fatboystu1:
This, is by far the best reply so far and i agree with it totally. In fact this little snippet in the OPs post backs up what shrek is saying…
“not to mention the amount of drops and graft daily.”
I’m not one to run away from “hard” work but if I can get paid the same for sitting on my ■■■ all day as for killing my body/nerves/risking injury (with no clarity on who’s going to cover my medical costs/downtime), well, it’s an obvious choice for me. Challenge can only get you so far in life, as others have said with experience it becomes routine. However the risks still remain however small and the longer you do it the greater the likelihood something is going to happen and with nothing to compensate for the greater risk/harder work - no wonder 90% of ads are looking for “multidrop drivers, new passes welcome!”
Shrek:
I do multidrops in a 6 axle 44 tonne artic…sometimes the drop/pick-up is a tight yard, sometimes it isn’t. It’s generally not a problem.
From what I’ve seen and experienced, many younger drivers don’t like the fact that being a driver isn’t just sitting behind the wheel of a brand new unit whilst someone else does the actual work and are surprised that it’s hard work with long hours. I think many younger folks get their cat C (class 2) thinking the job’s a piece of ■■■■ but quickly realise it isn’t and start looking elsewhere for an “easier” ride.
Bottom line sunshine…for the most part this job IS hard work, it IS long hours and always will be. It won’t get easier by getting yourself a ticket to drive even larger wagons. If you’re wanting an easier life at work, invest your money in getting a nationally recognised forklift licence instead.
Depends what job you do! I did containers for 4 years and never helped unload once!
The thing about hgv driving is that no matter how many drops you do, how many pallets you shift or how many trollies you tug, no one is ever going to say ‘thank you, good job’ at the end of it! So you choose the job where you do as little as possible!
Made sure I had a good data pack for my laptop/tablet as tea huts can get pretty boring after 3 hours, watching other people slog
fatboystu1:
This, is by far the best reply so far and i agree with it totally. In fact this little snippet in the OPs post backs up what shrek is saying…
“not to mention the amount of drops and graft daily.”
In fact the amount of unfilled vacancies out there,obviously calling for drivers to drive a few miles up the road and spend more time as a labourer than a driver during a shift,actually backs up the OP’s comments not shrek’s.
As for the forklift licence why bother investing in mechanical handling and employing warehouse staff for it when,more like if,they can find mug drivers to hand ball loads and/or multi task as yard/warehouse labourers instead.
Or at best all the aggro of driving a truck just to end up driving around the local residential roads spending more time driving a Hiab crane than a truck.
ETS:
no wonder 90% of ads are looking for “multidrop drivers, new passes welcome!”
^ This
I think you need to seperate the distinction between local multi drop taking out those who do the job for the freedom of the open road therefore the distance driving aspect.
As opposed to jobs also requiring handball/warehouse/yard/site labouring duties.Which may or may not involve multi drop but which often also goes with that territory.
While distance bulk pallet work,obviously being one of the quality attractive aspects of the job if you can find it,is nothing new and not always defined by class 2 or 1.But obviously becoming increasingly rare in an industry degenerating into local run,any customer they can get,quantity.As opposed to distance bulk/full load,always mechanically handled,quality work,from the driver’s point of view.
Some of the drops we did while on the flour where interesting
Doing the Hirstwood bakery in shipley (Hughes family bakers) with a 6x2 & tri axil was let’s say …very intense and not for the faint hearted. As the approach was narrow and required you to mount the kerb before a sharp left thru the gate into the carpark, before performing a 3 point shunt to point in the right direction out before unloading. Add in the seasonal cafe the bakery opened which attracted people and cars like flies to dog poop
Shrek:
I do multidrops in a 6 axle 44 tonne artic…sometimes the drop/pick-up is a tight yard, sometimes it isn’t. It’s generally not a problem.
From what I’ve seen and experienced, many younger drivers don’t like the fact that being a driver isn’t just sitting behind the wheel of a brand new unit whilst someone else does the actual work and are surprised that it’s hard work with long hours. I think many younger folks get their cat C (class 2) thinking the job’s a piece of ■■■■ but quickly realise it isn’t and start looking elsewhere for an “easier” ride.
Bottom line sunshine…for the most part this job IS hard work, it IS long hours and always will be. It won’t get easier by getting yourself a ticket to drive even larger wagons. If you’re wanting an easier life at work, invest your money in getting a nationally recognised forklift licence instead.
Personally I got my hgv after doing back breaking physical labourer in a scaffold yard for 3 years in all weathers, so even on a hard day multidrop is 100 times easier than that. My question was just to gauge if spending the extra money is worth the investment.
Shrek:
I do multidrops in a 6 axle 44 tonne artic…sometimes the drop/pick-up is a tight yard, sometimes it isn’t. It’s generally not a problem.
From what I’ve seen and experienced, many younger drivers don’t like the fact that being a driver isn’t just sitting behind the wheel of a brand new unit whilst someone else does the actual work and are surprised that it’s hard work with long hours. I think many younger folks get their cat C (class 2) thinking the job’s a piece of ■■■■ but quickly realise it isn’t and start looking elsewhere for an “easier” ride.
Bottom line sunshine…for the most part this job IS hard work, it IS long hours and always will be. It won’t get easier by getting yourself a ticket to drive even larger wagons. If you’re wanting an easier life at work, invest your money in getting a nationally recognised forklift licence instead.
