LadyEllen
Posts: 10931
Joined: 6/30/2006
From: Stourport-England
Status: offline
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Heres something scary - western Europe would close down within a week, if it werent for east European truck drivers.
Our supermarkets would be empty of food, our ports clogged with every conceivable piece of consumer merchandise, our farms, distribution centres and factories (what remains of them) would have no materials in or out.
Now, we have plenty of people to drive trucks, so why should this be? Yes, the blame lies partially with our own people - driving a truck is not a job, its a lifestyle and its not one to which modern society aspires, caught up as it is in the UK at least, with the notion that one should not so much as consider employment such as the "lower orders" might perform. Of the remaining UK driver population, very few will agree to the nights away from base which are required. The easterners are far more flexible and will work hard.
But much of the blame lies with government policy, which denigrates the trucking industry on which we all rely at every opportunity, and encourages children away from any form of future employment which does not revolve around a computer, desk and chair. Imagine being a fifteen year old who has erroneously learned that trucking is the source of every environmental problem we have - how motivated would you be to want to enter our industry, I wonder?
And much of the remaining blame lies with our customer base, which well knows that in the end we'll have to accept whatever price as a means of covering the overheads which continue to mount when the truck lies unused. Trucking revenues are pretty much at the same level now as they were a decade ago, and around half what they were two decades ago - against a backdrop of steadily rising costs. We have no choice but to recruit eastern drivers who will work for half price, just to make ends meet - the average gross profit after overheads here is around 1%, if there is any profit, even with such measures.
And then there's the cowboy operators in our industry, who avoid such issues as tax and proper maintenance and keep prices artificially suppressed by undercutting everyone. Yes the police do catch them eventually, but because of the lax situation here, the same people start up again under a new name the following day, the old company goes bankrupt and they continue.
And then there's us, the consumers. We get the blame all the while for wanting lower price goods - but do we get lower price goods, really? I say no - what actually happens is that goods prices rise every year, and the customers of the freight industry keep prices for haulage down, and make more profit for themselves - exactly as they do with all their other suppliers, especially supermarket suppliers.
So, its not a question of blaming immigrants or even lazy natives in my view - but about questioning the whole system which produces a situation where we need immigrants and natives are unable or unwilling to work what could be good jobs. As someone else here is fond of saying - "follow the money"
E
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In a test against the leading brand, 9 out of 10 participants couldnt tell the difference. Dumbasses.
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The other side of the immigration problem - 
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