If you stay at a job because the manager blings a truck up instead of giving you a pay rise then you’re a bit of a ■■■■■ really.
£5k in Kelsa’s pocket or £1k per year in your pay for the next 5 years. Surely you’d have to be retarded to pick the former 
Terry T:
If you stay at a job because the manager blings a truck up instead of giving you a pay rise then you’re a bit of a ■■■■■ really.£5k in Kelsa’s pocket or £1k per year in your pay for the next 5 years. Surely you’d have to be retarded to pick the former
Spot on!
Carryfast:
kr79:
Was just more an observation of we need to attract new blood in to this industry but surely better wages or conditions must be better than light bars or a set of air horns.I made the point in my previous post that there seems to be some weird stereotyping going on in which ‘customising’ can only mean all the pointless cosmetic junk and that wages are everything.When we’ve all got our own personal ideas regards the perfect truck and it’s not all about the money it’s also the type of work.
It is true it’s about the whole package. My mate keeps offering to get me started on tankers where his.
It’s quite a but more wages than what I get but it’s four on four off permanent nights or day shift of 15 on 9 off 13 on 11 off 15 on 9 off 13 on then rest day.
I have a young family and quality time in the evening and weekend is more important to me so my regular hour job is worth more than a few quid extra
Personally I’m not into customised trucks. However I do like to drive nice kit.
I spend a hell of a lot of time in the truck and would work for less money for a better truck.
I’m lucky that the firm i work for pays well and have a fleet of personal issue Volvo FH4s. I wouldn’t want to work for a firm that paid the same and had a fleet of 05 plate Renaults. Just my own opinion but driving an old rough truck makes the day a whole lot more stressful.
kr79:
My mate keeps offering to get me started on tankers where his.
It’s quite a but more wages than what I get but it’s four on four off permanent nights or day shift of 15 on 9 off 13 on 11 off 15 on 9 off 13 on then rest day.
Assuming that’s hourly paid that sounds like my kind of job. Where is that ? 
Have we come to the conclusion yet that it’s each to their own?
I wouldn’t drive a blinged up truck instead of more money, and would have thought that those that would are a minority.
If tank and wheel polishers want to do that or spend their own money, then let them crack on, it’s not hurting anyone…
There is an assumption on here by some that wages are king. Not everybody who drives trucks is desperate for every pound coin.
I know this, because I am fortunate to be one of them.
ajt:
Crikey it’s just one hauler who made a comment to a truck customiser not a new industry wide incentive.It might even sink in one day to some of you that wages are low because job rates are nibbled to the bone …
Here, here. Nearly all hauliers ■■■■ in the same pot and get together and chew the fat and work out that if they offer a ■■■■ rate just so they can get a contract for say 3 year to keep them ticking over then they can pay the drivers ■■■■ money.
switchlogic:
kr79:
I think it’s something that has crept in over the last 10-15 years.
Before that if you got a globetrotter or a space cab it was a top spec motor where a fleet lorry would be a flat roof or a fl10.
Then they started offering the big cab as the driver shortage of early 2000s kicked in but to keep costs down didn’t fit all the goodies.
As switch says though how much extra on the payments would a built in fridge and microwave really cost extra.
At least for trampers they are little touches that make life in the cab a bit easier.
Things like this would be much more use than a Kelsa bar for many drivers.That’s actually a very good point indeed. Many more big fleets are using big cab units these days. This will annoy some but if I was looking for a tramping job a fitted fridge would be high up on my list of must haves. I like to eat well and those coolboxes are never as good as a fitted one. In my current lorry it even has a freezer, it’s fantastic to be able carry frozen yoghurt and fruit juice lollies in the summer. All Virginia trucks have fridges and all Bull lorries that he’s bought new have too, it really is the least an employer can do for trampers
The fridge in the Volvo is somthing else with the freezer compartment ain’t it Luke. Can keep homemade currys, casseroles, chilli etc frozen all week so hardly have to spend much eating out if you don’t want to.
kr79:
Carryfast:
kr79:
Was just more an observation of we need to attract new blood in to this industry but surely better wages or conditions must be better than light bars or a set of air horns.I made the point in my previous post that there seems to be some weird stereotyping going on in which ‘customising’ can only mean all the pointless cosmetic junk and that wages are everything.When we’ve all got our own personal ideas regards the perfect truck and it’s not all about the money it’s also the type of work.
