huddersfield66:
If I’ve to travel I’d prefer tramping like I am now. Like I said the moneys decent here I just can’t do with the clowns that own and the shed I have to drive
If you’re looking for the perfect job mate, good boss, top notch kit, and good money (and when I say ‘good money’… I ain’t talking 80 hours work for getting what equates to 50 hours pay either)…and if you find it, please let me know, so I can get a job there. Because that job does not exist anymore, and if it does you have to wait for the guy who is in it to snuff it, cos he sure as hell ain’t giving it up.
Everything in GENERAL HAULAGEon the whole is dog [zb] these days, if you can manage decent money (looking at your other post not bad for a rigid btw) who gives a [zb] if the truck ain’t a superdoopermegatoplinegiggaspace with [zb] spot lights. just clean it up and customise the interior to as comfortable and pleasant as you can…[zb] what the exterior looks like, that is your guvnor’s responsibility.
As for working for clowns, newsflash…we all do !.
You just need to keep your head down, and make life as good as you can for yourself, and allow em enough rope to hang themselves.
Better the devil you know is the way I see it these days, you start somewhere new, you’re the new boy who gets all the [zb] for the first few months, you get sick, start at a similar crap company to start the whole process of [zb] all over again…and maybe again.and again.
The jobs do exist but you won’t find them at any company that has “transport”, “haulage” or “logistics” somewhere in their name. Most drivers are too thick to realise this and so flit from one logistics company to another hoping to find the holy grail but, once again, end up disappointed that it’s the same [zb] as the last place except for a different name badge on the cab door.
Own account work is where you’ll find the best balance of respect, pay and conditions,.
Yep, those jobs do exist, but I was talking about general haulage…, as I said.
The local own account firm I used to pull trailers for with my own unit used to be on excellent conditions, time and half after 40 and double time on a Sunday etc etc.
They are now on same rate right through, and they have their drivers leaving at ungodly ■■■■ hours on a Mon morning, no Sunday running.
Apparentlly drivers voted for a lot of this stuff themselves over the years since, after being well and truly stitched up, so only themselves to blame.
Jimmy McNulty:
Yes but a little newsflash for you … the good own account jobs are few and far between. Of course they are out there but a lot have handed the reins over to transport, logistics and haulage companies.
In fact the four big supermarkets round my way, one has the transport done by Wincanton and two have the warehouse and transport done by Wincanton. The other has the transport done by Stobarts.
Of the two own account jobs I have looked into properly in the last couple of years one was midnight to 4am starts, nights out and the office playing at being a transport company with silly backloads.
The other was noon to 5pm starts with regular reduced daily rests and pulled in the office if you stop for a ■■■■.
I’m not saying that there aren’t good own account jobs out there but they ain’t all a golden ticket nor are those that work in for profit transport doing because they are, in your words thick.
But supermarkets make for a tiny percentage of ‘own account’ work and they are hardly the place to go if you are looking to be treated as an individual with a brain and with respect, nor are you going to be asked to spec your own new truck when the time comes for replacement. I recognise that it falls under the same ‘own account work’ bracket but that wasn’t really the type of work I was referring to. Small manufacturing/production companies are a better example where the transport side is secondary to their core business.
Perhaps branding them ‘thick’ was a bit strong but it’s not too far wide of the mark when there is an abundance of opportunities available if they broaden their horizons and are prepared to get their boots dirty. Most drivers these days don’t want to get their boots dirty and want £15+ per hour for dragging containers to and from the docks in a 70 plate 580 Scania or other ‘easy’ work moving pallets around the country in a curtain-sider or fridge. It’s not going to happen with the haulage rates as they are and requires no skill whatsoever hence why companies can offer peanuts and there is no shortage of monkeys prepared to do it.
