Winseer:
When enough people cannot and will not do the job any more - wages rise.With Christmas coming, firms are already playing “leapfrog” with their offered rates - even if “only for Christmas”…
Get out there - and fill your boots.
I 100% agree but we still have the glory hunters who will drive top of the range lorries for low wages.A local haulier admitted this not long ago stating he buys higher range motors and employes young drivers at cheap rates because the older end wont do it
ramone:
Winseer:
When enough people cannot and will not do the job any more - wages rise.With Christmas coming, firms are already playing “leapfrog” with their offered rates - even if “only for Christmas”…
Get out there - and fill your boots.
I 100% agree but we still have the glory hunters who will drive top of the range lorries for low wages.A local haulier admitted this not long ago stating he buys higher range motors and employes young drivers at cheap rates because the older end wont do it
Am I missing something here.
Surely the savings in wages are offset by the higher cost of the wagons, the damage, increased wear & tear and just the general turn over of staff.
If it’s a choice between flashy top of the range motors & standard ‘specced to the job’ motors, surely it’s better to go with the latter and invest the money saved in quality & experience to drive them, look after them and impress your clients.
ramone:
Winseer:
When enough people cannot and will not do the job any more - wages rise.With Christmas coming, firms are already playing “leapfrog” with their offered rates - even if “only for Christmas”…
Get out there - and fill your boots.
I 100% agree but we still have the glory hunters who will drive top of the range lorries for low wages.A local haulier admitted this not long ago stating he buys higher range motors and employes young drivers at cheap rates because the older end wont do it
Blaming a handful of hauliers operating a few top range trucks to entice drivers on low wages for skewing wages is a red herring, when companies like DHL, XPO, Stobarts, Wincantons operate thousands of trucks and employ thousands of drivers, they’re the ones controlling wages.
Well my story on this topic is
45 yr old licence for 20 yrs no points accidents etc live in central London work freelance for the same few companies over the last few years , financially very good , single no children etc just me to look after
Decided over a month ago to take some time out ,I am lucky I can always go back to whom I free lance to
A change is better then a rest so they say so I applied on line to probably 30/40 jobs and submitted cv to all the agencies , a few companies replied , money was crap and def nothing of interest, 1 company very close to me was the only one that showed any interest and that to me seemed half decent to work for was a crowd that made kitchens, bar counters, wooden display units etc and had there own few trucks on the road for delivering the finished product.
I got tortured with phone calls emails and text messages from all the agencies with job offers if you didn’t know any difference would think its great but when you quiz them more on what s on offer and the rate , it turns out a lot different then they make it out to be as we all know, also the usual they advertise brilliant looking jobs but as always them jobs are gone , a ploy to get you to make contact to them when the job never existed anyhow , then they have your details and thinking you are stuck for work can offer you all the crap low paying stuff that no one want s to do
From the last few week s my opinion is
There is a shortage of driver s for multidrop, tipper, skips, and bin lorry driving ,
Reason been money is bad for what you have to do and then they except the impossible or put 2 days work into 1 day
No matter what way they word it , change figures , show bonus , allowances, salary , benefits etc it still not much more the £10 a hour when you break it down
With all the talk on driver shortages rates have still not risen just the agencies have adjusted figures to look as if it has, so basically here in London nothing has changed
in the last ten days all the calls etc from the agencies have stopped they probably banned me as I would work out the figures for them break it down to daily pay (Around 100 a day ex tax) explain to them the breakdown and the real prices of living in London and say do you think its possible to live a life in London on that pay
So for me the grass would not be greener on the other side , I intend to rest till January and go back to work then ,I know I am one of the very lucky few that can do that but for me I have made up for it in years gone by
tankertim:
Tesco at Dagenham are screaming out for drivers I imagine they must offer a good deal
They don’t, hence they’ve been screaming out for drivers since they opened 5 years ago. No turnover (except retirement) in donkeys years at Harlow. The reason? £50k pa for a 45 hour week, plus ot, pension, shares, discounts etc. And you had every seventh week off as per your shift rota. This job is the poster for driver retention past and present, and the reason it used to not be an issue, and now is
ramone:
Winseer:
When enough people cannot and will not do the job any more - wages rise.With Christmas coming, firms are already playing “leapfrog” with their offered rates - even if “only for Christmas”…
Get out there - and fill your boots.
I 100% agree but we still have the glory hunters who will drive top of the range lorries for low wages.A local haulier admitted this not long ago stating he buys higher range motors and employes young drivers at cheap rates because the older end wont do it
I’m doing the exact opposite now… Bottom-of-range trucks for top dollar. 
robroy:
No shortage of licence holders, but a shortage of ‘proper drivers’ nowadays more like.
Spot on.
ramone:
Winseer:
When enough people cannot and will not do the job any more - wages rise.With Christmas coming, firms are already playing “leapfrog” with their offered rates - even if “only for Christmas”…
Get out there - and fill your boots.
