‘Pile Of British 10 Pound Notes’ (c) 2011 Images Money. Used under a Creative Commons license. (creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/legalcode)

Hello, everyone.

Well, I had forgotten how much fun a discussion with you lot could be! Thank you for reminding me with your great replies to last week’s topic.

For those of you who were not paying attention (or who just came across this blog and are wondering what on Earth is going on right now), last week I decided to have a good old fan interaction with my readers. This (for those who are just now arriving here at Gertie’s Cafe) is where I ask a question or bring up a topic for discussion, people who read my blog write in with their views, and I select my favourite for the following week’s post. This, if you will, is ‘the following week’s post’.

Now, our topic this time around had to do with owner driver jobs. I asked people who have 100% independent ‘man and van’ operations – or their own small business – whether they thought it was fair to pay themselves a salary for delivering parcels to people, or whether they would rather use that money to cover some of their business expenses and try to break even sooner rather than later. I fully expected the usual amount of fascinating responses, and you dearies did not disappoint. Here are three of the best replies I got, one for each point of view:

‘First of all, Gertie, thank you for this topic. It is a really interesting subject for discussion, and I feel it’s worth addressing. As for my opinion - if, like you said, we are considering owner driver jobs to be 100% independent, then no, I don’t give myself a salary. I think you mentioned your nephew having some savings? Well, I definitely do, and that’s what I use for housekeeping, to do my shopping and so on. Profits from my company go towards either the drivers I employ or the overhead. But I am an old hand – I can see how youngsters would prefer to give themselves a living wage for their efforts!’ – Dan, Gloucestershire

‘I think it really depends. Steven – your nephew – has the right idea: use it towards the company in the beginning, and then once you’re established you can pay yourself a small fee. If I had my own company, it’s what I’d do, too.’ – Charlie, Essex

‘Yes. There’s no reason why people who have owner driver jobs should work for free just because the business is yours and you need to make a profit. That's fair enough, but what about your own personal expenses? Unless you have some savings put aside – and even if you do – there’s nothing to guarantee they won’t run out sooner rather than later. And then what will you rely on to live? Don’t be daft – give yourself a wage! It doesn’t need to be a princely sum – just a few hundred quid to make sure you don’t starve!’ – Bob, Worcester

There you have it, then – never let it be said my readers are not equally represented in terms of opinions.

It was fun to do one of these again, it’s been a while! Until we next meet, take care my darlings.

- Gertie
x