It is true it’s about the whole package. My mate keeps offering to get me started on tankers where his.
It’s quite a but more wages than what I get but it’s four on four off permanent nights or day shift of 15 on 9 off 13 on 11 off 15 on 9 off 13 on then rest day.
I have a young family and quality time in the evening and weekend is more important to me so my regular hour job is worth more than a few quid extra
56 hour 4 day week.
I wouldn’t go near a job with those hours regardless of the pay.Then there’s the issue of not being able to get the best advantage of 4 on 4 off doing permanent nights because trying to swap your body clock from night to day over short periods just doesn’t work.IE on nights your weekends really need to stay nights unless you want to be a zombie when you start the next week’s work.Although make that a 50 hour 4 day week of 3 x 12 and a 14 on days that would be a great job at least in terms of hours.
While for me driving an old US or Oz import with the right motor under it,on uk distance/international full load out and back,no tramping,with long weekends or breaks between runs,would have been perfect.Which realistically was only going to happen as an owner driver not an employed one. 
SteveBarnsleytrucker:
switchlogic:
kr79:
I think it’s something that has crept in over the last 10-15 years.
Before that if you got a globetrotter or a space cab it was a top spec motor where a fleet lorry would be a flat roof or a fl10.
Then they started offering the big cab as the driver shortage of early 2000s kicked in but to keep costs down didn’t fit all the goodies.
As switch says though how much extra on the payments would a built in fridge and microwave really cost extra.
At least for trampers they are little touches that make life in the cab a bit easier.
Things like this would be much more use than a Kelsa bar for many drivers.That’s actually a very good point indeed. Many more big fleets are using big cab units these days. This will annoy some but if I was looking for a tramping job a fitted fridge would be high up on my list of must haves. I like to eat well and those coolboxes are never as good as a fitted one. In my current lorry it even has a freezer, it’s fantastic to be able carry frozen yoghurt and fruit juice lollies in the summer. All Virginia trucks have fridges and all Bull lorries that he’s bought new have too, it really is the least an employer can do for trampers
The fridge in the Volvo is somthing else with the freezer compartment ain’t it Luke. Can keep homemade currys, casseroles, chilli etc frozen all week so hardly have to spend much eating out if you don’t want to.
It’s brilliant. Combined with the microwave my eating habits have improved so much since I was allocated my own lorry. No more crap takeaways
switchlogic:
It’s brilliant. Combined with the microwave my eating habits have improved so much since I was allocated my own lorry. No more crap takeaways
Cool, with a bit of luck people will stop calling you a tubby ■■■■■! 
I’m not a fan of overly blinged trucks, but I haven’t a problem with people who do bling them up, and I’d rather listen to some of them than the ones who sit and constantly complain about the job.
I see drivers slag them off because they seem to actually enjoy their job, but who is the bigger mug, the person doing a job they love and driving a truck their proud of or the person going to a driving job they hate and the fact they generally hate being a truck driver, got to be ■■■■ going to a job you hate regardless of the pay? 
As for the idea that it keeps wages down, I doubt the amount of drivers who go for blinged up trucks over pay and the fleets that offer it pales into insignificance against the amount of drivers working for low pay and long hours for the PLC logistics type companies who have hundreds if not thousands of standard trucks.
Personally for me, I’d love a smart truck, but given the choice (in fact I’ve made the choice) I’d rather do the job I’m doing in a basic spec truck, than do general haulage in the smartest thing around. Although at the moment I’m trying to get a new truck where I work, and my requirements list, comfortable, reliable, reasonable power for the weight we pull, stand alone aircon, fridge, comfortable and at a price I can justify to the management. Although it’s proving difficult to get all these things in one truck. 
For me, in order…
A 40 hour working week.
A good rate of pay.
Kelsa and Hella bars.
switchlogic:
Kerragy:
switchlogic:
Each to their own eh? What harm does it do any of you?My tablet just restarted itself randomly and I lost a post that started “Each to their own”.
