I’m new to the HGV industry and my general observation is agencies appear to be paying extremely low wages for work undertaken, your views please
haydn54:
I’m new to the HGV industry and my general observation is agencies appear to be paying extremely low wages for work undertaken, your views please
Depends what you call a low wage I am quite happy with what I get paid thanks
But if you look this has been done many times over the last few mth if you do a quick search
pertemps drivers earn far more than the company drivers at our site.none of them can be tempted to come ‘onboard’,despite the efforts of the management.they get paid poa and breaks (-45 mins per shift),we don’t. but i don’t want to be doing 60-70 hours a week.without the agy,they’d have to up the wages big time,or pay us overtime.
haydn54:
I’m new to the HGV industry and my general observation is agencies appear to be paying extremely low wages for work undertaken, your views please
If the work on offer is low wages then you have the choice of not taking it, the more sensible question is “why are people doing the work for low wages in the first place”. They only offer low wages if they can get drivers to do it for those rates. I value myself at a rate that I am happy with and not one that I feel aggrieved about.
Ive been offered full time jobs, but I earn a lot more money on agencys. If you offered work & its low paid, its very simple you say no thankyou and let one of the ee drivers do it. I may be spoiled because I live in the east midlands so there is plenty of work about.
They are a business looking to maximise profits, so the bigger the margin between what the charge the company and what they pay the driver is better for them.
Sent from my SM-G903F using Tapatalk
haydn54:
I’m new to the HGV industry and my general observation is agencies appear to be paying extremely low wages for work undertaken, your views please
I’d say agency hourly rates are no lower than the employers pay direct. I certainly haven’t come across a case where full time guys were getting more an hour than agency.
If it happens, it’s probably a temporary condition whilst the employers prepare for an attack on full time wages.
Not so much killing this industry more like gone a long way to totally ■■■■ ing it mate. 
If these parasite cream off middle men ■■■■ shysters did not exist we would all be on a decent wage, or at least a better rate.
It’s a rhetoric question but why are so many companies willing to pay max rates to an agency, but minimal rates direct to a direct driver.(…I know the answer btw.)
Surely it would be more prudent to get a group of good, able competent and loyal drivers by looking after them with good t.s and c.s and paying them a proper wage, (those methods btw actually create those type of drivers,… news to many firms) than to get any Tom ■■■■ or Harry off the street, a lot of whom are new or inexperienced or ■■■■ poor (or all 3) drivers anyway, supplied by these wonkers.
I fully realise there are a vast amount of good agency drivers…fact.
I also fully understand that unfortunately many of these are used and abused by these agencies on a weekly basis as a matter of course, and I would go as far as to say that those type are in the majority.
So the answer to your question imo mate is… YES !
robroy:
Not so much killing this industry more like gone a long way to totally [zb] ing it mate.If these parasite cream off middle men [zb] shysters did not exist we would all be on a decent wage, or at least a better rate.
It’s a rhetoric question but why are so many companies willing to pay max rates to an agency, but minimal rates direct to a direct driver.(…I know the answer btw.)
Surely it would be more prudent to get a group of good, able competent and loyal drivers by looking after them with good t.s and c.s and paying them a proper wage, (those methods btw actually create those type of drivers,… news to many firms) than to get any Tom ■■■■ or Harry off the street, a lot of whom are new or inexperienced or ■■■■ poor (or all 3) drivers anyway, supplied by these wonkers.
I fully realise there are a vast amount of good agency drivers…fact.
I also fully understand that unfortunately many of these are used and abused by these agencies on a weekly basis as a matter of course, and I would go as far as to say that those type are in the majority.
So the answer to your question imo mate is… YES !
There are bad agencies but they tend to have bad drivers.
There are good agencies too though and they look after their drivers.
Full time is not an option for me so I fill in on the days that you guys need a weekly rest so it does come down to supply and demand. There is also the fact that most people dont want to work weekends whereas I have no choice. This time last year I was out 7 days every week which wasn’t pleasant but it had to be done. Now I get a day off on a Wednesday but i could work if I chose to.
Whatever side of the argument you take there is a simple question. Would you prefer a Monday to Friday and let us fill in the gaps or would you prefer a rota system that forces you to work weekends?
scanny77:
robroy:
Not so much killing this industry more like gone a long way to totally [zb] ing it mate.If these parasite cream off middle men [zb] shysters did not exist we would all be on a decent wage, or at least a better rate.
It’s a rhetoric question but why are so many companies willing to pay max rates to an agency, but minimal rates direct to a direct driver.(…I know the answer btw.)
Surely it would be more prudent to get a group of good, able competent and loyal drivers by looking after them with good t.s and c.s and paying them a proper wage, (those methods btw actually create those type of drivers,… news to many firms) than to get any Tom ■■■■ or Harry off the street, a lot of whom are new or inexperienced or ■■■■ poor (or all 3) drivers anyway, supplied by these wonkers.
