Fuel tanker drivers in the UK now earning $80k a year.

[Cat]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7460452.stm

Tanker drivers delivering fuel for Shell have been offered a 14% pay increase over two years after their four-day strike hit UK fuel supplies.

The increase will be worth 9% in the first year and 5% in the second, taking average annual earnings to £41,750.

Drivers and union officials rejected an earlier offer of about £36,000.

There was a bit of a discussion regarding this in IRC. Am I the only one who thinks that these guys get payed way too much for what is essentially unskilled labour?

A quick comparision. A Nurse will earn between £20-25k a year, a senior manager will earn £40-£45k a year, and an army serviceman starts on ~£20k a year too.

[Shuemue]

Dangerous job, unsociable hours, days/weeks away from family, I'd say £40k is pretty reasonable.

[Septimus]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7460452.stm

Tanker drivers delivering fuel for Shell have been offered a 14% pay increase over two years after their four-day strike hit UK fuel supplies.

The increase will be worth 9% in the first year and 5% in the second, taking average annual earnings to £41,750.

Drivers and union officials rejected an earlier offer of about £36,000.

There was a bit of a discussion regarding this in IRC. Am I the only one who thinks that these guys get payed way too much for what is essentially unskilled labour?

A quick comparision. A Nurse will earn between £20-25k a year, a senior manager will earn £40-£45k a year, and an army serviceman starts on ~£20k a year too.

Well, if you think that they are overpaid, then maybe you should go get a job doing it so you can get all the hot loot.

[Tyche]

Part of my job is dispatch, and to call driving OTR unskilled is borderline ignorant. The courses aren't as long as a nurse or a teacher, but it isn't unskilled. Plus, a lot of these people are never home. They never get a home cooked meal, they sleep in a truck, most I deal with put in 12+ hour days. Most Truck Drivers make around 50,000 a year here, and we have a really really low standard of living. 80,000 may not be all that much.

[Koyuki]

EDIT: Upon further inspection....MOAR MONIEZ

[archibaldcrane]

Dangerous job, unsociable hours, days/weeks away from family, I'd say £40k is pretty reasonable.

This, pretty much. If they don't have people willing to do the work for less, then they just pay what the market bears. Skilled/unskilled (and tell a truck driver that driving an 18-wheeler doesn't require skill if you want to get punched in the face) is only meaningful in terms of market force if it provides a greater supply of labor for "unskilled" work.

Basically, I don't want to be a truck driver, even for 80k/year, so no it's not too much.

damnit, beaten on a couple points.

[Zeb]

My trainer was making $100k a year. He got paid single driver pay rates for his miles AND his trainee's miles. He showed me his pay stub on the Qualcom. He'd been there 15 years and got 5 weeks of vacation a year. He had a dedicated route that left him at home Wednesday nights and Saturday evening until early Monday mornings.

[Tyche]

The drivers that roll in and out of our facility here, for the most part, don't even have a hazmat endorsement (Drivers of tanker trucks do assuming the European laws are somewhat similiar). They still bring home around $25 an hour. Time and half for overtime...they are probably bringing home upwards to $70,000 and 80k a year. OTR pay by the mile drivers can get up to around .50 and .60 a mile for the longer trips, as well as paid for their time while docked. Can net well over $30.00 an hour if you have a good route. If you own your own truck, at least $1.00 a mile.

[Kurp]

'Unskilled labor' in reference to driving is delivering pizzas, not driving a hazmat tanker. Those guys definitely earn what they make.

[pohibaba]

My dad is a truck driver and he used to make $80k-$85k a year. He makes a lot less now because he decided he'd rather be home every night, but it's still a pretty damn good job with only having a High School education.

[Bunnykillah]

My brother just started driving for Swift. Only trained him for a couple weeks. Then he had to ride with a trainer for like 6 weeks. Even in training he makes a flat $450 a week. When he leaves training he will be making 50k a year. And being as they live in them trucks they don't have many bills.

[Cat]

While I agree with much of what has been said in this thread, I'd just like to mention that trucking in the UK is a little different from the US. In the US, I imagine you have day long journeys to cross the country, whereas in the UK you can get from point to point in the UK in about 12 hours for the longest journey. I have no idea if these guys do deliveries to europe, but since UK garages were the ones affected by the strike, i suspect not.

I have changed my position slightly on this.

[Fallso]

England has typically higher wages than the US anyway, which might attribute to some of the shock. But ya, truck driving is a well paid job.

Wanna know how much trashmen get paid per hour? $21, lol.

[jmc]

England has typically higher wages than the US anyway, which might attribute to some of the shock. But ya, truck driving is a well paid job.

Wanna know how much trashmen get paid per hour? $21, lol.

Whoa, trash supervisors get paid $70 a hour here lmao


Hell, I went through 6 1/2 months of training and I only get 45k/year base pay! Then like 100k in details/overtime lol

[guartz]

sounds about fair

it's dangerous and tankers are very hard to drive.