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Nudged by the other thread! And in part because I left warehousing to try another sector in the belief it’d be more rewarding. It wasn’t. Just in case my employer reads this, I’m only messing*
What are my options for earning roughly the UK average but just coasting along never really under any pressure to achieve anything. Y’know the sort of clock off **** off set up. No qualifications of any note required, no financial targets, targets overall kept to an absolute minimum if in existence at all, and if they do they be as close to meaningless as possible. No one giving you shit trying to inspire creative thinking out of you. Just enough interest so you don’t get too bored (although I can handle boredom more than stress). Anything that requires learning to keep up to date can **** off. I do work hard, during working hours, can pretty much turn my hand to anything that doesn’t require extended learning (a few days or weeks is fine, if the training ventures into months it can fu..... you get the idea). It’s not a lack of ambition, it’s just the ambition doesn’t involve workplace success.
Anything that gets me spare time during daylight hours in winter would be a massive win. And I’d rather have a cheap bike than work my arse off for an expensive bike.
How much do bin men earn these days? How many hours do they do?
*Im not**
**Or am in! Sorry not sorry.
I kind of quit work at 38-40 after a succesful career selling engineering software and had the same quandry.
Ended up trying to get a job stacking shelves eventually and you will be amazed how much competition there is in the workplace.
I kind of work part time now but its a bit slow, mates at work, Mrs at work when im not so it can be done but its a complete social change.
National average wage, no targets or hassles? Clock off, tune out? No qualifications? No ambitions?
Sounds like you are made to be a civil servant? 😂
Tell me more about this Civil Service? To be clear, I have no moral compass of any note, I feel that would help with spending taxes inefficiently.
Driving instructor.
Amazon warehouse staff.
Get yourself a decent push mower, strummer hedge cutter etc and go cut grass for those who either are unable or unwilling. Tie that in with some handyman type jobs for your grass cutting customers and you're away. Even the time out during winter months is covered.
I know, I'm a ****ing genius, you can thank me now.
What are my options for earning roughly the UK average but just coasting along never really under any pressure to achieve anything.
If you want to spend your days on an Internet forum pretending that you’re busy all day then you’ve come to the right place for advice.
Actually, that’s not a bad shout Slackbladder. We’ve been talking about fitting a towbar to the van, easy enough to find a trailer for the job.
Huh, just googled U.K. average salary. It’s more than I though.
I can live on less than that for sure!
Gardening +1
Post person?
gardening +2.
Did it for many years in my late teens in the summer. amazing how many people don't like gardening and will pay good money to have their grass and hedges cut.
my plan when i need to coast (having spent the last 10 years on 24 hour call / adhoc travel) is - bike shop - working for someone else , I've seen enough to know that you only double your money in the bike trade as an owner by folding it in half or by working 24/7 7 days a week and being damned lucky.
But I'm not ready to coast yet , still some fight left in me.
Don't underestimate boredom though.
I’m not sure I started with any fight let alone have any left.
Deliveroo !
There might be an opening in the Bike hire/transport business next year.* It's seasonal, stress free, as much scenery as you can eat, some limited social interaction. It would require a move north though.
* Just joking Lindsay**
** Well, maybe not.
Garden centre?
I’m in a similar situation.
Will soon be moving for wife’s job and I have the opportunity / it will be difficult for me to get a job doing what I do now.
You won’t get a job earning national avg wage without qualifications or having to give a sh!t
At 44 though and a background as an accountant I can’t think what else there is I can do in deepest Shropshire / Welsh boarders
"You won’t get a job earning national avg wage without qualifications or having to give a sh!t"
The only reason not to give a shit about your work is if you have no pride.
Doesnt matter what I do -when it needs doing it gets done to the best of my ability.
To not give a shit about your work is a dangerous place to be imo --usually indicates it's time to leave.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">.I took the ops post to mean he wants to clock off at what ever time and not have to worry about it till he clocks back in tomorrow.....which having been that guy on the end of the phone at 2am trying to jump into an ongoing issue and fire fight-i can wholely appreciate. </span>
You won’t get a job earning national avg wage without qualifications or having to give a sh!t
It's very possible actually. If you have the capability to work and achieve at a higher level then dropping down a couple of levels to coast along whilst doing little more than going through the motions is pretty easy.
“I took the ops post to mean he wants to clock off at what ever time and not have to worry about it till he clocks back in tomorrow…..”
Although this thread is somewhat tongue in cheek.
