Hi all, posting after a while as I was busy settling into my new Hgv career after months of job hunting, eventually found a driving job and quite happy how things are going so far. Back to topic, I keep reading in posts about people complaining about driver’s wages and conditions and all that and ALWAYS comparing it to shelf stacking eg, I wouldn’t stack shelves for this rate etc. I was a shelf stacker most of my working life and quite enjoyed it but I’m lucky enough to be in a position now to try other things. So my question is why do Hgv drivers(especially old school) consider certain professions to be beneath them?
crap
Do they? As a retired OS driver I would have to say that never used to be the case.
However in recent years I would have to say the job and the drivers are not what they used to be. The days of ‘knights of the road’ has long gone. The wages and conditions of a lot of companies are poor and standards are at an all time low. The general public perceive us as big bullies with few manners. Personally I always earned a very respectable wage and worked for companies that looked after their drivers and now I have a healthy pension and have never been happier.
In my opinion drivers are there own worst enemies these days.
I’d stack shelves don’t bother me. Money is.money if I can find a job pays better /same that what I earm.now id do it.
I. Spent 15 years in warehouse on good money £10hr time half weekends and as much over time as you wanted.
that about 10 years ago got made redundant took up truck driving.
My mates looking for work at the time said I’d not do it. Wouldt as you say lower themselves to it. Yet thed happily drive a white van 7.5 t for less money.
And then the always ask.how can you afford a mortgage holidays etc.
.
ProudNewbie:
So my question is why do Hgv drivers(especially old school) consider certain professions to be beneath them?
It is nothing to do with that. The complaint is about spending £1000s on getting licenses to do a job that is ranked as the 4th most dangerous in the UK, having to be able to work unaided using your own initiative and being out in all weathers often when the Police advice is to stay at home, making sure you comply with the myriad of regulations, dealing with different load types and getting paid no more and often less than a job which requires nothing to be spent on training, not a lot of skill, has someone there to help you and is in somewhere that’s warm and dry and doesn’t have you working 12+hrs a day.
You’re either projecting your own prejudice or trolling.
to do a job that is ranked as the 4th most dangerous in the UK
Not something to brag about really. It’s not the job that is dangerous, it’s the idiots behind the wheel that warrant us such a position.
jakethesnake:
to do a job that is ranked as the 4th most dangerous in the UKNot something to brag about really. It’s not the job that is dangerous, it’s the idiots behind the wheel that warrant us such a position.
Nobody was bragging, merely pointing out statistics. Apparently the most dangerous job in the world is on the flight deck of a US aircraft carrier. Can’t imagine there are too many idiots there, more like potentially dangerous surroundings.
If the truth be told you wont get 60 to 70 hours a week stacking shelves if you did you would earn more than driving a truck even flipin burgers you would earn more
Waste picking in a skip yard; I was expected to help with this whilst waiting to tip or have a roro bin loaded.
I was embarassed to do it, felt like I was on community service. I was even told to cut plugs off old electric cables and appliances, often given grief by the boss and if anyone complained they were told “you’re being paid good money.”
I’m old school, been driving full time since 1989 as a paye driver, ownerdriver, agency, Ltd. I do this job because I enjoy it, I don’t think any job beneath me because lets face it a lot of people look down at lorry drivers. But as I said I really enjoy it and I will carry on doing it while i’m able to.
the maoster:
jakethesnake:
to do a job that is ranked as the 4th most dangerous in the UKNot something to brag about really. It’s not the job that is dangerous, it’s the idiots behind the wheel that warrant us such a position.
Nobody was bragging, merely pointing out statistics. Apparently the most dangerous job in the world is on the flight deck of a US aircraft carrier. Can’t imagine there are too many idiots there, more like potentially dangerous surroundings.
Fair enough, maybe not this time but it seemed that way the other day on another thread.
There is value in all work, a nation of scholars would soon starve.
The trick is to find what works for you, not for what you percieve others to think of you or your job. If you’re the CEO of Megacorp, great, if you’re the bloke who washes Megacorp’s bins, great. For both examples, somebody has to do it.
Don’t fall into the classic pointy-shoe trap of trying to out-do each other through status or titles or cars or whatever. That is exactly what employers and big business want - you and I at each other’s throats, fighting like cats in a bag for newer, bigger, better, shinier, faster etc etc. That’s how they make money and keep you in hock to them. For life.
Be your own person and to blazes with the rest. If you don’t like it, walk.
