Following on from “How much do you get paid topic”, let me ask you this, how Much do you think your worth? and why?
How i see it £500 a week is a cracking wage for driving a vehicle, but some drivers seem to think that sort of wage is crap and they should get more, why is that?
This thread is NOT a dig or a ■■■■ take, but it is based on what i have seen over the past weeks.
Crack on 
I think that if the employer wants the goods and lorry to arrive safely at the destination that they should pay better than a cleaner or a shelf stacker that has little responsibility. That is how I see my worth.
I see my worth as a kind of reverse paradigm of “paying peanuts you get monkeys”.
Never damage vehicles, never get points on your licence, always enforce all rules of the road.
My wage should be therefore based on what I SAVE my employer in terms of being more professional about my duties than the next guy.
With insurance companies already considering the “second class citizen” option when insuring people, it makes sense for the wheat to be sorted from the chaff at job interview stage. Face fitting doesn’t cut it, but loads of relevant experience & a spotless record should. For the younger driver, I would recommend looking in the direction of employers who’ll actually train and GIVE you that experience, rather than just stick some keys and a checklist form in your hands and hope for the best, which is what happens with many firms nowdays.
At present, clean licences, lengthy experience, being fit, or even being young seem to count for nothing. “6 points OK, 2 years experience, being a fatty OK, and don’t care what age you are” seems to be the prevailing criteria for getting a job!
Fortunately, there are plenty who won’t take crap wages because they think and know they are worth more than this. 
Market forces dictate therefore that underpaying firms will gradually struggle, as progressive firms snap up the quality drivers that are going to get thinner on the ground sooner or later, as more drivers hang up their keys and are not replaced in the economy. 
I know several " fatties " as you call them, who are damned good drivers ( I am a fatty but do not count myself as a good driver, maybe average, but that has little to do with my size ).
Kind of condescending to decide that someone is not good enough to do the job because of their size, what next ? colour ? religion ? ■■■■■■ preferences ? what else do you think makes people less worthy of doing the job ■■?
I think we are worth more than the average drivers wage of £407 for 42 hours, but I am interested where you can earn the same money cleaning or shelfstacking 
I think im worth millions of course, and why not but for lorry driving
The wages are probably too much in the scheme of things which is why theres been a wage freeze now for a few years.
Drivings a very easy low status job, luckily for us it can pay better than a lot of skilled jobs.
I’m happy with my wages and my firm do pay higher than average in the area but do expect a good days work in return.
At the same time they don’t have trouble finding and keeping good drivers.
Wheel Nut:
I think we are worth more than the average drivers wage of £407 for 42 hours, but I am interested where you can earn the same money cleaning or shelfstacking
I shouldn’t have to do a 60+ hour week to earn enough money to live comfortably. That’s where I was coming from.
kr79:
I’m happy with my wages and my firm do pay higher than average in the area but do expect a good days work in return.
At the same time they don’t have trouble finding and keeping good drivers.
Same here 
washy jnr:
kr79:
I’m happy with my wages and my firm do pay higher than average in the area but do expect a good days work in return.
At the same time they don’t have trouble finding and keeping good drivers.Same here
same here, our longest serving driver has 33 years service and the newest employee has 9 years service, the other driver has been there 22 years.
Willy Gofar:
I know several " fatties " as you call them, who are damned good drivers ( I am a fatty but do not count myself as a good driver, maybe average, but that has little to do with my size ).Kind of condescending to decide that someone is not good enough to do the job because of their size, what next ? colour ? religion ? ■■■■■■ preferences ? what else do you think makes people less worthy of doing the job ■■?
I’m overweight too, and certainly not young! The point I was making was wouldn’t we object if that ever became a criteria for getting a job?
I only ticked 2 of the four boxes mentioned, but still choose to hold out for better pay & conditions. Is the glass half empty, or half full? 
