As thread title says, I’m just seeing what advise anyone on here would have regarding trying a transport planner job and what sort of money you’d be looking at? Not planning on packing driving in as such, just interested to see what other options are out there if I did throw the toys out of the pram sometime!
Planners are usually on poor money it’s why most have few qualifications. Salary ranges from 17k to 26k+
Managers are usually on 30k+ but a lot of Ballache to come with it.
If you want a office job get an o licence and let some company pay you to use it. 
I have the O license as I sat the exams last year and i have a degree also but I just wouldn’t want to work for peanuts in an office thats all. I know myself too that if I tried an office job I’d miss the driving from time to time also. Remember seeing a while back that Agro was offering a transport planner role paying £25000-35000 depending on experience so if you were experienced you’d be getting a decent lift each month there!
Surely you should be looking for external transport manager roles then?
Show up a few days a week to check fleet, records etc and jobs a good’un.
adam277:
Surely you should be looking for external transport manager roles then?Show up a few days a week to check fleet, records etc and jobs a good’un.
I’ll be checking back on this thread later. I’ve a feeling it could run on a bit.
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hammertothefloor:
I have the O license as I sat the exams last year and i have a degree also but I just wouldn’t want to work for peanuts in an office thats all. I know myself too that if I tried an office job I’d miss the driving from time to time also. Remember seeing a while back that Agro was offering a transport planner role paying £25000-35000 depending on experience so if you were experienced you’d be getting a decent lift each month there!
If you have an “O"licence you must run at least one vehicle, have an operating centre and presumably some work to finance all this expense? You don’t seem to to know your " O” from your “CPC” !!! On the other hand you could just be bored and looking for a “windup” so I’ve obliged you 
regards Kev.
I once went for a planners job with wincanton Trax park Doncaster, the interview included a test of geographical knowledge which was a whiteboard with a vague outline of the uk drawn in black pen, with 5 dots on it marked A,B,C etc, next to it where the names of 5 cities. All I had to do was put the name of the city to the dot on the board 
peirre:
I once went for a planners job with wincanton Trax park Doncaster, the interview included a test of geographical knowledge which was a whiteboard with a vague outline of the uk drawn in black pen, with 5 dots on it marked A,B,C etc, next to it where the names of 5 cities. All I had to do was put the name of the city to the dot on the board
And what were they? London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow?
DickyNick:
peirre:
I once went for a planners job with wincanton Trax park Doncaster, the interview included a test of geographical knowledge which was a whiteboard with a vague outline of the uk drawn in black pen, with 5 dots on it marked A,B,C etc, next to it where the names of 5 cities. All I had to do was put the name of the city to the dot on the boardAnd what were they? London, Cardiff, Birmingham, Manchester, Glasgow?
Cheat!
Asking for the answers.
All you gotta do is take a sneaky look at Google maps on your phone.
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A lot of large firms will have a few “planners” or “co-ordinators” dotted around depots on crap money, and one or two actual CPC-holder Transport Managers, on decent money, who may or may not turn up once a week to “continuously and effectively manage the operation”.
In effect, the low-paid bods are getting all the everyday grief, for little reward.
I think some of them actually would be better off stacking shelves, and I claim my £5 
Mine gets around the 40k mark and looks after (trust me that’s what it feels like from this side of the desk some days), 16 drivers, though he is also the TM. However, despite that low number of drivers there is a lot of work to do before we get the trucks out of the door, so it is fairly intense at times. I’d say (after my good self of course) he’s the hardest working man in the firm and deserves every penny he gets. So if you did want to be a planner, look at places that do specialist freight. After that the advice boils down to, Buckle Up .
peirre:
I once went for a planners job with wincanton Trax park Doncaster, the interview included a test of geographical knowledge which was a whiteboard with a vague outline of the uk drawn in black pen, with 5 dots on it marked A,B,C etc, next to it where the names of 5 cities. All I had to do was put the name of the city to the dot on the board
And here was me thinking I could never get another job…
hammertothefloor:
As thread title says, I’m just seeing what advise anyone on here would have regarding trying a transport planner job and what sort of money you’d be looking at? Not planning on packing driving in as such, just interested to see what other options are out there if I did throw the toys out of the pram sometime!
You can’t throw the toys out the pram as a planner, the drivers will be scuttling off to HR and Facebook about the nasty man in the office…
adam277:
Planners are usually on poor money it’s why most have few qualifications. Salary ranges from 17k to 26k+Managers are usually on 30k+ but a lot of Ballache to come with it.
If you want a office job get an o licence and let some company pay you to use it.
Just get a cpc and let someone pay you… Then when they lose a load on a roundabout killing kittens you carry the can for it…
adam277:
Surely you should be looking for external transport manager roles then?Show up a few days a week to check fleet, records etc and jobs a good’un.
Hahahaha really…
when i applied for a planners role at swift in northampton i was told i hadn’t got the right kind of experience ( i had put on the application that i had done the following jobs - traffic clerk ,class 1 driver ,company director,owner driver, transport manager) , but no computer experience, they asked me if i wanted to start as a class 1 driver, so i said yes. a week later the transport planner jacked and i was in ,i finished 15 years later as the day traffic manager . so it can be done and can be rewarding, if fraught at times , but , choose who you want to work for and what area of transport you want to work in carefully. pallets and parcels 24/7 not the best environment .
be prepared to grow a thick skin because you WILL end up in deep and meaningful debates with your drivers and management over what can and cant be done, your drivers wont see the bigger picture and the management usually KPI you to death
good luck in whatever you choose
tony
Yea really.
OK there are a few risks and if the company are a bit of a cowboy outfit you may lose your ocpc but still I’ve seen retired managers show up to do it and people are advertising for it.
adam277:
Yea really.OK there are a few risks and if the company are a bit of a cowboy outfit you may lose your ocpc but still I’ve seen retired managers show up to do it and people are advertising for it.[/quote
You have no idea of the risks clearly.
adam277:
Yea really.OK there are a few risks and if the company are a bit of a cowboy outfit you may lose your ocpc but still I’ve seen retired managers show up to do it and people are advertising for it.
Can you have your CPC taken off you in the UK?
Drempels:
adam277:
Yea really.OK there are a few risks and if the company are a bit of a cowboy outfit you may lose your ocpc but still I’ve seen retired managers show up to do it and people are advertising for it.
Can you have your CPC taken off you in the UK?
Yes.
Darkside:
Drempels:
adam277:
Yea really.OK there are a few risks and if the company are a bit of a cowboy outfit you may lose your ocpc but still I’ve seen retired managers show up to do it and people are advertising for it.
Can you have your CPC taken off you in the UK?
Yes.
You learn something every day!
Hi all and thanks for all the replies and insight. I maybe didn’t word my first reply correctly as i have the Transport Manager CPC and not an O License! Also I can confirm its not a wind up or anything like that as I am genuinely interested to hear of any and all experiences of drivers trying an office job. I myself know a few who have tried one and were back on the road a few months years later again. Could see my being in that category if I was to give one a rattle. When your used to irregular start/finish times and being away weeks at a time being home every night would take some getting used to I guess.