Drempels:
There is value in all work, a nation of scholars would soon starve.The trick is to find what works for you, not for what you percieve others to think of you or your job. If you’re the CEO of Megacorp, great, if you’re the bloke who washes Megacorp’s bins, great. For both examples, somebody has to do it.
Don’t fall into the classic pointy-shoe trap of trying to out-do each other through status or titles or cars or whatever. That is exactly what employers and big business want - you and I at each other’s throats, fighting like cats in a bag for newer, bigger, better, shinier, faster etc etc. That’s how they make money and keep you in hock to them. For life.
Be your own person and to blazes with the rest. If you don’t like it, walk.
Top answer
elsa Lad:
Drempels:
There is value in all work, a nation of scholars would soon starve.The trick is to find what works for you, not for what you percieve others to think of you or your job. If you’re the CEO of Megacorp, great, if you’re the bloke who washes Megacorp’s bins, great. For both examples, somebody has to do it.
Don’t fall into the classic pointy-shoe trap of trying to out-do each other through status or titles or cars or whatever. That is exactly what employers and big business want - you and I at each other’s throats, fighting like cats in a bag for newer, bigger, better, shinier, faster etc etc. That’s how they make money and keep you in hock to them. For life.
Be your own person and to blazes with the rest. If you don’t like it, walk.
Top answer
Well said drempels
nightline:
If the truth be told you wont get 60 to 70 hours a week stacking shelves if you did you would earn more than driving a truck even flipin burgers you would earn more
You only get that as a manager. However the 39 hour salary means you are better off driving a truck anyway.
Full time shelf stacker at Sainsbury’s is just under 18k basic. That’s if you can get a full time job. Mostly part time and overtime which is not guaranteed and can be cancelled at a moment’s notice.
Aldi/Lidl pay more but it is serious graft and again mainly part time with overtime.
All of the supermarkets will expect antisocial hours, earlies/lates, weekends and bank holidays. Unless you are on an old school contact there is no extra for weekends and very little for bank holidays.
Drempels and Elsa Lad, spot on.
Since the mid 70’s on those forms one has to fill in now and again, you know the ones, ethnicity etc, ■■■ (sorry gender unlimited 
) etc, the question regarding social standing regarding your employment, where so called professionals such as doctors are at the top, and right down at the bottom are people like us who graft for a living, well since then i’ve been scrawling two lines through the list and writing in, ‘‘scum of the earth lorry driver’’.
OP that should give you an idea of what we genuine working class think about such things, there is no greasy pole in the stature of us working class, we either work for a living in which case we’re working class, or we don’t. Us genuine working class are not snobs, no lorry driver i know looks down on any other working person.
ProudNewbie:
Hi all, posting after a while as I was busy settling into my new Hgv career after months of job hunting, eventually found a driving job and quite happy how things are going so far. Back to topic, I keep reading in posts about people complaining about driver’s wages and conditions and all that and ALWAYS comparing it to shelf stacking eg, I wouldn’t stack shelves for this rate etc. I was a shelf stacker most of my working life and quite enjoyed it but I’m lucky enough to be in a position now to try other things. So my question is why do Hgv drivers(especially old school) consider certain professions to be beneath them?
Because a 15 year old can walk in and stack a shelf, it doesn’t require any qualifications. So, when you’ve spent thousands of pounds on tests for your theory test, Class C and Class C+E tests and your CPC mods 3 4 tests you shouldn’t be earning the same wage as them or 10p more. That’s not even adding in factors such as getting your ADRs, HIAB tickets etc for certain jobs.
nightline:
If the truth be told you wont get 60 to 70 hours a week stacking shelves if you did you would earn more than driving a truck even flipin burgers you would earn more
And that’s where it’s come from, someone somewhere posted a job offer for a class one V8 or V10 driver at £8.25 an hour and Billy Big ■■■■■■■■ shouts back, that’s crap, my missus earns more than that stacking shelves in ASDA.
That may be quite true but she isn’t taking £570 home because she only does 16 hours a week
the maoster:
jakethesnake:
to do a job that is ranked as the 4th most dangerous in the UKNot something to brag about really. It’s not the job that is dangerous, it’s the idiots behind the wheel that warrant us such a position.
Nobody was bragging, merely pointing out statistics. Apparently the most dangerous job in the world is on the flight deck of a US aircraft carrier. Can’t imagine there are too many idiots there, more like potentially dangerous surroundings.
Depends how you measure it. I read that the most dangerous job in the world is President of The United States. Of the 43 men who have held the office, eight have died on the job. If you pick any individual president at random, there is an 18.6% chance that they didn’t make it out of the White House alive.