Truck driver shortage - true or false?

[Stylo]

Thinking about a lifestyle change, had enough of the corporate world and time to turn a corner.

52 and have my class 2 and 4L but no real experience ... wouldn't mind your comments on getting a job, or am I too late ?

I'm in Christchurch, thanks in advance

[Akzle]

git r done.

if you think it's your biscuits, then go for it.

i would like to think the labour market is teeming with... labour, but.... apparently not.
good workers are always in demand, though.

[bogan]

My uncle recently changed to that career path, he found people hiring wanted those with experience, and took him a while to get long term employment.

[R650R]

In Chch you'll Prob be sweet to pick up some work on a small tip truck.

As for the driver shortage, well even the govt has wised up and taken it off the skills shortage list for immigrants.
There is NO shortage of truck drivers in NZ.
There IS a shortage of drivers willing to work for peanuts driving crap gear.
There IS a shortage of EXPERIENCED class 5 drivers, eg ones that won't roll brand new trucks over, that can drive in fuel efficient and gear friendly manner, have a clean licence.
There is no shortage of BAD employers that expect drivers to speed, overload and shine the truck up on days off.

I suggest renting a Holden crewman ute and driving into the yard of chosen workplace at high speed. If there isn't a sudden bonfire of log books and employees running for exit its prob ok place to work for. Look for tidy gear and smiley faces, avoid places where the coffee jar is larger than the site first aid kit...

[anebv8]

try out on the concrete trucks,plenty of those jobs going,say you have 4L,90% will pay for you to get your 4F after a few months,stick it out a year so ya don't have to pay it back,and move on,I started on C2,work paid for my 4,moved on to crane trucks,and have just paid for my 5,if in doubt,call pro drive and get temping work driving trucks

[Motu]

Wondering myself - I have 2, 3, 4 and 5...but got them 40 years ago, a driver needs to know much more than just how to drive a truck these days. Too old and not enough experience - no wonder there is a driver shortage.

[anebv8]

Wondering myself - I have 2, 3, 4 and 5...but got them 40 years ago, a driver needs to know much more than just how to drive a truck these days. Too old and not enough experience - no wonder there is a driver shortage.

never too old,approch a trucking company and see if you can go for a ride a long,a lot of places do it,I've taken a couple of guys out for a refresher

[skippa1]

There IS a shortage of drivers that can pass a drug test
There IS a shortage of drivers that have experience
There ISNT a shortage of drivers that have no experience that want to start at the top
There ISNT a shortage of drivers that don't see keeping their truck clean as part of the job

its all perception really.......I could do with two full time experienced class 5 drivers
i could also do with 2 trainee drivers that have a class 2 licence little or no experience that want to work towards a class 5 over a 2-3 year period.

jobs available now

[tigertim20]

heres an honest overview.
Youll find ti fucking hard to get a decent, full time job. They will want experience. Good places to start are furniture companies, they dont give a fuck how much experience you have, as long as ya have the licence - will involve a lot of heavy work though.

Youll most likely have to work cunty hours. long, LONG days day after day most of the time

You will get paid an absolute fucking pittance, untill you have got a decent amount of experience under you.

Youll be driving clapped out pieces of utter shit, because 99% of companies have a servicing budget for their vehicles that is roughly about 40% of what they need to be kept in tip top condition, as long as they barely scrape through the legal requirements, thats good enough.

You will be 'asked without asking' to fudge your logbook by a LOT of companies.

Ive done a few years of it. I would not recommend it to someone who is your age, and just starting - no offence intended.

[Shaun Harris]

Just a thought, your class 2 is all you need to start as a crane operator mate wilth the small ones, maybe another option you had not considered. Truck driving can be a bitch of life man

[Stylo]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, not too worried about the long hours and pay to start with, acknowledge at my age and only with a C2 it's gonna be a battle to start with but, my options are limited.

Might talk to the local companies here in the EQ City first and maybe the Port co re their suggestions too ? Be nice to get a wage and have something coming in

[cruza]

Thanks for the feedback everyone, not too worried about the long hours and pay to start with, acknowledge at my age and only with a C2 it's gonna be a battle to start with but, my options are limited.

