Juddian:
Dozy, you’d be surprised how many people unconsciously add ex’s of one form or another to their take home pay, it might be bragging in some cases but i think some have rosy glasses and thinking like this keeps the tints in good colour.
There is only one way to compare what one job pays to another and that is to divide your top line (minus ex’s whatever they happen to be called) by the number of hours worked, then plus/minus a bit whether the job requires skill or graft or nights away from home, then you have a mean average hourly rate to compare against another.
I’ve earned good money overall on the transporters previously, though that is seriously hard long days work and you will earn every ha’penny (and it takes a toll on your mind and body), but i’m actually paid more per every hour worked now on tanks…i take home less overall because i work 28 days less per year and much shorter days than before averaging a 43 hour week, if i did the same hours as i did on the cars i’d be on average £2.50 x 17 hours a week better off…you cannot judge a job just on it’s apparent take home.
Working out how and exactly what you’re paid for is what all drivers should do, whilst so many insist on looking purely at what number goes into the bank on a good full week (often taking a dive on short weeks) and not how it’s made up, the long hours poor pay race to the bottom continues.
The gaffers who pay poorly are canny buggers, they know big smart motors get bums on seats, it costs the company little more to lease a fancy motor than it does a basic one, and if you can get a driver to work for £10 an hour average across the board where the driver of the basic motor is possibly averaging a third again or more, it doesn’t take a genius to work out who’s actually paying for the motor and the gaffers Range Rover.
I hear what you’re saying, but in my experience, if you work for the right firm you don’t have quiet periods where the money drops to basic pay, even when you take holidays and this is where working at smaller companies comes into it, you just negotiate with the man that runs the show for your holiday pay to be based on an average of your take home wages throughout the year.
The key word is negotiation, I know for a fact that drivers will never stick together, so I couldn’t give a toss what the other drivers earn or do at work, if they want to doss around as much as possible or fly around like lunatics tipping on a break etc. It doesn’t matter to me, they don’t pay my bills. It doesn’t take long to build a reputation amongst the local firms as transport is a very incestuous business, you always know somebody at a firm local to you.
If you build a decent reputation and are prepared to stand up for yourself, it’s fairly simple to negotiate a good wage for yourself, but an important part in that is to keep it to yourself and not get involved in any bragging about the fatness of your wage packet.
,I bought the car a year ago when I was on days / nights ,I’m now tramping ,depreciation would of been worse on days / nights than tramping as I was doing 180 miles p.w ,not 30 .