hi all, you have might off gone over this already but what annoys me about the haulage industry is the amount of companies who employ agency drivers and pay them more than the regular drivers. I work for a company getting paid x amount but an agency driver doing the same job gets paid more than me. why is this?
I know there is a shortage of drivers, for various reasons, but why pay agency drivers more than the regular drivers? surely if a company paid the regular drivers more money then agency driver would want to work for the company direct!
jo pants:
the amount of companies who employ agency drivers and pay them more than the regular drivers. I work for a company getting paid x amount but an agency driver doing the same job gets paid more than me. why is this?
I know there is a shortage of drivers, for various reasons, but why pay agency drivers more than the regular drivers? surely if a company paid the regular drivers more money then agency driver would want to work for the company direct!
For some companies it works out cheaper apparently, gives them more flexibility & some agencies pay for damage, win win for both parties.
IF drivers were not so insecure that they needed a lower-paid job with a full-time contract - then agency drivers would not be paid more. There would be no need to.
All the time a driver would give up hourly rate for hours security - they have no power to push up their own lot.
On the other hand, if you’re not bothered to be working one day to the next or not - then the power to withdraw one’s labour on a day-to-day basis on a whim - GIVES that driver the power to push up their wages.
Overall though, it’s the huge swings in work at a yard that make the employment of any kind of casual labour necessary.
You can blame the Japanese “Just in Time” business model for that. Japan has already spent more than two decades in stagflation disguised as deflation.
On the other side of the world - you can blame the USA “Too big to care” business model for so many firms not giving a ■■■■ about keeping on a permanent workforce - they’ll just block-book drivers instead.
There IS a third way here - but we’d have to leave the EU to get it done. Otherwise far-eastern and American concerns would refuse to allow it - via EU imposition upon us. 
its the age old argument,i have been agency and I am now full time,if any company I worked for as an agency paid their own drivers the same I would take up an offer of employment if asked,i never wanted to be agency, it was a means to an end[paying the bills]also bear in mind if an agency driver is on say £12 per hour then employers have to be paying at least £20 an hour for the agencies cut,i myself will never understand it,because employers are allways saying they cant afford to pay drivers more yet pay agencies £20+per hour
Basically because agency and ‘casual drivers’ have earn enough to cover their own holiday/sick pay/pension as well as the quiet times when shifts are few and far between. The reality that, due the alleged driver shortage, the quiet times haven’t happened for 3 years, in my experience, is irrelevant.
jo pants:
hi all, you have might off gone over this already but what annoys me about the haulage industry is the amount of companies who employ agency drivers and pay them more than the regular drivers. I work for a company getting paid x amount but an agency driver doing the same job gets paid more than me. why is this?
Because unlike you they won’t know what they’re doing from one week to another and in my case, from one day to another. Because they can be dropped without pay literally with an hours notice before the start of a shift. Most agency drivers will see around 9 months work out of a year
Having drivers with that level of flexibility which comes at cost to them demands a premium.
If you don’t like it then join them but be aware that you’ll not know what you’re earning from one week to the next and may spend several weeks after Xmas getting maybe 1 or 2 shifts a week if you’re lucky.
surely if a company paid the regular drivers more money then agency driver would want to work for the company direct!
Try thinking about it and the answer is obvious, the company can only do that if they’ve got enough work all year round. The reason they use agency is because the amount of work they have goes up and down. The place I’m at doubles the size of their fleet for their busiest trading period which lasts solely for the month of October. A haulier would go bust if they took on drivers fulltime all year round to meet short term levels of demand and if they only took them on for that and then let them go they’d find it hard to hire anyone as they’d get a reputation as a bad employer.
During quiet periods we sometimes don’t have enough work for our own drivers, then it goes crazy not enough drivers/units/trailers.
I don’t like agency’s personally but there area large number of drivers that like the arrangement, the average cost for a full timer on own account work is around £18 per hour, you don’t have to provide uniform, sick pay holiday pay or any benefits whatsoever a few phone calls and it’s sorted.
I find most of them have a better work ethic and don’t spend their lives ■■■■■■■ and moaning and hiding behind the rule book, also if one turns out to be a clown they don’t come back, full time clowns are difficult to be rid of.
Our drivers moan about agency, the ones who tend to make the most noise are usually lazy and incompetent, and then wonder why the place is teeming with agency!!!
Where I have been working on agency this last week, I have been on £2.45 hour more than their regular drivers. The only reason I know this, is because I applied for a job with this company earlier this year, but declined when they told me what the rate was… 
Like others say though, agency work is not guaranteed, so you can’t compare it to a 52 week year job.
