chrisdalott:
You’re comparing gross to net so this is inaccurate
I’d say a typical breakdown of total remuneration on general haulage in the area mentioned would be as follows…
60 hours at £10 per hour = £600.
Less PAYE £81.54, NI £53.64, pension £30= £165.18
Nett pay £434.82.
Plus four nights out at £26 = £538.82.
Some will earn more, some less.
what about the dayshift wallahs then?
there must be some who eat breakfast,lunch and possibly tea every day while are at work.take that expense from your weekly wage and see how much of a chop that is.
no doubt we will hear soon from those healthy eaters who ■■■■ a weetabix in pasta/salad,and follow it up with an organic free range nut cutlet but its still costing more than grubbing up at home when your watching loose women.
the only difference is what trampers buy at night.( excluding loose women if you can find one) 
I’m a…
Dayshift wallah. I have three slices of toast and marmalade with a mug of tea at home before I set off to the salt mines. Cost approx £1?
Lunch is a salad £4.99 from Subway or a foot long BMT £4.99 which lasts me all day. Sometimes I get these items free because I have a Subway card. I drink bottled water from Asda £1.69 for 12 half litre bottles.
Home for supper what ever that costs (I’m not going to estimate how much I pay for home made spag bol inc wine).
If I suffer the munchies I’ll stop and get a meal deal. If I’m going to be home too late cook then KFC £5.95 or Mickeys Ds chicken wrap of the day £1.99
Sadly, organic eskimo friendly free range nut cutlets had me stopping the lorry more times than a routemaster bus in rush hour.
you need a plastic bag or the truckers pal mate.
whatever you spend daily compared to what it would cost making a bit of scran at home is still the same expence ratio to trampers eating an evening meal as the only difference is evenings being away from home.
I have…
Never put my bare bum on a Porta-Crapii or what ever they’re called. The mere site of that blue water and what may lurk beneath gives me the strength to clench for surprisingly long periods of time. 
eagerbeaver:
Redrum:
lolipop:
NEVER include night out or meal allowance money in your take home pay,its what you take home after usual deductions for the hours you work.
£500-550 is crap if allowance money is includedsapper:
I average 60 hours a week, 4 nights out, no meal allowance, but parking and breaks all paid for, take home is £750.00 a week,Sapper
Any advice in terms of the sort of work I should be looking for and the sort of companies I should be applying to if I’m looking to land a higher paid job?
Bigger firms? Smaller firms? Pay rates advertised? Own account work?
A few of you have mentioned £700+ take home which is a hell of alot moren than I’m on now. Would you say you’re in the minority and found it took a while to find a job paying those rates?
Ignore the £750 a week take home heroes mate
They are either rinsing the death out of the hours (which is sad in itself), or they are talking good old fashioned ■■■■■■■■. Very few indeed are on close to £50k a year(gross) Redders, I know they are ex special forces and barely missed the Herald, but they need to give their heads a wobble
The bottom line is this; The job will never pay well overall while we have ■■■■■■■■■■ bridge bashers, EE’s, and a general assortment of plankton steering wheel attendants. Find something that suits you and crack on.
I now work for a chap who only has 2 trucks. I met him whilst working for one of my (many
) previous employers and he was subbing for them at the time. Having a spotless undamaged truck, and being hygienic, pleasant and 100% reliable didn’t go unnoticed
It’s easy for a diamond to stand out amongst glass fella and these small hauliers pay VERY good money for the right drivers…
Indeed your right to say the moneys with the smaller hauliers, however to say anyone who’s on 750 a week is talking pony or driving every last minute they have is wrong, I know many doing 12 hour days an bringing home 700 a week, the jobs are there you just have to look.
TheYoungTrucker:
Indeed your right to say the moneys with the smaller hauliers, however to say anyone who’s on 750 a week is talking pony or driving every last minute they have is wrong, I know many doing 12 hour days an bringing home 700 a week, the jobs are there you just have to look.
