switchlogic:
Well fancy that another driver who didn’t know what he was getting into. Complaining about truck drivers doing long hours is like a firefighter complaining he has to fight fires. You clearly don’t like it so why not go and stack shelves like you mention? Really, there is nothing stopping you, you drive a truck through choice, no one is holding a gun to your head? As for ‘most of the planet working 40 hours for a half decent living’ I suggest you open your eyes a little. Unless by planet you mean the west only.
+1 what were you really expecting when you passed your test? A nice big Scania and £1000 every week while working 40 hours
also the office jobs actually worth having do you really think they finish after 40 hours? They get a company phone that can ring at any time even if you’re on holiday. When I’m at home or holiday, work is at the very back of my mind.
Bungle666:
I aint being funny mate, but if you think it really is that [zb], then why not go and stack shelves in Asda or Tesco??
no-one is forcing you to stay a truck driver, and no-one is stopping you doing something else!
I drove buses for 11 years before i became a truck driver, I was VERY well paid, and VERY good at my job. BUT I hated how the job had changed, I hated the current management and decided to get out and re-train!
now im loving trucking, yea the hours are long and the pays not brilliant. BUT you could be stuck stacking shelves, or sat in a boring office doing boring meetings driving your boring german car up and down the same stretch of boring road twice a day!
I know which one i’d sooner be doing!
oh, welcome to trucknet BTW!
B…
Trust me if i could get a job doing that i would take it to tomorrow
There are LOADS of shelf stacking jobs, jobs in KFC and Maccies, Jobs in warehouses as loaders ETC…
BUT you don’t want to do them, you want to drive trucks! And there goes your argument…
the problem with trucking and the rates of pay are NOT down to Immigrants, Foreigners, agencies, transport companies, big firms undercutting the little outfits neither is it tax, price of fuel, government or regulation or any of the 1000,000 reasons given on here and spread around RDC waiting rooms like a dose of the clap…
its actually ALOT more simple than that… it’s CONSUMER price! Joe public wants to pay less for the stuff they want to buy, that stuff at some point in its life spends time on a truck! the retailers need to cut the price where they can, and that chaps is where we come in! most things in trucking are a fixed price (even fuel to an extent) so the only saving is… you guessed it WAGES!
so as opposed to whingeing on here, maybe you should start lobbying retailers to up the rates they pay to hauliers (and indirectly to us)
Just a thought like
B…
Your missing the whole point 70 hours for the price of 40
no working class job pays good dollar for 40 hours.
iv`e had better than average paying skilled jobs…but at the end of the day I didn’t want to be there,and hated my life.
getting into lorry driving was the best thing I ever did…I now like my life.
Bungle666:
I aint being funny mate, but if you think it really is that [zb], then why not go and stack shelves in Asda or Tesco??
no-one is forcing you to stay a truck driver, and no-one is stopping you doing something else!
I drove buses for 11 years before i became a truck driver, I was VERY well paid, and VERY good at my job. BUT I hated how the job had changed, I hated the current management and decided to get out and re-train!
now im loving trucking, yea the hours are long and the pays not brilliant. BUT you could be stuck stacking shelves, or sat in a boring office doing boring meetings driving your boring german car up and down the same stretch of boring road twice a day!
I know which one i’d sooner be doing!
oh, welcome to trucknet BTW!
B…
Trust me if i could get a job doing that i would take it to tomorrow
There are LOADS of shelf stacking jobs, jobs in KFC and Maccies, Jobs in warehouses as loaders ETC…
BUT you don’t want to do them, you want to drive trucks! And there goes your argument…
the problem with trucking and the rates of pay are NOT down to Immigrants, Foreigners, agencies, transport companies, big firms undercutting the little outfits neither is it tax, price of fuel, government or regulation or any of the 1000,000 reasons given on here and spread around RDC waiting rooms like a dose of the clap…
its actually ALOT more simple than that… it’s CONSUMER price! Joe public wants to pay less for the stuff they want to buy, that stuff at some point in its life spends time on a truck! the retailers need to cut the price where they can, and that chaps is where we come in! most things in trucking are a fixed price (even fuel to an extent) so the only saving is… you guessed it WAGES!
so as opposed to whingeing on here, maybe you should start lobbying retailers to up the rates they pay to hauliers (and indirectly to us)
Just a thought like
B…
Your missing the whole point 70 hours for the price of 40
anyhow, im not sure where your working. BUT you can legally only work for a max of 60 hours a week anyhow! then you must meet an AVERAGE of 45 a week over 17 (i think) weeks! so in reality your doing 45 hours for the price of 40 (as you put it)… Either that or your running bent
again your argument has gone… now go and stack shelves or something!