Some agency drivers are self employed so get a higher rate for paying there own tax & NI etc or use an Umbrella company to sort tax out etc so end of day not a lot of difference
jo pants:
hi all, you have might off gone over this already but what annoys me about the haulage industry is the amount of companies who employ agency drivers and pay them more than the regular drivers. I work for a company getting paid x amount but an agency driver doing the same job gets paid more than me. why is this?
I know there is a shortage of drivers, for various reasons, but why pay agency drivers more than the regular drivers? surely if a company paid the regular drivers more money then agency driver would want to work for the company direct!
If it annoys you so much that the agency drivers are getting paid more than you, why haven’t you quit your full-time job and gone in as agency driver yourself? 
Think of all that extra money you’re missing out on!
Carl Usher:
If it annoys you so much that the agency drivers are getting paid more than you, why haven’t you quit your full-time job and gone in as agency driver yourself?
+1
Carl Usher:
If it annoys you so much that the agency drivers are getting paid more than you, why haven’t you quit your full-time job and gone in as agency driver yourself?
+1
[/quote]
Don’t forget all those"exciting opportunities" to work for “several blue chip clients” that being on the agency brings. Until January.
been on agency 5yrs now class myself as semi retired I work when I want take my holidays when I want some times the phone doesn’t ring and no work but I get a least 3 shifts a week it works for me .when I was a employed driver most of the other drivers hated agency lads why I didn’t get it when we where made redundant most if not all went on the agency ? so slag em off but join em when it suits your needs
truckman020:
its the age old argument,i have been agency and I am now full time,if any company I worked for as an agency paid their own drivers the same I would take up an offer of employment if asked,i never wanted to be agency, it was a means to an end[paying the bills]also bear in mind if an agency driver is on say £12 per hour then employers have to be paying at least £20 an hour for the agencies cut,i myself will never understand it,because employers are allways saying they cant afford to pay drivers more yet pay agencies £20+per hour
Where did you get that information regarding rates? I know the difference in rates between what the client pays and what I get paid is far less than £8 an hour. In fact, the agency makes a loss on Sundays by paying more than they get paid but she thinks we deserve a Sunday rate even if they don’t receive it from the client
hi i do the odd shift for asda ,day rate paye =£8 an hour i will not do it, only work weekend when the rate is £12 sat £16 Sunday ,i know the regular asda drivers are on more, is this the only place that pays less for agency ,drivers
Carl Usher:
jo pants:
hi all, you have might off gone over this already but what annoys me about the haulage industry is the amount of companies who employ agency drivers and pay them more than the regular drivers. I work for a company getting paid x amount but an agency driver doing the same job gets paid more than me. why is this?
I know there is a shortage of drivers, for various reasons, but why pay agency drivers more than the regular drivers? surely if a company paid the regular drivers more money then agency driver would want to work for the company direct!If it annoys you so much that the agency drivers are getting paid more than you, why haven’t you quit your full-time job and gone in as agency driver yourself?
Still awaiting an answer from Jo Pants.
scanny77:
In fact, the agency makes a loss on Sundays by paying more than they get paid but she thinks we deserve a Sunday rate even if they don’t receive it from the client
Whats the point in that, I thought businesses operate to make money, not lose it.
So she can get drivers in on Sundays. The shifts still need filling and one contract is agency only. Very few of the full timers are signed off on the deckers so they need us in. She makes up the losses during the week but she is adamant that we deserve extra on sundays
^^^^ where I work I know for a fact that once the agency drivers go onto overtime (10+ hours/Sat/Sun) then the drivers earn more than the agency charge, the agency accept this as it’s a “loss leader” in as much as it’s a nationwide contract that pays drivers less at other depots. Swings and roundabouts.
scanny77:
truckman020:
its the age old argument,i have been agency and I am now full time,if any company I worked for as an agency paid their own drivers the same I would take up an offer of employment if asked,i never wanted to be agency, it was a means to an end[paying the bills]also bear in mind if an agency driver is on say £12 per hour then employers have to be paying at least £20 an hour for the agencies cut,i myself will never understand it,because employers are allways saying they cant afford to pay drivers more yet pay agencies £20+per hourWhere did you get that information regarding rates? I know the difference in rates between what the client pays and what I get paid is far less than £8 an hour. In fact, the agency makes a loss on Sundays by paying more than they get paid but she thinks we deserve a Sunday rate even if they don’t receive it from the client
what happened is one day sat in an RDC some driver stated all agencies charge £20. the rumour gets passed about and that’s it.