You sound like the type of bloke that may enjoy it, if you are coming into it with a realistic attitude and not expecting high wages then you should fit right in. If you want to do it then you might as well scratch the itch and get it out of your system. I enjoy it because I don’t expect anything from it other than I enjoy driving in general. I wouldn’t listen to too many on here as they expect too much from it, it is a lifestyle type of job and it can be enjoyable if you have the right attitude. Raise you’re expectations and you will hate it.
Checkout what employment opportunities are available in your area before committing money for training. There is not a driver shortage and there will be lots of experienced folk looking for work when things settle down. I have been driving for 25 years and don’t mind going to work.
Dont listen to what people say. Go for it its your choice. Everyone said the same years ago when i did mine. Follow your heart man. Some of the people who moan here have been doing it for decades.
Hate on here is something I’ve not seen mate & it’s just simply not allowed.
If you feel you are being hard done by then just report the post to a moderator & there will be a smack down inbound quicker than a Tomahawk hits the target. [emoji362]
I wouldn’t post here if it was as you say. Sure guys are blunt & to the point but truckers are not known for mincing their words, sometimes it may not be what you want to hear but most blokes won’t steer you wrong.
If you want any advice then PM me. I won’t post it on the forum as that’s not allowed apparently. See what I did there? [emoji23]
I’ve never read the forum rules, don’t need to really as long as you aren’t a knob. [emoji1787]
Ignore them, its your choice on what you do. With many of the “cab jockey`s”,as much as they think they are “drivers” they will never be “proper” drivers as long as they have a hole in their aris. After close to 50 years on the road (now retired) I have forgotten more than many will ever know.
Some times had been tough going but in general I made a good living.
Just a dad:
Don’t know if i get shot down and hate but this seems a decent group
Im in the process of getting my class 2 well when covid allows at the moment
Trucks have always been where i wanted to be health stopped me to start with but now in position to do it
Why is it im getting nothing but stupid remarks
For doing the training
Then getting told i wont be a proper driver as its just a big van
Im not new to the industry i know there plenty banter and more than happy to have a laugh
But really what im seeing is just madness slagging the job off etc
If they aint happy why not leave and do something they are happy with
Im not doing it expecting big money im doing it for me as i love driving love trucks and the money i can earn will be better for my wife and daughters
My old man been driver for years now in his 60s so retirement is looming
Not once has ever slagged the job off and try to put people off as he said its a lifestyle more than just a job you either love or you dont
So why all the hate on the job and class 2 ■■
Cheers all
You will find, a lot of the class 1 drivers don’t care what they drive, as long as it pays the bills… as for a class 2 being a big van so what, do you really care? If you enjoy it and don’t mind driving a class 2, home every night carry on, a lot of these who say it can’t do it… a friend of mine in the UK has not the intelligence to pass a class 2 so stuck as a bus driver.
Just a dad:
Don’t know if i get shot down and hate but this seems a decent group
Im in the process of getting my class 2 well when covid allows at the moment
Trucks have always been where i wanted to be health stopped me to start with but now in position to do it
Why is it im getting nothing but stupid remarks
For doing the training
Then getting told i wont be a proper driver as its just a big van
The class 2 is a bit of banter. You’ll find a lot of it in haulage and if you’re not from an old style engineering/garage type environment it’ll come as a bit of a culture shock. If you’ve spent your life in an office or working in the civil service or companies with HR departments enforcing the latest political correct bollox it’ll come as one hell of a shock because political correctness does not exist in this job. Basically it’s like it was in the 70s and 80s and you need to be able to take people ripping the crap out of you and have a thick skin and be able to give as good back or it’ll be a miserable existence, especially for a snowflake millennial.
The job can be hard, the hours are crap, people who work at delivery locations make your life more complicated or harder than it needs to be for absolutely no reason you’ll be able to fathom out other than them having a complete lack of any common sense but you’ll find out for yourself why there’s all the whining about it once you get working. You’ll especially find out once traffic levels are back to normal and you spend 5 days a week dragging a lorry through rush hour twice a day.
Just a dad:
Don’t know if i get shot down and hate but this seems a decent group
Im in the process of getting my class 2 well when covid allows at the moment
Trucks have always been where i wanted to be health stopped me to start with but now in position to do it
Why is it im getting nothing but stupid remarks
For doing the training
Then getting told i wont be a proper driver as its just a big van
The class 2 is a bit of banter. You’ll find a lot of it in haulage and if you’re not from an old style engineering/garage type environment it’ll come as a bit of a culture shock. If you’ve spent your life in an office or working in the civil service or companies with HR departments enforcing the latest political correct bollox it’ll come as one hell of a shock because political correctness does not exist in this job. Basically it’s like it was in the 70s and 80s and you need to be able to take people ripping the crap out of you and have a thick skin and be able to give as good back or it’ll be a miserable existence, especially for a snowflake millennial.
The job can be hard, the hours are crap, people who work at delivery locations make your life more complicated or harder than it needs to be for absolutely no reason you’ll be able to fathom out other than them having a complete lack of any common sense but you’ll find out for yourself why there’s all the whining about it once you get working. You’ll especially find out once traffic levels are back to normal and you spend 5 days a week dragging a lorry through rush hour twice a day.
Having a laugh and banter is no problem im definitely no snowflake
Can say what they want to me its just the general hate on the job no job is perfect all have good and bad just cant see why if drivers hate it so much why stick it
Just a dad:
Don’t know if i get shot down and hate but this seems a decent group
Im in the process of getting my class 2 well when covid allows at the moment
Trucks have always been where i wanted to be health stopped me to start with but now in position to do it
Why is it im getting nothing but stupid remarks
For doing the training
Then getting told i wont be a proper driver as its just a big van
The class 2 is a bit of banter. You’ll find a lot of it in haulage and if you’re not from an old style engineering/garage type environment it’ll come as a bit of a culture shock. If you’ve spent your life in an office or working in the civil service or companies with HR departments enforcing the latest political correct bollox it’ll come as one hell of a shock because political correctness does not exist in this job. Basically it’s like it was in the 70s and 80s and you need to be able to take people ripping the crap out of you and have a thick skin and be able to give as good back or it’ll be a miserable existence, especially for a snowflake millennial.
