XPO Job Advert

Taken from the advert:

Your journey may start off in a Wagon, but a whole new career could be in front of you from Management, Sales, Warehousing, and more, it just takes the first step!

Is that some idiot in a marketing role looking down on ‘wagon’ drivers?

I’ve had a ‘career’ in management, sales and warehousing amongst more jobs than hot dinners and I’m quite happy driving my wagon thanks.

Yeah, it’s virtually saying “you could progress from driving a lorry to driving a fork lift truck!”.

It seems to be written in the spirit of: “it doesn’t matter if you’ve just been released from prison after 20 years for molesting children, there’s always lorry driving to get your foot in the door of the job market. Then who knows? The sky’s the limit after that!”

I didn’t realise we had so many reactionary emotional flowers in this industry.

To me it just reads that there’s many varied roles available and there’s options to explore them? But each to their own I guess

There saying start as a driver and.you can progress up the ladder to mamgamnet one day.
Which is a good thing.
Some people are happy just driving others want to one day become part of the management maybe run the operation . Meaning more money…but more responsibility.

edd1974:
There saying start as a driver and.you can progress up the ladder to mamgamnet one day.
Which is a good thing. Altough in realityaybe never happen.
Some people are happy just driving others want to one day become part of the management maybe run the operation . Meaning more money…but more responsibility.

Strange that we don’t see the same level of ‘opportunity’ offered in the rail industry in adverts for train drivers or the aviation industry for pilots.
I read it as office workers and warehouse labourers are jealous of the drivers’ job out on the road and drivers should expect to be forced off the road into an office or the warehouse at some point and like it.

ezydriver:
Yeah, it’s virtually saying “you could progress from driving a lorry to driving a fork lift truck!”.

^ You can bet that it’s also saying there won’t be any choice in the matter.

edd1974:
There saying start as a driver and.you can progress up the ladder to mamgamnet one day.
Which is a good thing.
Some people are happy just driving others want to one day become part of the management maybe run the operation . Meaning more money…but more responsibility.

I would argue that making sure no one around you gets seriously injured or dies (not withstanding yourself) carries far more responsibility than ANY of those other roles mentioned. That’s not to mention a potentially very expensive truck/load.

If you are intelligent (which sadly many lorry steerers are not) with your finances, a very good lifestyle can be gleaned from steering wagons. I left school with no qualifications to speak of and yet have a nice new 3 bed house, newish Audi S4 and a brand new Triumph Trident sat in the garden.

Get on top of your finances, invest in ETF’s, sell pallets, use comparison sites etc. You can live like a King and do not need to ‘climb the ladder’ ffs.

Get smart not tired.

edd1974:
There saying start as a driver and.you can progress up the ladder to mamgamnet one day.
Which is a good thing.
Some people are happy just driving others want to one day become part of the management maybe run the operation . Meaning more money…but more responsibility.

I’ve had plenty of managers complain over the years there paid less than me ,there not all on mega money that’s for sure

edd1974:
There saying start as a driver and.you can progress up the ladder to mamgamnet one day.
Which is a good thing.
Some people are happy just driving others want to one day become part of the management maybe run the operation . Meaning more money…but more responsibility.

Exactly.

I’ve read many posts on here over the years about “clueless office staff” who have “never done the job” but theres a place offering a path to avoiding that and it’s shot down? Or a place where you can join for one job and instead of jacking it in and going for another similar job, you can at least look at other roles, withoit resigning, finding a new job, working weeks notices or weeks in hand. It’s a bad thing apparently?

Driving isnt for everyone, some people (I feel especially some of the newer recent passes who have been seduced by the life of driving only to perhaps find out its not what they expected) may want to move onto other things. Likewise I’ve also seen posts on here championing forkies because “they’re on much the same wages as us” and “they finish at x time” etc.

I’ve done the management path. Not sure where the argument that its more money or less hours comes from? Over the years ive always earned more driving especially when you consider all the “at home/off clock” work added in. I remember phones calls at midnight from the middle of France or Spain because a driver dropped a clanger, usually followed by an early morning flight to solve it with a pocket full of euros and long silent drive back to blighty with a very sheepish recently made drivers mate having been relieved of driving. And thats the easy ones, there was other occasions where it ended in months of court battles, many trips to Spain and drivers temporarily imprisoned and ultimately sentenced.

Sod all that again. I’m happy being just a number :laughing:

toonsy:
I didn’t realise we had so many reactionary emotional flowers in this industry.

To me it just reads that there’s many varied roles available and there’s options to explore them? But each to their own I guess

Do you think when they’re head hunting for a Chief Executive of a national logistics company, they say, who knows, if you work hard maybe one day you could drive one of our trucks.
It’s saying you’re at the lowest rung of the ladder.

stu675:

toonsy:
I didn’t realise we had so many reactionary emotional flowers in this industry.

To me it just reads that there’s many varied roles available and there’s options to explore them? But each to their own I guess

Do you think when they’re head hunting for a Chief Executive of a national logistics company, they say, who knows, if you work hard maybe one day you could drive one of our trucks.
It’s saying you’re at the lowest rung of the ladder.

