is the investment worth it to be a driver?
Discussion
always had a huge appreciation for the talent of hgv drivers (how do they get that truck turned in spaces most incompetent drivers of small 3dr hatches would struggle?)and i would love to make the career move but have never bit the bullet nearly hard enough to even consider leaving full time, well paid sales work not knowing whats on the other side.
I've spoke with training schools and know roughly the costs but never any further.
how easy is it as a new driver to find the relevant experience in yards etc to become a competent driver on the roads? i know agencies etc exist but can you trust these people to do right by you?
i know of the long hours, strict rules and lonely aspect but tbh would not give a hoot about any of that if i could happily jump out of bed in the morning/afternoon/evening and go enjoy a days honest work!
I've spoke with training schools and know roughly the costs but never any further.
how easy is it as a new driver to find the relevant experience in yards etc to become a competent driver on the roads? i know agencies etc exist but can you trust these people to do right by you?
i know of the long hours, strict rules and lonely aspect but tbh would not give a hoot about any of that if i could happily jump out of bed in the morning/afternoon/evening and go enjoy a days honest work!
at first i'd say no, don't do it for all the reasons posted and many more.
having said that, bar winning the lottery and buying my own unit and trailer to transport my own race cars to trackdays all over europe, i still really enjoy what i do and won't be doing anything else.
if your bored with what you do, and fancy the change it may be worth considering, but you will have alot of initial outlay just to get the required licence, with no guarentee of a job at the end of it.
most would call you mad, but it helps if you are.
i've had my fair share of crap doing the job over the last 20 years, but also some of the laughs i've had, places i've been and things i've seen have made it more than worthwhile.
don't expect to earn fortunes early on, and prob expect a fair bit of crap work/bosses when your starting out to gain the experience, BUT, when you've overcome all these obstacles, there are some "peachy" jobs to be had if you go looking
having said that, bar winning the lottery and buying my own unit and trailer to transport my own race cars to trackdays all over europe, i still really enjoy what i do and won't be doing anything else.
if your bored with what you do, and fancy the change it may be worth considering, but you will have alot of initial outlay just to get the required licence, with no guarentee of a job at the end of it.
most would call you mad, but it helps if you are.
i've had my fair share of crap doing the job over the last 20 years, but also some of the laughs i've had, places i've been and things i've seen have made it more than worthwhile.
don't expect to earn fortunes early on, and prob expect a fair bit of crap work/bosses when your starting out to gain the experience, BUT, when you've overcome all these obstacles, there are some "peachy" jobs to be had if you go looking
True but even a peachy job can get ruined by rotten management when the big I'ams are clinging onto the corporate rung. Trust me,my peachy job for the last 8 yrs is going down the pan due to a great boss retiring and a corporate lick arse using his ring hole to suck onto the ladder taking the hot seat.
To the OP. Save your money for now,there is many an experienced driver out there on the rock and roll or picking off crap agency jobs twice a week that are desperate for full time employment atm.
To the OP. Save your money for now,there is many an experienced driver out there on the rock and roll or picking off crap agency jobs twice a week that are desperate for full time employment atm.
Panda76 said:
True but even a peachy job can get ruined by rotten management when the big I'ams are clinging onto the corporate rung. Trust me,my peachy job for the last 8 yrs is going down the pan due to a great boss retiring and a corporate lick arse using his ring hole to suck onto the ladder taking the hot seat.
To the OP. Save your money for now,there is many an experienced driver out there on the rock and roll or picking off crap agency jobs twice a week that are desperate for full time employment atm.
That just about sums it up really, there are good jobs out there and a good driving job is hard to beat but they are getting rare now, uk trucks are just too dear, not competitive and as a result the drivers are suffering, generaly chasing their arses off for less money they were earning 10 years ago.To the OP. Save your money for now,there is many an experienced driver out there on the rock and roll or picking off crap agency jobs twice a week that are desperate for full time employment atm.
it really depends what sort of character you are , if you can accept what life throws at you with a shrug and walk away to find something else then yes go go for it because for a long time you will be given s
t , ( motors, work , runs ) and i find the small firm where the boss sometimes drives and deals direct with people the best but i am old and started like this .
some people like the big firms and not having their own motor , i.e. supermarket trolleys , nothing worse in my eyes and not what i do the job for .
some people like to be home every night tucked up in bed by 9 because they have to get to work by 4 which means getting up at 3 to get to the yard , not my idea of fun but each to their own .
