Big Truck:
BTD,
Paid for filling with Diesel in the mileage rate 
I think if I made that statement on a Trucknet USA forum I would be called insane 
NMM,
you say you average 15000miles/monthX 0.40cpm=$6000/monthX12 months=$72000 plus say $8000(approx $25/day which I would say is VERY conservative) for all those layovers/border crossings/drop/pick-up pay.
Do you gross $80’000+/year 
Okay, let’s talk figures then,
I don’t get border crossings, I get $10ph waiting time after the first 2hrs at deliveries/collections, although that don’t add up to much as I rarely get held up, I do get extra for each pick up/drop, but all in all that gets me $200 at best on a normal month, it’s normally straight out & straight back.
I’ll let you know what the year adds up to when I get my tax rebate next year, that’s night out money in essence, we have to wait a year for it, but it’s around $5-8k depending on how many nights you’re away, take that into account & yes, I do gross $80k which at current exchange rates is 47600GBP (no pound sign on my computer) now how many british drivers are grossing 47 grand?
Apart from the money, as we all say, our standard of living & quality of life is far better, I couldn’t live the stress free life I live now however much money I could earn in the UK, happiness isn’t all about money as Wire so eloquently puts it, but $80k a year puts a pretty decent sized smile on my face all the same 
have too agree with mark on this one too, most of you know i / we have been here over 5 yrs now, i don’t earn nothing like mark, in fact i earn 50 to 55k, but but but i am home every night, a house an 5 acres paid for, two trucks paid for, all my tools at work and at home paid for including 3 ride on mowers, plus a gmc 6.5 l chipped duramax 3/4 ton pick up company vehicle, plus too many perks to list but the latest is a free holiday to see in the new year in the bahamas with the boss and friends., then there is the standard of life, my 11 son can bike into town and we have no fears like we would in uk, his school does not have fences and gates like it would in the uk, my wife can go shopping in town and not worry about locking the truck like she would in the uk, we can leave the house unlocked when we go out, not have three locks like we did in the uk, not have too worry about druggies on every corner or needles in the park like we did in the uk. i could go on and on but basicially living and working in the uk… stuff that! and as for anyone trying to put any of us down who have made the move… get a life and keep out of ours. we like what we do and like doing it.
steve
ps good luck to the guy who started this thread in the new job, mind the dot at airdree, i went straight passed them once and they were not happy!
Got to thinking a bit more about the not getting paid for filling up comments from BT, it seems as though that very phrase is one I should remember if I ever go down the road of running my own trucks again.
I think it seperates a driver from a licence holder, to my mind being a professional driver is much more than driving the truck, it’s about giving your best & getting the stuff delivered no matter what you encounter along the way, I don’t worry about getting paid for filling my tanks, however somebody that does worry about it is also likely to use the phrase ‘it’s not my job…’ I don’t want somebody like that driving for me, I’ve seen this behaviour many times, the driver that VORs a truck/trailer because of a blown bulb & makes the process last 45mins & then refuses to go on the run as he will now be over his hours, instead of changing the bulb, or even getting a fitter to do it if you’re not mechanically minded, although you have to be a borderline ■■■■■■ if you can’t change a lightbulb!
Of course I could adopt the ‘it’s not my job attitude’ & make those slavedriving bosses pay me for those 15mins, either way it would hurt my bank balance, they’d either treat me like the child I act & give me less work or refuse & then I wouldn’t get very far at all without fuel, guess I’ll have to stick with being exploited 
STEVE OWEN:
have too agree with mark on this one too, most of you know i / we have been here over 5 yrs now, i don’t earn nothing like mark, in fact i earn 50 to 55k, but but but i am home every night, a house an 5 acres paid for, two trucks paid for, all my tools at work and at home paid for including 3 ride on mowers, plus a gmc 6.5 l chipped duramax 3/4 ton pick up company vehicle, plus too many perks to list but the latest is a free holiday to see in the new year in the bahamas with the boss and friends., then there is the standard of life, my 11 son can bike into town and we have no fears like we would in uk, his school does not have fences and gates like it would in the uk, my wife can go shopping in town and not worry about locking the truck like she would in the uk, we can leave the house unlocked when we go out, not have three locks like we did in the uk, not have too worry about druggies on every corner or needles in the park like we did in the uk. i could go on and on but basicially living and working in the uk… stuff that! and as for anyone trying to put any of us down who have made the move… get a life and keep out of ours. we like what we do and like doing it.
steve
ps good luck to the guy who started this thread in the new job, mind the dot at airdree, i went straight passed them once and they were not happy!
