Dry Bulk Plastic Hauling

[DragginMan]

'Bout time a dedicated forum for the "other" truckers on the road made its way onto this site. It's next to impossible to find anything on the web period relating to dry bulk plastic transfer. I've been doing this for almost a year now and LOVE it. I had been doing mostly flatbed and covered wagon, hauling building supplies and steel, and I can tell you that is WORK. Also did dry box for 14 months, and that was BORING. Dry bulk, on the other hand, is a different experience on a daily basis. I load my tank (abt 1.5/2hrs) and offload it(1-4hrs,depends on type of plastic), and the customer is almost ALWAYS happy to see me. The pay is excellent. Hometime is at least every other weekend, more often than not it's every weekend. My truck is a 2011 KW T660, got it with abt 200k miles on it. Not much get'up'n'go, but rides great at 70mph. Long story short, I ain't goin' nowhere.

[heavychevyman]

Do u know any bulk plasic companies that will hire with 6 months exp?I love bulk trailers.What company do You work for?AR wants 3 years otr.Im thinking of giving tanker yankers a try.can you please give me alist of companies that will hire and train on bulk trailers??????thanks in advance.product is not a concern.

[DriverBill]

Who do you drive for?

[Johnny99]

When I was with Chemical Leaman I did a lot of dry bulk, mostly plastic pellets. That was about the easiest tank work I ever done.

[Johnny99]

I see you are from Huntsville. Are you with A & R? They had a small terminal in Decatur.

[heavychevyman]

I drove or trans am 6 months out of truck driving school.bulk trailers is the reason I got my cdl.I want to drive for AR or Oakly transport,but both require 3 years otr exp.Are there any starter bulk companies that will hire with my experience.I have hazmat/tanker endorsment and a year and half loading/unloading gas and ethanol from rail to truck.A cool guy pulls in the terminal in a smooth kw 900 with bulk trailer...hooks a hose up to the bottum of hopper railcar,turns on vaccume after taking samples of plastic pellets.I loved it!!!!Looks like a super sweet trucking job!!!any info is greatly appriated.

[bulletproof77]

I drove or trans am 6 months out of truck driving school.bulk trailers is the reason I got my cdl.I want to drive for AR or Oakly transport,but both require 3 years otr exp.Are there any starter bulk companies that will hire with my experience.I have hazmat/tanker endorsment and a year and half loading/unloading gas and ethanol from rail to truck.A cool guy pulls in the terminal in a smooth kw 900 with bulk trailer...hooks a hose up to the bottum of hopper railcar,turns on vaccume after taking samples of plastic pellets.I loved it!!!!Looks like a super sweet trucking job!!!any info is greatly appriated.

Yeah but get them to tell you about the bad too...Dragging numerous hoses to reach that rail car..Going to customers where their hoppers are full and having to blow it off (or suck it up) out of boxes. Overloading the front because you used the wrong stinger and having to get in that trailer and shovel those pellets around to balance the load out. Or plugging the hoses. It isn't all fun and games in bulk.

[pathfinder1361]

Yeah but get them to tell you about the bad too...Dragging numerous hoses to reach that rail car..Going to customers where their hoppers are full and having to blow it off (or suck it up) out of boxes. Overloading the front because you used the wrong stinger and having to get in that trailer and shovel those pellets around to balance the load out. Or plugging the hoses. It isn't all fun and games in bulk.

wow, never knew somebody had to climb in and shovel!

whats a stinger?

[bulletproof77]

Its a fitting that goes on the end of the hose from the blower when you load. Different sizes fill at a different rate. Put too much at one end and your over axle. Thus the shovel.

[Johnny99]

All the vac trailers I loaded had 4" stingers. Suck on 45,000# of plastic pellets in about 40 min if you didn't have to switch compartments on the rail car. Occasionally got a trailer with a 5 or 6 " stinger. Same load on in about 20 - 25 min. If I was heavy on the front get it going in reverse as fast as you can and then stand on the brakes. Could usually move 300 - 400 lbs that way. If the back was heavy get it up to about 20 and stand on the brakes. In 10 years I never used a shovel.