Another driver has phoned Steve to ask him why I have earned more money than him and its not fair. All I can say is to that driver.... do you work as well as me or hard as me? Here are a few questions to ask yourself.
1 Do you or can you drive for more than 600 miles a day
2 Can you go anywhere and be away from base for 4-6 weeks at a time
3 Can you drive your maximum hours if the job needs it
4 Have you told your dispatch you don't care where they send you
5 Start at 4am most days
If the answer is no to any of the questions above then how in the hell can you earn as much as me. I just put on my blog how much I have earned to tell guys that are thinking of coming over here what sort of money they can earn but it seems to have upset a few (never mind). From what I have seen so far is there are 5 types of drivers here.
1 Married driver who wants to be home every weekend
2 Married driver who is OK with being away for a couple of weeks
3 Married driver who has partner with them (in the truck)
4 Team drivers
5 Single driver (who goes anywhere any time )
How can driver 1 and driver 5 earn the same money? they can't! Dispatch will not give a Texas run to a driver who wants to be home on Friday so driver 3 or 4 or 5 will get the trip. If you put restriction's in place then there a some jobs you will not get. The more restrictions you have the less jobs you can do so why is it my fault? I left my family in the UK so I could earn shit loads of money and I have. Before you say I must be a brown nose or arse licker its not true. Me and my dispatch guy have a love hate relationship I hate him and he would love to punch my face in lol but we work well together as a team.
Look at it another way if you ring up for a flight and you want to go on a certain day at a certain time and with only one carrier then the price will be high but if you say any carrier then the price drops if you get rid of the time and go anytime then you will get a much better deal.
So to the driver who moans because I am earning loads try my way of driving you might start earning then. There is a very good reason why I start at 4 am the roads are empty, if you have ever been through Great Falls Montana during the day there are loads of bloody traffic lights you can lose so much time there but you go through early hours of the morning all the lights are flashing orange and you can drive through all of them with out stopping. I like to start early so by the time the traffic starts to slow you down its time for breakfast but I will have done 5-6 hours by then so I am more than half way through my day there have been many times I have not stopped sometimes I have driven for about 9 hours without stopping. I know most drivers who read this will say not me but that's how I work. Over here you only get paid by the mile so I get from A-B as quickly as possible then its time for my break and you can get a parking spot easy in the truck stops. Another thing to the driver who moaned, I was just north of Salt Lake city Utah, it was a Thursday night, I was parked up and looked at my streets & trips I looked at my route back to Lethbridge it was 630 miles to the border I knew If I didn't get any hold ups I could make the border then I could switch over to Canadian times then I would have another 2 hours driving to get me back to the yard for my reset so I went for it. I drove 10hrs 40 Min's to the border and got back to the yard Friday night I started my reset Friday night not Saturday afternoon (that's when my truck would do 65mph) could you or would you do that? If you are willing to work hard over here you can earn some good money but if you only want to do 500 miles a day then you won't earn as much as a guy who does 600 + a day. If you read my last post I drove over 630 miles a day, all legal. I have just been stopped they went through all my logs and found nothing wrong with the miles I do, the only comment that was made was that I work my maximum everyday which is not breaking any law. In the last 20 years of driving I have always worked hard and earned good money in the last 5 years working for a driving agency I was the top earner. Every job I went on I did all the overtime that no one else wanted .I worked for a tanker company a few years back, over the radio they asked the drivers if they wanted another load everyone said no then they asked me I said yes this went on all week by the end of the week they got fed up asking them and just asked me, I did every extra load and at the end of the month 2 drivers went in to the office and moaned that I was getting all the overtime and they got nothing. It was pointed out to them that they keep turning it down so on the Monday I heard both these drivers being offered the extra run but they turned it down that's when the guy in the office went nuts and told everyone over the radio including me that they had gone into the office moaning that they were not getting over time and it was not fair that I was getting all the extra runs. So it just shows that some guys just moan because I get more than them but they don't want to do the extra work or the early starts. So if any other driver wants to moan that I might be getting more than them read my list above if you answer no to any of the question then you know why!