Get yourself onto specialist work where you need qualifications and/or extensive training to do it and in the longer term it pays dividends as you are now a skilled and experienced driver in a niche market with a very limited driver pool. Most companies operating in these sectors recognise this dilemma and will - up to a point - offer you what you want in order to retain you. Before I started where I am now, I looked at getting into livestock work. I did a couple of weeks training working for a farm who runs his own trucks mainly doing pigs to the abattoir. Sadly I’m not as steady on my pins as I was 20 years ago and the pigs will have you on your arse if you don’t know how to handle them. A week of black and blue knees, thighs and shins was enough to tell me it wasn’t for me. I told a friend of mine about it and he went for a look and is still there today. He loves it, has a brand new truck and trailer and based on his day rate and actual hours worked he’s averaging around £17 an hour plus night out money. But it involves getting your boots very mucky, as well as yourself when washing out the trailer. Experienced livestock drivers are a rare commodity, same as other niche sectors. You use that leverage to your advantage. You’re not going to be doing that at Stobarts, Wincanton or XYZ Logistics no matter how much you think you deserve better pay.
robroy:
Yep, those jobs do exist, but I was talking about general haulage…, as I said.
So you leave the general haulage race-to-the-bottom market and go learn a niche where your skills and experience will be in demand at a premium. The guy is in Huddersfield in Yorkshire, surrounded by farms and livestock. There’s a farm in Halifax currently advertising for a livestock driver right now. Your pay rate in trucking work is dictated by how mucky do you want to get. If you don’t want to get mucky then you’re stuck with playing logistics co musical chairs your entire life until you figure it out.
robroy:
Yep, those jobs do exist, but I was talking about general haulage…, as I said.
So you leave the general haulage race-to-the-bottom market and go learn a niche where your skills and experience will be in demand at a premium. The guy is in Huddersfield in Yorkshire, surrounded by farms and livestock. There’s a farm in Halifax currently advertising for a livestock driver right now. Your pay rate in trucking work is dictated by how mucky do you want to get. If you don’t want to get mucky then you’re stuck with playing logistics co musical chairs your entire life until you figure it out.
Livestock? .Not a chance in hell, the words ‘■■■■’ and ‘that’ spring to mind.
I’m at the stage in my career having done just about everything in the job, including the mega bucks work, and yes dabbled in live stock, if you can call horses that, where my interest and enthusiasm is at an all time low.
, I just keep my head down, and look after my own little niche job, which ain’t the best paid, but I’m left alone to my own devices, and initiative, and I actually enjoy it.
So thanks for the advice, but I’ve got a t.shirt a sweatshirt,.and a hoodie in transport ops already., so …it’s a no from me.
robroy:
Livestock? .Not a chance in hell, the words ‘[zb]’ and ‘that’ spring to mind.
I’m at the stage in my career having done just about everything in the job, including the mega bucks work, and yes dabbled in live stock, if you can call horses that, where my interest and enthusiasm is at an all time low.
, I just keep my head down, and look after my own little niche job, which ain’t the best paid, but I’m left alone to my own devices, and initiative, and I actually enjoy it.
So thanks for the advice, but I’ve got a t.shirt a sweatshirt,.and a hoodie in transport ops already., so …it’s a no from me.
I was on about the Huddersfield guy. Moving into the general haulage ‘logistics’ market his earning potential is going to be limited by the market cap so the only way you can make decent money is by working stupid amounts of hours, which is usually the point where the drivers start complaining about how the job is [zb] and there’s no money in it, apparently oblivious to the fact that the situation is entirely of their own making.
Own account is not all about super meerkat work.
Have you thought about going on the block grabs ?
I know I am based a fair bit south from Hudds, but the money is good. Not exactly a top spec motor, job and knock. This time of year, normally done by 15.00 and never start before 07.30.
Another vote for own account work here.Been at a plastic recycling and manufacturing company for three years now doing 98% own account work,and it would take a bloody big crowbar to get me out of this job.The difference between this and chasing the rate transport is night and day.
just clean it up and customise the interior to as comfortable and pleasant as you can…[zb] what the exterior looks like, that is your guvnor’s responsibility.
over the years since, after being well and truly stitched up, so only themselves to blame.