My experience in dump trucking

One thing I have noticed. I've never been pulled over for a random inspection when I drive with my lights on. Try that and see if it helps. Keep your truck as clean as possible too. If it looks like rolling junk, that just ups the odds.

 

Hi j, good work, those jobs, at any level, are hard to grab. You know DOT is going to check you out. Reason being, they know you hardly ever go over a state scale, and fly under the radar, so you are a lot less likely to have an inspection. Keep that CB on your private channel, because when I hauled "schluck", whenever a DOT was in the area, everybody knew about it. And I believe the multi million dollar jobs, I guess Flatbed hasn't priced the cost of a driveway or parking lot lately. Also, keep a weed sprayer full of diesel fuel. Years ago, they outlawed that and make you use soap suds, which doesn't work near as good, and all the old timers brought their own sprayers with diesel fuel, just don't get caught with it.

 

70 a hour to a broker for leaser's? Wonder what the O/O's end up with once the broker gets done with em...

Oh yea, and EFRA (environmentally friendly release agent), more commonly known as diesel is your friend!

 

Well I think I may have found what I'm looking for just trying to figure out if I should. Starting pay is $13 an hour and 70 hours a week, so right at $1100 a week. Even though it's a $1 less than what I make now, I'd still make about $1000 more a month. I'll be driving either a regular dump truck or a belly dump, he said he's not sure yet. It comes with w2 so I won't have to do a 1099 and it has health insurance. It will also give me the experience and possible contacts id need to start my own gig one day. I'm looking for cons but all I can really think is that it's $13 an hour instead of $14. Just wanting to know what you guys think, I'm just trying to get my foot in the door in the rock/gravel/dirt hauling world. Sounds like good job to me, just nervous about changing jobs, wanted to see what y'all think.

 

Hi Grizz, well, $13/hr. sounds a little on the light side, but I'm not sure what your area pays. I know in Wis., I could start as a rock hauler in a nice truck for $18/hr. but it's probably seasonal, and would get laid off in a few months .W2 is a plus, and ins. a definite plus, and driving a dump is a good job, although a little boring, especially a belly dump, which means you'll probably stockpile, where a regular dump, you'll do all kinds of jobs. Like you say about your own, there's always work for a dump truck. They are a little harder to maintain, but when the pit closes, you park the truck and go home. Not too many dump trucks sitting in crummy truck stops.

 

Well from what the research I've done $10 an hour is the going rate at a lot of these places. I talked to my neighbor who used to own a dirt business and he told me that I have to look at the OT. A business owner isn't willing to pay $60-70k a year to someone with no dump truck experience. I'm just reluctant to quit cause I would be making $1 an hour less but at my current job I only get about 30 hours of OT every 2 weeks, and if everything this guy told me is true I'll get 30 hours of OT a week. I just feel like there's more opportunities in the future for a dump trucker instead of a poop trucker. And if owning my own is my dream then I best get the experience. Just want to make sure I'm doing a well researched career move.

 

Go for it. Like I say, regular trucking is a crummy job nowadays, and I would NEVER recommend someone buying their own truck to do that. There are people that make it, but it seems it's older experienced people with connections, and know the business. If there's any future in truck ownership, it's dump trucking, as if this country ever get's it's head out of it's rear, it's going to HAVE to invest in infrastructure, as I don't need to tell you what most of our roads and bridges are like. And 1 catastrophe comes along, like a hurricane, ( I'm sure you guys are STILL cleaning up after Katrina) and you'll be dump trucking all you want.

 

Oh they have ads on craigslist looking for o/o in south LA with dump trucks, 4.15 per ton 9 loads a day. But I don't know if I'd want to do that being away from home, but I suppose you could work a few days or weeks and then go home for a little bit. But who knows maybe after working for this guy I might be able to lease to him, he told me he has work to keep 25 more trucks busy. I just hope the nervousness isn't God telling me not to do it and rather the new job jitters. Like I said in my earlier post, not sure what the career outlook for poop hauler is.

 

Well, people that are familiar with my posts, know I'm not an overly religious man. I do very much believe in God, but just not like some that use God as an everyday reason for things that happen. I did waste hauling too, and while there will always be a call for that, as well,( maybe even more so, as not everybody will do that) dump trucking is clearly a better way to go. Most companies won't have you do hard stuff, like spreading, or demolition, which requires certain skills, and will gradually work you into that. Be brave, buckeroo, hold your head up, and march into battle. Remember, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

Yea given a lot of thought I think I'm gonna go ahead and take my drug test Monday and take it. Need to find a way to make myself stand out so maybe I might get some training on heavy equipment and when the time comes, maybe even see if I bought me a rig could he keep me busy. And this might be a dumb question, but are there load boards or brokers for dump truck drivers. Not that I really want to do any OTR cause I want to be near home, I'm not ruling out the occasional long haul to get started.