Wages- the reality?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS THE UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUM (INTERACTIVE)
21

stu675:
Such a shame that almost no one is willing to say which company or industry sector they’re working in.

Sorry I forgot that not everyone reads every post, but I’ve mentioned a few times I work for Tesco, employed direct, not agency. I just assumed people woukd recognise the name and remember, like I’m some form of celebrity :laughing:

It’s the best job with the best terms I’ve had in road transport. There’s zero hassle and we get left alone to do the job. There’s overtime for those that want it and for those that don’t the days are reasonable enough.

I despair when I hear “old timers” (who are on a better legacy contract I’ll add) run it down and talk about leaving ,- drivers that have been there 20 years and such - as they dint have a grasp on the reality of what woukd be required elsewhere while I acutely remember the recent past and what it can be like at other places by comparison.

22

toonsy:

stu675:
Such a shame that almost no one is willing to say which company or industry sector they’re working in.

Sorry I forgot that not everyone reads every post, but I’ve mentioned a few times I work for Tesco, employed direct, not agency. I just assumed people woukd recognise the name and remember, like I’m some form of celebrity :laughing:

It’s the best job with the best terms I’ve had in road transport. There’s zero hassle and we get left alone to do the job. There’s overtime for those that want it and for those that don’t the days are reasonable enough.

I despair when I hear “old timers” (who are on a better legacy contract I’ll add) run it down and talk about leaving ,- drivers that have been there 20 years and such - as they dint have a grasp on the reality of what woukd be required elsewhere while I acutely remember the recent past and what it can be like at other places by comparison.

im not sure if you do stores or rdcs but when i was on the rigid doing express stores it was an easy number. Only issue i had was the planners planning me for a 13:45 drop when i didnt start till 14:30 then would have a panik on because the 5th drop had a deadline. Soon learnt which stores were rigid with thier times and which wernt. Only other issue was some of the stores would take 40 min to come out to you.

23

stu675:
Such a shame that almost no one is willing to say which company or industry sector they’re working in.

I work for amerisourcebergen.
What about you?

24

cooper1203:

stu675:
Such a shame that almost no one is willing to say which company or industry sector they’re working in.

ilearnt not to do that the hard way. trouble is people have long memories and if you say you work for a company and then have issues with a different company everyone assumes it was the origional one if that makes any sence.

I try not to name and shame on forums at least in public as my experience might not the the same as someone elses or it could be a different branch

I realise that, but if you’re in a specific sector like a milk tanker or whatever it would be helpful rather than just, I get this amount, but it’s not for you.

25

stu675:

cooper1203:

stu675:
Such a shame that almost no one is willing to say which company or industry sector they’re working in.

ilearnt not to do that the hard way. trouble is people have long memories and if you say you work for a company and then have issues with a different company everyone assumes it was the origional one if that makes any sence.

I try not to name and shame on forums at least in public as my experience might not the the same as someone elses or it could be a different branch

I realise that, but if you’re in a specific sector like a milk tanker or whatever it would be helpful rather than just, I get this amount, but it’s not for you.

if it helps i do fridge work delivering fruit and veg to rdc’s some wouldnt like it though as i do the same 10-15 routes but it suits me as i can build my confidence with out having to worry about finding the place and dealing with obnoxious goods in people that expect me to run here there and everywhere with palets of goods

26

stu675:
Such a shame that almost no one is willing to say which company or industry sector they’re working in.

Howdens Joinery on agency, a couple of months into my 9th year there. Gutted my back prevents me from being able to do 5 days a week every week or I’d have been employed there a while ago.

27

I’m on £15.95 basic across the board doesn’t matter if you do nights,days, weekends,bank holidays. Overtime used to be basic aswell but that got increased to £19.14 …but guess what no overtime available now as we are dead all the time. I can see redundancy looming.

28

I’m on a very low rate of pay, but a high rate of job satisfaction.

The pay is dire. Starting at £11 p.h for class one. Nights out and overtime bring in about £800 net for all the hours god sends. I know it sounds like a terrible job. The truck is not top spec, but it’s fine. The company is quite ‘casual’. No driver facing cameras, no chasing, park where you want to. Just get the (easy) job done and bring the truck back in one piece.

I used to work 37.5hrs in the civil service, but it felt like a hundred hours. I still struggle getting my lazy bum out of bed on a Monday, but I don’t get that knot in my stomach when you do a job you don’t like. That’s worth more to me the the £££s

Of course a pay rise wouldn’t go amiss. But if it carries on like this, we’ll get one anyway when minimum wage forces it :open_mouth:

29

RIPPER:
50k gross, including nights out and meal allowance (not taxed obviously)
Happy enough with that…not maxed out hours wise, generally 12 hour shifts, 12 hour rest periods
Could be a lot worse :sunglasses:

Your not saying how many nights and how much meal allowance go to make up 50k
One thing I never did was to include that money as my wage,and I dare say many on here don`t either

30

grumpybum:
I’m on a very low rate of pay, but a high rate of job satisfaction.

The pay is dire. Starting at £11 p.h for class one. Nights out and overtime bring in about £800 net for all the hours god sends. I know it sounds like a terrible job. The truck is not top spec, but it’s fine. The company is quite ‘casual’. No driver facing cameras, no chasing, park where you want to. Just get the (easy) job done and bring the truck back in one piece.

