After reading my esteemed colleagues on the board all getting 48 grand I am going to leave my job and go for it. What would you suggest? Sign up with a few agencies or go straight for a permie job?
“There is nothing to fear but fear itself! (and stairs)” - Franklin D Roosevelt
Fill yer boots, but I think the bubble will burst at some point.
Ken.
I can’t afford boots on 27 grand! I wear clogs! 
Call me a fool but I just can’t see the rates all going back down again - it just can’t work like that. Once pay gets to a level for a job I’ve never heard of it dropping again. Has anyone heard of this happening in another profession? Did I miss a meeting?
If you are getting £20 for a ■■■■■■■ you don’t go back to accepting a fiver just cos more people enter the profession.
My take on it; if you’re chasing the dollar (and why not?) I’d opt for agency ■■■■■, be ruthless, show little or no loyalty and go for the highest rate. (Disclaimer: I’m not suggesting that approach is in any way wrong as we’ve been shafted for years, why not shaft back?)
If stability and certain other perks are your thing then go for a full time position.
I’m sure people will disagree with my assessment and that’s fine, I’m theorising tbh. You need to work out what precisely you want and chase that. It’s a driver’s market, so take full advantage of that.
Quinny:
Fill yer boots, but I think the bubble will burst at some point.Ken.
I do too.
That’s why if anyone jumps make sure whatever you’re jumping into is contracted pay. None of this bonus malarkey, actual contracted pay, because that’s a lot harder to take away.
The big money is in weekends bankhols nights and being prepared to show up in an instant when timed delivery drivers don’t show up for work, and yes as Maoster suggests hit it big time.
However, this driver’s bonanza isn’t going to last, it never does, so be shrewd go by gut feeling and drop anchor before it starts to feel a bit wobbly onto basic foodstuffs or similar staple products that arnt whim or luxury products/supplies, ready to ride out the next downturn with your feet safely under the table somewhere, thousands of new and/or import drivers will also looking for jobs having been tempted by the present bubble.
Just as in the old parlour game make sure you’re the one with a seat when the music stops.
JeffA:
I can’t afford boots on 27 grand! I wear clogs!Call me a fool but I just can’t see the rates all going back down again - it just can’t work like that. Once pay gets to a level for a job I’ve never heard of it dropping again. Has anyone heard of this happening in another profession? Did I miss a meeting?
W H Malcolm…
At South Elmsall dropped their drivers money back in 2008. The drivers all bitched like hell but stayed on.
If you want the big money, go agency and rinse them. Show no loyalty at all and work nights (if you can) Saturday’s, Sunday’s, bank holiday and charge premium (if you don’t ask, you don’t get) for Friday’s. Do shifts at the drop of a hat, ask for petrol money if the job’s a way off from where you live. If you’re adaptable and experienced with different bits of kit, your phone should keep pinging with texts for work. The last two agencies I signed with, I’ve never been to their offices. Everything has been done with emails and scanners. Ask direct Q’s on the phone about the work they have. Sign on with as many as you can, the one’s with the work will soon shine over the rest.
Good luck.
Quinny:
Fill yer boots, but I think the bubble will burst at some point.
They said that in the IT sector when rates hit £100 a day, along with “you’ll be too expensive and it’ll be outsourced to India”. They were still saying it when rates hit £200 a day. And now for many it’s £500 a day and people stopped saying it years ago. And funnily enough for a role which can be outsourced and done from anywhere in the world with an internet connection it hasn’t been outsourced.
yourhavingalarf:
JeffA:
I can’t afford boots on 27 grand! I wear clogs!Call me a fool but I just can’t see the rates all going back down again - it just can’t work like that. Once pay gets to a level for a job I’ve never heard of it dropping again. Has anyone heard of this happening in another profession? Did I miss a meeting?
W H Malcolm…
At South Elmsall dropped their drivers money back in 2008. The drivers all bitched like hell but stayed on.
Different times though. In 2008 there was a deep recession, lots of people who’d paid through their noses for houses they couldn’t afford paying over 6% mortgage interest rates and an endless queue of Eastern Europeans happy to come to the UK to drive lorries for national minimum wage so basically you were forced to accept lower pay or have no job and lose your house. We had a recession last year and it’s over with and there’s no longer the endless stream of Eastern Europeans able to come to the UK to work for lower pay and people aren’t worried about losing their homes. Even if they could come here they wouldn’t because the driver shortage isn’t just in the UK but the EU too where pay is comparable and conditions for drivers much better so they’ll go drive in Germany etc instead.