Bungle666:
I aint being funny mate, but if you think it really is that [zb], then why not go and stack shelves in Asda or Tesco??
no-one is forcing you to stay a truck driver, and no-one is stopping you doing something else!
I drove buses for 11 years before i became a truck driver, I was VERY well paid, and VERY good at my job. BUT I hated how the job had changed, I hated the current management and decided to get out and re-train!
now im loving trucking, yea the hours are long and the pays not brilliant. BUT you could be stuck stacking shelves, or sat in a boring office doing boring meetings driving your boring german car up and down the same stretch of boring road twice a day!
I know which one i’d sooner be doing!
oh, welcome to trucknet BTW!
B…
Trust me if i could get a job doing that i would take it to tomorrow
There are LOADS of shelf stacking jobs, jobs in KFC and Maccies, Jobs in warehouses as loaders ETC…
BUT you don’t want to do them, you want to drive trucks! And there goes your argument…
the problem with trucking and the rates of pay are NOT down to Immigrants, Foreigners, agencies, transport companies, big firms undercutting the little outfits neither is it tax, price of fuel, government or regulation or any of the 1000,000 reasons given on here and spread around RDC waiting rooms like a dose of the clap…
its actually ALOT more simple than that… it’s CONSUMER price! Joe public wants to pay less for the stuff they want to buy, that stuff at some point in its life spends time on a truck! the retailers need to cut the price where they can, and that chaps is where we come in! most things in trucking are a fixed price (even fuel to an extent) so the only saving is… you guessed it WAGES!
so as opposed to whingeing on here, maybe you should start lobbying retailers to up the rates they pay to hauliers (and indirectly to us)
Just a thought like
B…
Your missing the whole point 70 hours for the price of 40
anyhow, im not sure where your working. BUT you can legally only work for a max of 60 hours a week anyhow! then you must meet an AVERAGE of 45 a week over 17 (i think) weeks! so in reality your doing 45 hours for the price of 40 (as you put it)… So either your talking ballcocks or your running bent
again your argument has gone… now go and stack shelves or something!
Bungle666:
I aint being funny mate, but if you think it really is that [zb], then why not go and stack shelves in Asda or Tesco??
no-one is forcing you to stay a truck driver, and no-one is stopping you doing something else!
I drove buses for 11 years before i became a truck driver, I was VERY well paid, and VERY good at my job. BUT I hated how the job had changed, I hated the current management and decided to get out and re-train!
now im loving trucking, yea the hours are long and the pays not brilliant. BUT you could be stuck stacking shelves, or sat in a boring office doing boring meetings driving your boring german car up and down the same stretch of boring road twice a day!
I know which one i’d sooner be doing!
oh, welcome to trucknet BTW!
B…
Trust me if i could get a job doing that i would take it to tomorrow
There are LOADS of shelf stacking jobs, jobs in KFC and Maccies, Jobs in warehouses as loaders ETC…
BUT you don’t want to do them, you want to drive trucks! And there goes your argument…
the problem with trucking and the rates of pay are NOT down to Immigrants, Foreigners, agencies, transport companies, big firms undercutting the little outfits neither is it tax, price of fuel, government or regulation or any of the 1000,000 reasons given on here and spread around RDC waiting rooms like a dose of the clap…
its actually ALOT more simple than that… it’s CONSUMER price! Joe public wants to pay less for the stuff they want to buy, that stuff at some point in its life spends time on a truck! the retailers need to cut the price where they can, and that chaps is where we come in! most things in trucking are a fixed price (even fuel to an extent) so the only saving is… you guessed it WAGES!
so as opposed to whingeing on here, maybe you should start lobbying retailers to up the rates they pay to hauliers (and indirectly to us)
Just a thought like
B…
Retailers have no interest in haulage firms at all, they are here to make money, end of! and whilst haulage firms all over the land are willing to work for poor rates the driver will never do any good it’s a simple fact!
how often do we see a write up in the CM of a haulage firm winning a new contract? what it fails to say time after time is the fact that the “winner” has undercut the previous haulier to get the contract! level of service is only a small part of the issue, lobbying retailers you might as well ■■■■ in the wind!
switchlogic:
Well fancy that another driver who didn’t know what he was getting into. Complaining about truck drivers doing long hours is like a firefighter complaining he has to fight fires. You clearly don’t like it so why not go and stack shelves like you mention? Really, there is nothing stopping you, you drive a truck through choice, no one is holding a gun to your head? As for ‘most of the planet working 40 hours for a half decent living’ I suggest you open your eyes a little. Unless by planet you mean the west only.
