more money, that probably is a deal breaker but I came from a 14k a year warehouse job, I’m more than happy with the money I’m on now and I know it’s at the lower end of the scale, so eventually there will be the potential to earn more once my two years is up.

Is it fun? Not gonna lie to you man, when you have a bad day ■■■■ can get real bad. The sort of days where it’s ■■■■■■■ it down with rain, the radio doesn’t work properly, and you find yourself in 10 miles of stop start traffic, even worse is you know the drops you are going to are pigs to get in and out of. On the good days though…I can’t believe I ever did anything else. Cruising down a nice road, sun is shinning, some decent tunes, sat high up above the rest of the traffic, it’s a brilliant feeling. You do more hours than other lines of work, and after a 15 hour day you feel it when you finally stop. Before though, 8 hours in the warehouse felt like a slow, painful torture. 12, 13 hours of doing this and the time flies by so fast you don’t even realise.

What can I say, I really enjoy the driving aspect of the job. Give me 5 years and I’m sure I’ll be as bitter as everyone else.

The Pariah:
I’m approaching the year mark now and I have to say one the whole I’ve made the right choice. This particular job may not suit me in the long run, but driving itself I’m quite happy with.

What’s the pay like? It’s different for everything, we do store deliveries in artics and I’ve heard tales of guys in rigids for other store chains on 4 grand more per year. To the guys who are used to more money, that probably is a deal breaker but I came from a 14k a year warehouse job, I’m more than happy with the money I’m on now and I know it’s at the lower end of the scale, so eventually there will be the potential to earn more once my two years is up.

Is it fun? Not gonna lie to you man, when you have a bad day [zb] can get real bad. The sort of days where it’s ■■■■■■■ it down with rain, the radio doesn’t work properly, and you find yourself in 10 miles of stop start traffic, even worse is you know the drops you are going to are pigs to get in and out of. On the good days though…I can’t believe I ever did anything else. Cruising down a nice road, sun is shinning, some decent tunes, sat high up above the rest of the traffic, it’s a brilliant feeling. You do more hours than other lines of work, and after a 15 hour day you feel it when you finally stop. Before though, 8 hours in the warehouse felt like a slow, painful torture. 12, 13 hours of doing this and the time flies by so fast you don’t even realise.

What can I say, I really enjoy the driving aspect of the job. Give me 5 years and I’m sure I’ll be as bitter as everyone else.

Totally agree 100% good days are amazing ■■■■ days couldnt get worse

To answer the op’s original 2 questions, I’ll keep it brief:

well paid? …NO,
enjoyable? …only at the start…

but once the novelty wears off, then for the most part no.

(Unless, of course, you happen to find the following pursuits “enjoyable”:
stress,
being treated with more contempt than dirt,
handballing of items for dirt cheap wages)

The job is what you make it…like a lot of the lads have said on here , after a long time and taking the rose tinted glasses off…its a job, there isnt the comaradery like years ago… 6 or 7 of us from the same company on a night out few beers and a laff…breakdown these days you will be very lucky if another driver stops and asks if your or8 mate, you could stand there all day , i still like driving but the job is means to an end.

I notice the replies on here are from relatively new truck drivers it appears the only driver who has been driving for any length of time hates it, as do I, I am very lucky and have had nearly 10 years with little truck driving but recently been made redundant and ‘needs must’ means driving again,

This is how i see truck driving:

You park up late and the only space is an overcrowded layby on the A1 so the arse of your truck is hanging out of the layby, everytime you nod off a truck goes by and you get seasick as the trcuk rocks all night combined with the headache because you have one side of the truck in a ditch and your head is lower than your feet, you need a dump badly and can climb into the stinging nettles for the crap or let the passing motorists see you take the dump, alternatively you can get the carrier bag out from you latest ‘meal’ (chocolate, banana milk, sausage roll) purchased at the extremly expensive service area, you can pull your curtains round and dump in the bag, you then try to wash your hands with the 2 liters of evian (also purchased for £15 a bottle at the services) you then discreetly drop it in the overflowing laybin bin (if they have one) the truck doesnt start now because you left the lights on to warn others of the arse of the truck hanging out, eventually you get the ■■■■■■ going and your off to magna park lutterworth, you’ve missed your timed delivery as some security guard enjoys telling you in pidgeon English, but he is going to do you a really big favor and reminds you three times that he doesnt have to do favors, hes going to let you come back in 2 hours and unload, you thank him proffusly through gritted teeth, eventually you get in and meet the guy who hates all truck drivers and speaks to you in as few words as he can muster, " park over there, were busy" great they sell truck driver cuisine (the chocolate vending machine) as you can see i can go on all day about how much i hate it
when you need time off for a toothache due to the constant vending machine food, the boss tells you you’ll have to take the whole day off not just a couple of hours and consequently lose a days pay (if you work in the office you are salaried so no deduction for dentist, also in the office you can take a comfertable dump in a warm toilet, no carrier bag for them)

you are young and just married with the first kid, you want to buy a house, well on an average of 26k a year you cant buy a garage so you and the wife (when you actually meet) argue constantly about money and having no prospects.

