hammertothefloor:
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.
Just to add my TM/planner used to drive for me, wnet off to gt the owner driver thing out of his system and came back when my previous planner left. He does do the occasional day of driving to keep his hand in and get out of the office!
hammertothefloor:
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.
Just to add my TM/planner used to drive for me, wnet off to gt the owner driver thing out of his system and came back when my previous planner left. He does do the occasional day of driving to keep his hand in and get out of the office!
Hi Albion, I can safely say I have never even considered the owner driver thing as it as the reward just wouldn’t be worth the risk/hassle I think. I often refer to the Agro and Morgans subbies as the “charity workers” and I’ll certainly not be going down that avenue!
In an ideal world I’d like to do some weekend driving if I did try the office but I’ve heard on the grapevine that they’re starting to clamp down on people with full-time jobs during the week driving at weekends?
Hi Albion, I can safely say I have never even considered the owner driver thing as it as the reward just wouldn’t be worth the risk/hassle I think. I often refer to the Agro and Morgans subbies as the “charity workers” and I’ll certainly not be going down that avenue!
In an ideal world I’d like to do some weekend driving if I did try the office but I’ve heard on the grapevine that they’re starting to clamp down on people with full-time jobs during the week driving at weekends?
Couldn’t tell you, we are legal. He doesn’t drive for someone else or us at the weekend, he sorts everything out and runs out and does something fairly local, about twice a year he’ll do a foreign run. I actually think that is good, it keeps you up to date with how things are out on the road.
I think the OD thing was an itch that just had to be scratched . Now he gets the best of both worlds, I leave him alone to run the job so it’s like his own firm with little of the back office stuff.
Transport planning is like a continuous game of chess , played blindfold and somebody keeps moving the pieces. Bored me to tears in the end. With a good team of drivers its not hard.
2 years with 50 units,52 drivers,102 trailers from 5 depots was enough for me, and I don’t suppose it’s got better. Went back to doing Europe.
Despite having done most of the office roles myself inc fleet admin, transport clerk, shift manager and TM. There’s plenty of us here who have the Operator CPC, in my case the old National and International CPC’s. But most of us are wise enough to give the admin side of the office a wide berth to avoid the grief.
Had a break from driving and i ended up in the office planning for a couple of years and i found it was more akin to running a kindergarten than a transport company…
Pretty much as has been said already…did it for a year, went back on the road, much less hassle for roughly the same money…plus i aint gotta listen to the missus snoring every night (tramping has it’s benefits)
I’ve done it a few times, for big firms. Aside from the reasons that others have posted (and I agree with) the thing that killed it for me was the total lack of knowledge of or interest in the transport industry. All of them could have been selling shoes or landscape gardening, as long as they got out by 17:00 that’s all that mattered to them.
When the last decent-looking Office-Karen (there’s a phrase you don’t hear any more) jacked, I decided it was time to head for the tarmac again.
tonyj105:
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
I agree. Drivers won’t see the bigger picture, which is why half the time drivers think the planners are a bunch of idiots. At our place I’ve heard someone in the office say before it’s a drivers job to do as we tell them, the reasons why doesn’t matter. With that attitude your always going to create divides between office staff and drivers. If the planners actually said to drivers we want you to do this because of x y z, ie explaining the bigger picture…then drivers and planners would probably get on with each better.
. Now he gets the best of both worlds, I leave him alone to run the job so it’s like his own firm with little of the back office stuff.
