What's good about this [zb]? Another T&D gem

[carryfast]

newmercman:
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.

At the opposite end of the scale I started out in the manufacturing industry in accordance with my father’s wishes and advice having left school wanting the opposite in being a truck driver.Trust me the former left me almost suicidal in terms of the depressing monotony of 8-9 hours per day which seemed like double that.While even with the worst case scenario in my case of a career which meant being lumbered with the worst aspects of UK work because of the bs pecking order and/or ‘experience’ elitism which plagues the industry I’d do it all again.With hindsight in the knowledge that a whole career spent on bulk refuse work for example would still be better by a mile than being stuck working a factory for 8 hours per day let alone overtime.On that note,although the vacancies adverts in our local paper now consist of only half a page,it’s no surprise to me that even in that environment there is at least one advert for factory machinists ( CNC etc operators ) with the expected desperately stated ‘top rates of pay’.But equally as expected absolutely nothing for truck drivers even for refuse bulkers let alone international work.Which says everything.

[more_ale]

Please disregard any views that state “it’s living the dream” or similar. These fools who come out with such stereotypical drivel are the ones quite happy to sleep all week in a truck loaded with Kuda/All Ride junk, ■■■■■■■ and ■■■■■■■■ in hedges for less money because “it’s a way of life.” If it’s such a way of life go and become a gypo. You can ■■■■ and ■■■■ in hedges as much as you want, be reviled by everyone, blamed for everything, wake up in the same vehicle every night in a different place and to top it off the police wont bother you.

[newmercman]

Carryfast:
Trust me the former left me almost suicidal in terms of the depressing monotony

I know exactly what you mean, I feel the same when I read some of your posts

[emoji95] [emoji185] [emoji379] [emoji23] [emoji23]

[chrisarbon]

Lorry driving is a bit like speaking English; most people who have a bash at it can get the job done with varying degrees of “muddling through.” But with a bit more training; would most drivers know what an interrogative statement was? That is the question.

[eagerbeaver]

Good things…time passes quite quickly. And I didn’t listen at school so this is about the only thing I can do to earn £30k.

Bad things…haven’t got enough power left in my computer to list.

[robroy]

I done quite well at school but still ended up doing it.
How stupid am I ?

[stanley_knife]

Lucy:
Because the whole point of this feature is to balance out some of the more negative ones which will have come before

If, as an ex lorry driver, you can’t think of the positive’s of the job but you have plenty of negatives the piece is almost written for you. The piece cannot be balanced and, as such, shouldn’t be made so.

[harry_monk]

Lucy:

Stanley Knife:

Lucy:
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.

Why only write about the positive reasons when surely you should be writing a balanced piece showing the pro’s and the cons.

Because the whole point of this feature is to balance out some of the more negative ones which will have come before it. Besides which, who’s to say I won’t be pointing out that posting here to ask for positives this time just got me more of the same misery?

Thanks all. Keep it coming…

Apart from SatNavs, I can’t think of a single thing about the job which is better than when I started. It just gets crappier and crappier every year. Now, apparently, HMRC even want to tax our night-out money. I can’t think of many other occupations where you would have to pay the taxman whenever you wanted a shower.

[andrewg]

Maybe its more a UK thing ref being disillusioned with the job?? Crap food in laybys, having to ■■■■ in the hedge/ nowhere to parkup,boss on your back ect ect? Theres also this ‘race to the bottom’ thing to contend with as well…

[robroy]

What’s with all this ■■■■ ing in the hedge ■■■■■■■■, can I just distance myself from all this stereotype crap.

I’ve tramped for more years than I want to admit, but can never remember ■■■■ ing in a ■■■■ hedge.

Our reputation is in shreds as it is, people who are non drivers dip into this forum, keep things real and speak for yourselves, we are not all ■■■■ low life socially inept members of the underclass just because we live in trucks.

ffs.

[harry_monk]

robroy:
What’s with all this [zb] ing in the hedge ■■■■■■■■, can I just distance myself from all this stereotype crap.

I’ve tramped for more years than I want to admit, but can never remember [zb] ing in a [zb] hedge.

