OVLOV JAY:
No but there’s got to be a balance between money and satisfaction
Spot on. My job is pretty boring but the money is pretty good from when I talk to other drivers and 6.30 16-30 Monday to Friday and every other saturday morning and 20 minute each way commute mean it fits round family life well.
My mate works on tankers and is on a good bit more but works permanent nights 4 on 4 off.
He has a young family like me but barely sees them but his financial situatoon leaved him with little choice but do it.
He keeps offering to get me a start and thinks it’s odd I’m not intrested but I earn enough to have a decent quality of living and get quality family time.
Don’t think anyone could argue with that. I’m in a similar situation. I work decent hours and earn very good money. I have plenty of time off with my family even if I do overtime. I’m lucky I have a good balance. It’s just it doesn’t compute why anyone would/should work for pennies. Like they say, you pay peanuts…
Rottweiler22:
I notice there are a few drivers who are willing to have better conditions, such as relaxed management easy work, own truck, etc, in return for lower pay. I remember one particular driver’s room conversation a few years ago, where one pitiful driver for a local firm said he was being paid £7.00 per hour. When a Scottish driver asked him why he worked for that pittance, he went onto saying; “Ah well I get my own truck, so I’m happy with that…” The Scottish driver just sledged him, saying something like; “Your kids are eating tinned food because you can’t afford them a decent meal, your missus is having ideas about s******* other fellas, because you’re never at home and you can’t offer her the recompense to buy her nice things, and all you care about is that your DAF XF has a microwave!” As you can imagine, a few jaws dropped!
But he had a point, some people are willing to accept lower pay for a more comfortable life, and it has a knock-on effect, because the firm tries lower pay on with everyone else.
I read an article a while ago in Transport Operator about the driver shortage. They claimed that an over-supply of drivers into the industry in the last decade has caused wages to fall, and conditions to decline. In other words, haulage firms expecting drivers to work more, for less. There are some firms in my area who are renowned for being bad payers, and a few years ago were part of the minimum wage brigade. Now they pay a little bit more, the lowest pay I’ve seen being £8.50 per hour. That excludes Stobart’s £8.33 per hour plus £15 per day dinner money!
This is exactly why all these talk of national drivers union’s etc. is a complete pipe dream. Different drivers can be at completely different ends of the spectrum in terms of what they consider to be a ‘good job’.
The cab-happy brigade who tramp away Mon-Fri & are satisfied with their £8ph wage because they get their own shiny, high powered truck with Kelsa bars and chrome trim aren’t going to walk out on strike in support of the supermarket drivers across the road unhappy that their Sunday premium is being slashed. Similarly, supermarket drivers won’t walk out in support of a bunch of truck enthusiasts unhappy their motors have been de-specced.
There are people in this game who do it mostly as a hobby & those who do it as a job to pay bills. The two do not mix. At my place there are guys who are always raising concerns about finish times & hours etc., but at the same time there are guys who don’t want to go home and live in the yard all week polishing their tanks at night.
For most drivers, driving is a life style choice. We want to do it, and we are just lucky enough that someone else is stupid enough to pay us for it… fortunately only a few companies have realised this… if the supermarkets find this out, we’re really ■■■■■■…
I gotmy class 1 in June 2005, I did part time agency work for just over 2 years before I found my present job.
Conclusion, theres always work out there, but quality work is in the rocking horse ■■■■ category.
OVLOV JAY:
The rates you’ve seen elsewhere are the reason your company has outsourced to stobarts. Just ask most former Tesco drivers. The once envied in house t’s and c’s are slowly being eaten away. Stobarts contract acquisitions are as damaging to drivers as they are other hauliers. Just like the customers not having much choice other than stobarts to give work too, soon the drivers won’t have much choice but to work for them
Yes I know what Stobarts are like that’s why I didn’t go over to them. I just can’t believe some of the rates drivers are working for. I know it’s different no but in the 80s/90s the unions wouldn’t let this happen. It seems the norm now to work for peanuts or better money on an agency.
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Nowadays the unions members have no backbone and most unions are acting against the interest of its members. Everything is decided behind closed doors between the company and the union. I wouldn’t trust any company or union to act for me.
If drivers pulled together and formed some sort of ‘national driver Union’ they could demand whatever they wanted and basically hold the whole government to ransom. Unfortunately the government keep the wages low and our outgoings high, keeping us [Drivers] suppressed and in line.
It’s my belief politicians are major shareholders of big businesses such as Stobarts, DHL, Wincanton, Tesco etc.
Honestly !
We actually went on strike as soon as we could but it didn’t make any difference. All the company did was to send the work to other depots for a week. I E other contracts. You can’t win.
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All I can say is if the other Depots took Magna work on whilst you where out on strike,the cooperation between each other must have deterioated
When I was at Magna the Union had regular meetings on a National basis to discuss T&C`s etc etc and that included the problem of other depots doing other depots work during a dispute.
Glad I retired 5 years ago after20 years at Magna, 3 on Agency and 17 permanent
Has anybody had or has a Boss that admits he pays crap wages,very few if any
Years ago I worked for a Boss who could not understand why we went on strike,in his words " I pay f****** good money" our reply was yes Boss you do thats true but its just that theres not enough of it.
ALL money is good,its the amount in most cases that`s crap.
JON :
Lets hope they don’t read that last post then! [emoji35]
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There is a reason why supermarkets don’t get away with treating their drivers like [zb]…
Yeh, but isn’t that reason they don’t actually HAVE “their” drivers though?