JeffA:
After reading my esteemed colleagues on the board all getting 48 grand I am going to leave my job and go for it. What would you suggest? Sign up with a few agencies or go straight for a permie job?“There is nothing to fear but fear itself! (and stairs)” - Franklin D Roosevelt
Id suggest if you do w/ends , nights , extra shifts , b/h your a mug at the moment , there really is no need to do any of those things to earn the wage you speak of , you can earn that doing mon- fri , days , starting at 6 am , i did £870 last week , mon,tues & thurs , 6 am starts but long days , different place every day , crap lorries etc etc
But for 3 days I can put up with it .
I’d suggest though you don’t say a lot to company drivers as there very upset about things at the moment , & if they knew you were on nigh on £10 ph more than them you’d have to spend most of your wages on hankies for them , best let them to continue to be in denial about it all .
The massaging of the facts by the government-led media - makes me suspicious that they’ll conspire and attempt to get fresh bums on seats "just in time for the rates to go back down again, by which point new driver has become addicted to the job… " 
BUT… The public themselves - might have something to say about that…
It is surely total MADNESS to envisage letting inexperienced drivers out on our roads, don’t know how to drive the bloody truck, let alone how to get around the road pitfalls that we all face day-by-day.
There will also likely be a load of police “looking the other way” - if they suspect a driver is either a new pass, or more common - a young EE who will end up looking the same as a new pass…
This - won’t garner much support from the recently-run-over public neither, of course!
It will take a long time for “wage rises” to filter through to such an extent that newbies are encouraged to come into the industry.
NOT so long - for “retired” drivers to come back to the industry, and lap up the top dollar going around…
The market - belongs to the mobile worker now then, I humbly suggest…
The cogwheels of “intent” - will either be too slow to take advantage of what some already are calling a “temporary blip” in wages, all gone by January next year…
…Banks like to make noises about “Interest rates will rise any minute - honest!”
but they have NOT for a decade already, and are not likely to rise above 2% for another decade to come.
That means if you are waiting for house prices to crash to “get on the ladder” - you’ll still be renting for £1000+ per month - by the time YOU reach “Average age of a driver” eh?
My own feeling is that wage rates will continue edging up - until and unless the government can engineer a recession to push away demand, and complete the process of attempting to re-instate the now-disgraced “Just-in-time” business model.
The “Gig Economy” - has adjusted to prevent further attempts to bring it down, via the “hospitality industry”.
Let’s face it - there were always far too many start-ups, “yet another eaterie”, and young firms with inexperienced EVERYONE working there who cannot possibly compete in the future - with Haulage aiming to serve THIS lot?
If we can avoid a deep recession this autumn - things will be fine.
…Don’t forget too, that there are still a lot of people out there who still believe in Covid as well, which means they’d presumably turn down a £20ph job in say, Leicester - “'Cos it’s too risky!”
Gamblers like myself - have no such qualms.
There’s a big difference between being told “Wear a mask for £20ph - Compliance” and “Run into a hotspot for £20ph - masks are optional”.
…
JeffA:
After reading my esteemed colleagues on the board all getting 48 grand I am going to leave my job and go for it. What would you suggest? Sign up with a few agencies or go straight for a permie job?“There is nothing to fear but fear itself! (and stairs)” - Franklin D Roosevelt
It won’t last. Back to a tenner an hour soon once the government caves in and opens the floodgates. Don’t waste your time and save your money.
JeffA:
I can’t afford boots on 27 grand! I wear clogs!Call me a fool but I just can’t see the rates all going back down again - it just can’t work like that. Once pay gets to a level for a job I’ve never heard of it dropping again. Has anyone heard of this happening in another profession? Did I miss a meeting?
If you are getting £20 for a ■■■■■■■ you don’t go back to accepting a fiver just cos more people enter the profession.
Umm yes, plenty. The golden years of IT contractors charging £500 per day are long gone. Indians and Filipinos now do it for a fraction of that.
JeffA:
I can’t afford boots on 27 grand! I wear clogs!Call me a fool but I just can’t see the rates all going back down again - it just can’t work like that. Once pay gets to a level for a job I’ve never heard of it dropping again. Has anyone heard of this happening in another profession? Did I miss a meeting?
If you are getting £20 for a ■■■■■■■ you don’t go back to accepting a fiver just cos more people enter the profession.
Of course it has happened before, and will again. There will be companies that will be able to find drivers to fill all if their lorries, and they will be able to pick up the work dropped by those that can’t. Once this starts happening it becomes a race between companies to carry out work for the lowest cost, and the easiest thing they can save on is driver wages.
Think back to the good old days for fuel tanker drivers in the 80s, before shell started subcontracting all of their work out. My grandfather drove for Shell then, I was pulling fuel tankers until last year. He earned more in 1990 than I did in 2020.
