Pneumatic bulk tankers

Discussion in 'Motor Carrier Questions - The Inside Scoop' started by Burky, May 15, 2006.

  1. Burky

    Burky Road Train Member

    Another note: If you work 0on the food grade side of the house, then you can usually assume that you will have at least one load on a three day weekend. Especially the ones like this, where American's consume lots of hotdog and hamburger buns. Thay can't be made fresh ahead of time, so they have to be baked that weekend, and that means that they are going to need flour. I hauled a load on Sat morning, and have the rest of the weekend free. It's just something that you live with when you supply the baking industry.
     
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  3. MACK E-6

    MACK E-6 Moderator Staff Member

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    Baltimore, MD
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    The food grade division probably pays a little better because of that, doesn't it?
     
  4. Burky

    Burky Road Train Member

    A lot of our customers pay a premium for weekend work. Food pays well and I do well with it, but I know of a lot of our plastic guys that say it pays better. I like the food stuff more than the plastic, though I am qualled in both.

    And we picked up some new non food grade work 2 weeks ago that I got in on. I hauled lime for concrete plants for 5 days, and made about 1800 for that week, running under 1200 miles total. So I made over 1.50 per mile for the week, and that included one flour load and a trip back and forth to Michigan from Chicago. I was doing 4 loads a night from one plant 15 miles away to another one, getting 100 per load. And they also pay extra for weekends, with 120 a load to the driver for weekend work.

    And this week they asked us for another truck at night, so that work is up to about 16 loads a day, and we are starting to pick up their longer hauls. I saw one message for a load that takes about 4 1/2 hours driving, 1.5 hours to unload, and pays almost 300 to the driver, which is a nice rate, and you end up 30 miles from another one of our terminals, which gives you a nice shot at a return haul.
     
  5. dougfixit

    dougfixit Bobtail Member

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    Feb 7, 2006
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    Dowagiac Mi hey burky, family there. If you ever run to sara lee traverse give a blast at the intersection before 31/37 (the porn shop)live close maybe Have the radio on doug
     
  6. MACK E-6

    MACK E-6 Moderator Staff Member

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    Hey Burky, I seen one of you guys down here on the Beltway yesterday morning. It was a Mack Vision daycab. :)
     
  7. Burky

    Burky Road Train Member

    Yep, that means it was a local truck running that area. We bought about 50-60 new daycabs in 2005, all Visiions. And we have started putting out the new 2006's that are all sleepers. There are about 60-70 of them, some already in use and they probably have 30 or more sitting at corporate getting them ready. Mines a 2000 CH600, got about 630k on it right now. If you look around, there are a lot of our trucks running around.
     
  8. David Autrey

    David Autrey Bobtail Member

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    Mar 28, 2006
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    Wow, two weeks of training time? that sounds great, I just saw one of the trucks in Grand Prarie last week, it was an ultra shiny new one. Pretty truck. Closest terminal for me would be the one off Blue Mound in Ft Worth, have not seen the yard yet, but would sure like to investigate this more, two weeks of training, wow, always just been thrown to the wolves, then reprimanded or otherwise put up with the dismissive tone of the people in charge, you know, us sorry truckdrivers, who can not just pick up stuff by osmosis.
     
  9. Burky

    Burky Road Train Member

    The training time (except for the 6 day school) is tailored to the individual and how much time they need to feel confident to operate the equipment. Not to wave my own flag, but I attended the company school (5 days then) and had 5 days of time on the road with trainers before I was on my own. But I came out of an area where I already understood the ideas of pressure and flow, which sped me up considerably. One of my trainers told me that he figures it takes about 3 days before the idea fully sinks in that it is just air doing the work, and then you can start the serious training. And the learning doesn't end there. There are things that happen very rarely, and you end up calling another driver and getting help because the incident is so rare. I have one type of plug that can happen on a trailer that has only happened 2 times in three years. (plugs being a plugged up line with nothing flowing and the line full of product) You really can't teach that because you can't make it happen in class, and you really need experience to handle it.

    The difference here is that our trailers are loaded with valves, handles and moving parts, and take more knowledge to operate than something like a van. And they have to be handled properly, because mistakes are costly. I haul plastics, and they are loaded with vacuum rather than pressure. Goof up and don't open the hatches on the railcar, and you will suck in the car and damage it to the tune of about 40,000 dollar in repairs.

    Customers can make mistakes also, and you have to be aware of them. Two weeks ago a customer signed my paperwork, initialed the address and the name of the product as I asked him to do, and wrote the silo number on the paperwork as I requested. He authorized me to hook up and start pumping. Another truck was there, so I had to wait. While I was waiting, the clerk came back out and told me he had goofed and assigned me the wrong silo. Had I pumped in, the 100,000 pounds of product already in that silo would have been contaminated. I would have been covered because of my paperwork, but it still would have been a problem and a lot of money and product wasted. In fact, the silo's were marked and I would have caught the issue and I would not have hooked up without reconfirmation. But not all silos have product names on them, and it can easily happen.

    It's not an easy business, and it's not for everyone. When it's raining or snowing, you are out of the truck and unloading the trailer. Many deliveries take place at midnite -6 am, some days you may work locally, last week I drove over 3000 miles.

    I like it and it fits my needs very well, but it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. As with anything, you need to find a niche in the industry that you like and settle in there.
     
  10. slowmotion1065

    slowmotion1065 Bobtail Member

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    May 31, 2006
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    I'm kinda curious who your talking about at the willis terminal, my mom worked at that terminal doing driver reimbursements and I have no clue who you would be referring to. That terminal had some major admin problems and training admin staff but some of the girls tried to cater to the drivers needs the best they could. I'm glad you give them a positive rating, they've become my second family over the years.
     
  11. Burky

    Burky Road Train Member

    I can't think of her name right this monment, but she was redhaired, early 40's or so, and her husband came along as part of the package as a kind of assistant terminal manager. He was more the problem than she was, exxagerated sense of self and spoke to drivers in ways I wouldn't yell at a stray cat.

    Like I said, they are now a model for how I feel a terminal should be run, and i greatly enjoyed the week I was up there earlier this year. And if by some occurence it turns out that I am describing a family member, no harm intended here. They may have been wonderful people if you were up there full time, but I am saying what I saw at that time as an impression. This would have been Sep 03 roughly, if that helps lock it down some.
     
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