Car drivers sticking their fingers up at you becaue you are only doing 40 on a huge but single carrige road!

Do i need to mention VOSA " only doing my job Driver" understood but please stop enjoying being a cnt?

We drivers formed the " starlight" club with all the single middle aged drivers whose wife was having it off while they were tramping, the membership now has a waiting list of two years.

there is only one great thing about lorry driving and that is the crack you have with the other drivers, you cant beat the laughs with them.

One thing i do notice is the average age of the truck driver has gone up rapidly, i guess the youngsters are no longer prepared to do this ■■■■ job just to “drive a big truck”, maybe the eventual lack of truck drivers will make people respect truck drivers and increase their pay to a good wage, I doubt i’ll ever see the day…

i would be interested to hear the opinions of the newer drivers below after 5 years of doing the job!!

why havent i got a job doing something else?? im on the net now trying for anything at all to get me off the road…

I got into this line of work as something I had always wanted to do ,
I love driving wether its a car or fully loaded artic , I spend alot of time in traffic and to be honest it really does not bother me as I can only go as fast as the car in front allows me at a safe distance, and since passing my hgv im even quite happy to drive my car at 60-65 mph on mtrways now , (improved my fuel bills a bit too lol)
I can quite happily turn up the radio and lose myself in a good tune , equally when in a hub waiting to be loaded will quite happily spend a couple of hours talkin with other drivers at the coffee bar , yes they moan a lot but quite entertaining most of them lol , as for pay its not the best but not the worst so swings and roundabouts ,
The best job I had was trunking up and down to newmarket and darlaston , couple of hours drive each way , nice chat and coffee with the forkies after unloading then on my way again , may have been repetitive but I enjoyed the familarity of the job knowing exactly what im doing so no real surprises , most I had to contend with was making sure they didnt overload me or getting a helping hand trying to move 1 tonne of palleted water bottles up a very slight slope ,
Do I regret getting my licences , hell no !!! Ive met some really nice people in this job , and hardly anyone that ive thought whats their problem , Ive found if your atitude is right even the most miserable and grumpy forkie you can get a smile from by the end of a job ,
Mabe its beacause I do this part time that I still enjoy it 3 years on , but a job is what you make it , I can talk to people no problem ( some on here who have met me will vouch for that ) equally be happy with my own company so this works for me , im not scared of asking for help if the situation requires so make life easier that way, commaradary is still there as anyone ive met is always very happy to pass on theyre knowledge or a bit of brute strength when needed ,

Well thats my view anyhow ask me 10 years from now I dont know may be different but at the mo see ya on the road wherever that may be

jen x

I like it most of the time, kind of a love hate relationship for me. Im not on great money but its a very secure job, they made no redundancies during the recession and we get treated very, very well and are truly left alone.

Been in the job nearly 30yrs & have had a ball. Money could always be better but if you get to do the type of work you like & can provide your family with a reasonable standard of living (which I do & can) it’s a good life. If I didn’t do international work though I would have packed up years ago, domestic work to me is boaring & very under paid. Keep on trucking.

Well put steve4590 you forgot to put about office staff who want you to work 15 hour days and only have 45 hours off at weekends while they work 8 hours and then go home and never work a 6 day week but then moan if you want your holidays.

some folks can hack it…others cant. the only way to find out is by giving it a go...i certainly enjoy it,and some days i even find it pleasurable.sure..youll probably be working 60+ hours a week and maybe even sleeping in the truck,but youll have in the region of £500 quid a week going in the bank. all the other crap(rdcs,security,bad drivers etc) means ■■■■ all to me.

most of the time

I left a 30k(salary) job last month, todo a £400+ overtime a week driving class2 + class1 and am loving it.

Only passed C+E last month, was offered job before passing C+E .

Come on now, dont start getting all bitter and twisted

Its a trap, the money lures you in then you get used to a £500 pay packet.
Then you realise you cant find another job doing anything else with the same pay.
You’re stuck.
If you enjoy what you do then nice one, I’m chuffed to bits for you… Personally, I despise everything about the job and my only way out is death or retirement… Seeing that Im only 38, Im mighty pee’d off!

Cheggy:
Its a trap, the money lures you in then you get used to a £500 pay packet.
Then you realise you cant find another job doing anything else with the same pay.
You’re stuck.
If you enjoy what you do then nice one, I’m chuffed to bits for you… Personally, I despise everything about the job and my only way out is death or retirement… Seeing that Im only 38, Im mighty pee’d off!

+1

(and if you never make it past being a lowly agency driver, divide that 500 by 2 or 3)