Trail Rat Is correct. Work hard whilst I’m there is just fine with me, if I wasn’t the boredom would be too much. But I’m not so keen on the laying awake thinking about work in the middle of the night thing.
As noted by km79, to operate below ability is a perfectly reasonable strategy, which tbf I’m already doing. I’ve passed up applying for several roles now simply down due to the return not warranting the effort. There’s too many things I want to do that pushing myself at work would stop happening. I’d have more money, but no more personal reward for the work done and a reduced reward outside of work.
To not give a shit about your work is a dangerous place to be imo –usually indicates it’s time to leave.
I used to believe that... now I think giving a shit is far more dangerous.
either way unless you are exceptionally lucky this is entirely one sided as your employer doesn’t give a shit about you. However good you are they will happily swap you for someone as good but cheaper or similar combinations. Your boss might give a shit but that’s your boss not the company.
Mate of mine worked for the same company for 17 years... doing countless unpaid overt e and a very good job they moved 300 Miles and he took redundancy ... 2 years later they moved back and dismissed his reemployment out of hand as he had proven “disloyal”.
While I agree with your sentiment steve. There is giving a shit and being walked over.
And while people may have been promoted over me for doing extra....ive watched them and it just means they get even more extra heaped on top for not too much extra reward.
Km79 has the right idea. It's harder to implement than you'd think but not impossible - just gotta word it right.
If you are the sort of employee that gets stressed it’s because you care , if you care about the work then work for yourself it’s the only way .
philxx1975, Is there really competition in the shelf stacking sector? All the shelf stackers I see (in supermarkets etc) look like they are just there for a chat with their mates. I could easily out work 5 of them, and would probably enjoy it more than them by achieving shelf stacking perfection!
The soap factory in Irwell Vale for those that knew it would have been perfect for you. When me and mates finished school at 16 non of us had any idea what to do next so like the waves of school leavers before us we traipsed down to the 'soapy'to figure out this working life in front of us.
8hour shifts packing Vanish soap into a plastic tray then into a flat packed cardboard box. We couldn't stand up for 8 hours let alone work. Our pitifull peacework wage mainly went on custard eclairs in the vending machine!
Unbeknownst to be my parents Soapy MD neighbour pulled strings and got me on sweeping up duties. Armed with brush shovel and barrow I swept up soap machine expungement for an hourly wage. This task also included squashing cardboard into the big skip and falling asleep then waking up one day when everyone had gone home for the day! All with a musical backdrop of GnR's sweet child of mine blaring out of Radio1.
The happiest days of my working life - no mortgage, no stress, blissful summer. Never to be repeated in my career post Soapy!
Civil service, from my experience I reckon 1/3 work very hard, 1/3 work average, 1/3 do jack all and just float along. If you're on a contract you have even less responsibility and no annual performance nonsense, however you won't be able to get your union rep to cover you if you're busted for doing nothing.
Colin, I’ve found a couple of lovely Black Isle properties with loads of outdoor space and we’d have no mortgage. I’ll phone Lindsey in the morning and you can finally retire!
Dog walker and person walker.
Dog walking seems like money for old rope, especially if you have a suitable vehicle. People are always looking and the advertising seems to be done through Facebook and word of mouth.
Additionally, and semi seriously, how about setting yourself up as a "person walker"? Seriously.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/sep/14/los-angeles-people-walker-chuck-mccarthy
The Black Isle eh? Looks rubbish from where I'm currently having lunch.
I’ve a track record for sometimes odd east coast locations as well.
It all makes perfect sense to me.
SWMBO can probably be sold on this in time. Now, how to get this thread deleted before I start applying for jobs.
Im not really sure how much im joking. This has all the hallmarks of a 5 year campaign.
Plenty of time to get your Velotech awards and learn a bit of Scottish history then.
The accent might be more of a problem.
Have you considered moving to Nigg? I could then use the line..."one of my friends is a .............. resident of Nigg"
Is the accent harder than deepest darkest Methil?
Motherland looking great today I see
If you're into gardening there's an amazing property for sale on the black isle at the moment that needs a good bit of work. And the internet is too slow to waste much time on stw
This is something I've given a fair bit of thought to over the past couple of years. I'm not in a position to coast just yet (well, I suppose I could but I have a pension pot to fill up) but could throttle back a fair bit.
I work for myself, and it's been good for the past five years or so. My problem with doing shelf stacking or other low paid stress free work is the sheer number of hours you'd end up working to make anything worthwhile. I hate the thought of being trapped inside a shop when it's nice out.
