work life balance

If, like us, you’re sick of the ‘White Van Man’ outdated stereotypes and would like to read something about modern van drivers, then this post is dedicated to you, sir or madam.

A survey has resurfaced this week, so it’s doing the rounds across the internet. We thought it would be a great way to, once again, talk about the great things our van drivers are currently all about and have to put up with.

What does the typical week of a van driver entail?

Obviously, these statistics are all averages, but you might be shocked to learn the following:

13.5 hours are spent on the road
A whopping £71 goes towards fuel costs
14 hot drinks to keep the day rolling (10% prefer green tea)
At least 3 lunchtimes will be taken in the van
Nearly an hour stuck in traffic

It’s no surprise that 3 in 5 van drivers feel like they may as well live in their vans, and 1 in 4 sometimes have a nap in them.

What about a year in the life of a van driver?

Once again, these are on average, but they may hit home for a lot of you. A van driver will:

Cover a colossal 16,000 miles
Enjoy (we use this word loosely) 47 hours worth of traffic
Feast on at least 156 lunches (in the seat of their vans)

Let’s leave the stereotypes behind…

These further facts were too good to ignore, so we felt they were also worth a mention. When you think of a van driver, people are quick to picture your classic ‘white van man’.

However, your modern van drivers are quite the opposite. Take a look at these statistics:

4 out of 10 van drivers who took the survey, were female
31% claim to be vegan, vegetarian or pescatarian to benefit the environment
40% of van drivers are considering an electric van for their next purchase

If you’d like to take a gander at the study from Lombard in more depth, you can view it here. There is further information about other subjects that were in the poll. It’s a must if you’re keen to help the environment, too.

If you do take the leap to an electric van (or even if you don’t), you can view our cheap van insurance prices, by completing this quick and easy form.

A news story that caught the eye of the Cheap Van Insurance team last week created a lot of conversation at head office. The furore blew up after a woman called Evandra texted a carpet fitter at 12.15am, requesting a quote for his services.

Suffice to say, the carpet fitter in question was not best pleased and told her in no uncertain terms. Which leads to an interesting debate. If you are a tradesman or woman who advertises online and publishes their number, when is the right time to ignore the phone.

On the one hand, business is business, right? And on the other, everyone is entitled to some down time.

Many felt that had Evandra emailed her request, the time was immaterial, but that to text at that time considered an unreasonable breach of privacy and she was unreasonable to do so.

Others felt that a text was fair game and she shouldn’t have necessarily expected a reply at that time, but that she wasn’t unwarranted to send it.

We understand, those with kids or ageing family may not feel able to put their phone in flight mode or silent during the night, but many do, so who is to say what she did was inconsiderate? We are so used to living in a 24/7 society, many think nothing of firing out a few email before bed to chase thins up and make things happen.

The debate was a close-run thing, with a poll taken by those investing in the debate voting almost 60% to 40% that she was in the wrong for making her request by text at that time.

Our advice: if you’re a tradesman, invest in a work phone. Switch it off at a time that works for you and forget about it to the next day, if it’s out of hours. And if you’re a customer, just try to remember that sole traders, workmen and small businesses are entitled to a little down time too.

Tag: work life balance

Welcome to a Week in the Life of a Van Driver

What does the typical week of a van driver entail?

What about a year in the life of a van driver?

Let’s leave the stereotypes behind…

What’s in a work/life balance?

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3