Afternoon all, it’s that irritating driver-turned-transport-waffler needing you to do her work for her again!
I’ve spent most of this morning sitting here trying to think of reasons why people SHOULD become wagon drivers for part of a feature on the subject I’m supposed to be writing. This is all well and good but I quit the job because I was sick of the bad stuff, and while I admit there are things I miss I can’t very well write 2000 words on “my last motor had a comfy mattress, though the one before was crap” or “at least you don’t get bored of the view…unless it’s the of a chain link fence opposite the loading bay you’ve been stuck on for the last 5 hours, being perpetually told you’ll be started in 15 minutes”.
In a state of near desperation I even asked Rikki, another man who saw sense, only in his case it was nearly ten years before I did. Bearing in mind we both work from home now his answer was “If the missus ■■■■■■ you off you can turn the phone off and not speak to her until Saturday.” My response was to shut my office door, but it’s not the same as throwing the phone across the cab, not least because I immediately realised my coffee was on the other side of it.
So. Come on you lot, bail me out. Again.
Why SHOULD anyone in their right mind choose lorry driving for a living?
The longer I do it less and less is good to be frank! However to balance that out I can imagine that an outsider with no knowledge of the industry might imagine its glamorous in a bizarre way, images of trucking through the Alps or entering Italian road tunnels with the azure sea on one side and a sheer cliff on the other. The lure of being the captain of your own ship and choosing which Mediteranean beach to park up on for the night.
Christ, I’m making it sound attractive even to my jaded ears! In all honesty though the things I’ve described are whilst stretching the truth a tad things that are relegated to the dustbin of history since the advent of logistical providers and JIT deliveries. Sure (some of us) are left alone to our own devices to do the job as we see fit, but with constant monitoring woe betide the driver who abuses that trust!
About the only saving grace I find is that I am pretty much left alone, that’s not to say that I’m a loner, on the contrary, but I like to solve different problems that the job throws up without having to follow some script devised by some spotty pencil neck teenager in an office somewhere.
For me I chose it for the sheer plethora of innuendo opportunities.
The illusion of freedom, chances of new adventurers and also it’s a job that doesn’t involve sitting in an office.
Fresh air, banter with fellows drivers, humour, an enjoyment of driving big stuff etc all play their part.
Free time as well is a massive bonus on box jockey work, I’m currently improving my Spanish.
But all in all I chose it and still enjoy it within reason because the good days outweigh the bad.
After only 3 years in the game, I’ve found that the job is full of ups and downs. Some companies good and others not so much.
I think the biggest appeal of the job still has to be the sense of freedom you get from the open road. Sure the hours are ludicrous and the job can be dirty at times. But all in all I get a good days pay for a good days work.
I’ve been an agency driver on a zero hours contract for the last 15 yrs and it suits me down to the ground. I do 1-2 nights a week and have my own business for the rest of the week. I’m 42 yrs old now and truck driving was what I wanted to do since I was at school as my old man was a truck driver. I do enough to keep my hand in and the company I drive for takes care of my CPC training and everything else. Life is good
Its all about finding the right work, as a general rule but not always away from the for profit circus, the job is vey simple today its not physically demanding and pays well for what you have to do, I like it I’m about to leave now for an 18:00 start and its not an issue the job is only hard if you rush around trying to complete ever increasing work loads.
The good paying gigs are plentiful but don’t expect to work Monday to Friday to get one (unless you think tramping all week for £450 is “good money”) own account is the way to go, loads of staff benefits, sick pay proper overtime payments unionised, and sensible hours.
Like I have said before, go to any RDC look at the drivers in goods in then go see the ones in goods out.
Like its been said being left alone for the day,turn up in the morning only a security bod about,or maybe a driver or two or a yard god.
Open road only thing is its infested with no brain van drivers knob car drivers who can’t see further than their car who think they are the only one on the road,road closures diversions on diversions crap matrix signs telling us lane closed to find it isn’t,
Luckily doing our shops get to know shop staff so a cuppa isn’t far away,but driving a artic is what I have wanted to do since I was at school so it’s all good oh and crumpet spotting is an added bonus getting paid to spot totty is a bonus that just has to be done lol.
I like to breakfast in a different cafe every morning. Drive different roads every day. Drink in different pub every evening and sleep with a different woman every night. The job’s a good’un.
For me its simple, I’m practically minded, so I enjoy the precision of driving a largeish vehicle(its only Class ■■■) and being challenged to solve the problems of getting the Green Stuff from load bed to garden as quickly and efficiently as possible.
I like my own company, and I especially like attending F-reds University, one day a week an educational something gets piped directly from stereo to ears, and hopefully some of it trickles into my brain.
I look at my friends, who all earn more money than I do, and I feel a twinge of envy, but then I remember that actually I have always dreaded being in an office, and being a drone…
Like every other job that people who should have studied harder at school end up doing…It has been ruined by accountants, consultant managers, and inexperienced graduates operating to a template.
I did the education, had the Senior Management jobs and told the consultants to do one…The whole aspect of the working life has been turned into a joyless experience by the few, for the many in the relentless pursuit of the imaginary £/$
Good luck with your assignment, I doubt that you will be able to put much truth into it, as the truth just is no longer attractive .
What about the ones thinking of returning after doing a bit of manual graft, but consider returning to driving, to ‘take it a bit easier’ again…■■
Sat on your arse most of the day, near enough outside, and not in an office getting a banging head ache due to someone else fiddling with the air con to suit themselves…
Back in the day you could do long-distance trips to the end of Europe and beyond, I wouldn’t get into the job now if I was the age I was then. I used to love the job, now I absolutely hate it and just do the minimum amount of agency work possible to pay essential bills. Neither of my kids are remotely interested in driving a truck, they’ve both got more sense.
I’m sat here in Canada writing this, the only reason I’m here is because I have a class one. Although that wasn’t in my mind when I started driving 30yrs ago.
I jumped straight into continental work and I was lucky enough to get some very good jobs doing it, I never went as far as I would’ve liked, no Russia or M/E, but I went everywhere else and enjoyed almost every minute of it.
Then I bought my own lorry and ended up with a small fleet, then had a sabbatical at TRUCK magazine, which was a job I never even dreamed possible and it exceeded my expectations, but the lure of running my own lorries was too great and I went back to that.
When the EE invasion started I got out of it again and ended up in Canada, driving a blinded up Peterbilt to California, Florida and New York among other less exotic destinations for 5yrs and then became an owner operator again, now I have two trucks of my own and I pull 2x53’ trailers around Western Canada.
If all that was still possible, I would do it all again in a heartbeat, but it isn’t and if I was 30yrs younger I would be looking at something else to pursue as a career.
As I’ve heard man many times over the years, the job’s [zb]ed and in my opinion it really is now.
things that are relegated to the dustbin of history since the advent of logistical providers and JIT deliveries. Sure (some of us) are left alone to our own devices to do the job as we see fit, but with constant monitoring woe betide the driver who abuses that trust!