Doing something fun but low paid would be a different story.
I reckon I can keep doing what I'm doing, but work six months of the year max. If the work is spaced out with plenty of time in between, that takes a lot of the stress out. No worries about things taking longer, and no need to do long days.
A few weeks of crap weather? Bring some work forward and take the time off when the weather is nicer.
Once I'm actually in a position to coast, I can do a day a week and earn more than doing five days at the living wage, no problem.
I'd be looking to see if there's something you can do related to your past work that pays a bit more but without the headaches of full time.
Otherwise, I'd like a job which involves walking a lot. Either a postie (awaits a postie to tell me how much harder it is than it looks...) or working for the likes of SNH counting deer, investigating frogs, bothering fungi, that sort of thing. That would probably require an element of training though.
As mentioned above, gardening or just mow lawns, there is so much work out there I turn loads away,i enjoy it, i choose my hours and work.
A guy I know does about 80 lawns throughout summer season and a few hedges and takes most of the winter off.
Admin role in a big Plc.
Not quite mindless, it’s more a case of dealing with incomprehensible business speak bullshit.
Most people are fairly career minded so managers actually love a plodder who can come in, do the job and FU day after day, month after month, year after year.
Usually fairly unionised and almost, it seems, impossible to get sacked unless you do something grossly wrong - for example in the two big PLCs I worked in you couldn’t be sacked for poor performance, unless you worked in sales. Otherwise if you don’t steal, commit fraud, make your employer look bad in public or commit a serious crime outside of work, you could, in theory, come in every day and stare out the window until 5 and go home again*.
Salary will always be over living wage. I started on 22k in 2002 as a non-grad, level 1 drone.
*if they really hated you they had ways to get rid - things like ‘Internet, phone and mobile strictly for work use only’ knowing full well, in fact encouraging people to make use of them just for a bit of leverage.
Nudged by the other thread! And in part because I left warehousing to try another sector in the belief it’d be more rewarding. It wasn’t. Just in case my employer reads this, I’m only messing*
What are my options for earning roughly the UK average but just coasting along never really under any pressure to achieve anything. Y’know the sort of clock off * off set up. No qualifications of any note required, no financial targets, targets overall kept to an absolute minimum if in existence at all, and if they do they be as close to meaningless as possible. No one giving you shit trying to inspire creative thinking out of you. Just enough interest so you don’t get too bored (although I can handle boredom more than stress). Anything that requires learning to keep up to date can * off. I do work hard, during working hours, can pretty much turn my hand to anything that doesn’t require extended learning (a few days or weeks is fine, if the training ventures into months it can fu….. you get the idea). It’s not a lack of ambition, it’s just the ambition doesn’t involve workplace success.
Anything that gets me spare time during daylight hours in winter would be a massive win. And I’d rather have a cheap bike than work my arse off for an expensive bike.
How much do bin men earn these days? How many hours do they do?
*Im not**
**Or am in! Sorry not sorry.
You sir, are my new hero....
That is all.... Carry on.
Nearly 50, I'd love to jack this in, but know that I have no other options, and any work I could possibly do would be so low paid we would starve.
Postie
@DavidB has been considered already, we live in a quite nice little town, and to wander its streets all day wouldn't be a chore.
You say you have ambition but no workplace ambition. Can you not combine? If your ambition is to be a mountain biker for example why not try to be a mountain bike guide or something like that? Or will turning a passion into work ruin it? .....I have no answers actually just musing.
Bin men start on just over minimum wage, most now work for agencies which are useless, drivers wages are better, but you are the one that deals with all the stress!
Hardest job I ever did, clearing bins at jogging pace, car drivers constantly giving you abuse!
Dust from bins getting everywhere!
Working in a team was the only saving grace, good colleagues mad the work bearable, that and finishing early and keeping fit.
40+ you might find it tough too?
X-binman
Reading your post, Have you thought about buying a van?
loads of self employed, man with van Work available, can earn £500-1000 as much or little as you want, time off when you want?
Good luck btw
Teaching, definitely. Finish before 4pm, every weekend off and half the year in paid holidays.
Now why did I give it up again........
I did a month on the bins one summer before wheelie bins, one of the physically hardest jobs I ever did.
Next summer I got a job with the council strimming verges. It was awesome, almost zen like in its satisfaction. Until you strim through a wasps nest...
Nothing involving driving. You'll become a fat crabbit bastard.