I fully realise there are a vast amount of good agency drivers…fact.
I also fully understand that unfortunately many of these are used and abused by these agencies on a weekly basis as a matter of course, and I would go as far as to say that those type are in the majority.
So the answer to your question imo mate is… YES !There are bad agencies but they tend to have bad drivers.
There are good agencies too though and they look after their drivers.Full time is not an option for me so I fill in on the days that you guys need a weekly rest so it does come down to supply and demand. There is also the fact that most people dont want to work weekends whereas I have no choice. This time last year I was out 7 days every week which wasn’t pleasant but it had to be done. Now I get a day off on a Wednesday but i could work if I chose to.
Whatever side of the argument you take there is a simple question. Would you prefer a Monday to Friday and let us fill in the gaps or would you prefer a rota system that forces you to work weekends?
That’s rightly another aspect of the argument mate, some guys like yourself can only work specific or odd days, and most employers are not flexible, I get that.
On the other hand some employed drivers do chose to work weekends, and we all managed before these lot came on the scene.
I was speaking generally, most agencies are unsrupulous shysters who treat drivers like schoolkids, the better ones are in a minority.
haydn54:
I’m new to the HGV industry and my general observation is agencies appear to be paying extremely low wages for work undertaken, your views please
My experience of almost quarter of a century of agency work is that I’ve been on more than the employed drivers. At one place my basic rate was their overtime rate. Out of the dozens of companies I’ve driven for there is only one which has paid more to employed drivers than agency drivers got.
once again,there we have it.the oracle has spoken.
the o/p is completely wrong along with anyone else that thinks agencies pay pish money and consider you any more that a kebab in a hiviz behind the wheel.
thats why all the agency drivers never work jan and feb and can be seen posting pish in here from thailand and gran canaria from their holiday homes.
everyone had jobs before they arrived with real jobs nowadays being in a minority.just another cancer eating away at the job that once was something to take a degree of pride in.do what tesco,kfc,asda and mcdonalds do with dumbing down the job and pay from the neck down so that any mongloid with a licence is capable of following a risk assessment to the drop so that agencies can send along the cannon fodder to fill a shift.
robroy:
scanny77:
robroy:
Not so much killing this industry more like gone a long way to totally [zb] ing it mate.If these parasite cream off middle men [zb] shysters did not exist we would all be on a decent wage, or at least a better rate.
It’s a rhetoric question but why are so many companies willing to pay max rates to an agency, but minimal rates direct to a direct driver.(…I know the answer btw.)
Surely it would be more prudent to get a group of good, able competent and loyal drivers by looking after them with good t.s and c.s and paying them a proper wage, (those methods btw actually create those type of drivers,… news to many firms) than to get any Tom ■■■■ or Harry off the street, a lot of whom are new or inexperienced or ■■■■ poor (or all 3) drivers anyway, supplied by these wonkers.
I fully realise there are a vast amount of good agency drivers…fact.
I also fully understand that unfortunately many of these are used and abused by these agencies on a weekly basis as a matter of course, and I would go as far as to say that those type are in the majority.
So the answer to your question imo mate is… YES !There are bad agencies but they tend to have bad drivers.
There are good agencies too though and they look after their drivers.Full time is not an option for me so I fill in on the days that you guys need a weekly rest so it does come down to supply and demand. There is also the fact that most people dont want to work weekends whereas I have no choice. This time last year I was out 7 days every week which wasn’t pleasant but it had to be done. Now I get a day off on a Wednesday but i could work if I chose to.
Whatever side of the argument you take there is a simple question. Would you prefer a Monday to Friday and let us fill in the gaps or would you prefer a rota system that forces you to work weekends?
That’s rightly another aspect of the argument mate, some guys like yourself can only work specific or odd days, and most employers are not flexible, I get that.
On the other hand some employed drivers do chose to work weekends, and we all managed before these lot came on the scene.
I was speaking generally, most agencies are unsrupulous shysters who treat drivers like schoolkids, the better ones are in a minority.
I know that mate but you learn which ones to avoid. There are plenty of unemployable drivers around which is one reason that companies like agencies. It is far easier to get rid of an agency driver than a full timer. On the other hand, those few good agencies will be pickier about who they take on. They seem to get better work too since they dont want their drivers getting messed around with last minute cancellations, time changes or call outs
robroy:
If these parasite cream off middle men [zb] shysters did not exist we would all be on a decent wage, or at least a better rate.
This sounds rather like blaming immigrants for falling wages. It always misses the point that the real problem is the freedom of bosses to pay inadequate wages in the first place.
There’s no point starting from the position that bosses can pay low wages, but then trying to rig the market back up again by outlawing immigrants and outlawing agencies and outlawing everything else that the bosses apparently use to undercut wages.
Instead of a cat and mouse game in which minorities who are used by bosses are victimised, why not come right out and accept that there is a minimum threshold of pay and conditions that you don’t think it should be lawful for bosses to undercut?