I am driving a long time lots of experence, what i am not is a fire fighter they a are a breed on there own enough said.
What i dont want to be is a 54 year old driver working the guts out of my self for nothing like some people who would do any thing for buttons and also put up with with anthing. like
Well when I go to a distribution centre and they asked me for my keys, the first thing I ask is how long the tip is going to take, if they cant tell me or they say maybe two or three hours, I say no if its in the winter I say ok give me a pass out I am out, the next driver will put up with that not me, you see drivers there for four or five hours ■■■■■■■ thats why the job is so bad now, what part of having a bit of respect for yourself is missing, my god to be walked over once is for ever THATS WHY IT IS SO BAD. WHAT FOR 5 OR 6 POUND A HOUR AND sometimes not getting paid for waiting time.
Bungle666:
I aint being funny mate, but if you think it really is that [zb], then why not go and stack shelves in Asda or Tesco??
no-one is forcing you to stay a truck driver, and no-one is stopping you doing something else!
I drove buses for 11 years before i became a truck driver, I was VERY well paid, and VERY good at my job. BUT I hated how the job had changed, I hated the current management and decided to get out and re-train!
now im loving trucking, yea the hours are long and the pays not brilliant. BUT you could be stuck stacking shelves, or sat in a boring office doing boring meetings driving your boring german car up and down the same stretch of boring road twice a day!
I know which one i’d sooner be doing!
oh, welcome to trucknet BTW!
B…
Trust me if i could get a job doing that i would take it to tomorrow
There are LOADS of shelf stacking jobs, jobs in KFC and Maccies, Jobs in warehouses as loaders ETC…
BUT you don’t want to do them, you want to drive trucks! And there goes your argument…
the problem with trucking and the rates of pay are NOT down to Immigrants, Foreigners, agencies, transport companies, big firms undercutting the little outfits neither is it tax, price of fuel, government or regulation or any of the 1000,000 reasons given on here and spread around RDC waiting rooms like a dose of the clap…
its actually ALOT more simple than that… it’s CONSUMER price! Joe public wants to pay less for the stuff they want to buy, that stuff at some point in its life spends time on a truck! the retailers need to cut the price where they can, and that chaps is where we come in! most things in trucking are a fixed price (even fuel to an extent) so the only saving is… you guessed it WAGES!
so as opposed to whingeing on here, maybe you should start lobbying retailers to up the rates they pay to hauliers (and indirectly to us)
Just a thought like
B…
Retailers have no interest in haulage firms at all, they are here to make money, end of! and whilst haulage firms all over the land are willing to work for poor rates the driver will never do any good it’s a simple fact!
how often do we see a write up in the CM of a haulage firm winning a new contract? what it fails to say time after time is the fact that the “winner” has undercut the previous haulier to get the contract! level of service is only a small part of the issue, lobbying retailers you might as well ■■■■ in the wind!
But again that’s down to the retailer creating the lowest bidder situation! I agree they don’t give a flying monkeys about hauliers (and im certain most if not all hauliers would like to pay the lads more), and that is a ■■■■■ state of affairs, but the point i was making, that is blaming 1000s of other things when the buck stops at the end user is VERY VERY valid! would lobbying retailers be like ■■■■■■■ in the wind?? the farmers managed it with the milk rates! although the raise wasn’t huge, it was enough to save there arses!
Bungle666:
I aint being funny mate, but if you think it really is that [zb], then why not go and stack shelves in Asda or Tesco??
no-one is forcing you to stay a truck driver, and no-one is stopping you doing something else!
I drove buses for 11 years before i became a truck driver, I was VERY well paid, and VERY good at my job. BUT I hated how the job had changed, I hated the current management and decided to get out and re-train!
now im loving trucking, yea the hours are long and the pays not brilliant. BUT you could be stuck stacking shelves, or sat in a boring office doing boring meetings driving your boring german car up and down the same stretch of boring road twice a day!
I know which one i’d sooner be doing!
oh, welcome to trucknet BTW!
B…
Trust me if i could get a job doing that i would take it to tomorrow
There are LOADS of shelf stacking jobs, jobs in KFC and Maccies, Jobs in warehouses as loaders ETC…
BUT you don’t want to do them, you want to drive trucks! And there goes your argument…
the problem with trucking and the rates of pay are NOT down to Immigrants, Foreigners, agencies, transport companies, big firms undercutting the little outfits neither is it tax, price of fuel, government or regulation or any of the 1000,000 reasons given on here and spread around RDC waiting rooms like a dose of the clap…
its actually ALOT more simple than that… it’s CONSUMER price! Joe public wants to pay less for the stuff they want to buy, that stuff at some point in its life spends time on a truck! the retailers need to cut the price where they can, and that chaps is where we come in! most things in trucking are a fixed price (even fuel to an extent) so the only saving is… you guessed it WAGES!
so as opposed to whingeing on here, maybe you should start lobbying retailers to up the rates they pay to hauliers (and indirectly to us)
Just a thought like
B…
Your missing the whole point 70 hours for the price of 40
anyhow, im not sure where your working. BUT you can legally only work for a max of 60 hours a week anyhow! then you must meet an AVERAGE of 45 a week over 17 (i think) weeks! so in reality your doing 45 hours for the price of 40 (as you put it)… Either that or your running bent
again your argument has gone… now go and stack shelves or something!
