Let me first introduce myself. My name is Angelique … AngeliqueBS on some discussion forums – which, by the way, BS does not stand for BullShit in this case. I live in the Netherlands near Amsterdam. I was named after my both grandma´s: Bertha, but Bettina was much nicer my mother luckily thought … and Sofie … written on my birth certificate as Sophia what does sound a lot nicer, so my mum thought. So that´s what the BS thing stands for … in my case.
Since 1995 I work as a truck driver and have had many jobs. The Grass was always greener somewhere else so I thought. In some cases it was, other cases … don´t ask me about it. I think trucking whereever on this globe is a special branche. And a lot is wrong in this industry, we all know it. It is something special … not good in many ways but it seems to be the way it is.
So in the US you have good companies to work for who pay you every mile or hour you have worked. We Dutch drivers are always paid by the hour. To pay a company-driver on miles (kilometers) or even by freight or by weight of freight is illegal in The Netherlands. Or what you’ll have is bad employers who don´t pay all the work you did for them. The trucking industry always is in bad weather by the way. So there is no money to pay the drivers what they should earn. So we are paid about 20% less than we should earn, at least that is what the union says. They compared truck drivers with other jobs and bus (people-freight) drivers who seem to earn more an hour than we do.
The big problem is that Europe has grown …and other countries came into the EU. Such as Poland, Tjechie, Bulgarije, Letland (former part of Russia) and so on. In those countries people earn a lot less than in Western Europe. They can haul freight for a lot less money than can we. So a lot of Western Companies now hire ex-Eastern European drivers to drive their trucks around Europe. You see also more and more trucks from these countries driving around in Europe, and less Dutch and other Western Trucks! We are loosing our poll position in the transporting industry. Holland (Netherlands) is not anymore number 1 in European transport .. now Poland is.
And they say WE Western European drivers are too expensive!
Is about 10 to 11 Euro´s too expensive??? (before tax) I really do not think so. (that’s $13.32 – $14.65 US dollars)
And of course here the cost of living are more expensive than in the new EU countries. I do not have a crystal ball to see into the future .. but feel the future for a Western European International driver are BAD. That´s why last december 2008 I went national and haul car-fuels which is hazmat and more specialized. My job is not on the line … and not that easy …
But if you drive internationally .. the chance is rather big you will loose your job to an Eastern European driver because they cost less.
It´s all about money.
Greetings from Holland,
Angelique
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Welcome aboard Angelique!
You know, your story is really interesting because we’ve faced the same problem for a long time here in the U.S. with our manufacturing industry.
A lot of our manufacturing jobs are being lost to countries like China and Mexico where the standard of living is lower and their wages are much lower. The Mexican trucks have been able to cross into the U.S. for some time now but really haven’t had much of an impact on our trucking industry yet. But we’ve lost millions and millions of manufacturing jobs, and we continue to lose them every day. My dad’s factory closed in the early 80′s at the same time that most of the industry in my hometown was lost.
It’s good for the world’s economy to grow the economies of poor countries through trade, but it’s very difficult for the wealthier countries to adapt to the competition. How do you compete with poor countries without making your own country a little less wealthy? It’s a difficult problem to solve and it has cost a lot of our workers their careers, and a lot of families their homes.
Great article! I look forward to seeing a lot more from you!
For Europe it’s the same a lot of companies moves east or to the far east, as production costs were less. But they don’t think about the people now who have lost their jobs … are they going to be able to buy those products?
My guess is that the world will change a lot over the next 50 years.
The rich East … the poor West.
Have to agree with you. Most of the drivers i know have packed in international work because of this reason. I worked 20 years but now don’t bother as Eastern European drivers are doing it for far less money. It was a good job at one time but alas no more. The Eastern Europeans don’t even use restaurants or truck stops because they cant afford to. What took years to get is gone and the industry has gone back 20 years. – An ex-international driver
That’s true and some restaurants are now closed because there were not enough drivers left to eat-in. And it is also a problem because when you do want to eat something your parkingplace is being used by such an eastern european driver.
Things will really change in future.
Things have changed allready.
And not for the better for Western European drivers.
Hi Angelique!
Welcome to truckingtruth! Looking forward to your stories. Great way to learn more and keep up with the world of trucking in your country. The problems drivers face are the same and I wonder if they will ever go away.
Great article, Angelique. I agree with you. It is enlightening to read about the issues in your country and continent. Companies love to hear truckers experiences, the good and the bad. Will look forward to reading more opinions on truckingtruth.com.