Groendyke Transportation fuel hauler..

May not be something you're interested in , but Ferrellgas is hiring in Colorado Springs. Propane tankers. Don't know anything about the company, just happened to see an ad.

 

They pay % in DFW. Less then some more then others. Call and talk to them. If you are experienced with decent record they will be glad to tell you what you need. Had a lot of their drivers get temp lockouts at a rack here. Got in too big a hurry. Reviewed night cameras. No walk arounds. No stopping at line. No bucket checks. Other minor stuff. Most do it right. Always a few who going to cut corners.

 

All racks here except Magellan require hard hats and glasses.
All Magellan are glasses and walk around at line.
Motiva FTW & Dallas are anal about seat belts. Wear at ALL times vehicle is moving.
NuStar{ Valero} requires FRC smock minimum. Walk around outside fence before carding in. Bucket test of each compartment.
Exxon hat and glasses. Turn off engine while waiting regardless of how hot/cold outside.
Kinder/Morgan FRC smock and orange/green safety vest.
Direct Fuels require long sleeves of any type.
Noble same as Exxon.
Musket is rail yard. Safety vest always. Just pickup ethanol there to take to Exxon, Delek in Tyler, others. They give most of these to our OOs as they pay them more.
Victory Bio no safety requirements at all. lol Self service diesel or so called diesel. Add extra 5-10% of this filth to most Murphy{Wal Mart} loads. Below freezing turns back to chicken and other fats. Nasty. But it does pay extra $50 stop charge. 3 short loads of this a night will put you over $300 easy.

Load count depends on what you are doing. Normally 4-5. As many as 6 and as few as 2. Have been sent couple hundred miles to deliver and as few as 2. Some like Avis/Thrifty/ Dollar rent a car at DFW Airport are very close to rack. Same with lot of QT Stores, Murphy, Cirlce K, etc. Others are up to 70 miles. Greyhound bus is close but right in downtown Dallas. Can be 15 minute or 2 hour trip depending on time of day and traffic. Old Dominion Truck is maybe 20 miles but easy to get to and 4 20K tanks set up properly for delivery. They will tell you what 2 to drop load into so you always have 2 hoses going.
Pay is good. Pretty easy work. Good insurance. Uniforms/coveralls. Best is safety attitude. No one screaming to haul ###. Don't want you messing around but safety is 1st. The guys who do don't seem to last long. I've been here since end of June. Seen 4 of the racers canned for repeated cross drops, trying to beat electronic logs, wrecks. One guy was told to start log at yard. About the 5th time he waited until he drove 25 miles to rack in FTW they fired him.
I enjoy it. Get to know your regular customers and look forward to going to many places. Have one guy who is Indian or Paki. Hell to get into his little dump. But he is a super nice guy and insists you get coke/coffee and snack on him for your trouble. Others like WalMart in Balch Springs are always crumby people. I started carrying 10 cones instead of 4 just to shut down half the station and really rub the natives and manager the wrong way. When he complained just told him it was new O Bama regulation and had no choice. Called dispatcher and he told them I was correct. Just laughed and told me I was nuts when I called in empty. Overall 90% of the places/people I go and run into are good.
Colo Springs is nice area. Growing fast.

 

Electronic log is pretty easy. Just sometimes slow as molasses. I average about 225-275 night. Gone as far as 450 in 12 hr shift. Over 80 miles from one side DFW to other. But we get to use toll roads as we want and they are all 70 so that helps.

 

You're asking very specific questions for a specific loading area. They are all the same and different too. Companies make their rules and then sometimes a common carrier tank farm make their own too. I have found that all companies are searching to make extra income. Since the gasoline business has been the same for many years the companies look for changes in their expenses. For example they look for cuts in their insurance. So the have the drivers dress all up in these so called safety devices so they can see the companies are taking measures to protect the drivers and the claims will be low. They try to make sure that loading is idiot proof so they'll add all kinds of steps that are unnecessary. I'm sure you have seen the changes throughout the years. And to get right down to it I'll bet the records will show they have no real decrease in accidents that they had 20 years ago.

I've looked at the Groendyke website and of course they make it sound like the best company around. What I would do is make contact with someone at that company then make a trip out there to check it out. After all you're moving to another state and going blind into a job would be senseless. If they are nasty about you visiting their offices then maybe they are not the company to work for. But you've got to prepare yourself for changes. They're happening all over and I believe it's going to get worse. Sooner or later we'll all get someone in power that has driving experience and they will see the unnecessary bullcrap we go through and change it. They will realize that these so called safety items are costing time which cost money.

I know exactly what you're going through. Even thou I retired some time ago I was there at the start of all this. Before we would go in and have 5 loads for 10 hours (we were paid by the hour). If we pulled another load we would get paid for 12 hours which was 2 hours OT. It didn't matter if you did your shift in 9 hours. Then the changes came in. They ( the collage boys downtown ) decided they would increase production by timing each load. So now you had time on each load where they had no idea about wait times and traffic at the stations. All they did was record the time it took a truck to get to each station. Then how long to unload then back to load. No time for traffic or pulling into the stations and getting the hoses going. So each day you could honestly add at least 30 to 45 minutes for delays. You'd think no problem since we get hourly pay but now we would get 6 loads they expected to be done in 10 hours. All the time I spent there I never saw any diver do 7 loads in 12 hours. So there went no logs if you pasted 12 hours. We were all happy to work 60 a week including 1 day of OT. That went away. I was lucky to retire when the pipeline sold to Kinder Morgan because they brought even more rules and got nasty towards the drivers.

Sorry to take up so much time with no real answers but I hope it helped a little. With making such a big move I guess you have to be ready for anything. You might find that where you're at is better. It's getting tough all over so I believe an on-site visit would be the best. Just like other drivers I can only tell you about specific site that I've been to and mine is Las Vegas loads, but if there's any other help I'd be glad to be here. Good luck.

 

It sounds like you had it pretty good, GasHauler. I tried my hand at the gasoline business last summer and just recently left it. Gasoline jobs used to pay really well but now they nickel and dime you about everything, even though there are sooooo many rules and regulations to follow. I left because it just wasn't worth the hassle for the money they were paying and the scrutiny you are under at each rack. You can't fart the wrong way without being banned for a day or more.

Being home every day was not worth it to me.

 

I haul fuel out of Amarillo for Groendyke. I've only been with the company for about a month but I'll try and answer as many of your questions as I can. Pay here is on a percentage. Top pay in is 25% but with your experience, you'll probably start out at top pay to begin with. I have a sheet that tells me what each load pays. The do pay $10 for a split and they do pay for pumps and split pickups. I believe it's $15 for a pump off but don't quote me on that. I haven't had to do any pump offs or split rack loads. We don't do many of those here. We work a 5 on 2 off schedule here but I'm not sure about the others. Vacation is after a year. No personal days but they do pay the major holidays even if you don't work them. As far as the terminal staff, everyone seems to know what they are doing here. It's a laid back atmosphere. I haven't had any issues so far. Everyone is very helpful and there hasn't been any of the usual BS that I have seen from other companies. I have hauled fuel for several companies like Loves and others so I know why you are wanting to get as much feedback as possible to make the right decision. You will interview with the terminal manager and not a recruiter. I really liked that. I hope I have answered at least most of your questions. Good luck.