Personally I got my hgv after doing back breaking physical labourer in a scaffold yard for 3 years in all weathers, so even on a hard day multidrop is 100 times easier than that. My question was just to gauge if spending the extra money is worth the investment.
As youve seen from the answers given, it is very subjective about whether its worth it? Some love the "hands off" container life, some find it boring. Some want long-distance and nights out, some dont. And some want local work at one stage of their lives but a change at another point.
With a bendy ticket you will have more options open, but whether those options will suit you? Who knows? And until you try some jobs you may not know yourself.
May not be the most helpful answer, but it really is down to your own preferences.
If it`s purely for extra earning potential then look at jobs local to you, and get out your calculator. No short cut to working it out.
peirre:
Some of the drops we did while on the flour where interesting
Doing the Hirstwood bakery in shipley (Hughes family bakers) with a 6x2 & tri axil was let’s say …very intense and not for the faint hearted. As the approach was narrow and required you to mount the kerb before a sharp left thru the gate into the carpark, before performing a 3 point shunt to point in the right direction out before unloading. Add in the seasonal cafe the bakery opened which attracted people and cars like flies to dog poop
Were you the guy who knocked the gates both on the way in and on the way out?
Shrek:
I do multidrops in a 6 axle 44 tonne artic…sometimes the drop/pick-up is a tight yard, sometimes it isn’t. It’s generally not a problem.
From what I’ve seen and experienced, many younger drivers don’t like the fact that being a driver isn’t just sitting behind the wheel of a brand new unit whilst someone else does the actual work and are surprised that it’s hard work with long hours. I think many younger folks get their cat C (class 2) thinking the job’s a piece of ■■■■ but quickly realise it isn’t and start looking elsewhere for an “easier” ride.
Bottom line sunshine…for the most part this job IS hard work, it IS long hours and always will be. It won’t get easier by getting yourself a ticket to drive even larger wagons. If you’re wanting an easier life at work, invest your money in getting a nationally recognised forklift licence instead.
Personally I got my hgv after doing back breaking physical labourer in a scaffold yard for 3 years in all weathers, so even on a hard day multidrop is 100 times easier than that. My question was just to gauge if spending the extra money is worth the investment.
Ironically even after I’d got my class 1 I was sent out with a 12 tonner on scaffolding and shuttering ‘deliveries’ ‘collections’ on agency ( don’t ask temporary layoff from night trunking to protect a senior driver’s position ).You can guess the rest.Arrive at yard find move and load umpteen bleedin great big planks of wood and poles.Drive an hour or two through London traffic to site.Unload it all.Get told by site foreman that is just the start of the job.Now move it all where you’re told on site and ‘help’ the site labourers to erect it if they tell you.I’m supposed to be the bleedin driver being met by when on you’re on this site you do as I say.Two hours or more later drive another hour or two through London traffic.Arrive on site.It’s all still up driver now you have to ‘help’ us to strike it all before you load it and take it back to the yard where you have to unload it all then stack it all.Repeat 07.00 - 18.30 every bleedin day for a week or two maybe more until you get assigned to a 7.5 tonne local multi drop job ( loads more handball ).No surprise suddenly then being given and then just as suddenly being taken off distance bulk pallet job ended up in a massive argument and that was it I was done with agencies and if I hadn’t have got back to night trunking probably the job in general for me.Which ironically also ended up in an argument over hand ball expected as part of a change to hub system work on most runs and even more ironically soon after my back finally gave up with degenerative disc issues just as I’d luckily finally got put onto A frame drawbar work albeit still only uk trunking and which I’d wanted to do from day 1 and that was the end of my whole career by the age of zb 40.
IE a class 1 is no guarantee to the promised land and it is sometimes possible to find better work with a class 2 especially if you bear in mind that 4 wheelers should actually still be classed as class 3 work.The fact that employers are prepared to pay class 1 rates to fill class 3 or even 7.5 t vacancies says it all in that regard.
Night Shift trunker here…and i can tell you its a piece of ■■■■, worst I get is the odd awkward bay, started on class 1 after only a handful of class 2 work, money jumped up about £1 per hour for me… jobs will differ, pay will differ depending on area…just chipping in with my own experience - if it helps.
I was on the back of my trailer last week and helped load 26 pallets and then drove them on a seven and a half hour journey back to base.Don’t mind getting out and doing a bit but also like my long journeys so a happy medium for me
123smith:
Night Shift trunker here…and i can tell you its a piece of ■■■■, worst I get is the odd awkward bay, started on class 1 after only a handful of class 2 work, money jumped up about £1 per hour for me… jobs will differ, pay will differ depending on area…just chipping in with my own experience - if it helps.
After around 10 years of it losing your days to sleeping and being disturbed regards same,including weekends to maintain your body clock,also gets a bit old.Especially after speed limiters removed much of the advantage of clear deserted motorways and job and finish.Let alone if/when you find yourself involved with the type of management which decides to minimise driving time within a hub system and then expects you to do the resulting warehouse labouring work with all the spare time.
BeakFreak81:
I was on the back of my trailer last week and helped load 26 pallets and then drove them on a seven and a half hour journey back to base.Don’t mind getting out and doing a bit but also like my long journeys so a happy medium for me
I’m guessing you don’t mean that you were told to break them down and hand ball loose load/tip it all.
Seems to fit the definition of distance bulk/full load pallet work.