The job can be hard, the hours are crap, people who work at delivery locations make your life more complicated or harder than it needs to be for absolutely no reason you’ll be able to fathom out other than them having a complete lack of any common sense but you’ll find out for yourself why there’s all the whining about it once you get working. You’ll especially find out once traffic levels are back to normal and you spend 5 days a week dragging a lorry through rush hour twice a day.
Having a laugh and banter is no problem im definitely no snowflake
Can say what they want to me its just the general hate on the job no job is perfect all have good and bad just cant see why if drivers hate it so much why stick it
Mainly most people stick the job even when hating it purely because of the earnings potential. Even a low paid job will pay more than a lot of jobs and or have the opportunity of overtime to make the job pay better than a lot of other fairly unskilled jobs.
There are not many jobs where for a few grand and a week you can be trained to do a job and earn relative decent wages, I say relative as most places pay around the same and isn’t a bad wage but the hours tend to be more than other jobs. Even at the worst paying jobs if you want to put the hours in then a decent wage is always possible but you will work a lot for it.
When you enter this job you need something very important- a bull[zb] detector. Learn to work out what’s worth listening to and discard the rest. So much nonsense is spouted by drivers it’s ridiculous
Many will moan because as in any job there is a lot of nonsense happening around which will make your life harder every day, but you will have it in any job, but in driving every such silly thing will affect your work - life balance, every delay will reduce your time spent for your personal life. You have 5 or something hours to spend with family tonight, surprise surprise, something happened, you are late back in the yard. Congratulations! You will spend 1 or 2 hours with your family or friends…( this is not to put you off )
The truth is this job becomes a habit and a bad one at that. Yes I’ve earned good money,ran my own wagon ( and made money from it), had a good laugh at times,never been ouf of work etc etc BUT I’m sure I could have done better for myself and family and had an easier life if I’d done something else but now after 48 years and 1year to go to retirement I think I’ll see my time out.
I’m not saying don’t do it but think do you still want to be doing the hours and dealing with the carp in your later years?
Most wagon steerers dislike class 2’s because they are awful to drive. It’s like trying to dock a cruise liner, horrible oversize vans. You will also find that when you start to indicate a lane change in an artic, most vehicles scatter like someone’s ■■■■■■ in a nightclub.
The truth of the matter is that wagon steering is mainly rubbish, consisting of crap wages, long hours, ■■■■ poor/non existing parking & facilities, and the job is infested by idiots. As has already been said, it’s like a bad habit that you get into and you get used to £500-£600 a week coming in which would be difficult to achieve in an alternative job which requires similar intellect and 2 weeks training.
Like cleaning a toilet or litter picking. In fact litter picking is better because it’s more exercise and you don’t have to shell out three grand to do it…
switchlogic:
When you enter this job you need something very important- a bull[zb] detector. Learn to work out what’s worth listening to and discard the rest. So much nonsense is spouted by drivers it’s ridiculous
This is exactly what I tell people they need to do if they’re coming to this industry with no background in it.
Don’t listen to the negativity too much. If it is what you want to do, go out there and do it and come to your own conclusions.
The thing with this job is that there is something to suit everyone’s inclinations. Contrary to popular belief, there are still good driving jobs out there and believe it or not decent companies too.
As someone has previously mentioned; try not to listen to the neanderthals spouting their bullsh*t as they can quite easily drag you down the their level if you aren’t careful.
Just a dad:
Can say what they want to me its just the general hate on the job no job is perfect all have good and bad just cant see why if drivers hate it so much why stick it
£500+ a week take home pay. For a lot of drivers, especially given the average age of a lorry driver is mid 50s, they’ve got no chance of getting any other job that’ll pay that kind of money so it’s either carry on or be prepared to drop £200+ a week. Hell my sis in law is the manager of her department in our local authority, has a degree in her field and over 20 years experience and she doesn’t earn what I do.
Conor:
Hell my sis in law is the manager of her department in our local authority, has a degree in her field and over 20 years experience and she doesn’t earn what I do.
Not a great analogy of the job description, local councils are notorious for paying low wages anyway regardless of qualifications, She doesn’t earn what you do because she doesn’t work as many hours as you do either on the same note. The wages for driving only looks good on paper until you see the hours that have to be worked and the conditions that you have to endure. The hourly rate is rubbish. £500 per week is only 25k per year take home. Which ever way you look at it, you are only fooling yourself thinking it is good.
Just a dad:
Can say what they want to me its just the general hate on the job no job is perfect all have good and bad just cant see why if drivers hate it so much why stick it
£500+ a week take home pay. For a lot of drivers, especially given the average age of a lorry driver is mid 50s, they’ve got no chance of getting any other job that’ll pay that kind of money so it’s either carry on or be prepared to drop £200+ a week. Hell my sis in law is the manager of her department in our local authority, has a degree in her field and over 20 years experience and she doesn’t earn what I do.
Makes me laugh the old “earn more stacking shelves chestnut”. I know people like you mention there, degrees, years of experience, piles of responsibility and they make considerably less than I get for looking out the window.
Part of the problem is many drivers will have 5/600p/w lifestyles and cannot afford to drop anything, the same ones you see going all swivel eyed at the idea of a long weekend and the prospect of losing a few quid.