Might talk to the local companies here in the EQ City first and maybe the Port co re their suggestions too ? Be nice to get a wage and have something coming in

My thinking is you need to sit class 4 , it will open some doors for you , concrete mixers good idea , plenty of truck only tippers running about too , looking at some of the nobbs driving them , you would not have any issues hooking that first job . Then work your way up , look for local wknd or nightshift ,like Local container work etc, jobs that they find hard too fill . A lot of above comments I agree with , but don't write yourself off with the age thing , It takes years too become a good operator , but everyone had too start from square one.

[cruza]

In Chch you'll Prob be sweet to pick up some work on a small tip truck.

As for the driver shortage, well even the govt has wised up and taken it off the skills shortage list for immigrants.
There is NO shortage of truck drivers in NZ.
There IS a shortage of drivers willing to work for peanuts driving crap gear.
There IS a shortage of EXPERIENCED class 5 drivers, eg ones that won't roll brand new trucks over, that can drive in fuel efficient and gear friendly manner, have a clean licence.
There is no shortage of BAD employers that expect drivers to speed, overload and shine the truck up on days off.

I suggest renting a Holden crewman ute and driving into the yard of chosen workplace at high speed. If there isn't a sudden bonfire of log books and employees running for exit its prob ok place to work for. Look for tidy gear and smiley faces, avoid places where the coffee jar is larger than the site first aid kit...

Sure I've seen a few Toyota utes running around chch last few months as well , No need too bend the rules too make good money these days. With eroad and other big brother tech the days of dodgy running are getting less and less.

[R650R]

With eroad and other big brother tech the days of dodgy running are getting less and less.

Yes but there's a lot of slow learners out there. And the cops seem reluctant to make use of big brother as all the paperwork and data trawling is a big bother of an effort.
One cop wanted to know what our boss had us doing, told him to do his job, seize the company iphone and download everything (nothings ever deleted on those) "oh we cant do that", nek minit another truck on its side...
But that's our enforcement system, nothings a priority until after someone has died.

There ISNT a shortage of drivers that don't see keeping their truck clean as part of the job

Yes as long as its within legal 70 working hours and there is actually access to cleaning stuff... There's a lot of employers that expect it to be done as unpaid work on sundays.
Which works ok until someone rolls over and they come view the cctv footage of your yard...

heres an honest overview.
Youll find ti fucking hard to get a decent, full time job. They will want experience. Good places to start are furniture companies, they dont give a fuck how much experience you have, as long as ya have the licence - will involve a lot of heavy work though.

Youll most likely have to work cunty hours. long, LONG days day after day most of the time

You will get paid an absolute fucking pittance, untill you have got a decent amount of experience under you.

Youll be driving clapped out pieces of utter shit, because 99% of companies have a servicing budget for their vehicles that is roughly about 40% of what they need to be kept in tip top condition, as long as they barely scrape through the legal requirements, thats good enough.

You will be 'asked without asking' to fudge your logbook by a LOT of companies.

Ive done a few years of it. I would not recommend it to someone who is your age, and just starting - no offence intended.

Agree with most of that except the age bit. seen plenty of older guys slot into the less busy roles at most places.
"asked without asking" aka end up driving the fleet shitter and doing the crap runs if you stick your head above the trenches.
Luckily with GPS more guys are realising they have an ally now to help say no to BS work practices.
Paid a pittance, yes a lot of provincial companys will use the old oh that's all we can afford to pay you... but somehow they manage to pay their akld staff higher wages...
Be careful with trip rates, they often look good when things got to plan, but this is one industry where there is always change. A trip rate salary should work out as a good wage covering your maximum hours every day.
I wouldn't go anywhere on big gear for less than $20hour and have earned up to $36hr...

[Grumph]

My 2c worth...I did just what you're thinking about. Rural and pre quake though. Everything already said about hours and pay is true incl the fudging of logbooks....

But what hasn't been said is that you'd better be physically fit. If you haven't done manual work before, it'll hurt - badly. For a start i did my arches by regularly sliding down from the cab.....not what you'd expect eh.