tommymanc:
albion:
Salford, we pay 9.2? for van drivers.Stevenage is 12.2? for class 1.
Need any class 1s in salford? or anymore van drivers? thats a 70p increase for me currently driving class 2 at the airport
PLEASE RESPOND!!
Hi Tommy
Unfortunately not. We’ve found our comfortable turnover and size and the lads don’t tend to leave.
Good luck with getting something better.
edd1974:
I worked for a manufacturing company on a set weekly wage. Delivering there goods. Warehouse hours was 8 to 4 30. I used start around 4 or 5 do delivers back yard job done. Usually about 2. Was all good. Then got called into office we’ve had complaints you finishing early. Said yes but start early. Was told you have to stay to 4 30 . Help in the warehouse etc if need be .can’t go home. So I said that’s means I’m doing 3 hours or so a day extra making 12 13 hours a day instead of 10. Was.told it’s ok we’re giving you a pay rise to make up for it. £5 a week I just walked out .and I not8ced lot of jobs I applied to after leaving were set day rates .forget that I waited managed find one paid hourly
Edd, why didn’t you simply revert to 8am starts, put the ball back in their court for when the deliveries didn’t get covered.
KevofKent:
Harry Monk:
There is a shortage of drivers; and
Pay rates have not risen for years
are mutually logically incompatible statements. There is an oversupply of drivers, not a shortage.
Mmmmm I’ve yet to find any real documented evidence on any ‘oversupply’
Well, the fact that agencies (and proper employers) feel that they can realistically advertise a job driving a lorry at £8.50 an hour (or worse) is good enough for me. If they were not confident of filling that position for such a wage, they would have to offer more. That they do not should tell you all you need to know.
As to your original post, if you watch the antics of a good number of car drivers who have somehow gained HGV licences and a job driving one, you will see why pay is generally so low. Their lack of skill, forward planning and other more generally idiotic traits means that they don’t warrant much more than minimum wage.
KevofKent:
Its probably a long standing argument but aren’t we supposed to be ‘professional’ drivers in a ‘profession’?
It’s only a “profession” in the sense that people do it for money, a bit like being a professional footballer as opposed to an amateur footballer. It’s not a profession in the sense that being a doctor or an architect, both of which require years of training and a formal qualification, is a profession. Hauliers pay whatever they need to get bums on seats, why would they pay any more? £8.50 an hour is perfectly adequate in a trade where there is no shortage of people able and/or willing to do the job.
There’s an over-supply of drivers wanting to work early shifts, monday-friday.
There is a shortage of drivers wanting to work after 6pm on fridays, and finish shifts on monday morning.
Offer me a friday,saturday,sunday 3x15 hours for a 45 hour week 3 day week - and I’d bite yer hand off! 
(I’d have to be taking home over £600pw though, as I’ve given up my entire weekend!)