Canada...illusions and info

[almost]

Hey guys,

Saw an advert in a recent edition of Truckstop News looking for drivers in Canada; think it was from H&R Transport out of Calgary. I did consider coming across a few years ago but, amongst other things, I had only held my C+E for a about year or so. What has got me looking into things again is that I had planned to buy my first house this summer, I’m 33 (if you’re wondering why it took me so long was was at uni for a good few years and went abroad). The more house hunting I did and do, the more I feel I’m driving the nails further into the coffin of my adventures and a chance of a (possibly) more enjoyable way of life outside the UK.

I have a bunch of questions that I will try to order somewhat, if you could help answer (any of) them, I would surely appreciate it:

1/ What are the jobs like, similar to what we have over here? Most of the work I have done is fridge work (ambient/frozen) into stores, gas tankers (bulk and mini) and recently on whiskey (bulk tankers and casks).
2/ CPM for OTR is, from what I’ve read, the usual starting point. Fair enough, but I have not done much tramping in the UK. What little I did wasn’t the best experience due to overcrowded truckstops, poor facilities etc. Am I mad??
3/ When you are away for your 14+ days at a time, what is the running like? Always pushed for time to make delivery windows? Or is it slightly more relaxed? Faster you deliver, more $$ I presume?
4/ Trucks, are they decent to drive? Will I get something fairly new or a Canadian Bedford? (I know that was change from company to company and prob within the same company too!)
5/ Some adverts ask you to do ‘emergency roadside repairs’, I trust they are not asking for a driving mechanic? I can change a wheel, fix a broken air line, renew a suzie, bleed the fridge donkey and bits like that.
6/ Only international experience I have is via double manned couch tours around Europe. How much emphasis do they place on international experience? And what exactly is ‘Mountain Experience’…driving up and down steep grades?

7/ I was looking at Manitoba, they seem to have a few companies who hire workers from abroad and their PNP program is open (as far as I can tell from the web). Is this still a 12 month PR route? MB my best bet?
8/ What is the process to exchange UK HGV for the Canadian equivalent? Theory and practical, then done? Or is there more to it? Who pays for this? Me, or the company offering a position?
9/ If I apply to someplace, get offered a position and get over there, do they help with finding accommodation or do they say ‘You start Monday, see you then’ and you have to sort this out on your lonesome? Can you do this from UK?
10/ What $$ should I have sat aside to see me over the first month or so? I would NOT be buying initially, I’d rent. I read someplace mobile contracts (do they do Sim-Only deals in Canada?)?
11/ If I get in with a fair crowd, is it a case of head down and chap on until the PR arrives? Or are they going to try to mess you around a bit?
12/ I would be coming across mainly as I find the UK too busy, too crammed in and honestly, too many people! Am I likely to find this in Canada, whether that is MB or elsewhere?

Quite a block of text, apologies. I have read some good posts/sites but some of the info in going back nearly 10 years!

Forget to mention, I know nobody in Canada (well, my nan has a sister (or is it a cousin?) in Calgary, though I have never met her in my adult life) and I did date a lovely Canadian exchange student from near Ontario one year…does that help?? Joking aside, I could use all the help I can get at this stage.

Thanks

[stevejones]

hi almost been here with few trips back home for 12yrs ran all 48 usa/canada few guys came and love it but once again everybodys diffrent i did 22yrs euro/n.africa but the distances shocked me .as for h/r/ think stobart and thats that .met couple guys who stopped there but many horror stories from others.to me they treat you badly here especially if u got a tounge in your mouth and voice your opinion .they class that as being troublemaker all your expected hols wise is 2wks a year .then after each trip couple days off anymore and your loosing money .99percent here is paid by the mile u will need 3000miles aweek to live and if u live on own most of your money will go on living rent/elec/water/heating/car/ins/ its true houses are bigger/cheaper but thats about all .i find guys that maybe didnt have gd jobs in uk struggle on.seen guys leave here broken .if you plan bringing family here carefule where you decide to live not many english girls wanna be in manitoba/alberta for winter lol only advice i can say is iknow all the gripes abuot uk but ive worked in few countries and its still one of the best if you have even half decent life stay there m8 just treat yourself to a driving hol out here ,on that cheery note gd luck whatever u decide sorry for few spelling .ups i be in uk myself 28th feb anymore questions feel free

[almost]

Hey stevejones,

Thanks for sharing your experiences, I think I read some of your posts on this site about being out in Canada before.

I have heard stories about them treating drivers pretty poorly and I don’t like the thought of being someone’s dog until the PR comes through. Some drivers are on shockingly low CPM rates too! TBH, I would struggle the first year, I know I would. I like being home every night and weekends off, call me a snob, but I actually enjoy my free time…a lot! So much so that I think that would probably be my main reason for not coming: work-life balance (yes, that dirty word). Also, the two weeks paid leave is stingy.

