I was just wondering what your experience’s with small componys has been like? has anyone ever worked for a one man band? how did they treat you, do you think it was better than working for big componys or not?
I have recently taken a job working for a guy in derbyshire doing logs timber etc he seems like a nice enuff chap his family been in haulage since… horse and cart lol. he has 2 trucks and i will be doin most of the heavy work in a ■■■■■■■ engined seddon attkinson ( the ones that look like the iveco) This is my first artic job for a year and a half and he was good enough to give me a chance, i think, as i am 25 with ony 8 months exp on artics. They money is good the kit not so but it will be my own so im happy, he does say if i get on well he is looking at a newer truck but in return he wants me to work hard which is fine by me
Any thoughts/ opinians welcome
Jarvo.
p.s i start this job nxt week so please try not to scare me off to much lol
Congrats on the new job. I’ve been on for owner drivers and am currently on for a big firm. They both have their merits I suppose,on one hand in a small co you are more than just a number and on the other,the bigger firm offers more security(or used to), Anyone can go pop these days. Like you say the truck aint up to much but at least you will find it as you left it,
I have worked for small one man bands and huge companys, who would i rather work for? Well the bigger firm has sick pay, holiday pay, all ppe supplied and cpc all supplied and paid for, BUT as people have said you are just another employee, it’s not very personal unlike some smaller firms.
The smaller firms can be really good to work for if you have a good boss, they tend to look after their driver/s and try and keep you if you are good…A good honest driver is worth his weight in gold, ask any owner driver…If you work for a VERY small co you tend to treat the truck as your own and start worrying about fuel consumption and ripping the arse out the engine and things like that , you think differently…
To answer the question small or big■■? Big.(at the moment )
i have worked for big firms in the past but didnt enjoy it as was treated like rubbish and moved about a fair bit, i now work for a small family owned concern, boss never bothers me, get told on a friday what is happening next week (if he knows) then you sort it out to yourself how you do it aslong as it’s legal, pay aint the best and its old tackle but looked after.
From youre post id say you you were an accesoriey (my spelling is bad id be hard of spelling but i ant spell it )
working for a owner driver you better be good cause if you aint hes zb .
if your not perfect working for guys (that have just started nightmare they all make money till they get a tax bill )
ITS LEARNING STEPS BUD ITS .
WHO YOU WANT TO WORK FOR…
but take the bumps when it goes wrong
There is no difinitive answer to this one. I’ve worked at supermarkets where you get treated like rubbish and ones where you get treated ok. It’s down to the people on the window in the office if they call you by a reg number or name. Tesco at Harlow treat the drivers ok, you get your own motor and the money’s good, I just don’t like the lack of distance work. I started this job to sit on cruise up the motorway and turn some clicks, not pump the clutch around the north circ twice a day
As for small firms, well, I fell out with a mate when I worked for him, an OD went skint and didn’t pay me 2 grand wages, then the small firm we subbed for took me on as they thought I’d proved myself as a good worker. They were ok when I started as they had 15 motors, but over 5 years they grew to 60, then back down to 40 and went right to the dogs. I’ve worked for 2 brothers and that was by far the worst firm. That’s two lots of big wages and two beemers or mercs to find before you get paid. The tackle was well maintained but that was it. It was cheap and not very cheerful. We had Scanias that were the speck BELOW Asda’s ones. I got told you don’t need a topline for nights out in the UK. I told them that it didn’t matter if I was in Manchester or Madrid, I was too old and too big to be getting dressed laying down
You need to find what works for you and what makes you happy. I know plenty of people who work for OD’s and are more than happy. Likewise there are blokes on supermakets who feel the same, mind you I don’t buy all that being home every night rubbish. If you only want to go round the houses, get a job driving a transit, but that’s for another thread, another time.
As for me , at least ten but no more than 15 trucks is where I’ve found myself happiest, oh, and only one boss, that’s most important.
Well I have worked for both large and small firms, the smaller (2 tippers) was probably the happiest 5 years of my working life. The trucks were getting on a bit but well maintained, I used to do a lot of my own repairs, I was a time served mechanic, either after work or on a saturday morning and do the MOT prep on the truck but that is usually part and parcel of a small company, everyone mucks in together. If there was no work at our regular quarry I used to phone around to find work for myself and really enjoyed the challenges, whereas with the large firm I closed the cab door at the end of the day and that was it, job done and home! Pay wise there was no real difference, top line of around £14 grand, but personally I had more job satisfaction from helping a small operation than being a number with a large company. Of course it ended for me in redundancy after the quarry prefered contract hauliers to those who had served them well for 20+ years but that’s life it seems. Boils down to job security ( ) versus job satisfaction ( )
The thing is, even with a ‘big’ company, you can never be sure of your job security. Whilst the company may be doing ‘ok’ in general they may have certain aspects which are not working to plan, and if they see fit to modify, or get rid of those aspects and you work in that part of it, your job is obviously going to be at risk, and there may not be the chance to get moved around within the company and so it’s bye bye.
Due to my own situation jobs wise etc only working for one company in the haulage industry I cannot make a comment on which it is better to work for, just thought I’d highlight the above point that ‘big’ company doesn’t necessarily mean safe job.
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Boils down to job security (