Need a little help

[Rob]

Righto.. now, I recently quit my job as a car salesman, I was extremely unhappy there, and I'm glad im out of it. However, I do need another job. I've been doing casual work lately, but its not enough, I really want a proper job. One that keeps coming to mind is driving trucks. I've had plenty of experience loading and unloading, using forklifts etc, and most of the truckies I know seem to quite enjoy their job.

So, I know theres a few truckies here on AFF, and I'd like to hear some opinions. Paint me a worst case scenario if you like. Or a best case. VUT offers truck licence training near where I live, but I'd like to hear a little more about it all.

Thanks,

Rob.

[robjh80]

My Brother-in-Law has always driven trucks for a living ever since leaving school and he's now in his 40's, did long distance interstate for many years, reckons it used to be good in the old days but not now, big companies grind ya into the ground, demanding interstate deliveries that are near on impossible to meet, used to live on pills to stay awake and keep driving all day and night etc, all that nasty stuff, he now does only local driving around Brisbane, reckons it's much better than interstate driving, wouldn't go back to long distance stuff for anything.

If ya like driving Rob, what about Bobcat's, when the building booms on apparantly those guys earn a fortune, pretty much name ya own price.
Another one that earns good money is bricklaying, there was a write up in the Courier Mail on Sunday about those guys and how much money they're raking in......and that's only a short course to learn that trade.

I was in a similar position some 8 years ago Rob, had no idea what to do or what I even wanted to do........ended up doing a full time IT course for a year, cost me about $12K to do but Iv'e never looked back......Iv'e now got a good job in the Government now doing IT, it's clean, very easy going, work with a top bunch of guys, we pretty much just muck around and have a good laugh all day, Oh and the pays pretty good too, might be worth considering.

Most of all mate, keep ya chin up, can get a bit depressing at times not knowing which way to go when you're not working, but hang in there, dont let it get ya down, something always comes along in the end.

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by BLC

So, I know theres a few truckies here on AFF, and I'd like to hear some opinions. Paint me a worst case scenario if you like. Or a best case. VUT offers truck licence training near where I live, but I'd like to hear a little more about it all.

Worst case... after Christmas freight will die until Feb which means not much work. You picked a bad time to change.

Best case... with a company like mine you only do shuttle work. This mean, no loading/unloading just get in and drive to your changeover point, stay in motel for about 10-12hrs then drive some more. The hardest work you do is putting up with management

Originally Posted by robjh80

My Brother-in-Law has always driven trucks for a living ever since leaving school and he's now in his 40's, did long distance interstate for many years, reckons it used to be good in the old days but not now, big companies grind ya into the ground, demanding interstate deliveries that are near on impossible to meet, used to live on pills to stay awake and keep driving all day and night etc, all that nasty stuff,

Methinks brother-in-Law has it back to front. In the 'good ole days' ridiculous timetables (try Cairns to Melb in 43hrs!) pills etc were the norm.

These days with Safe-T-Cam its VERY hard to run illegal times and Mr Plod along with the RTA (Vic Roads) can go through head office for drivers log sheets and management get taken to court if anything is found wrong,driving interstate these days is dead boring

Whats a VUT?

[Rob]

Originally Posted by GasOLane

Whats a VUT?

Victoria University - TAFE.

They do truck licencing. Thanks for the input guys, I think I'll go for it. Might see if I can scam Centrelink into paying for, or for some of, the licencing costs.

[XR8 Uterous]

A lot of the crap on TV about truck drivers being forced to run unrealistic times is very exaggerated and very rare, its made out that a lot of drivers are forced to meet these times but in reality its very hard with things like Safe-T-Cams.

Good luck with the job hunt! :

[GasoLane]

Originally Posted by MYGT05

its made out that a lot of drivers are forced to meet these times but in reality its very hard with things like Safe-T-Cams.

It's not hard, but it IS expensive. All RTA units that do roadside checks have instant access to the Safe-T-Cam network. If the time in your log book doesn't match the time on their PC, it costs money.
These days we need a secretary just to do our paperwork