HTH
B…
You dont what your talking about, driving time 45 working time 75 for any driver
O What a boring person you must be. I mean to say something and you say that says it all.
Quite possibly I am. However I’m not so boring that I would write an account of my week and presume that many others who had a broadly similar week would be interested in reading about mine.
That wouldn’t be boring, that would be the presumptious ramblings of a true dullard.
well i hope a person like yourself knows what a dullard means, O to have the perfect job that you dont have to talk about it, but yet come on here and comment on other people about there day. O what a perfect life you must lead.
Your point about farmers is worth pointing out, like hauliers there are to many and as a result the retailers can dictate what rate they are willing to pay for milk as they can for haulage, and whilst there is no shortage of either milk or transport things re not going to improve much!
producing milk is much like haulage in the fact that the larger firms can work by sheer volume of production/work
I as an owner driver know how much i need to have out of the job per week to make it worthwhile doing, much like the farmer next door to my house that did until a few weeks ago produce milk! he along with me have seen that neither job is worth doing every day at this moment in time due to the rewards being to poor for level of effort involved, doing the types of work we were both doing!
I now drive for another firm on nights at times, along with welding/fabrication and fitting work and my own truck now only runs if i feel it’s worth it, the farmer next door has moved on to beef cattle and no longer milks!
O What a boring person you must be. I mean to say something and you say that says it all.
Quite possibly I am. However I’m not so boring that I would write an account of my week and presume that many others who had a broadly similar week would be interested in reading about mine.
That wouldn’t be boring, that would be the presumptious ramblings of a true dullard.
well i hope a person like yourself knows what a dullard means, O to have the perfect job that you dont have to talk about it, but yet come on here and comment on other people about there day. O what a perfect life you must lead.
I have a two year old grand child that would say a lot more than yourself about anything
Moose:
Your point about farmers is worth pointing out, like hauliers there are to many and as a result the retailers can dictate what rate they are willing to pay for milk as they can for haulage, and whilst there is no shortage of either milk or transport things re not going to improve much!
producing milk is much like haulage in the fact that the larger firms can work by sheer volume of production/work
I as an owner driver know how much i need to have out of the job per week to make it worthwhile doing, much like the farmer next door to my house that did until a few weeks ago produce milk! he along with me have seen that neither job is worth doing every day at this moment in time due to the rewards being to poor for level of effort involved, doing the types of work we were both doing!
I now drive for another firm on nights at times, along with welding/fabrication and fitting work and my own truck now only runs if i feel it’s worth it, the farmer next door has moved on to beef cattle and no longer milks!
O What a boring person you must be. I mean to say something and you say that says it all.
Quite possibly I am. However I’m not so boring that I would write an account of my week and presume that many others who had a broadly similar week would be interested in reading about mine.
That wouldn’t be boring, that would be the presumptious ramblings of a true dullard.
well i hope a person like yourself knows what a dullard means, O to have the perfect job that you dont have to talk about it, but yet come on here and comment on other people about there day. O what a perfect life you must lead.
I have a two year old grand child that would say a lot more than yourself about anything
Also i ment to say every week of your life must be so boring, as you said yourself your right, who the hell would want too know about it
nightline:
OMG- I LOVE MY JOB?