The reason is that it reflects on all of us. It makes us look like a cabal of immature, amateur, messers who are playing at working.
Complete rubbish. I’ll let you into a secret, people don’t care. The average person won’t be able to tell one truck from another (Customised or otherwise) and don’t have any opinion of us let alone a bad one because of some spot lights. In fact the closest many people come to engaging with trucks is when the Coca Cola lorry does the Christmas rounds, and they don’t come much more customised than that.
That Coca Cola truck is a joke. When it came to Lincoln, all it was was a standard, old red Scania T series with rope lightning on the trailer.
Harry Monk:
For me, in order…
A 40 hour working week.
A good rate of pay.
And a good family life
Radar19:
switchlogic:
Kerragy:
switchlogic:
Each to their own eh? What harm does it do any of you?My tablet just restarted itself randomly and I lost a post that started “Each to their own”.
The reason is that it reflects on all of us. It makes us look like a cabal of immature, amateur, messers who are playing at working.
Complete rubbish. I’ll let you into a secret, people don’t care. The average person won’t be able to tell one truck from another (Customised or otherwise) and don’t have any opinion of us let alone a bad one because of some spot lights. In fact the closest many people come to engaging with trucks is when the Coca Cola lorry does the Christmas rounds, and they don’t come much more customised than that.
That Coca Cola truck is a joke. When it came to Lincoln, all it was was a standard, old red Scania T series with rope lightning on the trailer.
And yet it still draws crowds…
Evil8Beezle:
switchlogic:
It’s brilliant. Combined with the microwave my eating habits have improved so much since I was allocated my own lorry. No more crap takeawaysCool, with a bit of luck people will stop calling you a tubby ■■■■■!
Who are you?
Kerragy:
switchlogic:
Each to their own eh? What harm does it do any of you?My tablet just restarted itself randomly and I lost a post that started “Each to their own”.
The reason is that it reflects on all of us. It makes us look like a cabal of immature, amateur, messers who are playing at working. People associate tyres with names highlighted in Tippex and lights and neon with Kev in a [zb] out Corsa doing burnouts in McDonald’s car parks rather than professionals.
There is no degree of truck customisation that is tasteful, unless it is functional. Stainless Mirror Guards etc. OK. Cut down mudflaps emblazoned with Hino on each side of a front bumper, less so. Airline Pilots, Captains of Ships and Train Drivers do not add tassels and shiny to their rides. They tend not to add 747-400 to their sunvisors either. When did you last see the driver of your plane wearing a Roll-Royce Trent 1000 Power ■■■■■■■, T shirt? You probably wouldn’t want to get stuck at the bar with one that did.
Some of my fondest mid-level work acquaintences are wheel polishers though, and I am sure that my ideas are as alien to them as theirs are to anyone sane. The world would also probably be a much duller place if bargees and gypsies hadn’t decorated their conveyances in days gone by (Suffolk Punch Power ■■■■■■■ & Dilligaf murals excepted).
I can say there’s only a few fleets where I’ve seen pride being shown by way of personal add ons. In the past there were a few icons but these days the B747 is the only icon left. 747 blokes are still proud of “the whale”
Its almost always limited to a “Boeing 747-400” sticker on fight bag or case. Maybe a sticker slapped above a bar in somewhere weird. Although a bloke I worked with the other day did have one of these!
bremont.com/images/files/Bro … hure_4.pdf
Made by UK watch maker Bremont and only open to proven by licence and logbook current and ex coal burner blokes. I make that list but think the misses maybe ■■■■■■ if I spend our furniture fund on a watch
No one wears T shirts. I’ve flown a few with nice flash paint schemes. I go home and feel knackered and try not to think about the job. There’s some dimwits out there that live for the job but they’re usually divorced or, weird in my book. I’m more concerned with in this order, my time off, my pay and my pension. I still love the jumbo but it’s already too much of a part of my life, so I leave it behind.
Why the black and white thinking? Its about the whole package. If someone offered me a nice working environment and decent pay and conditions then bingo. By nice working environment I mean, a new clean unit, aircon, space on board and some gizmos.
Some think its all FL10s and mega bucks or 144, bull bars and peanuts.