Me neither. Carrier bag, bin liner, sheet of newspaper maybe. But never a hedge.

[robroy]

Harry Monk:

robroy:
What’s with all this [zb] ing in the hedge ■■■■■■■■, can I just distance myself from all this stereotype crap.

I’ve tramped for more years than I want to admit, but can never remember [zb] ing in a [zb] hedge.

Me neither. Carrier bag, bin liner, sheet of newspaper maybe. But never a hedge.

The point is though, I assume you disposed of the evidence in a bin or skip etc, rather than leave it for some poor ■■■■ to stand in.
There is nothing worse than having to do a roadside Michael Jackson moonwalk before you can get back in the cab thanks to some dirty inconsiderate ■■■■■ .

[jaxdemon]

Well you could go work in a warehouse being a drone, looking at the same ■■■■ everyday working your ■■■ off and being paid min wage or in Mcdonald’s running around like a headless chicken again being paid crap wages or you could be in a truck out on the road on your own being paid an half decent wage for doing next to nothing looking at different parts of the UK or Europe.

Threads like this look like they are aimed to deter people from doing the job but the fact remains people just moan for the sake of moaning. People ■■■■ and whinge but do nothing about the situation they find themselves in and large majority of them are Truck Drivers. If you ain’t happy you leave or you could just come on here everyday moaning about your job until the day you retire and then ■■■■ and whinge again about how you regretted not changing careers when you had the chance.

depressive!

[trevhcs]

I’ve only been doing it for around 4 months, so can’t quite compare to many on here, but having tried various other jobs I’d say the best thing is being out on your own and to a little degree being your own boss…even if someone is watching the tracker, on the phone or similar.

Been in an office for 14 years and although it’s warmer (only slightly) I’d still prefer to brave the elements and be on my own out there. No rose tinting required as it can be utterly awful especially with the pressures to get it all done (class 2 multidrop) and RDC’s messing up the day, but overall, I think for anyone who prefers their own company this isn’t such a bad job and it’s easier to get into than train driving. I didn’t do badly at school, but still not well enough for the latter.

Would still prefer a job where I didn’t have to take the unit back to the yard, got everything through on a computer and didn’t get any calls from the office at all, but doubt that really exists.

[harry_monk]

JaxDemon:
Threads like this look like they are aimed to deter people from doing the job but the fact remains people just moan for the sake of moaning. People ■■■■ and whinge but do nothing about the situation they find themselves in and large majority of them are Truck Drivers. If you ain’t happy you leave or you could just come on here everyday moaning about your job until the day you retire and then ■■■■ and whinge again about how you regretted not changing careers when you had the chance.

I think it’s fair to say that the job has deteriorated massively over the years. The long distance continental work has completely disappeared, the office staff spy on you using driver-facing cameras, there hasn’t been a wage rise in ten years now, the DVSA have become self-funding and just want your money, even HMRC want a slice of your night-out money. There’s not a lot to be said for the job any more, which might just be why youngsters aren’t coming into the game.

[alte_hase]

.

[carryfast]

Harry Monk:
I think it’s fair to say that the job has deteriorated massively over the years. The long distance continental work has completely disappeared, the office staff spy on you using driver-facing cameras, there hasn’t been a wage rise in ten years now, the DVSA have become self-funding and just want your money, even HMRC want a slice of your night-out money. There’s not a lot to be said for the job any more, which might just be why youngsters aren’t coming into the game.

Blimey Harry it’s only those who were lucky enough to get onto international who think it was there for taking.When even in the best of those days it wasn’t easy to get on at all.Which,like today,often just left the choice of sorting out the best of a bad bunch.In which case the zb varying from local multi drop/building deliveries/local airfreight etc to the worst types of uk general haulage work is probably as bad now as it was then.While the decent niches like medium/long distance bulk pallet deliveries,or bulk refuse containers,among others probably haven’t changed much either.The biggest retrograde changes probably being in the trunking sector such as the move from pre limiter job and finish direct links to shorter distance hub system work,like airfreight,often requiring warehouse duties between runs.While yes control freak additions like driver cameras and trucks that don’t require much driver input can be added to that.