Two of my friends have "downshifted" to become parts drivers for local motor factors, no targets, out & about but not too far. They enjoy it.
Gardening, window cleaning, running errands for pensioners, dog walking, house sitting, pet sitting.
Loads of things if you put a mix together you could do quite well.
My mothers neighbour is retired, bored and just sold a company. Flush with cash he has a roster of workmen coming round most days to do things.
Post person?
ROFL Harris! {insert laughing emoji here}
Security guard on a large but unimportant industrial site? Sit in a little hut listening to the radio, drinking tea and browsing online all day, occasionally issuing a pass or signing people in/out.
I’m thinking move to the Black Isle in 5 years time, buy a trailer and some lawn management machinery, massive shed and no mortgage. Then also buy a fat bike and ski touring kit for the quiet winters on the hills and beaches.
Hard to to think of too many reasons not to. Life direction changed STW.
And I’ve just realised who owns the Singleton distillery so that’s somewhere for SWMBO to work.
Bonus.
Take in Nairn?
I was thinking Postie - seems like a dying industry though.
A quirky job like Scotroutes is probably perfect. Anything that remotely looks like the first rung for a young grad and you'll be up against loads of high energy ambitious types and be line managed by one of the above that's a handful of years older which no one wants. You need deadend where the pay is slightly inflated because it's a career with no progression so limited appeal.
Don't underestimate the stress of being self employed. Especially in a job (gardening) where the work varies massively in volume- feeling the urge to take as much as possible in the summer and fretting about the dwindling current account in the winter.
Take in Nairn?
Yep. I had to drop off a couple of customers at the Golf View so took a stroll along the beach for my lunch.
Gardening fits your description for sure. Bit of learning to do at first if you're not currently green fingered. Do some courses or just get a job with a gardener for a year then set up your own thing.
Yep. I had to drop off a couple of customers at the Golf View so took a stroll along the beach for my lunch.
Nice. My mum lives just a bit inland of Nairn. Nairn may have a hole for a high street but the beach (especially the west beach) are lovely.
I've ridden along to the point for a bivvy. There's an old (but lovingly cared for ) house alongside the abandoned graving yard with what is almost a lawn surrounding it. Lovely spot.
The postie where I used to live was the most stressed out, pee'd off person I used to meet. He was a lovely guy and wanted to do a good job, however, he was tortured by 'performance management', short staffedness and ridiculous deadlines and targets.
Didn't sound the most pleasant or stree-free existence to me.
I'm a Driving Instructor and if you want to be able to " switch off " at the end of the day, it's not easy. Mentally it is, it's just being mythered all the time.
Ive had text messages at 2 am. If you use the usual advertising ways of these days, Facebook etc, you will never stop being mythered.
Ive got 2 phones now so I can get a break just leave the work one on silent. No one bothers, they will just think you can't answer as you are teaching.
Someone else has mentioned Parts Driver for Motor Factor, a job I used to do. It was good, got some good customers, got the bonus of being alone in the van for a bit then having a laugh with the other lads when you get back to the depot. If you look after your customers, delivering their stuff with a smile, using common sense by parking a bit away from the doors if the stuff is not heavy so you don't block customers etc, you will never struggle to have a job done at a good price on your own car. Only reason I left was they stopped being local and went region wide without taking anymore drivers on and the work load was impossible to do within the timeframe.
Exhibit A "Anything that remotely looks like the first rung for a young grad and you’ll be up against loads of high energy ambitious types and be line managed by one of the above that’s a handful of years older"
Exhibit B "The postie where I used to live was the most stressed out, pee’d off person I used to meet. He was a lovely guy and wanted to do a good job, however, he was tortured by ‘performance management’, short staffedness and ridiculous deadlines and targets."
A performs the performance management on B because A has never done Bs job.
Seems to be the way of it.
If your ambition is to be a mountain biker for example why not try to be a mountain bike guide or something like that?
because potentially a client might not follow instruction correctly and you could be dragged through the courts for years and be sued for millions of pounds which would be covered by your insurance but even so the stress would finish you off?
Its got to be HMRC... as a result of trying to run some programmes for them, I came to the conclusion it was a place where people with no ambition or were losing the will to live went to die.
But, this is key for the OP, still got paid and couldn't be fired for pretty much no work at all.
Blimey Rick, I’m looking for an easy number to make the most of life. Not have the life drained out of me!
Fair do's, joining HMRC whilst you still have a pulse wouldn't be good at all....