Geez, the above makes me sounds like an entitled layabout.

I think you have hit the proverbial nail when you said we have it fairly decent in terms if driving in the UK. Having never worked as a driver in another country I wouldn’t know, but from what I’ve read it is beginning to make sense. I could give it a go but I would walking away from the easygoing setup I have here. Maybe better to do like you say and take a driving holiday.

Thanks for the information, much appreciated

P.S. You say you are in the UK on the 28th, do you work outside the UK?

[stevejones]

been running canada /usa coast to coast this year just done prince edward island to reno nv reload ventura l.a. and back 7400miles in this

[almost]

Tidy looking truck, is it comfortable to drive? Looks like you have a nice sized bed in there too, no more sleeping on a bunk behind the seats for sure.

Is this all CPM driving? What are the regs anyway, I assume you still have X amount of running time, breaks and rest periods? Are the truckstops any good?

Are these types of jobs/runs pretty rare, or are there a few of them kicking about (I guess the stuff you do is a closed shop until PR papers come through?)

[stevejones]

yes cpm m8 alot of long haul but not many from this far east im on edge of canada so alot this side do east coast and midwest the hrs are 11driving a day inusa and 13hrs in canada real nice truck to drive but they dont go for high bhp planks miss me ol v8 and f16

[almost]

What hp is that anyway? I saw a VNL 680, 760 etc when I Googled your truck, are they not the hp numbers?

Do you happen to know is there is a best time of year to land a position with someone? Is this anytime, or seasonal?

I don’t mean to pry, but would you say you are better off, worse off or about the same as back in the UK? I know there will be loads of variables etc, but you mentioned before that a fair bit goes on a place to say/bills etc. Is Canada a place that you can settle down and be comfortable on a trucker’s income?

[stevejones]

no m8 they are the model mine vnl760 its the larger cab with table/chairs in back anytime is gd because they advertising allover constantly .most the volvos here are the d13 450bhp you can earn fair money here but its what you have to do to get it as single guy living in truck no problem but forget working 5days a week .they never admit it but while your on w/permit they know it and think they can treat u like 2nd class person .there is gd work close to the big cities/toronto/vancouver but num iwouldnt live there free num 2 check house prices .if u ever come come in winter for visit so u see what you got to deal with every year . im self employed but each pay u get stopped tax/cpp canada pension plan wether u like it or not and e.i.employment insurance.and you cant collect the e.i. if you loose your job till your a p.resident vacation pay is usually 4 percent of what u earn i only ever stayed because where i live in pei by the ocean is beautifule for 3mths of the year .one from warmer times just out of t/wash in vegas running down to san diego

[almost]

Ah right, that makes more sense. I saw a VNL860 earlier and I thought surely not all that hp!

You did a fair bit of staying away in Europe before you went to Canada though, right? So that surely helped you settle in. I wouldn’t have that experience. It’s not so much the living in a truck that gets me, it’s the lack of decent places to stop and get showered/cleaned up and something proper to eat…running out of time or whatever in the UK and,…well you’ll know yourself… you find yourself sleeping in a layby with doggy bags hanging from the branches.

Do you have to pay to park at the truck stops over there?

TBH it sounds like the working is pretty full on, a way of life even. I pull my weight for sure (S/Employed too coming on 5 years this June) but I really need down time. I appreciate you telling it like it is.

PEI looks beautiful. I have family on the Isle of Skye, if I brought my binoculars I might see you

[stevejones]

lol ye 1 gd thing in the states is the t.stops free parking 99percent private showers towels etc in room main ones are flyingj /pilot/ta/and pilot canada not so gd before i moved here my last job was maguires from monaghan running allover tempted now im older to move back tried it before but heart wasnt in it but just seems im missing uk/europe more theese days know its changed but its me home over here your always an outsider did what i set out to all48 states and b.c across canada and shipped out newfoundland thats some place thought i was back in ireland at my cousins lol anyway man gotta sign of now any questions just drop me a line stay well

[almost]

You sure have seen a lot of the America’s but I can see the appeal of being back home in bonny Ireland. I live in Scotland, and I miss it sometimes when I get down past Carlisle!

Safe trip, and listen, I appreciate all the advice you have given me, really has been helpful

[chrisarbon]

Stevejones is spot-on with what he writes; not much to add to that really. There are good and bad driving jobs and what may be good for some maybe bad for others. Here is my last trip; at 40 cpm you can do the maths.

