Came to my senses

About 3 yrs ago I cut my hours back to doing Tues am to Sat lunchtime/pm, basically because I was ■■■■■■ off with transport and how it had turned virtually to crap from when I started.

I’m now going to cut back further shortly, doing like a 4 on 3 off, starting Wed am right through to Saturday to whatever time is necessary, with only 3 nights out, and still carrying on with my SW job.
I just think that the hours we all do as a routine are just bloody ridiculous, :bulb: .
Who in their right minds in 2019 wants to work around 70 + hours, what is considered in most other professions to equate to a week and a half’s hours in a week,…and in most cases because of thick driver’s past actions, for the same rate of pay right through. (Unless that is of course if you are lucky enough to work for a (dreaded on here :unamused: ) Union firm with good pay structure terms)

Done all that crap…, maxing out, away from home all week and longer, weekending etc etc, got the T shirt AND the hooded sweatshirt :unamused: .
I’ve just had a gut full doing it since 79.

Thing is though, I’ll still be hitting around 50 hours, so which other job do you ‘‘drop down’’ to 50 hours…as opposed to increasing up to 50 hours. :unamused:
Don’t come back with the ‘‘nature of the job/always been that way’’ ■■■■■■■■,…cos it hasn’t. :bulb:

Took me a ■■■■ long time to come to my senses (while missing most of my kid’s growing up time) and realise there is more to life than spending the majority of it in a ■■■■ truck.
So heres to my 3 to 3 and a half day weekends at home chilling with the Mrs. :sunglasses:

I plan on cutting down as well just a month or two to go til I’m part time. :open_mouth:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=ODOrUFgPLpA
A good video.

robroy:
About 3 yrs ago I cut my hours back to doing Tues am to Sat lunchtime/pm, basically because I was ■■■■■■ off with transport and how it had turned virtually to crap from when I started.

I’m now going to cut back further shortly, doing like a 4 on 3 off, starting Wed am right through to Saturday to whatever time is necessary, with only 3 nights out, and still carrying on with my SW job.
I just think that the hours we all do as a routine are just bloody ridiculous, :bulb: .
Who in their right minds in 2019 wants to work around 70 + hours, what is considered in most other professions to equate to a week and a half’s hours in a week,…and in most cases because of thick driver’s past actions, for the same rate of pay right through. (Unless that is of course if you are lucky enough to work for a (dreaded on here :unamused: ) Union firm with good pay structure terms)

Done all that crap…, maxing out, away from home all week and longer, weekending etc etc, got the T shirt AND the hooded sweatshirt :unamused: .
I’ve just had a gut full doing it since 79.

Thing is though, I’ll still be hitting around 50 hours, so which other job do you ‘‘drop down’’ to 50 hours…as opposed to increasing up to 50 hours. :unamused:
Don’t come back with the ‘‘nature of the job/always been that way’’ ■■■■■■■■,…cos it hasn’t. :bulb:

Took me a [zb] long time to come to my senses (while missing most of my kid’s growing up time) and realise there is more to life than spending the majority of it in a [zb] truck.
So heres to my 3 to 3 and a half day weekends at home chilling with the Mrs. :sunglasses:

Give it a month and youl be back on the 70 hour week. Too much time at home will do your head in. Your built for trucking by sound of it.

I think haulage will have to change the way it operates and within 15 to 20 years once all older drivers have retired who see lorry driving as tramping and only tramping, because no young lads want to go tramping and no one can make them. They mainly want to do days and a few want nights.

I don’t know what will happen but if no one will go tramping they will have to change the way businesses are run. More and more pallet and hub networks? Haulage companies purchasing more of their own depots to night trunk between then day men rather than trampers deliver the stuff from each one. I don’t know, but I can’t see it staying the same.

DickyNick:
I think haulage will have to change the way it operates and within 15 to 20 years once all older drivers have retired who see lorry driving as tramping and only tramping, because no young lads want to go tramping and no one can make them. They mainly want to do days and a few want nights.

I don’t know what will happen but if no one will go tramping they will have to change the way businesses are run. More and more pallet and hub networks? Haulage companies purchasing more of their own depots to night trunk between then day men rather than trampers deliver the stuff from each one. I don’t know, but I can’t see it staying the same.

If they reward the trampers with double bubble then it will continue. But when companies advertise at 8.50 an hour tramping with a bonus tax free 25 quid overnight money then it will die of death. Its no the job thats putting people off its the money.

Very well stated join an agency do 40 hours flat and you can walk away with a pretty decent wage on days. Trailer changeover on nights even more so.

If they paid for truck stops and paid overnight bonus on top as well as a meal then i dare say people would maybe entertain it more. It just doesnt make sense to be away from family etc for a little more than what can be made on days.

Its more a single mans game. A bit like the military.