If you’re lucky enough to be on one of these recently introduced big money contracts, then you’re protected, but pretty soon, new recruits will be brought in on significantly lower wages. Once that happens, the higher earners start to get all the worst runs, vehicles and everything else, as the company will try and force them to quit, while also looking for any reason to sack them. Meanwhile, you can’t leave because the bubble has burst, your wages won’t be matched anywhere else so you have to put up with the ■■■■.
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DCPCFML:
It won’t last. Back to a tenner an hour soon once the government caves in and opens the floodgates.
They don’t show any sign of wanting that to happen though, the Government have repeatedly told the haulage industry that the answer is in their hands and involves making the job more attractive primarily through higher pay. For the whole of my lifetime it has been Labour who have “opened the floodgates” and the Tories are well aware that they are only in power because Labour’s core voter base got fed up with their party’s immigration policies.
DCPCFML:
JeffA:
After reading my esteemed colleagues on the board all getting 48 grand I am going to leave my job and go for it. What would you suggest? Sign up with a few agencies or go straight for a permie job?“There is nothing to fear but fear itself! (and stairs)” - Franklin D Roosevelt
It won’t last. Back to a tenner an hour soon once the government caves in and opens the floodgates. Don’t waste your time and save your money.
They can TRY and “Open the floodgates” - but I rather suspect the EE talent - mostly won’t be coming back now the IR35 loophole has been closed, and youngsters - would only be motivated to take a trucking job IF they, too - can partake of the £20ph+ rates that abound… Oh dear - only on “Two years experience and no more than six points” agency entry requirements, which - the incoming driver isn’t even experienced enough to have the necessary six points in his licence yet (and it will be his - no young girls sniffing around THIS opportinity, I suggest…)
Another aspect that keeps “drivers tight” - is this stigma that still seems to be the case on agency…
“Wouldn’t be seen dead at an agency” attitude - actually helps keep the rates up, so thanks folks - for adding to the “shortage” which is really only a shortage of people willing to work the contracts on offer…
Winseer:
DCPCFML:
JeffA:
After reading my esteemed colleagues on the board all getting 48 grand I am going to leave my job and go for it. What would you suggest? Sign up with a few agencies or go straight for a permie job?“There is nothing to fear but fear itself! (and stairs)” - Franklin D Roosevelt
It won’t last. Back to a tenner an hour soon once the government caves in and opens the floodgates. Don’t waste your time and save your money.
They can TRY and “Open the floodgates” - but I rather suspect the EE talent - mostly won’t be coming back now the IR35 loophole has been closed, and youngsters - would only be motivated to take a trucking job IF they, too - can partake of the £20ph+ rates that abound… Oh dear - only on “Two years experience and no more than six points” agency entry requirements, which - the incoming driver isn’t even experienced enough to have the necessary six points in his licence yet (and it will be his - no young girls sniffing around THIS opportinity, I suggest…)
Another aspect that keeps “drivers tight” - is this stigma that still seems to be the case on agency…
“Wouldn’t be seen dead at an agency” attitude - actually helps keep the rates up, so thanks folks - for adding to the “shortage” which is really only a shortage of people willing to work the contracts on offer…
Open floodgates don’t only allow Eastern Europeans through! There are other nearby (and not-so-nearby) sub-continents and continents from which to source cheap labour. And not just for the driving jobs. Cheap workers can and will be found to fill other “undesirable” hard-to-fill positions, meaning that home-grown workers can move over to work in other slots - again at low wage points.
Roymondo:
Open floodgates don’t only allow Eastern Europeans through! There are other nearby (and not-so-nearby) sub-continents and continents from which to source cheap labour. And not just for the driving jobs. Cheap workers can and will be found to fill other “undesirable” hard-to-fill positions, meaning that home-grown workers can move over to work in other slots - again at low wage points.
The Conservatives have never been a pro-immigration party though so why would they be now?
Harry Monk:
Roymondo:
Open floodgates don’t only allow Eastern Europeans through! There are other nearby (and not-so-nearby) sub-continents and continents from which to source cheap labour. And not just for the driving jobs. Cheap workers can and will be found to fill other “undesirable” hard-to-fill positions, meaning that home-grown workers can move over to work in other slots - again at low wage points.The Conservatives have never been a pro-immigration party though so why would they be now?
Similar to the reasons why although firmly wedded to cutting taxes and formally opposed to any increase in NI, that’s just what they’ve done?
Roymondo:
Similar to the reasons why although firmly wedded to cutting taxes and formally opposed to any increase in NI, that’s just what they’ve done?
Probably because the only other option was a ‘Wealth Tax’ and that would affect their mates/donors.