I 100% agree but we still have the glory hunters who will drive top of the range lorries for low wages.A local haulier admitted this not long ago stating he buys higher range motors and employes young drivers at cheap rates because the older end wont do it
I’ve always found it to be the other way round. Good trucks and good wages go together, crap trucks and crap wages go together.
muckles:
ramone:
Winseer:
Blaming a handful of hauliers operating a few top range trucks to entice drivers on low wages for skewing wages is a red herring, when companies like DHL, XPO, Stobarts, Wincantons operate thousands of trucks and employ thousands of drivers, they’re the ones controlling wages.
I agree, the few haulier running blinged V8’s and the like i doubt are paying significantly less and aren’t making much difference to the overall picture, arguably the owners of these lorries are enthusiasts in the trucking scene anyway, so would tend to attract similar minded lads, and nothing wrong with that if its their thing.
There isn’t really much in it in lorries these days anyway, they all have decent comfortable cabs, they all perform roughly the same, few need any skill to operate, it’s only the badge or how many extra layers in the cab height in many cases that appeals to some drivers, whether that be a make or engined hp/cyl designation, it’s all pretty well moot now and one high spec lorry isn’t going to do an average days work any quicker than a basic one.
Years ago one company might be operating donkeys years old 180 Gardners engined day cab bone shakers with no power steering, and another company operating Volvo F88 or Scania 110 sleeper cabs, i always chose the former because the wages were often 25/50% higher working for the former, but those days are gone and gone forever, the good payers now tend to operate mid range modern tackle.
If it comes to it where i work our kit it is, whilst not top range V8s, new decently specced and well maintained, and the supply and maintenance of equipment for our specialist work is second to none, our wages when worked out as an average hourly rate (the only way to compare jobs IMO) are well up the scale.
Our lot cherry pick from the applicants often working for the companies you mention, what does seem to be a common theme is that the drivers getting starts here are the ones who just got on with the job and ended up penalised for doing so, ie they’d inevitably end up doing the jobs the sick notes and game players would avoid, rare to find depot managers who realised they had top tier staff and even rarer those who looked after them so they didn’t bugger off, the penny seemingly only dropping when the notice went in 
One old mate of mine in exactly this position is about to jump ship onto my lot, one of the best drivers i’ve worked with, here he will be appreciated and respected, and he’ll cut his hours considerably (OK things go ■■■■ up now and again like anywhere, swings and roundabouts) and earn more money.
How stupid these big players are, they like all companies have a cross section of staff, yet they can’t help themselves loading up the reliable who uncomplainingly just go out and do the job day in day out without any issues, and insult them at the same time by issuing all this one size fits all lowest common denominator surveillance monitoring and box ticking ■■■■■■■■ because they also employ a large minority of half wits and can’t differentiate between the good and the bad.
Or maybe they’re more cynical, in that they know what they have but think there’s nowhere else for them to go.
Our trucks are definitely not blinged up, nor top spec and we run them for ten years ( we do surprisingly low mileage), but more than once a wheeltapper has said he’s seen trucks a year old less well maintained than ours.
I’m not sure there is any correlation between the spec of a truck and wages.
ramone:
Winseer:
When enough people cannot and will not do the job any more - wages rise.With Christmas coming, firms are already playing “leapfrog” with their offered rates - even if “only for Christmas”…
Get out there - and fill your boots.
I 100% agree but we still have the glory hunters who will drive top of the range lorries for low wages.A local haulier admitted this not long ago stating he buys higher range motors and employes young drivers at cheap rates because the older end wont do it
Again thinking that those with top specced motors have crap wages.
In my experience it’s those who run poverty spec heaps driven by steering wheel attendants who pay the peanuts and that those very “drivers” are so keen to tell everyone that anyone driving a V8 is on minimum wage.
These jealous weirdos are also easy to spot.
Wot? - Are they the ones stuck under bridges? 
Winseer:
ramone:
Winseer:
When enough people cannot and will not do the job any more - wages rise.With Christmas coming, firms are already playing “leapfrog” with their offered rates - even if “only for Christmas”…
Get out there - and fill your boots.
I 100% agree but we still have the glory hunters who will drive top of the range lorries for low wages.A local haulier admitted this not long ago stating he buys higher range motors and employes young drivers at cheap rates because the older end wont do it
I’m doing the exact opposite now… Bottom-of-range trucks for top dollar.
That’s what i want but nothing up here
I don’t think wages depend on the vehicle either and it’s unfair to blame the young, for every cab happy teenager I will match them with someone in their twilight years. There isn’t a bad lorry on the road now and it’s 25 years since that changed.