You’d need to be on £16.25 an hour to take home £700 for working 60 hours on PAYE and I doubt that many drivers earn that.
Indeed your right to say the moneys with the smaller hauliers, however to say anyone who’s on 750 a week is talking pony or driving every last minute they have is wrong, I know many doing 12 hour days an bringing home 700 a week, the jobs are there you just have to look.
I can back that up, I was earning at least that before I retired and I know quite a few guys earning that and more and they are not doing silly hours or having to break every limit in site.
You are quite correct, the jobs are out there if you have the correct attitude and can do the job well.
Harry Monk:
TheYoungTrucker:
Indeed your right to say the moneys with the smaller hauliers, however to say anyone who’s on 750 a week is talking pony or driving every last minute they have is wrong, I know many doing 12 hour days an bringing home 700 a week, the jobs are there you just have to look.You’d need to be on £16.25 an hour to take home £700 for working 60 hours on PAYE and I doubt that many drivers earn that.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
well the chosen few on here can earn that easily.
usually its the newbies,or the ex whatever phd brigade ,the previous poster being a perfect example of the utter pish that gets spouted on here…
Harry Monk:
TheYoungTrucker:
Indeed your right to say the moneys with the smaller hauliers, however to say anyone who’s on 750 a week is talking pony or driving every last minute they have is wrong, I know many doing 12 hour days an bringing home 700 a week, the jobs are there you just have to look.You’d need to be on £16.25 an hour to take home £700 for working 60 hours on PAYE and I doubt that many drivers earn that.
Think he means as a total, as in with allowances etc.
As I’ve said above somewhere… 60hrs I’d net about 570/80, stick 125 on that for meal and night allowances and that’s 700.
Eagerbeaver, “ignore the £750 take home heroes” I am no hero mate, that’s what I earn, so ■■■■ you, someone asked, so I told, not everyone is a like you, if you want to earn decent money, find an own account, or a specialised like ADR or HIAB, which I have done, General haulage rates are ■■■■.
Sapper
sapper:
Eagerbeaver, “ignore the £750 take home heroes” I am no hero mate, that’s what I earn, so [zb] you, someone asked, so I told, not everyone is a like you, if you want to earn decent money, find an own account, or a specialised like ADR or HIAB, which I have done, General haulage rates are [zb].Sapper
The OP was asking for advice on money relating to Mon-Fri work (general haulage) in the Midlands with 4 nights out. Hardly anyone takes home £750 nett for that job unless they are battering the hours.
You seem a very angry fella. Have you tried talking to anyone about your problem?
think it depends on what you would accept, or what you could comfortably live on for some, but certainly add on the nights out/meal allowance after the actual wage, it needs to be min £10 per hour for me, so 65 hours should bring £650 + nights out and extras…i also need a truck stop or services to be paid on top and in advance…or i park and they get the bill, in the services at least. I also figure an international night out to be more than a uk night out…vino + a baguette with camembert.is more expensive in europe
Needs and stage of life makes a difference. Now days having seen friends, family and work colleagues dropping off the perch I tend want a higher hourly rate and less hours. Avoid lots of hours and spend more time with people that matter.
Odd days:
Needs and stage of life makes a difference. Now days having seen friends, family and work colleagues dropping off the perch I tend want a higher hourly rate and less hours. Avoid lots of hours and spend more time with people that matter.
Exactly. I do a maximum of 12 hour shifts and work for a minimum of £12 per hour. Although I’m on PAYE, I make a declaration to HMRC at the beginning of the tax year that I expect my earnings to be around £12,000 in that year so I don’t pay income tax. I do pay NI but normally take home £600+ for five days and no nights out. I am sure there are folk who earn more, but I only need enough to pay for some time away on my boat so that does me.
Odd days:
Needs and stage of life makes a difference. Now days having seen friends, family and work colleagues dropping off the perch I tend want a higher hourly rate and less hours. Avoid lots of hours and spend more time with people that matter.