Minus breaks (we have an hour as opposed to 45 minutes) I work around 45 a week without a Saturday. A late finish for me is after 4pm, I’m doing considerably less hours than my last tipper job. I’ve lost over a stone in weight, come home clean and on better money too.

robroy:
About 3 yrs ago I cut my hours back to doing Tues am to Sat lunchtime/pm, basically because I was ■■■■■■ off with transport and how it had turned virtually to crap from when I started.

I’m now going to cut back further shortly, doing like a 4 on 3 off, starting Wed am right through to Saturday to whatever time is necessary, with only 3 nights out, and still carrying on with my SW job.
I just think that the hours we all do as a routine are just bloody ridiculous, :bulb: .
Who in their right minds in 2019 wants to work around 70 + hours, what is considered in most other professions to equate to a week and a half’s hours in a week,…and in most cases because of thick driver’s past actions, for the same rate of pay right through. (Unless that is of course if you are lucky enough to work for that nice cuddly non unionised Albion Haulage :wink: :wink: :wink: with good pay structure terms)

Done all that crap…, maxing out, away from home all week and longer, weekending etc etc, got the T shirt AND the hooded sweatshirt :unamused: .
I’ve just had a gut full doing it since 79.

Thing is though, I’ll still be hitting around 50 hours, so which other job do you ‘‘drop down’’ to 50 hours…as opposed to increasing up to 50 hours. :unamused:
Don’t come back with the ‘‘nature of the job/always been that way’’ ■■■■■■■■,…cos it hasn’t. :bulb:

Took me a [zb] long time to come to my senses (while missing most of my kid’s growing up time) and realise there is more to life than spending the majority of it in a [zb] truck.
So heres to my 3 to 3 and a half day weekends at home chilling with the Mrs. :sunglasses:

I made the decision to drop down to 50 hour weeks as well this year in the run up to retirement - feel like part-time now :laughing:

Seriously, though I agree with you on the whole, trouble is when I go away, I’d rather be driving than stuck somewhere so I’d be my own worst enemy; different if you aren’t tramping.

:neutral_face:

adam277:
I plan on cutting down as well just a month or two to go til I’m part time. :open_mouth:

m.youtube.com/watch?v=ODOrUFgPLpA
A good video.

Jeez mate thanks for cheering me up eh? :unamused: :laughing:
I wouldn’t say I ‘‘hated’’ the job, in fact once over I actually loved it, but all the things that ■■■■ ed it up since when I started have made me have a different opinion, the list is almost endless.
It started with…Cabphones.

Then Trackers.

Knobheads in offices who have come and gone over the years, who have and tried (and failed :bulb: ) to push me. :smiling_imp:

Very few parking places in comparison to early years.

Bell end spinless drivers you have to work alongside, who have ■■■■■■ the job up for the rest of us :smiling_imp: , mostly by the things they are prepared to do…nothing surprises me anymore with those guys . :open_mouth:

The same ones who have ballsed up the hours + overtime pay structures we once had.

The lack of old style ‘‘proper drivers’’ nowadays, as opposed to car drivers with blagged Class1s, when we used to look out for each other in terms of help, empathy and courtesy on the road.

Modern managment with their schoolboy regimes and stupid unnecessary ■■■■ rules …only to justify their non jobs and titles like ‘‘Compliance Managers’’ ffs :unamused:

I’m sure I could think of many more, but I can’t be arsed, and I’m starting to sound like Del’s Uncle Albert, ‘…‘During the war’’ :laughing: … but I’m sure you see where I’m coming from, and get my drift.

Some can’t see beyond their nose Rob. You are a long time dead…

(Some already are from the neck up)

With you on that mate, I’m a tramper but I’d really like to do 4-4 tramping! In fact any 4-4 would do me fine. I used to have a great planner, but due to “restructuring” I’ve now got a useless one who only has experience of day drivers, so all it does is allocate dung day work. I say it, because I’m sure it’s not got a human brain.

robroy:
Who in their right minds in 2019 wants to work around 70 + hours, what is considered in most other professions to equate to a week and a half’s hours in a week.

That’s exactly how I feel Rob.

So much so that as of March, I’m leaving the transport industry all together and starting a new career at Birmingham Airport.
Yeah the money is about half what I’m on now, but so are the hours. I start on what works out to be about £11.20 an hour and this increases every year for the following 5 years. No ■■■■■■ zero hours contracts, lack of sick pay or benefits.

I finally thought I didn’t want to get trapped by this ‘decent money’, even though I’m doing 70+ hours a week and out 5 nights a week to get it and thought I may as well start at the bottom whilst I’m still young enough (30) and work my way up in an industry I’m genuinely interested in.

I was genuinely interested in trucks and have done this for the past 10 years, but even in this short time, compared to many in here, I’ve seen it go even more down hill.
Having only been married for 2 years and the wife talking about kids, I don’t want to be living in a tin box whilst my young one grows up.

Will_161:

robroy:
Who in their right minds in 2019 wants to work around 70 + hours, what is considered in most other professions to equate to a week and a half’s hours in a week.