Houses and land, ride on mowers and other tools, trucks paid for, free holidays to wherever - with the boss and friends etc, etc, etc, blah, blah, blah blah blah blah blah.
Honestly mate - very happy for you (and I can assure you that I for one, am not in slightest bit envious)…but good god this thread is getting BORING! You sound like a materialistic yuppie from 80’s Thatcherite Britain.
wire:
Big truck, for heavens sake. Long haul trucking over here is a way of life. If you are a diesel in the blood long haul trucker i would say that here is the ultimate place to be one. However YOU are NOT a long haul trucker and you do not have any aspirations or pretences to be one so why in the hell would you expect to find the lifestyle appealing? By your own admission you would not like to haul long distance or be away from your family so it not surprising in the least that you think what we do is an undesirable lifestyle choice. I fully respect your point of view and find it to be a commendable enough philosophy but wonder why you feel the need to constantly berate the way of life that we have chosen for ourselves.
Is it perhaps because you fancy the idea of living over here and are frustrated by the fact that you cannot qualify without pretending that you are a longhaul trucker? If this is the truth of the matter i would seriously advise you not to bother as quite a few Brits have already tried to go down that route and it nearly always ends in heartbreak for them and their families. (And they nearly always blame it on Canada).
Now this what you call a sensible post - briefly describing the pros and cons of long haul driving in Canada.
Andy,
I disagree with the boring remark, on the contrary, we have some good debate here, two very different perspectives & that’s what this trucknet thing is about surely?
As for Steve being materialistic, well aren’t we all? We measure our success by possesions & bank balances, after all if we weren’t materialistic why would be working in the first place? Yes, we have to work to pay the bills & eat/clothe ourselves etc, but we could easily manage that on a lot less than we earn now, we wouldn’t have any luxuries though, I assume that you have the nicest house/car/clothes/food/holidays etc etc etc that you can afford? If so, then welcome to the Thatcherite Yuppie club
However I do think you miss the point, as well as Steve pointing out his luxuries (which would be difficult to achieve in the UK, but that’s another point) he mentions that he doesn’t worry about his son/wife/home coming to harm, the lack of gangs/druggies etc, what price do you put on that?
One thing I do agree on is your view of Wire’s post, however I won’t mention it again, he already shows off about his APU, 600hp & resets in LA & Las Vegas, once he gets the reputation of being the voice of reason on the expat forum he will become unbearable
wire:
Today i ran down a section of the historic route 66 through New Mexico and i am about to run through the White sands nat park and Tularosa valley famous from the opening scene from the movie convoy. I will stop at a truckstop at Lordsburg on the interstate 10 tonight.
These things all thrill me about my job and that is one of the reasons i love it.
I have read about the guys who pioneered the middle east and Europe back before it al went pear shaped for the british trucking industry. Unfortunataly this was mostly before my time but i wonder if the lads doing it at the time where constantly sniped at by people for “not having a very good quality of life” and always questioned about wether they got enough an hour.
At the end of the day we will all have to eventually retire and drive nowhere. I will be an old has been but i tell you one thing. I will have some bloody good memories to entertain myself with (and bore other people).
Hi All I’ve been reading this thread with some amusement, I had to come back to this post( unfortunately I had to re-quote it all as I can’t highlight) The answer to Wires question about whether drivers on M/E got the same stick is YES, frequently. Some people are incapable of realising that everyone is not the same,or that ‘they’ are not always right. There has always been people who want to do a little as possible for 8 hours and be home in front of the telly every night, there are others who have the wanderlust and cannot sit in front of the telly.We need the first to do the boring jobs and the second to go out and discover things. There were many people who could not understand how I could leave my family for weeks at a time and go somewhere where there was no Health Service if I was taken ill or where life was a bit riskier or there was no-one to pass the buck to when things went wrong.
I once got a severe boll*****g from a steel worker in Sheffield who on discovering I was an O/D asked me who quaranteed my wages, when I told him no-one,he told me I was disrespectful to my familly. I could not get him to understand that I had taken that responsibiliy, not passed it on to someone else.
I am now (semi-retired)agency driving a few days aweek - 6/7 hours a day and home every night- not allowed to think -and not doing anything different- I could not have spent my working life like this.I am not saying either group is right-just different, so please calm down and stop slagging the other off.