No but they’re not advertising for a CEO, they’re looking for a truck driver and saying that you don’t need to a be a truck driver all your life.

But yeah as rungs of ladders go people really need to remove the sand from their vaginas and realise that you need absolutely no qualifications whatsoever, not even basic maths or English, three days of time and a few grand to be a lorry driver. Its hardly gruelling entry requirements. Simple fact is we are at the lowest rung of the ladder. My company induction took more time than it tool for me to complete my class one licence :laughing:

That’s not to look down at it. Personally I’ve made a very good life out of driving, I earn around 54k now which is far more than most of my mates earn, some of whom have university educations. Obviously many people wouldn’t get out of bed for that :unamused: but its fine for me. And after about ten hours of turning up for work I go home again and think about absolutely nothing work related. But for some they want to try other things, like I did, and that’s no bad thing in my opinion.

I’ll show this advert to a guy I work with, he’ll love it as he’s desperate to be triggered and offended by absolutely anything, he seems to thrive on discord and disharmony. Of course he’s riddled with stress related health issues and I think that he’s not long for this world.

toonsy:

stu675:

toonsy:
I didn’t realise we had so many reactionary emotional flowers in this industry.

To me it just reads that there’s many varied roles available and there’s options to explore them? But each to their own I guess

No but they’re not advertising for a CEO, they’re looking for a truck driver and saying that you don’t need to a be a truck driver all your life.
My company induction took more time than it tool for me to complete my class one licence :laughing:

Let’s get this right they want vocational professional drivers but who themselves don’t see it as a vocational professional job that they want to do for life until retirement.
You know like train drivers and pilots.
As for modern driver training being so easy that says more about the brake and go driving methods and dumbed down Brit truck configurations.
When it’s clear that they don’t intend to make it a matter of choice in putting drivers to work inside as warehouse operatives or traffic planners etc.
If not they would obviously actually want to make it clear that it’s a matter of choice so as not to alienate those who actually like and want to drive as a lifetime career and if the job of driver ceases then redundancy is the obvious choice.
There is supposedly a driver shortage, right ?.

Carryfast:

ezydriver:
Yeah, it’s virtually saying “you could progress from driving a lorry to driving a fork lift truck!”.

^ You can bet that it’s also saying there won’t be any choice in the matter.

That stuck record got boring a long time ago

Carryfast:
Let’s get this right they want vocational professional drivers….

Translated as ‘let’s see how much I can twist this to fit my fantasy’. You & right are an oxymoron old fruit

Carryfast:
I didn’t realise we had so many that it’s a matter of choice so as not to alienate those who actually like and want to drive as a lifetime career

A lifetime that in your world ends in the early 40’s?

I dunno if i cant crack this reversing lark i quite fancy a job in lidl’s rdc from what i could see all you need to do is wander around telling the drivers off for putting the pallets 180 degrees round the wrong way (and yes i mean 180 degrees) , walk around putting a few labels on palets that were tipped 2 hours previously or the real plum job squeezing oranges to make sure they have enough juice!!

switchlogic:

Carryfast:
Let’s get this right they want vocational professional drivers….

Translated as ‘let’s see how much I can twist this to fit my fantasy’. You & right are an oxymoron old fruit

Carryfast:
I didn’t realise we had so many that it’s a matter of choice so as not to alienate those who actually like and want to drive as a lifetime career

A lifetime that in your world ends in the early 40’s?

A lifetime that ended in the early 40’s not by choice but because the firm obviously felt that it’s warehouse labourer requirement outweighed any so called driver shortage.After the move from pallets and direct trailer swap trunks to loose loaded hand ball and hub system.
As opposed to your in your case resulting from a tendency and penchant for crashing. Which in my case would have seen me sacked sooner than my 40’s the first and last time I ever ditched a truck.

I suspect this an attempt from management to sound ‘street’ so they can be be down with the kids an all that.

‘Drive a wagon our kid’

Problem is they also pay ‘our kid’ wages too.

Their last advert in the London area was for the princely sum of no less than £11.03 an hour for a class 1 driver.

Fill your boots, cos they would love you to do just that.

Supermarket driver that brings me my weekly shop - £11.60 an hour he tells me. Hmm.

Carryfast:

switchlogic:

Carryfast:
Let’s get this right they want vocational professional drivers….

Translated as ‘let’s see how much I can twist this to fit my fantasy’. You & right are an oxymoron old fruit

Carryfast:
I didn’t realise we had so many that it’s a matter of choice so as not to alienate those who actually like and want to drive as a lifetime career

A lifetime that in your world ends in the early 40’s?

A lifetime that ended in the early 40’s not by choice but because the firm obviously felt that it’s warehouse labourer requirement outweighed any so called driver shortage.After the move from pallets and direct trailer swap trunks to loose loaded hand ball and hub system.
As opposed to your in your case resulting from a tendency and penchant for crashing. Which in my case would have seen me sacked sooner than my 40’s the first and last time I ever ditched a truck.

Good lord, poor you. I’d not realised you’d had such a harrowing time of it. Being such a private man its not like you’ve mentioned it……