thecoder0:
Its roughly just over 3 years ago I decided to take a job out of the industry and give up driving. Some of the frustrations at the time were the lack of consistency of work,being treated like a numpty,being public enemy number 1,living in a tin box from Monday to Friday etc etc etc.
Now having only been back on the forum a couple of days and reading some of the posts it would appear that not much has changed .
I recognise a few old names on here and wondered if I could ask if they tink things are any better these days. Is there more/less work about,Do agencies still have as bigger part to play as they did back then,I certainly dont see as many adds asking for drivers in my local rag as I did back then.
I am at the moment working 12 hr shifts days and nights and the work is non driving and very local,but it is hard physical graft and at 50 my old bones are getting tired couple that together with the fact that I do actually miss getting about would you stay where you are or go back to driving if you were me ?
So in a nutshell is life on the open road any better now than it was 3 years agoâŚ
I,m back after twenty years and apart from different coloured wagons and these nice curtains on the trailer its just the same, winging drivers and not enough hours in the day!!!
Coffeeholic:
Nothings really changed, still an easy job.
Plenty of it Neil ?
No idea, I havenât had cause to look recently. We have plenty of agency guys in, most doing 5 or 6 shifts a week, most regulars but some new faces as well, and the ones I speak to say they have plenty of work.
It might be the guys you donât see who are struggling for work? Just a thoughtâŚHTH!
If I canât see them they donât exist. I only believe in things I can see.
Winseer:
Do you think that wages will sky rocket like they did in the late 1970âs when interest rates rise sharply?
Anyone not being able to pay their mortgage (due to the new high rates) might deliberately default the mortgage, put themselves on the dole, and claim housing benefit for the new rented place theyâll be provided with.
It was prices that sky rocketed during the mid 1970âs and the unions (tried and failed to) keep wages in line.Then Thatcher got in.
Wages canât go anywhere because the supply of labour far outweighs demand for it which is the result of years of de industrialisation and immigration so interest rates canât rise either because the money isnât there to pay them if they did and the banks would just be left with loads of repoâd housing with loads of negative equity on it and thereâd be loads of homeless bankrupt home buyers who are still liable for the difference in value between what they borrowed and what their repoâd house would be worth.
So basically the savers are subsidising a zbâd economy and keeping it afloat by accepting zb savings rates to prevent a further,much bigger,banking collapse if interest rates were put up to where they should be.
In addition to which the place is now importing goods that it doesnât need that it could have made for itself all paid for by borrowed money and earnings from making hamburgers and moving imported goods around warehouses while exporting zb all and paying for the resulting unemployment rates using printed worthless money.
The economy as it stands is a bit like the Titanic.Itâs just a matter of time before it inevitably sinks.
I agree with you regarding why rates wonât rise - bank liabilities fair enough.
If you get repossesed however, the shortfall gets converted into an unsecured loan, which then gets chucked on the bonfire when the homeowner goes bankrupt. They WONâT EVER be paying off that shortfall, and anyone chasing debts beyond bankruptcy is merely trying it on. Bad side is youâll never get a mortgage again. Upside is you find just about every debt in oneâs entire universe, and chuck it all on the BR pile at once.
The only way to become debt free is to either (1) come into serious amounts of money that can pay it ALL off before more interest moves the amount payable out of reach again, or (2) default it all at once, then stay on low income for 6 years to make sure the buggers canât come after you with attachment or earnings/charging orders/CCJs etc. If you stay on a low income for the 6 years, theyâll give up. Iâm not joking! Debt has become a problem, because people try to find ways of NOT defaulting, which invariably involves higher interest rates, more interest payments, and forever ârolling overâ the loan into some other product, commissions added each time. We all moan about banks, but until the public revolts via mass defaulting (not illegal after all!) weâll never kick the buggers into touch!
Giving up credit (the only real price of default) is like giving up smoking. Hard, until its done - then you never look back!
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couple that together with the fact that I do actually miss getting about would you stay where you are or go back to driving if you were me ?
