What's it like being a truck driver?

[TourangaLeila]

Specifically a family man who's a truck driver?

DH is looking into a change of career and I'd love to hear from other families with experience in this field around what the work/life balance is like.

My partner is a hgv driver. Shifts can be long not guaranteed to finish early or on time. Can finish from 3pm onwards till at least 8pm Positive is he has a annual salary some bonus on top of his wage for meals and good driving. Works monday-friday, off bank holidays. He drives container haulage.

My Dh now drives road haulage after retiring from the Armed Forces.
It depends whether he's looking at HGVs or Artics. (DH is HGV)

DH is generally home most nights. some weeks he's out one or two night stop overs. The day often starts very early (usually 4.30/5am but occasionally even earlier, and sometimes later) and can be long working hours.

However... the money is decent, and if you enjoy driving, it's not a bad job. DH listens to the radio as he drives, has brief social interaction and then gets on to the next job , which suits him nicely. Most evenings he is home, and he manages to do his hobby at weekends and sometimes in the afternoon if he has an early start and finish.

Artic drivers can be away for days on end, which DH didn't want to do, but I believe the pay is excellent.

It's worked well for us :)

My DH is a HGV driver and has been since before we had children. The pay is good and he is usually home before 4 so takes a large amount of the after school clubs/ extra curricular activities, cooking, home stuff. He leaves before the kids get up so I don’t have him home in the morning but him being home in the afternoon makes up for that. It’s a stressful job, partly because they always have to be switched on and aware so sleep becomes a priority. But he doesn’t bring work home or worry about it when he’s not there. He’s not contactable during the working day unless in an emergency and he couldn’t get to me/our kids urgently as he could be half way across the city but I’m ok with that. For us, it’s been ok.

I think he will be looking at HGV. He does not want to be away for days on end.

Dh drives a tipper, he's mon-fri with very occasional saturday. Wages aren't amazing but he does a 50 hour week usually so pay works out. He has done 2 overnights in the last 2 years.
He used to love it, but in the last few years he has become quite stressed about the standard of driving on the road. He is looking to get off the roads in the next couple of years.

This is interesting. DH is looking for less stress. Are others finding it a stressful job?

DH finds it stressful and he’s about as laid back as a person can get. I agree with above, it’s got much worst in the last few years. Driving standards seem to be declining.

I'd ask local recruitment agencies - what is more valuable/salary in your local area, a HGV license or a forklift license. Bin lorry driving for the Council or driving those roadwork vehicles would be regular hours plus a pension etc.

I will talk to him about this as its a valid point.

Some good ideas here thank you 😊

One of my Friends is a HGV driver for the Co op. He goes out delivering and finishes on the same day, or very occasionally the early hours of the following morning, but more often than not he’s done and home before 11pm. The pay is good too

The big money is driving tankers. My husband did it permanent nights, every weekend, Christmas and bank holidays for 21 years. Moneys great but it affects the whole family. I did compressed hours f/t over 4 days so we saw each other. When at work we operated as a tag team to care for our son.