Tanker drivers: How did you get into pulling tankers?

Was my first choice right out of CDL school, I like it.

 

Is the pay really all that much better hauling those bottles around?

 

Lets put it to you this way. I have 3 months exp home.nightly and bring home 1k after taxes. Now ask some other rookies like myself that haul anything else and see what they make

 

How I got into it was

It was January of this year...i loved my flatbed...i loved the challenge....then I got took off the baker Hughes account and I had to tarp a load In negative 20 degree weather in Wyoming....lol that was the last straw...i was going back to reefer wich I said I would never do...then I met up with a tanker driver from altom transport....he was pre tripping his trailer and had a cool truck...so I got out and asked him how the tank world works and he told me...he showed me his settlment and it blew my mind...so I decided I would yank me a tank

 

When I was born, the dr slapped me on my rear and said " he's going to be a tanker yanker" lol... True story!

 

But seriously when I was doing freight work busting my booty with Conway. I saw a guy unloading a tanker ,feet up in his truck. while I'm hot as ever with a fan blowing hot air on me in my truck delivering freight. I remember my old sergeant told me " you work the job, don't let the job work you". Tanker work is all I want to do nowadays. I love it!

 

Me too...i will never throw a strap chain or tarp again lol

 

I've been wanting to work hauling fuel ever since before I got my cdl. I always thought it would be an exciting job.


Put in two years OTR and 3 days after I turned 23 I called the terminal manager at Eagle in Jacksonville and spoke with him. Went in for an interview while on home time and set a start date.


I believe my job is pretty awesome and can be very nerve pinching at times when rush hour hits while you have 9,000 gallons of fuel behind you, but I can honestly say I love going in to work and I love my job mainly because of the people I work with and how I'm treated.


I recommend tanker work to anyone, I do miss flatbed but I'll sling hoses before I go back to slinging tarps.

 

I think the saying goes "work smarter, not harder". That would be tanker work. Did my two years vacationing OTR before I moved to Portland with my girlfriend. Decided I actually wanted to enjoy the place we just moved to so I moved to fuel. Most definitely can be nerve wracking at times, but it's because the drivers up here in the Pac NW are a special kind of stupid. Very underrated. But you're paid for all of you're time so it's a lot easier to be patient.

Plenty of work, averaging about 55-60 hours a week, with time and a half after 40. I'm actually moving on to what I believe is my last job in January. The variety of work that I'll be doing at the new gig will be wicked cool. Will be much more commercial work, not so much retail. More driving, less hose slinging. Just when you thought it couldn't get any easier.

Benefits are much better in the tanker world and is the huge reason I'm moving on. After 3.5 years I'll have 32 paid days off with a 4 on/3 off schedule. I'll more often than not work 5 days a week but now I don't have to take a vacation day if I want a 3 day weekend. Medical and dental free for the employee as well as LTD.

Simply put, tanker work is easy money. Would recommend it to anyone who doesn't want to work another day in their life. That's how it feels going to work everyday.

 

Congrats!! That sounds awesome man.