Gavin
Horses for courses Gavin, I prefer to roam around a bit, even doing what I’m doing now I don’t like to go to the same place more than twice in a row, some people like the regularity of a shunt or the knowledge that they’ll be home by a certain time, it’s not for me, but I respect the people that choose to do that, for whatever reason they have made that choice, some may do it to be at home, they like their home comforts & find the idea of sleeping in a cab abhorent, some because they feel uncomfortable going away, some because they have an interest such as a pool/darts/football/cricket team or perhaps studying at night, whatever, it’s their choice, just as the life of a long haul trucker is our choice, we’ve had this questioned & I believe we’ve all given our explanations without resorting to abusing any of the doubters, to be honest I wouldn’t bother giving these people the time of day, they’re just on a wind up, but there are people who look at these pages with an idea of following in our footsteps & it’s for those people that I put my thoughts here, I did the same myself, Bob the Dog & Steve Owen were very helpful & we struck up a friendship that continues to this day.
There’s no point trying to convince people who think it’s wrong, much like your steelworker & I’m not a recruiter or an agent for Canadian Immigration so I have nothing to gain by persuading anybody that it’s better here than back home, I believe it is & people of a similar mind may find the info useful
newmercman:
Got to thinking a bit more about the not getting paid for filling up comments from BT, it seems as though that very phrase is one I should remember if I ever go down the road of running my own trucks again.
I think it seperates a driver from a licence holder, to my mind being a professional driver is much more than driving the truck, it’s about giving your best & getting the stuff delivered no matter what you encounter along the way, I don’t worry about getting paid for filling my tanks, however somebody that does worry about it is also likely to use the phrase ‘it’s not my job…’ I don’t want somebody like that driving for me, I’ve seen this behaviour many times, the driver that VORs a truck/trailer because of a blown bulb & makes the process last 45mins & then refuses to go on the run as he will now be over his hours, instead of changing the bulb, or even getting a fitter to do it if you’re not mechanically minded, although you have to be a borderline ■■■■■■ if you can’t change a lightbulb!
Of course I could adopt the ‘it’s not my job attitude’ & make those slavedriving bosses pay me for those 15mins, either way it would hurt my bank balance, they’d either treat me like the child I act & give me less work or refuse & then I wouldn’t get very far at all without fuel, guess I’ll have to stick with being exploited
you hit the nail right on the head
newmercman:
Big Truck:
BTD,
Paid for filling with Diesel in the mileage rate
I think if I made that statement on a Trucknet USA forum I would be called insane
NMM,
you say you average 15000miles/monthX 0.40cpm=$6000/monthX12 months=$72000 plus say $8000(approx $25/day which I would say is VERY conservative) for all those layovers/border crossings/drop/pick-up pay.
Do you gross $80’000+/year
Okay, let’s talk figures then,
I don’t get border crossings, I get $10ph waiting time after the first 2hrs at deliveries/collections, although that don’t add up to much as I rarely get held up, I do get extra for each pick up/drop, but all in all that gets me $200 at best on a normal month, it’s normally straight out & straight back.
I’ll let you know what the year adds up to when I get my tax rebate next year, that’s night out money in essence, we have to wait a year for it, but it’s around $5-8k depending on how many nights you’re away, take that into account & yes, I do gross $80k which at current exchange rates is 47600GBP (no pound sign on my computer) now how many british drivers are grossing 47 grand?
Apart from the money, as we all say, our standard of living & quality of life is far better, I couldn’t live the stress free life I live now however much money I could earn in the UK, happiness isn’t all about money as Wire so eloquently puts it, but $80k a year puts a pretty decent sized smile on my face all the same
Now now,
this will NOT do as I and others used to get ALOT of stick for changing OTR $ wages into GBP when the exchange rate was $2cdn to the GBP.
As I got told "why change it to GBP when we are paid in $'s "
Also to earn that $80k how many days during the whole year are you away living in the truck
bigtruck surely you have got enough info gathered up by now to decide if you are going to make the move or not. you already did america and post /read numerous forums,so apart from dung stirring or just amusing yourself what else do you really need to know? anybody new to thinking about moving countries only need to google. 
BT, to satisfy your curiosity I average 5 nights in the truck each working week, about the same as I would back in the UK on the boxes or doing Europe, which would be what I would do, I don’t like local work, being from London I have to sit in traffic all day & I would rather stick pins in my eyes.