Once we accept that, it becomes unnecessary to try and rig the market in all these roundabout ways or attack minorities, because the only question at any time is "are the bosses paying a sufficient amount for this labour?', and if not then the bailiffs are sent in to collect the difference.
It’s a rhetoric question but why are so many companies willing to pay max rates to an agency, but minimal rates direct to a direct driver.(…I know the answer btw.)
For the simple reason that no agency will work for the same rates that drivers will. There’s no stitch-up - there simply isn’t an agency that will take a lower margin than the average agency is currently getting.
The argument of why the bosses won’t pay a direct driver the agency rates, is because the direct driver is not doing what the agency is doing, and they can get direct drivers at far less than the agency rates.
The only thing it proves is that, when necessary, the bosses can pay more without going out of business - and that’s precisely what collective bargaining is designed to extract.
The reason they pay so little is not because the market can’t sustain more - it is simply because they don’t have to (and by paying less, they can either improve profits, or gain competitive advantage by doing the same work for less than the going rate).
The competitive market is designed specifically to drive down wages - that’s why the Tories are always trying to inject competition into everything, because it’s like a universal solvent that corrodes good pay and conditions whenever it is injected.
What competition fundamentally is: it is a race to the bottom between workers - and yet, by god, some workers are even crazed enough to jump on and ride the bomb to the bottom, cowboy-style.
Agency’s are always going to be there when you’ve got clowns like this offering employment at these rates who in there right mind would work for this when agency’s are paying 33 percent more
Agencies tend to pluck rates out of thin air .Remember they will desert you in January! So ignore the chancer bedroom/Backroom ex driver type offering £1 more for ltd at £10.50 ph,While pretending to be your pal …
£10.50 is equal to below £8 paye !
Only use well known big agencies ,And avoid the type who spring up around Christmas (Hundreds on facebook now) who demand you use umbrella companies ,As they will probably disappear with your tax monies just after Chrismas .
Try to avoid them altogether! And yes they are killing pay rates imo.
Rjan:
robroy:
If these parasite cream off middle men [zb] shysters did not exist we would all be on a decent wage, or at least a better rate.This sounds rather like blaming immigrants for falling wages. It always misses the point that the real problem is the freedom of bosses to pay inadequate wages in the first place.
There’s no point starting from the position that bosses can pay low wages, but then trying to rig the market back up again by outlawing immigrants and outlawing agencies and outlawing everything else that the bosses apparently use to undercut wages.
Instead of a cat and mouse game in which minorities who are used by bosses are victimised, why not come right out and accept that there is a minimum threshold of pay and conditions that you don’t think it should be lawful for bosses to undercut?
Once we accept that, it becomes unnecessary to try and rig the market in all these roundabout ways or attack minorities, because the only question at any time is "are the bosses paying a sufficient amount for this labour?', and if not then the bailiffs are sent in to collect the difference.
It’s a rhetoric question but why are so many companies willing to pay max rates to an agency, but minimal rates direct to a direct driver.(…I know the answer btw.)
For the simple reason that no agency will work for the same rates that drivers will. There’s no stitch-up - there simply isn’t an agency that will take a lower margin than the average agency is currently getting.
The argument of why the bosses won’t pay a direct driver the agency rates, is because the direct driver is not doing what the agency is doing, and they can get direct drivers at far less than the agency rates.
The only thing it proves is that, when necessary, the bosses can pay more without going out of business - and that’s precisely what collective bargaining is designed to extract.
The reason they pay so little is not because the market can’t sustain more - it is simply because they don’t have to (and by paying less, they can either improve profits, or gain competitive advantage by doing the same work for less than the going rate).
The competitive market is designed specifically to drive down wages - that’s why the Tories are always trying to inject competition into everything, because it’s like a universal solvent that corrodes good pay and conditions whenever it is injected.
What competition fundamentally is: it is a race to the bottom between workers - and yet, by god, some workers are even crazed enough to jump on and ride the bomb to the bottom, cowboy-style.
I do agree with a lot of what you say, but the immigrant analogy is a different thing, it’s a syptom of a situation,.where as agencies are a part cause of a situation.
I’ve never really jumped on the bandwagon of thinking that immigrants keep wages down anyway, there have always been drivers in this game who will work for certain rates and conditions if another won’t, and immigrant drivers at my place work for the same (admittedlly not great) rate that I’m on anyway.
Anyway to get back on topic, Agencies are a different matter for the reasons I’ve already stated.
btw I did say my question was rhetoric… but cheers for answering it anyway. 
Is £10-£12 p/hr (PAYE) poor for mon-fri day work on agy?? 
10 is a bit poor…but i’d go for 12
The money and hours are crap in this industry because drivers will do it.
You get what you deserve in life. If you are happy with crap, then crap is what you get.
Until spines get strengthened and the word " NO " get’s used more, it will simply remain cack.