To put it in perspective we all spent two years and many thousands of pounds of tax payers money to get basic GSCE’s or O levels at secondary school. And what sort of job would you expect to get with 5 or so GCSE’s?
We have spent 5 days and a grand to get our class 2. Maybe another 5 days and another grand to get our class 1. Or if we are lucky our employer paid for it. It’s not a highly skilled job, but it is a responsible job.
I would class us professional drivers as above shelf stackers and road sweepers and office bods, but bellow ambulance drivers, competent managers and train drivers. We get paid what we are worth. Supply and demand dictates what we get paid.
In short we spent 2 years getting GCSE’s and 5 days getting an upgraded licence. Don’t take yourselves too seriously .
Squiddy:
To put it in perspective we all spent two years and many thousands of pounds of tax payers money to get basic GSCE’s or O levels at secondary school. And what sort of job would you expect to get with 5 or so GCSE’s?We have spent 5 days and a grand to get our class 2. Maybe another 5 days and another grand to get our class 1. Or if we are lucky our employer paid for it. It’s not a highly skilled job, but it is a responsible job.
I would class us professional drivers as above shelf stackers and road sweepers and office bods, but bellow ambulance drivers, competent managers and train drivers. We get paid what we are worth. Supply and demand dictates what we get paid.
In short we spent 2 years getting GCSE’s and 5 days getting an upgraded licence. Don’t take yourselves too seriously .
You must ■■■■, 2 days each and possibly a grand in total.
I say the fact we work silly hours, sometimes unsociable, are responsible for so much - the load, the paperwork, the vehicle, the schedules, the other muppets on the road etc. - the fact we’re quite high risk of falling asleep at the wheel or crashing in some other way, the risks of injury with the loads or the wind catching the curtains or even just falling off the catwalk or the steps getting into the wagon, the ■■■■■■■■■ we have to put up with just to do our job, risks of fines, companies wanting to take our earnings if there’s any damage etc
so, 4am starts are quite normal now?
13hr days?
44t 50+ ft vehicles?
multi drop / collect
I’d say the wages are ■■■■ for what we do really, but I’ve thought quite a bit about alternatives and can’t think of another job I’d do right now.
Shelf stacking is always brought into these arguments, and cleaning, really? Is that really what your average truck driver wants to do?
Not likely, we’re a strange breed but 1 thing we all have in common is we want to be out and about, not in the same place day in day out.
waynedl:
Squiddy:
To put it in perspective we all spent two years and many thousands of pounds of tax payers money to get basic GSCE’s or O levels at secondary school. And what sort of job would you expect to get with 5 or so GCSE’s?We have spent 5 days and a grand to get our class 2. Maybe another 5 days and another grand to get our class 1. Or if we are lucky our employer paid for it. It’s not a highly skilled job, but it is a responsible job.
I would class us professional drivers as above shelf stackers and road sweepers and office bods, but bellow ambulance drivers, competent managers and train drivers. We get paid what we are worth. Supply and demand dictates what we get paid.
In short we spent 2 years getting GCSE’s and 5 days getting an upgraded licence. Don’t take yourselves too seriously .
You must ■■■■, 2 days each and possibly a grand in total.
I say the fact we work silly hours, sometimes unsociable, are responsible for so much - the load, the paperwork, the vehicle, the schedules, the other muppets on the road etc. - the fact we’re quite high risk of falling asleep at the wheel or crashing in some other way, the risks of injury with the loads or the wind catching the curtains or even just falling off the catwalk or the steps getting into the wagon, the [zb] we have to put up with just to do our job, risks of fines, companies wanting to take our earnings if there’s any damage etc
so, 4am starts are quite normal now?
13hr days?
44t 50+ ft vehicles?
multi drop / collectI’d say the wages are [zb] for what we do really, but I’ve thought quite a bit about alternatives and can’t think of another job I’d do right now.
Shelf stacking is always brought into these arguments, and cleaning, really? Is that really what your average truck driver wants to do?