I very much agree with the above. I am on 25k (give or take a little bit) but my job suits my lifestyle. I clock between 6&8 hours a day, Monday to Friday. If I needed more money, I would work longer. If I didn’t want to be at home, I would tramp.
This is subject to review however. My daughter comes off licence on 19 July, and she can come into Leicestershire again. At this point I may go back to tramping just to get away.
I haven’t tramped for nearly ever, and then it was bloody hard long hours and not particularly good pay (though best in area, unlike the all flash no cash alternatives), sounds like not much has changed.
There are some good items on this thread, the hints to make yourself more employable as a driver, something a lot can’t seem to understand let alone manage, so those who do go the extra mile to do the job professionally by looking after the customer and the equipment stand out a mile without doing anything other than their jobs normally, and its surprising just how small this industry is, particularly if you specialise.
It doesn’t matter how you are paid whether salary hours or day rate, the one calculation that matters is by dividing your top line by the number of hours in a day/week/month you physically work, this gives you a mean average hourly rate, this is the only way to compare pay rates, you can factor in weekend/nights/bank hol working into the calc if those things are part of your working week.
Not all employers paying salary take the ■■■■, mine doesn’t.
Night out money should never be included in pay as such, when on holiday you don’t get it and unless you become part of the bloody machine welded inside the poxy lorry you’ll spend most or all of it anyway.
Yes of course it adds up if you live the week out frugally, but that scene would never be mine, i want a proper evening meal in a pub/carvery/similar and a couple of pints (Lord forgive me for i have sinned ) with dinner, and a reasonable breakfast the next day.
I’m not getting into figures as such, this isn’t a ■■■■■■■ contest, there are some good jobs out there, but you’ll have use you noddle and go search them out and for sure they won’t be a walk in, if you get a start there and mess up big time you’ll be out on your ear 'ole, sadly too many plant pots who once had good jobs took the ■■■■ out of them, damage sickies bad attitude couldn’t give a ■■■■ about the customer or the equipment, hence too many of those good jobs are no more, hence those still in them keep schtum.
Harry Monk:
I make a declaration to HMRC at the beginning of the tax year that I expect my earnings to be around £12,000 in that year so I don’t pay income tax.
OK - How does this work?
kyk:
Harry Monk:
I make a declaration to HMRC at the beginning of the tax year that I expect my earnings to be around £12,000 in that year so I don’t pay income tax.OK - How does this work?
If you register with the HMRC online service and make a declaration of how much you expect to earn in the current tax year then you will be taxed on the basis of that declaration, i.e. you will pay no PAYE until you reach the personal allowance threshold, currently £11,850, although if you exceed the declaration then you will be taxed at 20% on all subsequent earnings.
There’s no real benefit in doing it because if you do pay normal rates of PAYE but only earn £11,850 in any tax year then you will get the PAYE refunded as a lump sum in the next tax year anyway, it just saves having to wait for it.
dieseldog999:
Harry Monk:
TheYoungTrucker:
Indeed your right to say the moneys with the smaller hauliers, however to say anyone who’s on 750 a week is talking pony or driving every last minute they have is wrong, I know many doing 12 hour days an bringing home 700 a week, the jobs are there you just have to look.You’d need to be on £16.25 an hour to take home £700 for working 60 hours on PAYE and I doubt that many drivers earn that.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
well the chosen few on here can earn that easily.
usually its the newbies,or the ex whatever phd brigade ,the previous poster being a perfect example of the utter pish that gets spouted on here…
The chosen few as you refer to, have enough brains to realise that tramping up and down the 75, for manfreight and any other n irish fridge firm, ain’t goin to get you the sort of money in question for the hours mentioned. Iv been there and done it, my paycheck means more to me than a v8 badge stuck to the grill, and strutting around the p&o like a peacock at stupid o clock in the morning talking pony.
