Thinking of Switching from OTR, REGIONAL to drive for oil & gas field companies? READ

I use to drive over the road then went regional then stopped driving for a while then back into it again. then I saw an ad for a CDL truck drivers position drivers make around $18 hour and up depending on experience. Well I jumped on board, what a mistake that was! I ended up driving about 2% of the time the rest I was working in the field away from home, now most of us that have experience driving trucks dont get the chance to drive they want to give their less experienced drivers a chance to improve, hey Im all for that but when you have the kind of HazMat loads they have letting a Rookie driver go out by himself isnt a good idea! I have been employed with this company for almost 2 years now, why you ask? Well most trucking companies REFUSE to even talk with you about a job once you mention the oil & gas field!! One company told me their insurance would not cover a driver who just came from the oil & gas field mainly because oil & gas field companies DOT rating is low! and with the drivers being punished now too for problems with that only the company can fix, hurts the drivers DOT score.

I have found a couple of comapnies that would take me but sveral of them wants me to take a refresher and drive with a trainer for about a month or so. I have about 4 years CDL driving experience, I have even taken an approved DOT CDL driving course and still most companies wont hire me, they all say go drive for someone OTR for atleast 6 months then come talk to us.

Now driving water trucks to these well locations is ok for most companies they will hire you, they just wont hire you if you work for one of the oil & gas field companies.

Just had to share this.

 

working 18-22 hours a day in the field and getting only couple hours of sleep, the pay isnt worth it! And most of us DONT make $90k a year its more like $65k a year those who do make 90k looses it in taxes and they make around 70k.
More hometime driving truck than working in the field.

I have actually found several "big" name and small trucking companies that can make about the same money as a company driver. It's not all about the money, why would anyone work at a job they dont like? for the money? you cant take it with you when you go.

 

I get what you mean, what I mean by local is a chance to be home several times during the week but still driving in several states. Our "crappy" equipment meaning things that I cant personally fix, only the company can fix like documentation or major repairs. Recently (end of Feb) one of our employees was stopped at weigh station for an inspection, the IFTA sticker was ordered but didnt have them present on the truck, even with the grace period which is until 1st of march The driver and the company got a fine for this. The lady who is responsible for taking care of DOT paperwork was fired and had not been replaced causing a delay in the ordering of the required IFTA stickers.
We have had some trucks with "issues" things that you know is going to need replaced but will pass an inspection "today". since we are out for months at a time somethings go bad while youre out. We cant get the company to replace these things "they dont need replaced yet, it will pass an inspection". Puts you bewtween a rock and a hard place.

Thanks for the comment BIGBLUE19

 

Thanks, Yep CSA Score. Thanks again.

 

Just Natural Gas oil production (Fracing), Hauling gasoline and oil is a pretty good job, I did that for a while myself.