That’s exactly how I feel Rob.

So much so that as of March, I’m leaving the transport industry all together and starting a new career at Birmingham Airport.
Yeah the money is about half what I’m on now, but so are the hours. I start on what works out to be about £11.20 an hour and this increases every year for the following 5 years. No [zb] zero hours contracts, lack of sick pay or benefits.

I finally thought I didn’t want to get trapped by this ‘decent money’, even though I’m doing 70+ hours a week and out 5 nights a week to get it and thought I may as well start at the bottom whilst I’m still young enough (30) and work my way up in an industry I’m genuinely interested in.

I was genuinely interested in trucks and have done this for the past 10 years, but even in this short time, compared to many in here, I’ve seen it go even more down hill.
Having only been married for 2 years and the wife talking about kids, I don’t want to be living in a tin box whilst my young one grows up.

Cheers mate.
Yeh it always amuses me the ‘I’m on good money’’ dumb assed heroes who work all those hours to get it :unamused:
No you ■■■■ aint on ‘‘good money’’ you knob, think how genuinely ‘‘good’’ the money would be if you worked all those hours at time + time and a half as we used to before you ■■■■ ed it up. :unamused:
(Not adressing you personally here btw :laughing: )

Good luck with the new job/life mate, hope it all works out. :wink:
I’ll even forgive you (this time) for the ‘‘living in a tin box’’ crack. :laughing:

^^^^^
No choice on cutting hours here, same run week in week out (a few minor exceptions) means doing this till we finally give it up…5 nights out a week… :stuck_out_tongue:

Rob - that sounds like a plan although you could do something radical and go into the office to be … a planner! :smiling_imp: Think of the fun trying to herd all those other drivers around.

Albion - the trouble is you’ve seen the light, but you’re retiring instead of turning Albion Haulage into a multi site Stobarts killer company so we’re all doomed to crap wages. :slight_smile:

Andrew - just think of the large private house overlooking the sea and your private beach. Whether that be Spain, Caribbean or Norfolk is determined by how hard you work (and a ■■■■ load of luck, not that you had a lot of that recently).

I’ve been on 4 on 3 off nights since September, best thing I’ve ever been offered and I’ve only been driving 4 years this year. I now work around 35-40 hours a week, but get paid 48, and can also do 2 days overtime some weeks if I choose to, quite pleased as last month I took home over 3 times what I used to when doing warehouse work.

cgscott:

DickyNick:
I think haulage will have to change the way it operates and within 15 to 20 years once all older drivers have retired who see lorry driving as tramping and only tramping, because no young lads want to go tramping and no one can make them. They mainly want to do days and a few want nights.

I don’t know what will happen but if no one will go tramping they will have to change the way businesses are run. More and more pallet and hub networks? Haulage companies purchasing more of their own depots to night trunk between then day men rather than trampers deliver the stuff from each one. I don’t know, but I can’t see it staying the same.

If they reward the trampers with double bubble then it will continue. But when companies advertise at 8.50 an hour tramping with a bonus tax free 25 quid overnight money then it will die of death. Its no the job thats putting people off its the money.

Very well stated join an agency do 40 hours flat and you can walk away with a pretty decent wage on days. Trailer changeover on nights even more so.

If they paid for truck stops and paid overnight bonus on top as well as a meal then i dare say people would maybe entertain it more. It just doesnt make sense to be away from family etc for a little more than what can be made on days.

Its more a single mans game. A bit like the military.

It would take a decent pay increase and conditions improvement across the industry to attract the younger lads getting their licences into tramping. In an environment where everyone is trying to save the last penny that’s never going happen, so I do think my prediction that tramping will die out wont be far from reality as not many (younger ones) want to do it, and like it or not the younger ones are the future of any industry.

Isn’t our inside source on the lorry automation…coming sooner than you dinosaurs might think :unamused: …back from NZ or SA or wherever he went off to on hush hush my lips are sealed research?
In which case little point in the younger potentials getting involved in lorry driving cos by the end of the decade these vehicles will be driving themselves, apparently.

Pleased for you Robroy that you are cutting back a bit, a man of your age should be taking it easier, just leave it to us whippersnappers :smiling_imp:

I’ve recently gone onto day runs.
I didn’t like it at first,but I’m starting to get into it,now.

I don’t think tramping will die out that quickly.

You’ll always have a group of younger generation and middle aged individuals who will get given a nice shiny truck with some Kelsa spots on it, stick “Living the dream” or “what a life without a wife” on the back of the cab and be happy.
Before online says too, I don’t have a problem with that, the problem arises though when said people are willing to ‘live the dream’ for dog ■■■■ pay, and as long as that happens, the industry will never change.

It’s the same as pilots paying for their own type ratings because they love flying and just want to get in the air, they’re ■■■■■■■ it up for everyone else.

If tramping is dying out, how come it’s so hard to find parking?