I’ve been driving on days for about a month now but will be looking to tramp for a year or two to save money as quickly as possible. I’m not feeling brave enough just yet, especially while I still practise my reversing, but I’m hoping to make a switch before Xmas.
I would love to hear your opinions (but I’m not looking to be convinced not to do it at all - I already tried it and liked it, it was just a bit too early for me)
Depends and its probably got very little to do with length of time and more the reasonings for do it. You say to save money? How?
It’s an important question because saving on a daily commute is fine but to me it sounds like you’ll be looking to save as much as possible (I’m basing this purely on your few words here and may be wildy wrong) which is a recipe for disaster because it sounds like you’re going to forego life if you like and include any night out money as a wage.
And therein lay a problem because it isn’t. It’s there for you to get a decent meal. Tramping should not be a race to max your hours and then hide away in your bunk from people chomping away on a pasty or eating a dinner on Thursday that you made at home on Sunday… nor is it fun spending hundreds if pounds on equipment so you can rustle up a chicken breast and a tin of beans.
The point I’m making is not to skimp on a standard of living. Get out of the cab, go for a walk, go for a meal or a pint when youre parked up. Be a human not a hermit.
I appreciate your advice on living a little, but my personal situation calls for it and I’d rather leave it at that. I totally agree on being a human, taking a shower, having a good meal etc - I still would take care of myself, I just need to earn more, get rid of some debts and start saving.
I’m worried about finding my way around all the ports and countryside etc - I can imagine it can be daunting for a new driver, is there anything one can do to prepare while not actually being sent there at work? I have pretty much 10 destinations at work so I won’t really get challenged much, it’s annoying.
From my own experience I started tramping 5 months after starting with my first firm. Was driving a 4.5 ton curtainsider on day work, including in London, until a vacancy arose on an 18 ton waggon. Very soon was tramping because of the work the Company did. I very rarely parked up in Lay-bys (only when absolutely necessary) and always had a good meal in the evening.
The Company always paid my parking fees and many Truckstops “included ‘ah hem’” the meal cost into the receipt - though I am sure the Boss probably suspected which is probably why he eventually went over to “SNAP”
(the company claims expenses back on their tax I would assume)
One bonus with tramping is the “night out” money that supplemented my weekly take home, even when I had to pay out for a meal and of course whilst away it is easier to not spend money.
For me the really big bonus was being paid to see parts of Britain you are not going to visit on day work. I have delivered to all parts of the British mainland and especially enjoyed trips to Cornwall, Wales and Scotland. Best trip was one to Kishorn Port on Loch Carron, via Inverness, and being a Thursday morning returned home by the scenic route, Fort William, Glencoe, Loch Lomond back to East Anglia. (Our company didn’t get involved in back loading very much so we ran empty much of the time)
The first long trip is daunting but you soon settle in but I found it wise to keep some emergency rations in my cab, just in case.
If wary ask the TM to send you out on a few shorter overnight runs to get the feel.
One word of warning. Tramping will impact your social life and can affect relationships. I am lucky having a very understanding wife!
The only reason I gave it up is that my company moved base, too far away from my home, and I got a bit long in the tooth for galavanting about!
Back in the day, loads of us used to pass the HGV test then be off to Germany or Italy a day or two later.
Neetsneets:
I appreciate your advice on living a little, but my personal situation calls for it and I’d rather leave it at that. I totally agree on being a human, taking a shower, having a good meal etc - I still would take care of myself, I just need to earn more, get rid of some debts and start saving.I’m worried about finding my way around all the ports and countryside etc - I can imagine it can be daunting for a new driver, is there anything one can do to prepare while not actually being sent there at work? I have pretty much 10 destinations at work so I won’t really get challenged much, it’s annoying.
Have you got a good “truck” Satnav? My Tomtom Professional is pretty foolproof and before that I had a Snooper.
Both expensive but the piece of mind invaluable! Try looking on the Net as there are offers to be had and they also come up on your favourite auction site.
Get a Truckers road atlas as well.
Use Google street view to get an idea of the site/sites you are heading for.
Oh! Most importantly, don’t be a “typical male”. Don’t be afraid to ask for directions you will find people are only too willing to help!
My present job is day work, covering the South East and Midlands, but I cover runs for staff that are on holiday or sick. I prefer it that way as every day is different and a challenge.
teech:
From my own experience I started tramping 5 months after starting with my first firm. Was driving a 4.5 ton curtainsider on day work, including in London, until a vacancy arose on an 18 ton waggon.
Teech, that sounds like an amazing experience. I would love to see Loch Lomond again, even better if I get paid for it! I’m glad the company you worked for treated you so well too and gave you the room to grow.
I will definitely remember to pack more than I think I need 
Harry Monk:
Back in the day, loads of us used to pass the HGV test then be off to Germany or Italy a day or two later.
I fully admit, I could not cope with that, too much of a wuss. But then again, I’ve only been driving a car for 3 years, still loads to learn.
