Theres just a a few points I would like to introduce here. It is a fact that if you look at some lorry driving jobs, and boil it down to what you get an hour, it can look poor in comparison to some other jobs, and also, it can look good too. I mean, there is little physical graft on the road today, and what there is can easily be avoided if a person is so minded, as I said to someone in a container queue the other day, never mind, we could be digging holes in the rain! So, theres an advantage for starters, and I know that some folk in factories work ■■■■ hard and get even less than we do!
I have had a couple of jobs over the years that have been 50% driving and 50% labour. And Im here to tell you that they didnt pay any better money than sat on me backside watching the scenery go by, and also I was one of the highest paid in the factory! In fact, I was sworn to secrecy as to my wage as the ordinary workers didnt get anywhere near my pay, and they had to do the labour all the time between them dreaded buzzers! I didnt last long in either and though they were 40 hour jobs, I hated them jobs and that lifestyle, so I got out, back slinging a wheel 100% of the time.
If a person is solely after good pay, and nothing else comes into it, id probably agree that lorry driving might not be the best move, but, if there are other things in the scenario, I still say its the best!
I like driving trucks, I like them better than cars in fact! And so its great that I get actually paid to drive them! I like to get about, and be able to eat drink and go to the karzi when I want, I hear no buzzers telling me what to do! I like to sleep a while during the day some days. I have a bed behind me, its great! I like to listen to music, or the radio, I have it all there to use as loud or quiet as I want. I like to see all of the things a person can only see when they are all over the place every day! I like to go in cafe’s and chew the fat with a stranger. I like to see the docks and ships and massive machinery that id never have seen otherwise. I like to sometimes just listen to the diesel rumbling away. I like to see all the other trucks. The dawn and the dusk and all types of weather from my cab. If I want to chat I can, or be silent all day. Daydreaming or concentrate its up to me. Im independant and relatively free. These are just a few of the things tha keep me in the game. And also, I have lived ok on the dosh for 23 and a bit years, have my own home, raised 3 kids and had a life!
My 14 yr old son wants to drive lorries, he can and Im not going to stand in his way, in fact, I’ll encourage it. Its an important job, and has a variety that nothing I know of can match, and Ive done OK for nearly a quarter of a century out of it. There have been bad times and good, laughter a plenty and few tears, someone said to me when I was green, it aint a job, its a lifestyle, he had a point.
As I say, if money is all someone is interested in, I would maybe advise they might look elsewhere, if theyre lucky they’ll get well paid in driving, but likely not so well as some. BUT, if they like independance, a challenge, and all of the things I love about the job, id say go for it, theres nowt like it at the end of the day!
As long as the bailiffs aint at the door, and nobody is dying of starvation, maybe happiness in ones work is something worthwhile? But, ok if money is the sole goal, then go for that instead. We all have to know what we are, and what makes us tick. Square pegs never fit into round holes regardless of what inducement there may be on offer one will be unhappy if they really dont like what they are doing regardless how good the wage, there are jobs that exist that they could never pay me enough money to do!
Mal.
I rest my case… 
