newmercman:
Personally I would avoid any firm that had a trainer anyway.Having a trainer tells me that they have a lot of newbies and if they have a lot of new drivers then that means a high turnover, a high turnover means it ain’t the best job.
Different story for a new arrival of course, but it also tells them that the job will be a stepping stone and not a job for life.
Could a company having a trainer just mean they are serious about h&s and the well being of their workforce and equipment?
Neil1x:
newmercman:
Personally I would avoid any firm that had a trainer anyway.Having a trainer tells me that they have a lot of newbies and if they have a lot of new drivers then that means a high turnover, a high turnover means it ain’t the best job.
Different story for a new arrival of course, but it also tells them that the job will be a stepping stone and not a job for life.
Could a company having a trainer just mean they are serious about h&s and the well being of their workforce and equipment?
Not necessarily , at my company(fortune 500) we have no trainers but preach safety to the nth degree , management do the classroom work and drivers teach the practical side of the job .
Not talking about safety training, I mean a whole department whose job is dependent on there being a revolving door of new drivers.
I have no issue with H&R, unlike one of their former drivers, one that posted here and one that is not from Wales. The one that emailed me wanting an expose on their alleged dodgy practices.
I recommend H&R and BFS, but with a caution that you have to do things a certain way to succeed at both places.
Yes I do have issues with you BTD, but if you post without bringing any of that into it then you will find that I’m neutral.
As for autocensor correcting my stuff, well of course it [zb]ing does, I swear like a drunken sailor. However this is tnet not church, so a few ■■■■ s here and there won’t send me to eternal damnation… I hope!
I went to see h and r today I got my start date for September, I am seeing b and d, and watt and Stewart tomorrow, westcan on Wednesday, trimac’s Lmos are taken up for 2014, I spoke to three English guys today who all seemed happy there, I have also spoke to a couple of the local Canadians who told me to stay clear, who recommended watt and Stewart if any, I never realised this place was so big and open, but also very friendly, I was also told by the locals to try and keep down lethbridge way due to rising housing costs further north.
House prices in Lethbridge vary to what side of town you look at. Both the west side and Legacy Ridge on the north side are all new so will pay a bit more there. You got a couple small towns with in about 10 min drive that are not that bad at all. Some of the town’s a bit further out are dry towns so be careful there lol. Get yourself over Firestone treat yourself to a steak
Welcome to Canada Terry , not that bad is it ? Been stuck in traffic yet ? 
Enjoy the experience .
bobthedog:
Close enough for government work, taffy.No, I wouldn’t work there. I do a little oversize work but not too much. The permits are always fresh from my printer and I do read them. I like to keep trotting on. Thing is that the people I do know there I know very well. They’re not people I was thrown in with when I emigrated. Check your summer curfew times again as well.
Only reason I mentioned it in the first place is because although you can use them as a vehicle to get out here, Alberta is taking a long time to get residency and that is a company that will keep you away if you want to earn.
Personally, I’d prefer to sit at home on my off days than in the truck somewhere else. And those curfews are unpaid. Seems you avoid that part. There were drivers sat for 12 days at the end of January and 6 days at the end of February. You avoid that too. It took until the end of April for them to get more than the $100 a day for that.
It truly makes no difference to me. Mr moderator and I have our issues but may I suggest that he leave those issues to one side on this. After all, he has warned many against BFS many times, and with many auto censor cuts in his warnings.
I am telling only what I know from others, after all, and hoping that people understand what will happen.
H&R pay a higher rate and, if you work as they need you to, will give you miles. And I did work there for a time which me moderator did not, yet the jabs about those are there for all to see.
My apologies bob, you are correct about Watt & Stewart.
Although the shipper has the tires ready dispatch won’t let you load for 6 or 12 days just because your face doesn’t fit. That’s how they roll. As I changed my workpermit from h&r to w&s at the border, the officer at the border immediately gave me the addresses for the local thriftstore and foodbank as the 43/48cpm (47/52cpm with bonus) I get now at w&s is way less than the 42cpm at h&r and I could not afford to live of the meager $70-$75 thousand I make here. On top of all this misery the PR process took a never-ending 15 months from sending of the paperwork for the AINP application till PR was received earlier this year.