Neetsneets:
Harry Monk:
Back in the day, loads of us used to pass the HGV test then be off to Germany or Italy a day or two later.
Back in the day if it was East Of Istanbul there weren’t even any road maps. I used a world Atlas and drew the roads in once I’d found them
I can only echo what Toonsy says, if your method of saving money is to live like some kind of hermit, (to use the day man chestnut…in a tin box,) you’re setting yourself up for a ■■■■ miserable, not life, but existence… 
Look up that ‘‘Men who live in trucks’’ on You tube (or imo a better title '‘How to become a terminal manic depressive’ 
) if that does not put you off their idea of tramping, nothing will.
If you feel confident crack on,…as Harry says once over you passed your test and next day you went tramping…but that was a long time ago,.albeit a ■■■■ good way to learn the job.
I wasn’t chucked in the deep end as much as Harry,.my first tramping job was UK only, and I’d had tramping trips off with mates, so I half knew the road network,.also my first tramping job was in a Trransit pick up …much easier to counteract ■■■■ ups in one of those. 
Just go for it mate,.take all the gear with you for every eventuality,.take whatever type of sat nav you may or may not need…along with a failsafe back up, a Trucker’s bridge height map, but for Christ s sake don’t fall into the trap that many have,.and turn it into some endurance test type life of hell.,.a trampers life can be enjoyable or a total ball ache., but that is how YOU decide to make it.
Thanks guys.
Teech, I can’t be a typical male if I tried, because I’m a woman
My main intention is to save a house deposit. it’s so miserable renting in a complete ■■■■■■■■■ I actually prefer to be in a truck right now. I think with a good plan and motivation, and an end goal in mind, I won’t go totally mad. Plus I’m such a loner by nature and love being left to my own devices.
I doubt going tramping will fix your financial problems.
You’ll end up in a miserable situation and feel like your stuck on the hamster wheel chasing the money
Neetsneets:
I appreciate your advice on living a little, but my personal situation calls for it and I’d rather leave it at that. I totally agree on being a human, taking a shower, having a good meal etc - I still would take care of myself, I just need to earn more, get rid of some debts and start saving.I’m worried about finding my way around all the ports and countryside etc - I can imagine it can be daunting for a new driver, is there anything one can do to prepare while not actually being sent there at work? I have pretty much 10 destinations at work so I won’t really get challenged much, it’s annoying.
Living a little doesn’t mean spending a lot. I didn’t eat out “every” night and usually turned a profit on my night out (sustenance) money, but make sure you do it or something because you’ll end up literally just existing and that will take its toll.
Finding places doesn’t matter if you’re tramping or not the theory of it is the same. When I first started I was central London a lot of the time with an A to Z on the steering wheel, no Google maps, no satnav. Nowadays it’s much less of a hassle because there’s more tools available. I’ll admit I do have a truck satnav (Tom Tom) and by and large it’s been excellent but I often tell it the route I want to go and use it for traffic.
Best advice I can give is to plan ahead, search your destination on Google, look at street view, often you’ll pick up things from it and it may change the way you approach a delivery point (ie coming from another way may turn a reverse from a blind side into a good side etc).
On a broader scale I have a truckers atlas handy for the route overview, but on it I’ve also noted things like truckstops, places to park, fuel stations that are handy etc etc.
It’s all irrelevant now because I’m just a supermarket trunker now so only ever go to the same few places and never night out but the experience is still locked away.
Just please please please don’t turn it into a life of hell by locking yourself away.
Neetsneets:
Thanks guys.
Teech, I can’t be a typical male if I tried, because I’m a womanMy main intention is to save a house deposit. it’s so miserable renting in a complete [zb], I actually prefer to be in a truck right now. I think with a good plan and motivation, and an end goal in mind, I won’t go totally mad. Plus I’m such a loner by nature and love being left to my own devices.
Do you mean giving up rented accommodation and living full-time in a truck? There are a few on here who have done that successfully and I’d agree that you could save a fair chunk of money if you could do that for a couple of years. Or, depending where you are based, you could do what I do and live on a narrowboat, which I reckon costs me a total of around £250 a month averaged out over the year.
Harry Monk:
Do you mean giving up rented accommodation and living full-time in a truck? There are a few on here who have done that successfully and I’d agree that you could save a fair chunk of money if you could do that for a couple of years. Or, depending where you are based, you could do what I do and live on a narrowboat, which I reckon costs me a total of around £250 a month averaged out over the year.
I looked into narrow boats years ago, not quite my thing in the end, but I would want to give up my flat and instead rent a tiny room mostly for storage, or something like that. Or self storage and stay around my family sometimes,and Airbnb. Anything to not houseshare anymore as I detest it to bits.
I half appreciate people’s concern, and half hate that this discussion was lead towards the woes of tramping, rather than the practicalities/preparedness for it. Oh well.
Neetsneets:
I half appreciate people’s concern, and half hate that this discussion was lead towards the woes of tramping, rather than the practicalities/preparedness for it. Oh well.