Ok where do I start, m lets see, ok lets start with hours worked, anyone who has a job works normal hours well most of the planet works a 40 hour week for a half descent living, truck drivers work 50/% more for less, also it must be the only job in the world where there break is not included in there days work where in the world would you see this (nowhere). Let me explain a bit better a driver can drive 9 hours a day driving but can also do another 6 hours sitting on bays or getting delayed whatever, so he can do a 15 hour day every day may be not driving but he is out working a 15 hour day every day and for that he gets paid buttons, now out of that 15 hours this is only if he gets paid by the hour which most normal people do but not drivers, he gets docked 45 minutes from his 15 hours for taking a break that’s required by law to take, now on top of this he is not allowed to take any other break by his company if he stops he is asked when he gets back why did you stop or gets a phone call, not all do but I would say 80/% do, if you break down the hours worked to the pay, example I came out with 500 this week (wow) you did, tell me how many hours did you do for that, (omg) I only did 65 put another 4 on top of that for the free breaks that the company get for free, so lets say 70 into 500, now that might be good money to some drivers (wow) 500 clear a week (omg) a little over 5 pounds a hour for a 70 hour week and that’s a short week he could be doing 75 hours a week. WHY do we do it, is it like, look at me I drive a big 40 I look great behind the wheel king of the road
Anyway we would be better off packing boxes in Tesco if they could get that type of hours we would earn more money, as it is he lives the life of a traveller tinker or what ever you want to call it, who else in the world lives in a tin can for most of the week ■■■■■■■ on the side of the road or ■■■■■■■ in there own cab in a bottle, god knows where we do a number two. Also not enough sleep taking tablets to keep awake and getting 15 or 20 pounds to sleep in a tin box.
Yep, thats trucking uk mate in 1 Welcome to trucknet
i really like them making me wait hours on end when i get tipped at a distribtuin centre, yes most of the times they take the key, but a good book, or netflix on the phone is lovely, plus its about 9-14 quid an hour these days, depending on what time of day and if its a week end etc.plus when your supervisor etc phone you, they just have to accepet it. its not your fault.
i maybe lucky that i’ve never worked for 6-7 quid during my driving career. came straight from the local Asda, night shift, pet food isle, God! it was ■■■■■■ driving is lovely compared to that, plus last few weeks i’ve been making money that i’ve never thought i could without a degree! maybe going off a tangent here, my point is,
I love the waiting[ your getting paid for it man!]
BigT_Burnley:
i really like them making me wait hours on end when i get tipped at a distribtuin centre, yes most of the times they take the key, but a good book, or netflix on the phone is lovely, plus its about 9-14 quid an hour these days, depending on what time of day and if its a week end etc.plus when your supervisor etc phone you, they just have to accepet it. its not your fault.
i maybe lucky that i’ve never worked for 6-7 quid during my driving career. came straight from the local Asda, night shift, pet food isle, God! it was [zb]! driving is lovely compared to that, plus last few weeks i’ve been making money that i’ve never thought i could without a degree! maybe going off a tangent here, my point is,
I love the waiting[ your getting paid for it man!]
The ‘I’d get more money supermarket shelf stacking’ old chestnut comes up time and again on here. I wonder if anyone on here has actually gone from driving to shelf-stacking because I frankly doubt you can earn more than driving class one unless you’re doing silly overtime or something.
I was on night shifts at 7.50 an hour( at Asda) now I’m on 11-14,plus I’m a family man, I wasn’t then, so worked less. True I’m working more, but not crazy hours. 40 hours, try to do 2 shifts on weekend, no one wants them shifts, I love them. Quite roads etc higher pay then week days etc.
Any way my point was, I enjoy the waiting when I’m getting tipped.
The OPs first 15 posts make me think he is simply typing this rubbish to provoke response because he has no constructive argument and no evidence to support his ramblings. I normally can’t be bothered even engaging such threads but the dogs got me up early and its a camp Sunday morning so what the hell
OP, you mention your age and your grandchild and proceed to slag off the job that you presumably trained for and chose to do, out of free will. What you don’t say is when you made that choice, why you made that choice or what life experience you have had outside this job. A job that you now perceive to be the embodiment of all that is wrong in the employment world, a view you seek to impress on the rest of us.
Claims that you can earn more stacking shelves or working out of KFC / McDonalds etc are just simply wrong, unless you really are working for an outfit that pays below minimum wage, in which case who’s fault is that? And don’t align your own experience of fast food outlets and supermarkets with those of the staff who work there. They do not pop in for a quick shop or a meal, pick and choose who they talk to and sound off at the other staff around them when their favourite purchase it is out of stock. Instead they work very long hours, often on 24/7 shift rotas and have to put up with moaning complaining customers whilst maintaining the corporate smile.
As Luke said, you really need a reality check if you think for a moment all is chocolates and roses outside trucking, because its not.
Many on these forums do this job because they like the work, the relative freedom and the ability to think for themselves without a “team leader” looking over their shoulder every minute of every day. Others are just thankful to have a job that feeds their families, including many who spend months away from them in order to do so. Some appreciate the down time in an RDC and use it constructively to broaden their minds or their social interaction, rather than allow it to be a destructive influence on their daily routine.
So before you continue on this road of vilifying ‘the Job’ try for a moment to look at its positive aspects and if you can’t do that, at east attempt to see it from others point of view even when it doesn’t align with your own.