Not likely, we’re a strange breed but 1 thing we all have in common is we want to be out and about, not in the same place day in day out.
And is that worth blowing a trumpet about? The fact you spent less than 5 days to buy a qualification? Responsible for the ‘load’ and the ‘paper work’■■? Like a tesco checkout bod is responsible for the goods and the receipt?
Your right about being responsible for safety, yes. Just like a coach driver or a bus driver or a taxi driver is responsible for the safety of others.
4 AM starts … why do you think that is the norm? Because we accept it, because if we don’t then someone else will take our job. And they can easily take our job because you need ■■■■ all qualifications to do it other than passing a driving test, which most 17 year olds do in a car.
Squiddy:
waynedl:
Squiddy:
To put it in perspective we all spent two years and many thousands of pounds of tax payers money to get basic GSCE’s or O levels at secondary school. And what sort of job would you expect to get with 5 or so GCSE’s?We have spent 5 days and a grand to get our class 2. Maybe another 5 days and another grand to get our class 1. Or if we are lucky our employer paid for it. It’s not a highly skilled job, but it is a responsible job.
I would class us professional drivers as above shelf stackers and road sweepers and office bods, but bellow ambulance drivers, competent managers and train drivers. We get paid what we are worth. Supply and demand dictates what we get paid.
In short we spent 2 years getting GCSE’s and 5 days getting an upgraded licence. Don’t take yourselves too seriously .
You must ■■■■, 2 days each and possibly a grand in total.
I say the fact we work silly hours, sometimes unsociable, are responsible for so much - the load, the paperwork, the vehicle, the schedules, the other muppets on the road etc. - the fact we’re quite high risk of falling asleep at the wheel or crashing in some other way, the risks of injury with the loads or the wind catching the curtains or even just falling off the catwalk or the steps getting into the wagon, the [zb] we have to put up with just to do our job, risks of fines, companies wanting to take our earnings if there’s any damage etc
so, 4am starts are quite normal now?
13hr days?
44t 50+ ft vehicles?
multi drop / collectI’d say the wages are [zb] for what we do really, but I’ve thought quite a bit about alternatives and can’t think of another job I’d do right now.
Shelf stacking is always brought into these arguments, and cleaning, really? Is that really what your average truck driver wants to do?
Not likely, we’re a strange breed but 1 thing we all have in common is we want to be out and about, not in the same place day in day out.And is that worth blowing a trumpet about? The fact you spent less than 5 days to buy a qualification? Responsible for the ‘load’ and the ‘paper work’■■? Like a tesco checkout bod is responsible for the goods and the receipt?
Your right about being responsible for safety, yes. Just like a coach driver or a bus driver or a taxi driver is responsible for the safety of others.
4 AM starts … why do you think that is the norm? Because we accept it, because if we don’t then someone else will take our job. And they can easily take our job because you need [zb] all qualifications to do it other than passing a driving test, which most 17 year olds do in a car.
Compared to your example I do
I assume nothing’s changed, when I used to work in factories, it was 8am - 4pm, it then went onto 6-2 and 2-10, for these ‘unsociable hours’ we got extra money called ‘shift allowance’
Most bus, coach and taxi drivers are on more (at least per hour) than we’re on, so you just agreed with my point?
You do what?
Squiddy:
You do what?
Think it was worth blowing my trumpet over 
How much is THIS driver worth do you think?
£15.00 would be about right, given that these days not only do I work nights, I load the lorry at some places and have to tip it as well as drive it, they pay the basic chill store staff typically £12 per hour after all, given the vocational risks and constant costs £15.00 per hour is very reasonable IMHO.
I wouldn’t be doing the job if I didn’t like it, but what I’m trying to say is it isn’t exactly rocket science or creative or physical (no not even if you are hand balling) compared to similar paid jobs. And the fact you passed your test in 2 days and got class 1 for under a grand underlines that.