So you’re absolutely correct, Alberta and W&S are not the place to be
So crunchy, it seems you know which side your bread is buttered. I would like to run a job by you (and everyone else) and hear your honest impressions on the job and whether you would ever do this job.
The job is at a very small company. They don’t pay any tax, CPP, EI or WCB payments as you are “self employed”
To enable yourself to be self employed and satisfy the rules of Revenue Canada, they sign you up as a “director”
Your run is one that can be done “on paper” but only if you max out your log book and run it from your odometer rather than the clock.
Payment is 43cpm all in, the jib itself is pulling trailers for a large well know AB based reefer company. The scheduled run you’re on is 4200miles and it goes once a week, every week.
So, does this sound like a good job or not? And would you take advice from somebody who did such a job about which companies are good and which are bad?
When I say jib, I of course mean job HTH
Yeah right where do I sign up for this once in a lifetime opportunity…squeezing 4200 miles into 70 hours with loading / unloading and all your checks can be done every once in a while but weekly?? Not even the dot is that naive…Not to mention the self employment thing. I don’t know enough about it to have an opinion about it( but it sure sounds dodgy to me) and all that for 43cpm. Watch out bill gates, you’ll be #2 on the forbes list next year…
In short not a chance that I would do this. I’ll stick to my lousy job, running stricktly legal (elog) and at least have the basic insurance that’s being offered here in Canada.
Those were my thoughts too. I’d like to see a few more responses though, to be sure it isn’t just us two…
Ermmm thanks journo but think I’ll stick to my 3k miles (give or take) Monday through Friday. Hell even if had to do the odd reset on the road I’ll take a pass on it thanks
I was thinking that if you had a DUI or a really bad driving record that made you unemployable elsewhere then that kind of job may be something to consider, a last resort kind of thing.
Move back to blighty and get a job for warber or betz sounds better
Guy im friends with on facebook is on watt&stuart never heard him moan about them or the job xont seem to sit about unduly large amounts of time.
My point is that actions speak louder than words, if you are thinking of moving here and seek advice from someone already here, it would be a good idea to find out a little about them.
The person that does a job like the one I describe is probably not the best judge of what is or is not a good job.
Look at how they are managing over here, are they doing better than they were back in Britain? Did they leave Britain because they couldn’t make it work over there?
I say this because there is no instruction manual, so all you will know is what you’ve been told, it may not be the wrong info per se, but it could be wrong for you.
I had a load of advice before I got here, a lot of it centered around not buying a big house or a decent car, particular attention was paid to the size of my TV screen for some odd reason. When I got to find out a little more it was a case of The Fox with no tail (one of Aesop’s fables) and my advisor had personal reasons for giving the advice that he did.
So choose whom you take advice from very carefully, there may be an ulterior motive behind the advice you receive.
Isn’t this common sense Shirley ?
I think so.
It took a while to realize as I had never moved to a different country before, but the ones that offer advice often turn out to be busybodies.
People that answer questions are different, but the ones that seem as though they’re doing everything they can to help, going above and beyond, so to speak, are quite often doing it for other reasons than to help you.
I’ve seen others help out old friends or acquaintances from home and get the ■■■■ taken out of them for their trouble.
I was quite lucky when I came over, I have family here, they put me up for a while even though they were just starting out here themselves and were making do with a two bedroom flat, fortunately the flat had a massive storage cupboard, so I lived in there for a while. It wasn’t what I was used to lol, but it did the job until I got settled at work.
I paid that one back when KR came over on his recce, he stayed at our place and then stayed there when he came over for his stint. I was luckier than most as he never took the ■■■■, unfortunately he seems to be in the minority.
I know that feeling well after putting a fellow driver up at mine for couple months then to be stabbed in the back by said driver. Weary to do it again.
Hi guys, highway 2 beats the m60 any day, only been stuck once up at Edmonton in rush hour, I’ve been to see all the companies I wanted to and drawer my own conclusions, just waiting for an email from one in particular, holiday time now been to sylvan lake yesterday and Banff today and tomorrow, back to Calgary then home on Sunday, what an amazing place this is, can’t wait yo come back with the family in the not to distant future!