I used to work 37.5hrs in the civil service, but it felt like a hundred hours. I still struggle getting my lazy bum out of bed on a Monday, but I don’t get that knot in my stomach when you do a job you don’t like. That’s worth more to me the the £££s

Of course a pay rise wouldn’t go amiss. But if it carries on like this, we’ll get one anyway when minimum wage forces it :open_mouth:

I know exactly what you mean mate, unless you are in desperate debt or something,.money ain’t everything.

My wages are a bit better than yours admittedly, but I’d hate to work for some micro managed outfit with their ‘Compliance managers’, driver facing constant and random viewing cameras, ‘de ■■■■ briefing’ and such ■■■■■■■■ :unamused: , who probably pay top dollar and maxing out your hours.

I realise there are good firms out there who are best of both worlds, good money/t s and c.s alongside being a firm that looks after you, I have worked for a couple in fact,.but they are few and far between nowadays.

My lot on the whole are among the higher payers in my area, but they are best described as ‘the best of a bad bunch’ around here,.rather than being a good firm to work for, but I enjoy the actual job and type of work I do there,.even if I do have to put up with a lot of needless b/s.

31

lolipop:
Your not saying how many nights and how much meal allowance go to make up 50k
One thing I never did was to include that money as my wage,and I dare say many on here don`t either

Where I’m at the permanent drivers are on salary. They’re on that with no nights out or meal allowance. Nights out is paid in addition to that along with any bank holidays or weekend work.

32

lolipop:

RIPPER:
50k gross, including nights out and meal allowance (not taxed obviously)
Happy enough with that…not maxed out hours wise, generally 12 hour shifts, 12 hour rest periods
Could be a lot worse :sunglasses:

Your not saying how many nights and how much meal allowance go to make up 50k
One thing I never did was to include that money as my wage,and I dare say many on here don`t either

+1
You hear about some guys and their ‘good money’ but they are maybe counting their exs.and night out money.
That and the fact they are maybe on same rate right through for some ridiculously long working week,.and it ain’t ‘good money’ at all .

33

Amazon service partner £37k fixed salary but the hours change all the time. I’ve kept records and my average is 37.5 hrs a week which equates to £19 p/h. Makes up for the driver facing camera and late nights.

34

stu675:
Amazon service partner £37k fixed salary but the hours change all the time. I’ve kept records and my average is 37.5 hrs a week which equates to £19 p/h. Makes up for the driver facing camera and late nights.

maybe you can tell me somthing then… when ever i order anything off amazon it comes to rochester then goes on a detour to somewhere else before coming to maidstone for delivery

35

I work shifts for one of the big companies as a new driver just coming up to my first year. Mine is made up a lot by bonus’ and to my surprise they kept the retention bonus for the following year so obviously drivers are still a problem.

Work on fridges and average 42 hours a week. (Only work 180 days a year) I am on a daily rate that goes into O/T after a set period and the rest made up with bonus so hourly rate goes up and down. Although looks to average £16/h for the past 38 weeks of the financial year. On track for around 34k. Would easily be 45k on a Mon-Fri job as I would be doing more hours.

A bit less than what I was on in my previous industry but without the stress and I enjoy the job thoroughly. Have always loved driving just wish I did it earlier.

36

Class 1 driver, 41k basic Mon-Fri. Then extra at weekends. £26 UK £36 EU nights out. So 55k+ can be done and im not out all week every week. I do a lot of weekends though, I get paid 8hr days when parked up on weekends for break when normally in a hotel or I get that on longer boat trips. E.G Drive truck from our yard to Poole on Saturday for boat to Bilbao so 3hrs drive with customs and booking in, then sit on boat till Monday morning with free food/drink and be paid 8x £Sat, 8x £Sun and 2x £36 but reality is me sleeping, drinking and watching Netflix.

I get the positives of weekends in nice places between jobs, and some slightly less glamorous. Managed last weekend in France so obviously was in the bar for the football world cup, shame there was no street party after. Beaches in Greece, Budapest and then motels in Poland but I can make the best of most places.

We have trackers on the truck but no cameras and still a nice company that just gives you the address, delivery/collection times and boat/train bookings and leave you to decide how you get it done to a point.

I don’t do mad hours and some weeks only make one collection and delivery.

37

stu675:
Amazon service partner £37k fixed salary but the hours change all the time. I’ve kept records and my average is 37.5 hrs a week which equates to £19 p/h. Makes up for the driver facing camera and late nights.

What’s a Amazon service partner ?

38

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39

cooper1203:
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maybe you can tell me somthing then… when ever i order anything off amazon it comes to rochester then goes on a detour to somewhere else before coming to maidstone for delivery

Rochester will be a landing site where all the suppliers deliver to, and the Amazon trucks will redistribute from. I.e. no vans will pickup from there. If there’s an intermediate site before the Maidstone site where the cars or vans collect from, then I can only think it’s because Amazon has money to burn.

40

dozy:
]
What’s a Amazon service partner ?

I drive a sign written unit and trailer, I don’t believe they employ any HGV drivers in this country.