thwn there are people who like to travel the world go new places see different countries , use to be better but there are still a few jobs out there like this if you look hard enough , down side is you will be living in your truck and away fromhome for long periods , 2-3 weeks is not uncommon
t , ( motors, work , runs ) and i find the small firm where the boss sometimes drives and deals direct with people the best but i am old and started like this .some people like the big firms and not having their own motor , i.e. supermarket trolleys , nothing worse in my eyes and not what i do the job for .
some people like to be home every night tucked up in bed by 9 because they have to get to work by 4 which means getting up at 3 to get to the yard , not my idea of fun but each to their own .
thwn there are people who like to travel the world go new places see different countries , use to be better but there are still a few jobs out there like this if you look hard enough , down side is you will be living in your truck and away fromhome for long periods , 2-3 weeks is not uncommon
SteellFJ said:
i know of the long hours, strict rules and lonely aspect but tbh would not give a hoot about any of that if i could happily jump out of bed in the morning/afternoon/evening and go enjoy a days honest work!
I'll give you a clue on what its like where I work, fairly big national company about 10 bases scattered around the country. The one that I run out of we double man most of the fleet, but in the other yards around the country most of the drivers have their own vehicles because the have nights out 3/4 times a week. The main thing is that you get on with the other driver, if one of you is a scruffy bd and covers everything in grease or one of you smokes and the other one hates it then you spend most of your day with the hump trying to annoy eachover. It has been known on our firm for drivers who dont get on to start boobie trapping eachover to try and make the other person quit, much to the amusement of everyone else.Ive got a powder tanker artic, units 6 months old but as we run it 24hrs a day for 5 days a week theres always something that we are waiting on to get fixed on either the unit or tank and are working around. Major stuff that would get you a prohibition notice gets done straight away but anything else can take well over a week. The company motto is 'its no fun if its easy'
Our contract is 50hrs a week, so anything over 10hrs a day is overtime. I roll in at 5am ish, depending on how the night shift went my lorry may be there, it may be a couple of hours away. Im booking from 5 so it doesnt matter to me either way. My first job will be written down in the office, theres no point in planning beyond that because every job has a delivery time so its first person who gets back empty does the next one.
On a normal day i'll turn up 5 have a coffee and a giggle with whoever else is about, be out of the yard by 6 and at the plant by 7 having another cup of coffee and a giggle whilst they load the tank. Out of there within half an hour to wherever the job is, which is usually no more than an hours drive, hook the tank up and stand around for another half an hour drinking more coffee/chatting to random people/looking on facebook and picking my nose. Back to the plant to reload and repeat another 2 times with an hour stood at a burger van somewhere. Normally back at base between 2 and 4pm, at which point I can either keep my head down and sneek off home or go and mingle about and get offered a bit of overtime doing a local collection with a curtainsider.
Some of the other stuff we do is pick up a loaded trailer out of the yard, drive north for 4 hrs and reverse it onto a bay and have a kip on the bed for an hour whilst its unloaded. Then drive half an hour down the road for a reload and drive back to base, drop the trailer and go home. I tried that and its very easy but it quickly becomes boring, thats what a lot of the night work and trunk work is like. Same route, same people, same stop off points for the same food.. it takes a special person to do that :zombie:
Most of our new drivers start off doing multidrop, which is random crap to random places. This involves a lot of shouting, driving around in circles and a general hatred of everyone around you due to s
te planning, only ever being given half of the information that you need and a chain of incompetent customers and office staff all lying to eachover and you. To do that job you need to not care and just laugh at everything. Most only stick with that until theres an opening on one of the other jobs.If you can find the right job that suits you it can be a brilliant career, I find anything with variation fun. The best job that I had was running a low loader because every job was different, be it the load or the delivery point. But then that had the downside of crawling about in the freezing cold and wet through mud and oil chaining stuff down in winter. If you work for a massive company then yes, they can be strict because theres people justifying their existance by making sure that you are keeping to every rule, Tescos/Stobarts for example. Youll find that most places are fairly laid back and that aslong as you earn them money without moaning about the work and they dont have to deal with complaints about your driving/general behavior/the amount of things that youve broken, then you will be one of their better employees and soon find yourself doing the better jobs.
wow guys lots of honest, blunt and open answers.
i don't want to end up in a career thats got noooo work going and end up losing out in the long run but i am not shy of proving my worth in any job and would try be one of the good staff any where.
off to ponder further still! ]
cheers again.
fraser
i don't want to end up in a career thats got noooo work going and end up losing out in the long run but i am not shy of proving my worth in any job and would try be one of the good staff any where.
off to ponder further still! ]
cheers again.
fraser
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