None of which is likely to make someone who’s cut out for driving want to work in a factory/office/shop/restaurant/warehouse instead.Although too much zb work,with an ever reducing supply of those attractive uk niches,might make them think twice in looking for a car,van or bus type driving job instead.While on the same basis money,in the form of hourly rates,obviously isn’t the first priority in that choice.

[harry_monk]

Carryfast:
Blimey Harry it’s only those who were lucky enough to get onto international who think it was there for taking.When even in the best of those days it wasn’t easy to get on at all.

In east Kent in the late 1980s, it was 100x harder to get a UK only job than Italy runs.

[robroy]

alte hase:

I can’t very well write 2000 words on "my last motor had a comfy mattress’’

That any one would feel it warranted the mentioning of the ‘comfort value’ of a mattress is testament to a job offering the worst conditions in road transport. How anybody or any body sees anything of kudos in working and sleeping in a little box-on-wheels: placing great emphasis here in Europe on the word ‘LITTLE’, and to wake up in the mornings to the sights, sounds and smells far more reminiscent of a landfill tip than someone away from home on a business trip leaves me forever grateful not to have been born or raised in Europe.

I’ve never done nights-out or ‘tramping’ no matter in what country I have lived and worked as a truck driver, and viewing the countless trucks parked overnight in lay-bys and on industrial estates makes me feel ill to think of their driver’s bathroom routines, it doesn’t enter my head that I won’t take a bath or shower before retiring to bed, as for the thought of urinating into bottles and/or defecating into bags or any other unseemly improvised manner of going to the toilet I regard such drivers who do such things as base and disgusting beings who’ve departed from what it means to be first-world citizen. I would no more recommend such a [supposed] lifestyle to any worker than recommended my daughter to have become a prostitute.

And it is of little wonder to me why women are most noted by their absence in the sector of road transport referred to by the mythological claptrap known as ‘living the dream’, for any person to suggest that women aren’t capable of undertaking such employment in this day-and-age is to prove little but their own neanderthal mindset, frankly I’m of the opinion that any industrial vocation that entails such disgusting features it deteres women fron being involved is one not fit for anyone with a true sense of self worth, pride or dignity.

Jeez mate, that is one hell of a depressing analysis of the job that I do comparing it to your daughter becoming a prostitute? ffs!

Ok, things are pretty bad, in a lot of respects compared to what they used to be, in other apects things have improved.
The ‘tin boxes’ are now on par with a lot of luxury motor homes in terms of comfort and self contained facilities, ok not comparable with being at home, but maybe next best thing, and not half as bleak as you put them down as.

By your own admission you have never done nights out, so it hardly qualifies you to condemn the job to that degree, being that it is speculative opinion rather than first hand experience.

Why do people like you think of us in such a negative (not to mention btw. downright insulting) ways.
We are trampERS not ■■■■ TRAMPS .

Ok, I admit a few do resemble the latter, but most of us do have standards, and I like to think that we are in the majority.

I have a shower every day, if I can not for any reason, I have the next best thing in the cab.
My cab interior is clean and spotless and is maintained so, every day.

I have never had a ■■■■ in the cab in my life, I use the nearest toilet the following morning.
Ok I hold my hands up to the ■■■■■■■ in a bottle thing, but it is more hygenic than doing it on a park ground, causing an unholy unhygenic ■■■■ stink after a few days.

I do not park in lay bys, but somewhere near to some facilities.
As for kudos/ living the dream…who tf mentioned that exactly?

It is just a job where you have to make the best of, if you do not, ok it is pretty crap, and those that CHOOSE hardship have a ■■■■ miserable life in a truck.

So can I suggest that you keep your speculative non substantiated, generalised, negative ■■■■■■■■ to yourself until you are qualified to comment.

[carryfast]

Harry Monk:

Carryfast:
Blimey Harry it’s only those who were lucky enough to get onto international who think it was there for taking.When even in the best of those days it wasn’t easy to get on at all.

In east Kent in the late 1980s, it was 100x harder to get a UK only job than Italy runs.

From experience for a driver with UK only experience and who wasn’t prepared to blag the way into the job it wasn’t.