4 ms·

It's definitely true that they lack truckers. They don't just grow on trees, and when a few tens of thousands leave, well...

politelemon 5y ago
> They don't just grow on trees, Reminiscent of Teresa May's "magic money tree" comment
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- darrenf 5y ago
  I've genuinely no idea why this is phrase is most frequently associated with May. As best I can tell she was just regurgitating a line from her predecessor: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21694944 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21694944
ceejayoz 5y ago
I'd be leaving, too, if I'd spent Christmas stranded on an airfield. https://jalopnik.com/uk-airfield-becomes-worlds-largest-truck-stop-as-driver-1845941016 https://jalopnik.com/uk-airfield-becomes-worlds-largest-truc...
kwhitefoot 5y ago
There are hundreds of thousands of people in the UK with HGV licenses but only half of them driving. This problem has been brewing for decades as the jobs have been outsourced to low cost countries and the drivers mercilessly exploited. Now that some economies have improved and COVID has hit a lot of those drivers are either unavailable or simply unwilling to travel so far and so long in horrible working conditions for so little reward. Society needs to recalibrate the value of workers who do manual work. There really is no good reason why the average software developer should be paid more than an HGV driver while enjoying much better working conditions. See https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Software_Developer/Salary https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Software_Developer/..., https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Heavy_%2F_Tractor-Trailer_Truck_Driver/Hourly_Rate https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Heavy_%2F_Tractor-T..., https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Delivery_Driver/Hourly_Rate https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Delivery_Driver/Hou...
- hermitcrab 5y ago
  Britain treats it's HGV drivers like crap. Long unsociable hours, low status, lack of facilities and relatively low pay considering how responsible the job is. I was horried to find that some (all?) of them don't even get paid for their mandatory breaks. Why would anyone put up with that, if they had any choice?
- mywittyname 5y ago
  > There really is no good reason why the average software developer should be paid more than an HGV driver while enjoying much better working conditions. There really is. Computers will blindly obey orders 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can be scaled pretty much indefinitely. So those capable of giving computers orders are in a position to do a large amount of important work, with little effort. Truck drivers can only do a relatively small amount of work at a given time. Trucks have a limit to the volume of weight they can carry, and the speeds that they may travel to carry it. Thus, their work per hour is capped to a very modest amount. Since there's no real efficiencies to be gained, the only way to improve wages for drivers is to increase the cost of goods by a proportional amount. Replacing fuel delivery via truck with fuel delivery via pipeline would make things much more efficient, but seems like a waste of resources given that EVs are taking off. It's not fair, but it is reality. Any profession whose labor cannot be augmented by technological efficiencies is likely going to face the same economic realities. They either go up-market and serve only those who can pay reasonable prices for their services, they get their wages and status slashed in a cut-throat environment, or they are displaced by an inferior, machine-driven replacement.
- bayesian_horse 5y ago
  The reason software developers get paid more is that it is a lot harder for an average person to become a software developer than it is to get an HGV license. Basically anybody not suffering from mental impairment could master the skills for that license. That is not true of software development, and it also takes longer.

politelemon 5y ago

> They don't just grow on trees, Reminiscent of Teresa May's "magic money tree" comment

deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
darrenf 5y ago
I've genuinely no idea why this is phrase is most frequently associated with May. As best I can tell she was just regurgitating a line from her predecessor: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21694944 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21694944

ceejayoz 5y ago

I'd be leaving, too, if I'd spent Christmas stranded on an airfield. https://jalopnik.com/uk-airfield-becomes-worlds-largest-truck-stop-as-driver-1845941016 https://jalopnik.com/uk-airfield-becomes-worlds-largest-truc...

kwhitefoot 5y ago

There are hundreds of thousands of people in the UK with HGV licenses but only half of them driving. This problem has been brewing for decades as the jobs have been outsourced to low cost countries and the drivers mercilessly exploited. Now that some economies have improved and COVID has hit a lot of those drivers are either unavailable or simply unwilling to travel so far and so long in horrible working conditions for so little reward. Society needs to recalibrate the value of workers who do manual work. There really is no good reason why the average software developer should be paid more than an HGV driver while enjoying much better working conditions. See https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Software_Developer/Salary https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Software_Developer/..., https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Heavy_%2F_Tractor-Trailer_Truck_Driver/Hourly_Rate https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Heavy_%2F_Tractor-T..., https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Delivery_Driver/Hourly_Rate https://www.payscale.com/research/UK/Job=Delivery_Driver/Hou...

hermitcrab 5y ago
Britain treats it's HGV drivers like crap. Long unsociable hours, low status, lack of facilities and relatively low pay considering how responsible the job is. I was horried to find that some (all?) of them don't even get paid for their mandatory breaks. Why would anyone put up with that, if they had any choice?
mywittyname 5y ago
> There really is no good reason why the average software developer should be paid more than an HGV driver while enjoying much better working conditions. There really is. Computers will blindly obey orders 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and can be scaled pretty much indefinitely. So those capable of giving computers orders are in a position to do a large amount of important work, with little effort. Truck drivers can only do a relatively small amount of work at a given time. Trucks have a limit to the volume of weight they can carry, and the speeds that they may travel to carry it. Thus, their work per hour is capped to a very modest amount. Since there's no real efficiencies to be gained, the only way to improve wages for drivers is to increase the cost of goods by a proportional amount. Replacing fuel delivery via truck with fuel delivery via pipeline would make things much more efficient, but seems like a waste of resources given that EVs are taking off. It's not fair, but it is reality. Any profession whose labor cannot be augmented by technological efficiencies is likely going to face the same economic realities. They either go up-market and serve only those who can pay reasonable prices for their services, they get their wages and status slashed in a cut-throat environment, or they are displaced by an inferior, machine-driven replacement.
bayesian_horse 5y ago
The reason software developers get paid more is that it is a lot harder for an average person to become a software developer than it is to get an HGV license. Basically anybody not suffering from mental impairment could master the skills for that license. That is not true of software development, and it also takes longer.