If it was me in your position, knowing that you are already set on doing it, I’d probably just go for it now, there’s no real difference to driving on days.
The only useful observation I can give you and something to bear in mind is that sometimes you’ll have a bad day and all you want to do is go home and forget about it - when you’re on days that’ll be a few hours at most - if it happens on a Monday when tramping it can be a long and miserable week. But if you’re a confident driver on days now then it shouldn’t be an issue
Fwiw (and I know you didn’t ask), there’s absolutely nothing up with what you are planning, and tramping can be a fantastic way to save money if you are disciplined.
The general opinion on here is that you can’t count your night out money as wages and you are only cool if you are spending all your night out money in Wetherspoons every night but it’s ■■■■■■■■ and take no notice. Everybody’s circumstances are different and in your case that night out money is an extra £100 you could possibly save and there’s nothing wrong with that whatsoever. Personally if I could afford to eat out in the pub every night, I’d be at home doing it with my friends and family rather than doing it on my own while tramping and calling everyone else a hermit - but as I say everyone’s circumstances are different!
Best of luck with it anyway!
Neetsneets:
Thanks guys.
Teech, I can’t be a typical male if I tried, because I’m a womanMy main intention is to save a house deposit. it’s so miserable renting in a complete [zb], I actually prefer to be in a truck right now. I think with a good plan and motivation, and an end goal in mind, I won’t go totally mad. Plus I’m such a loner by nature and love being left to my own devices.
That’s why I placed “Typical Male” in inverted comma’s.
As you are probably aware - males don’t ask for directions because they are too stubborn or proud
Rather get lost than admit defeat. 
I kept myself sane by practising my guitar skills. Not that it did me any good!
As already said, give it a go nowt to lose everything to gain
I did a lot of day work before I went tramping, 1st one was on bulk tippers and that was a total max out endurance test. Screeching into a farm yard or outside a mill on 9.55 drive and 14.5hrs shift wasnt a lot of fun. Making sure I didnt reduce or do a 10 Monday so I had 15’s and 2 10’s for later in the week.
Job I’m on now is mostly down the M5 corridor into the south west and very rarely make 13hrs or a 9 drive. Only reason we tramp is because we have a very small delivery window to building sites. I have my little spots I like to use and have my plan for the next week given to me on friday afternoon so I can sit on maps for half hour or so over the weekend and pick my pub nights . We dont do any back loads, its an out and back contract for 1 customer. Pub meal a couple of times a week, even caught a bit of cricket at Taunton a few weeks back, hoping to get a night out when theres a T20 game on in the evening, good use of night out money there I think.
As been said get out of the cab and see a bit of where you are parked. Theres a couple of facebook groups that are handy for ■■■■■■■■■■■■ advice and speak to other drivers. Even if you arent much of a people person, just being out and about of an evening with a bit of atmosphere and the noise of other humans stops you going crazy in the cab.
That said, I’m still fast getting disillusioned with the whole thing, harder and harder to keep good places to park as the minority screw it up for the rest. Was parked in one of my spots the other week, nice quiet industrial estate, cctv everywhere and regular security patrols. Guy parks up, walks over to the chippy, comes back and pee’s up his wheel right under a camera. I get up in the morning and the seagulls were having a field day on his chippy left overs that he chucked out before he left. Wont be long before the signs go up saying no HGV parking there I’m sure. Leave nothing but tyre marks.
crunch13:
The general opinion on here is that you can’t count your night out money as wages and you are only cool if you are spending all your night out money in Wetherspoons every night but it’s [zb] and take no notice.
If I could afford to spend every night in the pub, I’d be at home spending it with friends and family.not doing it alone while tramping and calling everybody else a hermit.
You can count your n/o money to whatever you like, but if you count it as wages, it gives a false impression of what you are really on…but there is nothing to stop the o/p using them as savings you’re right.
Why should the o/p ‘‘take no notice’’ exactly? 
Maybe rather than being ‘‘■■■■’’ it’s a way of salvaging bit of enjoyment out of the job, and evidently a different way to how you do it.
It’s basically an alternative to making it a routine drudge of spending 11 hours in a ■■■■ lay by 4for 5 nights a week armed with a pot noodle …but I think everyone has explained that already, albeit unsuccessfully apparentlly. 
I personally don’t spend EVERY night in Spoons, nor any other pub chain, nor consider it ‘‘cool’’ to do so, it’s about personal choice,.and also about the previous point I made about the job, and how to make it actually enjoyable.
Btw like minded trampers quite often meet up to socialise together believe it or not, so not a case of spending time on your own…just saying.
^^^^^^
Maybe the o/p should ''Take notice ’ of this more?
Maybe our mate reckons this is the way forward in spending nights out seeing as the alternative is ‘‘■■■■’’ ?
This is a bloody good argument to do day work.
WARNING … Anybody seeing this for the first time may get the urge to ■■■■■ their wrists.
youtu.be/Sv5kHyQWGzY