Also, as you rightly say, no point comparing money, because I would probably need to earn more than 80k in the UK to enjoy the same lifestyle that I have here, what with the ridiculous cost of living over there 
Don’t worry about getting up peoples noses with your questions, as everytime I reply I find another reason that reinforces MY decision to quit the UK for a better life & at this rate we’ll soon overtake bubbleman’s scrapbook memories & the long departed Southampton hauliers for the honour of the biggest thread on TNUK:lol:
NMM,
I can see it now and it has happened many times before:
Some naive UK trucker who tramps up and down the M6 all week and takes home 450/500GBP/week reads your post about “easily” earning 47kGBP driving your Pete 379+reefer all over NA and only being away 5 nights week to gross $80k.
Rose tinted glasses are hastily ordered and:
He sells the shirt off his back and jumps on the first plane along with wife and two kids with 20kGBP in his back pocket to work for any “meat in the Seat” long haul Canadian trucking company who regularly looks for drivers in the UK trucking mags.
What are the odds for this guys life being in ruins in approx 6/12 months (not everyone has the same work eithic as you/Wire/BTD/Davelol66 and a few others.
I still can’t work out how if its so easy driving OTR and being away for “only” 5 nights/week to earn $80k why Canada needs drivers from Europe in the first place
Ok BT,
This one’s easy, the companies that advertise in the UK are likely to cause the very scenario you say, my company & those of Wire/BTD & Dave do not recruit from abroad, in fact I had to wait 3 months for a start at mine & there are only 2 other Brits there, one is a relative of mine & the other is an owner operator. I would say that we have what are among the best jobs in the area, we’re all experienced drivers who had good jobs back at home too, we worked our way up to those jobs both at home & over here, that’s the way of the world, you can’t expect to walk in to a good job until you’ve proven yourself, we all did that & now we’re reaping the rewards.
As I have said before, in my opinion, there are 2 reasons people recruit from overseas, 1, they are big companies with lots of trucks & have used up the local workforce or 2, they are crap & the locals won’t touch them. I’ll leave it to your imagination as to where BFS belong in that list, but I’ll give you a clue, it begins with C and ends in RAP Even then I’d still recommened them as a stepping stone, get over here with them, get some experience & get the F… out of there & get a proper job.
My thoughts are that anyone who sells up & moves to another country without thoroughly researching it & spending some time there before even thinking about leaving the UK is mad & probably deserves to fail.
BTW my job isn’t easy you cheeky git
newmercman:
Ok BT,
This one’s easy, the companies that advertise in the UK are likely to cause the very scenario you say, my company & those of Wire/BTD & Dave do not recruit from abroad, in fact I had to wait 3 months for a start at mine & there are only 2 other Brits there, one is a relative of mine & the other is an owner operator. I would say that we have what are among the best jobs in the area, we’re all experienced drivers who had good jobs back at home too, we worked our way up to those jobs both at home & over here, that’s the way of the world, you can’t expect to walk in to a good job until you’ve proven yourself, we all did that & now we’re reaping the rewards.
As I have said before, in my opinion, there are 2 reasons people recruit from overseas, 1, they are big companies with lots of trucks & have used up the local workforce or 2, they are crap & the locals won’t touch them. I’ll leave it to your imagination as to where BFS belong in that list, but I’ll give you a clue, it begins with C and ends in RAP Even then I’d still recommened them as a stepping stone, get over here with them, get some experience & get the F… out of there & get a proper job.
My thoughts are that anyone who sells up & moves to another country without thoroughly researching it & spending some time there before even thinking about leaving the UK is mad & probably deserves to fail.
BTW my job isn’t easy you cheeky git
Agree 110%,
BTW,
at this time I earn quite a bit less than 47kGBP (4on/4off) but my family and I live a VERY comfortable and safe life here in Co.Down NI,after Feb 2011 things could change.
Bit different if we lived in SE England though 
I agree BT,
See we got there in the end
Update about BigJon: he has started with his new company and is getting on well. The pay is more than he thought it was but I can’t elaborate further. Due to the sensitive cargo he is moving he is reluctant to comment much in public about the job, and he has signed confidentiality agreements in any case. It would be a shame to get the elbow for blabbing on here about what he does at work, when it took him so long to find a decent job. Suffice to say he is very pleased with the work, the pay and the benefit package.
He also says he is a bit fed up of other people arguing and back biting on the xpat drivers’ forums/fora <sp?> so he can’t see the point of posting just to be sniped at.
BJD
