My son would like to know what is good about the road haulage industry
Being out and about CAN be good, unless you spending most of your time in busy city centres. Also if you prefer working on your own, it is a good option.
As well as the good bits there a substantial number of downsides too, but those are for another thread.
It gives you a chance of earning just about enough for a reasonable living, if you ■■■■■■ around at school like I did.
- Probably the closest you’ll get to being your own boss (if the office leave you alone), without all the grief of actually running a company.
- A fairly decent wage for the risk and skill level (although I’d say the skill level is higher than many perceive).
- You get to see the country or potentially the world.
- You can moan about other drivers and there’ll be lots of people who’ll agree with you.
Ive been in it over 50 years, and im still travelling europe…so it has a lot going for it, depends on your mindset too, bit like being hungry, but cant find anything to eat. There are many variations of the road haulage industry, what does your son want…just to drive from A to B…load and unload ( well basically thats what its about ) does he have a special like for Tautliners ( curtainsiders ) Tankers ( food products like juices or Milk ) or Fuel tankers where you the driver is required to set up and discharge/load the products ) powder tankers…Gas tankers, heavy haulage, ( plant like excavators, cranes, dump trucks etc ) Parcel deliveries, general haulage…does he want to spend nights away from home, does he want to spend a week tramping, thats going anywhere to load, and anywhere to unload, does he like Tippers, in muck and ■■■■■ all day, or foodstuffs( eg from the farm to warehouse) parsnips or swede potatoes, sugar beet, scrap metal for example, the choice is his, does he like big companies like stobart, or small family firms, …good luck in his quest.
SHYTOT:
what is good about the road haulage industry
Some operate pretty nice motors which are renewed often & well maintained.
eagerbeaver:
It gives you a chance of earning just about enough for a reasonable living, if you ■■■■■■ around at school like I did.
Same here 
SHYTOT:
My son would like to know what is good about the road haulage industry
Took a mate of mine for a trip in the lorry. He’d never been in one before and was surprised at how different the world looked from a cab. Best bit for me is being in the countryside and seeing it properly.
blue estate:
eagerbeaver:
It gives you a chance of earning just about enough for a reasonable living, if you ■■■■■■ around at school like I did.Same here
+2
The haulage industry is one of the last jobs for those of us who want to be left alone, within reason, and differing sectors of the industry fare differently here re the amount of spying and monitoring equipment being used, and in that respect the line in the sand for me will be the driver facing camera, i don’t mind trackers, and i’m happy to have outward facing cameras giving 360’ views…the latter two are now needed due to the vastly different country we now live in compared to even 30 years ago.
I’m a natural loner and it would drive me up the wall to be stuck in one place, day after day year in year out especially if i had to work side by side with the same people constantly, nor can i play office politics nor interested in kissing peoples backsides.
If you have the right attitude to the job and skill yourself up, then with a bit of lady luck on your side you can still find some jobs paying rather good money, these jobs tend to be a little specialised or involve muck and/or graft and using your loaf.
I’ve made a decent living from it, still relatively sane and still look forward to going to work after over 40 years on the road.
There have been improvements disappointments and changes, i always wanted to and enjoyed driving lorries when they were lorries and the job required skill and a certain amount of brawn/capability, unfortunately much of that has changed which has generally disappointed me, but for others it’s made the job tempting easy and simple, i think the changes have cheapened the job overall in many ways, whether the changes have been beneficial to the typical haulage employee and the country as a whole is an argument for another thread.
you can be border line illiterate yet still one of the best at your job, you can earn more than skilled workers, your left alone most of the time, you get to see new things and people.
your paid to listen to the radio, you can at present be very choosy about where you work if you are good at your job.
your trucks are as easy to drive as most cars nowadays.