[almost]

Thanks for posting, ChrisArbon

That figure I have calculated, I assume that is gross. What sort of deductions are taken off your pay? stevejones mentioned that tax, pension and employment insurance all have to come off. Are they % based like the UK?

I see both yourself and stevejones run into the US states. Can that be done right away when you start working for a Canadian company, or do you have to wait months for a special permit of some sort?

Have you been across there a while? How did you find the transition when you first went across? Did you have experience running distance work before going?

[chrisarbon]

Deductions take about 30% of your gross pay. There is no night-out money but long-haul drivers can get a tax rebate at the end of every year which is based on the number of days that they were away from home.

All my runs start with a trip south of the border and then back to Canada. I have been here 12 years now and worked for several different companies; all doing long-haul work, which I prefer. Most of my trips for the last 8 years are documented here http://chrisarbon-roadtrips.blogspot.ca/. You could trawl through that lot to get an idea of what you could be asked to do.

For a single bloke who doesn’t mind hard work, it can be a good way to see North America and earn enough to have a good standard of living. But for a married man with kids; coming to Canada and expecting that long-haul truck-driving is the answer to all there problems is a big mistake.

[hutpik]

Perhaps not relevant but for a Place with good wages and a fantastic work-life balance Scandinavia takes some beating and is very similar to Canada in mentality and climate.I have lived here now 10yrs and have never seen a Place where people seem to have so much free time,but this is part of the Culture here.And yes,i lived for a time in Canada and a long time in Holland.

[almost]

@ ChrisArbon - Thanks again, I have bookmarked your link and will continue reading through it later, lots to read on there! I see you have even authored a book

Sadly, it is becoming increasingly clear that Canadian trucking and I would probably not be the best of friends. The hours done per day are fine (I run around 12 hrs a day in the UK) but it’s the length of time away from home and the number of days on duty with no day off. I have no kids/wife to be concerned about, but I still need downtime, probably more than most if I’m honest. Even being away for, say 8 days to take your recent trip, I would struggle with after a while. Guess I’m too much of a flower to survive in Canada, a shame.

@ hutpik - Thanks for responding. Is it not rather difficult to get a working visa for the Scandanavian countries? I read someone in the past that they have very strict entry requirements, one of them being some understanding of the local language.

[hutpik]

Hi Almost,quite the contrary,Sweden and Finland are EU so you can worrk there freely,Norway is not but western Europeans are quite welcome.I came here 10 yrs ago,bought a house [with all paperwork done]in a week,spent the summer doing work on it,went to Gällivare in the Autumn,spoke to some people in the job center,the guy took me to a transport co in his car,interview took 10 mins’[and i spoke no Swedish and he spoke no English]‘Can you drive big truck,’‘yes i’ve done EU,ME USSR Canada,’'Ok start tomorrow.And now some of the happiest and most relaxing retirement time.Maybe you should look on this site and European drivers for some of the things posted about Scandinavia.

[almost]

Thanks hutpik! I will certainly look into this. Would you mind if I PM you if I have questions?

[hutpik]

Hi,of course you can pm me to ask,but i urge you to carefully read the many threads on the Euro trucking page,many of which have been contributed to by myself and many others who have lived and\or worked here.most of the things you could wish to know are there if you look.1 page entitled ‘‘wanted ice road trucker’’ was posted by me about 2 yrs ago,read it ,the questions and replies are Eye opening.Good luck.

[dunchues]

Almost:
@ ChrisArbon - Thanks again, I have bookmarked your link and will continue reading through it later, lots to read on there! I see you have even authored a book

Sadly, it is becoming increasingly clear that Canadian trucking and I would probably not be the best of friends. The hours done per day are fine (I run around 12 hrs a day in the UK) but it’s the length of time away from home and the number of days on duty with no day off. I have no kids/wife to be concerned about, but I still need downtime, probably more than most if I’m honest. Even being away for, say 8 days to take your recent trip, I would struggle with after a while. Guess I’m too much of a flower to survive in Canada, a shame.

@ hutpik - Thanks for responding. Is it not rather difficult to get a working visa for the Scandanavian countries? I read someone in the past that they have very strict entry requirements, one of them being some understanding of the local language.

From your very honest description of your preferences, you’re quite right, Canada driving wouldn’t suit you at all.

The novelty and different nature of the job would get you down very quickly judging from your truthful and accurate assessment of your wants and preferences.

If more people had the depth of knowledge and understanding of what really makes them tick as you have, me and most of the other expats here would have seen a lot less sad stories and broken dreams as we have from totally unsuited drivers and ( usually worse) their families.

Best of luck in whatever you go on to do, but I think you’ll make your own luck with an analytical bent like yours.

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