Reading with interest, same sort of question I've asked myself for the last two years or so.
Given my (mostly poor) experience with tradesmen, I think I could clean up as a plumber or sparky.
But, I would say if you want to maximise money vs effort vs hours worked a gas safe engineer has got to be the way forward. Just set yourself up to be an alternative to the big companies rip off prices. Ask the punter what they were quoted, knock of 20% and still earn £500+ a day.
Where do you live? We are just back from Center Parcs and the guys working in the outdoor activities and tree adventures stuff seemed to be pretty content with their lot. How about something like that, Go-Ape have plenty of sites. I suspect he pay will be very basic though.
edit: Their Security Officers earn £20k, that has to be a pretty easy line of work.
You can extend the lawn maintenance stuff to cleaning monoblock/patios, clearing gutter and painting fences. None of them require real skills or particularly expensive equipment. Do a good job for one and before you know it you will be doing the whole street.
a friend of mine is an accountant and says her clients in this sort of work are earning more than she is, and only working 3-4 days a week... and that’s the bits they tell her about. One of them drives an Uber when the weather is too crap to be doing outdoor stuff (and bad weather increases demand = surge prices!).
Deliveroo !
£10/hour according to various rider reviews....
https://www.indeed.co.uk/cmp/Deliveroo/reviews
Some people's idea of a stress-free coasting job are quite bizarre! I'm glad the driving instructor turned up to correct that one... Postie - you won't believe how hard it is to get in! They turned me down (I couldn't have taken it anyway, couldn't pay the mortgage), then the same vacancy came up a few months later.
I tried walking dogs. It was shit (and not just literally). Dog won't do what you tell it, dog runs away. Dog then can sense your anger and won't come back. Asked a farmer to shoot the bloody thing! Apart from that it was boring as hell.
Any outdoor activity work is well below average wage.
I'm currently [i]trying[/i] to coast.. but they won't let you (The Man) - it's all about goals, performance, development, even if you don't want it to be.
My backup plan has always been to buy a pressure washer and a van, and then to go round pressure washing peoples drives and patios in Surrey (or other middle class suburban locale).
Reckon you could charge £80-100 a job and do two a day comfortably. That's £1800 a month pre tax. More if you can do 3 or 4 a day.
Not much, but then again I can't think of anything more oddly satisfying and relaxing than getting paid to pressure wash patios.
I reckon if you put together a half decent website and made sure you looked legit you'd find work easily enough.
Window cleaning is another one, a bit more labour intensive but you can charge a hell of a lot more.
Window cleaning is another one, a bit more labour intensive but you can charge a hell of a lot more.
Quite a lot of layout for window cleaning; you need a van that'll take a water tank with a tonne or more of water and a water purifying setup somewhere, as the water they use has been de-ionised so it's streak free when it dries.
Plus, ours only charges £15 for a four bed house, I don't know how many he can feasibly do in a day.
Wow it's posh round there, the window cleaner round my way has a bucket of water with the bits in and a ladder on his shoulder. Terraced housing life I guess 🙂
Yeah ditto - our Window cleaner drove the same 1980's Citroen right up until about a year ago, same bucket and ladder, wouldn't be surprised if it was the same rag. He washes and then used a chamois to dry/remove streaks.
None of this water tank and purified water nonsense. He also charged a damn sight more than £15!!
Become a full time military reserve.
because potentially a client might not follow instruction correctly and you could be dragged through the courts for years and be sued for millions of pounds which would be covered by your insurance but even so the stress would finish you off?
An incredibly scary precedent.
“I’m currently trying to coast.. but they won’t let you (The Man) – it’s all about goals, performance, development, even if you don’t want it to be.”
You see this is the problem. How hard can it be for employers to accept people’s goals, aspirations and personal development might all be outside the work place.
Whats wrong with turning up, grafting hard for the hours, then sodding off home again. It’s like they want their entire workforce to want them sacked and replaced by those they developed!
I really must get this thread deleted 🤫
So far the options look to be Gardner or getting skilled as a plumber/gas engineer/sparky.
Gardner - may work out in the long term, but short term you have got to build up a customer base which is easier said than done.
Tradesman - Yes there is money in it. But to be any good at it you would need to go and work for someone else for a bit to learn the trade (after college) and you are still going to be working unsocial hours when people want you in an emergency.
Bus Driver?
Plenty of coasting there.
My mates a postie and he loves it. Fills in with a bit of carpet cleaning on the side.