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Hi, I get so angry when I read stuff like this. Yet again someones moaned about what Mike has earned. He's had this all his working life and most of it he's been with me and I've heard it all. Tell me something (you guys that moan) does his wages come out of your pocket?? The times he's been slagged off coz of working hard absolutely bloody amazes me. Tell you what tho (again the select few) you aint got the balls to moan to his face have you, no coz he'll tell you a few home truths thats why! Still no-one needs to go whining to the office now do they, obviously those that have read his blog (or you wouldn't have known). He's always tried to do his best by his family and he's still doing it now. This is not me being bias coz anyone will tell you, Mike works bloody hard, long hours, sometimes his family have suffered as a result but we get through it. So many people over the years have hated him for his attitude towards work, well GET OVER IT. Yeah I'm angry coz NEVER ONCE has anyone whined to his face over this. We knew that leaving us behind would be hard, sometimes we didn't realise just how hard it would be, but it IS the best way to earn the money. If I were with him, I'd slow him down, if we as a family were over there in a house I'd want him home more. That's all fine but OBVIOUSLY his wages would reflect on that which is why we choose to do it this way. Mikes made it clear on this blog that he's on his own, anyone with a bit of common sense will realize that if you carry baggage it'll make it a bit harder and sometimes a lot harder to earn decent money. One thing Mike has ALWAYS said 'life will give me what i put into it and sometimes that will mean sacrificing things that I won't want too but if we want to do well then that's what we'll have to do'. So yes he's earning pretty good money but we have to give some things up for him to do that. We have been very emotional over xmas and new year without him here but WE choose for him to earn more money and come home after xmas. There aren't many guys that would do that nor wives that would let them but it means that his bonuses will pay for his flight home rather than break into what he's earned. SO LEAVE HIM ALONE and read between the lines before asking WHY Mike is earning more!
THE WIFE x
PS, Cath....Love your blog xx
Great story Mike and your dead right. If you want anything in this life then work hard and earn it. Keep up the good work, and great Blog too.
Spot on Mike.
We talked a lot in the week I was being mentored and it seems there are a few people here who want the money without the graft!
I know it should be easier for me and Cath to do the job as we will travel together, but she is under no illusions that I will have to do long hours to earn a decent crust, or else we will earn bugger all.
We are also lucky that the company lets spouses ride along, because after all, they are not employed by the company, and if I was doing what you are doing on your own, I don't think I could cut it (but I would not be whining about it), and I think some drivers should realise that the firm could stop passengers being carried at anytime they wanted to, which would mean a lot of couples returning to the UK!
Just waiting for my second mentor trip (mountain stuff) and I'm obviously not earning money, but I won't be sending Cath up to the office to do my complaining for me, because it's just one of those things at the moment, what with the weather and vacations causing some problems.
Having said all that, I think they should get better organised regarding recruitment and training.
Mike, it's great to see the support you get from Dee back home, but don't expect the whiners here to confront you personaly, and just keep rolling mate.
Drive safe.
well said Mike & Dee, i can not do with these moaners myself.
typical moaner.
i want to be home every wednesday night and home no later than 4 oclock friday and dont want to start untill 6 oclock monday morning.oh and by the way i want more wages than Mick....
moaners get over it if you want the money work for it...
keep up the good work Mick,
dave.
Hi Mick
You old money grabber 8-)
If i remember rightly we had this conversation out on the road.
This job is more than just jumping in a truck and making the wheels turn.
Its about creating a working relationship between you and your dispatcher, give and take on both sides and going the extra mile when asked.
I get people gossipping about me too and it seems we both have the same attitude about it.
The drivers'wages arnt linked together so if you earn more it doesnt affect me in any way, if i earn more the next week it doesnt affect you in any way.
Youve got a good work ethic Mike, the harder you work the more you earn. The more you worry about how much you earn the less time you have to work.
Just remember i expect an invite to the house warming bbq.
Oh by the way you forgot the 6th class of driver.
6. Handsome, clever, witty, modest. Or just Lyndon for short.
Keep livin the dream matey.
Lyndon (another money grabber)
Thanks guys for the nice comments
Yup totally agree with you there! one of main gripes abou leaving my old company but in a different perspective we were on salary and i didnt see it fair howmatey who demands to be home by 5 every friday and wont run sundays gets the same salary as me the only extras i used to get was my bonus 2% of jobs ad extra n/o's i put up with it for years a cpl of years after being being promised it would be sorted Lmaol, and im not the kind of person like most marred truckers who say im quitting next month they say the same etc me i will take shit but once they start taking the pisss i walk. lol they rang my sister and said i could have my job back tommorow got her contacts of me facebook lol the things some companys do, i flatly refused and i hear from employees still there they got no one to run sundays for the scotlands and when they do send someone to scotland it takes them 4 days LOL Gr8 blog by the way :O
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