I spent 4 years working at Tescos on agency - and in that time I only ever got to see other agency drivers, and contractors - NOT “Tesco blue shirts” if you like…
Actual supermarket-employed drivers seem to be as rare as hen’s teeth!
after watching stobarts trucks and trailers a couple of years ago I came to the conclusion that stobarts pay crap wages because William needs his blinged up range rover as does his partner,someone has to pay for them and their luxury lifestyle so why not the drivers
Judonut:
Argos use DHL, XPO Wincanton and now Stobarts. All the depots have different t’s & c’s and pay. It was only until a couple of years ago each depot would negotiate there own pay but now it is done nationally. Sometimes though it not all about the highest pay but t’s &c’s. I just think as a professional driver you are worth at least £11 an hour.
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Correction, negotiations where always done nationally at least they was when I sat in on meetings between HQ Senior Management and the Union with Len McCluskey, at the time Union National Rep for Argos,Convenor`s and Shop Stewards from Magna Bridgewater Heywood Basildon and Daventry also some one from Pensions when needed,where all in attendance,the only ones not there was Home Delivery
Meetings where held in hotels with conference rooms ,usually over 1-3 days to avoid the normal business distractions,also so to ensure it was not the same ones doing the travelling each time.
Drivers need to work out what the “Net Hourly Rate” is, with it being taken for granted that you get sick pay and holiday pay.
It’s all very well being paid say, £13ph for a 48 hour week only to find you actually work 55-60 hours each week for the same basic… If you do 25% more hours, the hourly rate is going to effectively drop by the same amount, meaning £13ph ends up around £10ph. T&Cs are indeed HUGE on finding that happy medium of jobs - the one most of us don’t get a look-in at normally, because someone else got there first!
What’s sad in the industry today - is there is no recognition for actual “good track record of driving” rather than being lucky enough to pick up a plum job that gives you miles and miles of motorway driving only with no incidents… I don’t think “Fuel Bonus” or even “Fleetboard” does much to address that disparity between runs. a mediocre driver on a cushy job is going to get the bonus whereas driver of the year on a crappy number - won’t even make the green frame!
Winseer:
What’s sad in the industry today - is there is no recognition for actual “good track record of driving”
Because you’ve got a bunch of guys of merely normal competence, all arguing that what they do should command a king’s ransom and that the next guy is so poor he should be on a pittance.
It’s like somebody else said the other day (I forget who), some drivers talk as if they’re in bomb disposal. Yes, utterly incompetent driving might cause £100k of damage, but so can utterly incompetent use of the chip pan.
A good driving record is normally rewarded with access to more responsible jobs if a driver wants it, usually at no higher pay, and that is how meritocracy should work, where those best suited to roles get them.
But what you always get is those thinking they’re such superheroes, such rally drivers of the trucking world, that they alone from amongst their colleagues in the industry should be recognised by the bosses for their outstandingness and given huge lumps of cash gratuitously (i.e. without threatening the slightest consequence for the bosses if they decide to withhold cash).
Winseer:
Drivers need to work out what the “Net Hourly Rate” is, with it being taken for granted that you get sick pay and holiday pay.
This ^^^
The only way to work out how a job compares is to divide the wage top line by the number pf hours actually worked, and for the thousandth time we re-iterate night out pay is not wages so does not feature in this equation.
Once you have a mean average hourly rate, you can factor in whether unsocial hours feature and to what percentage, and how easy or pleasurable or neither the job is.
OVLOV JAY:
The rates you’ve seen elsewhere are the reason your company has outsourced to stobarts. Just ask most former Tesco drivers. The once envied in house t’s and c’s are slowly being eaten away. Stobarts contract acquisitions are as damaging to drivers as they are other hauliers. Just like the customers not having much choice other than stobarts to give work too, soon the drivers won’t have much choice but to work for them
Yes I know what Stobarts are like that’s why I didn’t go over to them. I just can’t believe some of the rates drivers are working for. I know it’s different no but in the 80s/90s the unions wouldn’t let this happen. It seems the norm now to work for peanuts or better money on an agency.
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Nowadays the unions members have no backbone and most unions are acting against the interest of its members. Everything is decided behind closed doors between the company and the union. I wouldn’t trust any company or union to act for me.
If drivers pulled together and formed some sort of ‘national driver Union’ they could demand whatever they wanted and basically hold the whole government to ransom. Unfortunately the government keep the wages low and our outgoings high, keeping us [Drivers] suppressed and in line.
It’s my belief politicians are major shareholders of big businesses such as Stobarts, DHL, Wincanton, Tesco etc.
Honestly !
We actually went on strike as soon as we could but it didn’t make any difference. All the company did was to send the work to other depots for a week. I E other contracts. You can’t win.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
All I can say is if the other Depots took Magna work on whilst you where out on strike,the cooperation between each other must have deterioated
When I was at Magna the Union had regular meetings on a National basis to discuss T&C`s etc etc and that included the problem of other depots doing other depots work during a dispute.
Glad I retired 5 years ago after20 years at Magna, 3 on Agency and 17 permanent
Problem was Magna was the last in house transport so the other depots could not support the strike as it is illegal. Argos now use 4 different 3rd party companies to run there transport. I have been with Argos 10 years 6 at Corby and 4 at Magna and it’s not the company it was in your day. I think Magna will be gone within 2 years. Most of the stores are gone and it mainly trunking now.
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