Big companies have caused the problems we see in transport today. I see no difference between Wincanton and Waberers, XPO and EXEL or DHL and DSV
Wheel Nut:
I don’t think wages depend on the vehicle either and it’s unfair to blame the young, for every cab happy teenager I will match them with someone in their twilight years. There isn’t a bad lorry on the road now and it’s 25 years since that changed.Big companies have caused the problems we see in transport today. I see no difference between Wincanton and Waberers, XPO and EXEL or DHL and DSV
I never said that the driver shortage was caused by young cab happy drivers i said it was caused by crap wages what i did say is that a local haulier is using younger drivers and buying specced up lorries because they will work for less this is nothing new its been going on for years certainly the 30 odd years ive been doing the job
I totally agree that the big companies are causing the problem .
ramone:
Wheel Nut:
I don’t think wages depend on the vehicle either and it’s unfair to blame the young, for every cab happy teenager I will match them with someone in their twilight years. There isn’t a bad lorry on the road now and it’s 25 years since that changed.Big companies have caused the problems we see in transport today. I see no difference between Wincanton and Waberers, XPO and EXEL or DHL and DSV
I never said that the driver shortage was caused by young cab happy drivers i said it was caused by crap wages what i did say is that a local haulier is using younger drivers and buying specced up lorries because they will work for less this is nothing new its been going on for years certainly the 30 odd years ive been doing the job
I totally agree that the big companies are causing the problem .
^^^ Wheel Nut’s right you know.
To be fair Ramone, if they are an enthusiastic trucker i can well understand them working for a small haulier paying £10 an hour, and getting to drive a decent motor for a chap who has a bit of the same enthusiasm still there, knows them by name, calls em a pillock when they’ve dropped a bollock and says thankyou when the job is done, doesn’t expect em to fill in a bloody debrief FFS, and wouldn’t dream of fitting a bloody in cab camera.
I’d rather that too, than working for the big four on the same money, having to drive a filthy and battered 6 month old but looks 5 year old shed that some smelly arse smoker’s just got out of leaving his sweet wrappers mcd’s bags and tizer bottles strewn about, having to deal with the most miserable obnoxious little bleeders ever born behind the window, and umpteen pointy shoed arse wipe self important managers who wouldn’t have a bloody clue who you were, where you have a number not a name.
Juddian:
ramone:
Wheel Nut:
I don’t think wages depend on the vehicle either and it’s unfair to blame the young, for every cab happy teenager I will match them with someone in their twilight years. There isn’t a bad lorry on the road now and it’s 25 years since that changed.Big companies have caused the problems we see in transport today. I see no difference between Wincanton and Waberers, XPO and EXEL or DHL and DSV
I never said that the driver shortage was caused by young cab happy drivers i said it was caused by crap wages what i did say is that a local haulier is using younger drivers and buying specced up lorries because they will work for less this is nothing new its been going on for years certainly the 30 odd years ive been doing the job
I totally agree that the big companies are causing the problem .^^^ Wheel Nut’s right you know.
To be fair Ramone, if they are an enthusiastic trucker i can well understand them working for a small haulier paying £10 an hour, and getting to drive a decent motor for a chap who has a bit of the same enthusiasm still there, knows them by name, calls em a pillock when they’ve dropped a bollock and says thankyou when the job is done, doesn’t expect em to fill in a bloody debrief
I’d rather that too, than working for the big four on the same money, having to drive a filthy and battered 6 month old but looks 5 year old shed that some smelly arse smoker’s just got out of leaving his sweet wrappers mcd’s bags and tizer bottles strewn about, having to deal with the most miserable obnoxious little bleeders ever born behind the window, and umpteen pointy shoed arse wipe self important managers who wouldn’t have a bloody clue who you were, where you have a number not a name.
I cant disagree with that and probably thats the reason theres a shortage
Juddian:
ramone:
Wheel Nut:
I don’t think wages depend on the vehicle either and it’s unfair to blame the young, for every cab happy teenager I will match them with someone in their twilight years. There isn’t a bad lorry on the road now and it’s 25 years since that changed.Big companies have caused the problems we see in transport today. I see no difference between Wincanton and Waberers, XPO and EXEL or DHL and DSV
I never said that the driver shortage was caused by young cab happy drivers i said it was caused by crap wages what i did say is that a local haulier is using younger drivers and buying specced up lorries because they will work for less this is nothing new its been going on for years certainly the 30 odd years ive been doing the job
I totally agree that the big companies are causing the problem .^^^ Wheel Nut’s right you know.
To be fair Ramone, if they are an enthusiastic trucker i can well understand them working for a small haulier paying £10 an hour, and getting to drive a decent motor for a chap who has a bit of the same enthusiasm still there, knows them by name, calls em a pillock when they’ve dropped a bollock and says thankyou when the job is done, doesn’t expect em to fill in a bloody debrief
I’d rather that too, than working for the big four on the same money, having to drive a filthy and battered 6 month old but looks 5 year old shed that some smelly arse smoker’s just got out of leaving his sweet wrappers mcd’s bags and tizer bottles strewn about, having to deal with the most miserable obnoxious little bleeders ever born behind the window, and umpteen pointy shoed arse wipe self important managers who wouldn’t have a bloody clue who you were, where you have a number not a name.
You’re lucky it’s “Tizer”… Actually, are you sure it’s Tizer? 