wannabe wondering how important hazmat cert is

HazMat won't make or break you anymore. Before the Patriot Act required background checks, HazMat was pretty much necessary. Now A lot companies don't require it at all. Company safety rating now determines who can even haul the stuff.

 

Some companies require it, most don't. They don't pay for you to get it, and most don't pay you extra to have it. I think it's a waste of money unless you are working for a major HAZMAT carrier.

 

Simply put, the more endorsements you have, the more places you're qualified to work at. Saw a Roehl truck rolling down the road with a flammable placard on the side and hollered at him... he said it kept him rolling. This company doesn't pay any more to haul it. I've considered adding it, just to have it, though I'd still turn down any haz-mat load the company tried to give me.

 

Why is that?

 

Because I don't feel comfortable hauling the haz-mat... at this pay scale.
Seriously, I'd not be willing to find out everything I had to do every time I got a load. Paperwork with the company, going to buy placards, etc. If it were a daily thing and it was my job to haul haz-mat, it'd be as simple as throwing a strap is to me.

I haul flatbed. I won't haul a van, either, even if they pay me the flatbed rate. I find vans to be too dangerous. It was windy out earlier and I saw the sides of them moving like a wave across a lake.

 

It's too much of a headache hauling hazmat on flat. They don't pay any better so why take the hassle on.

 

Fair enough. You probably wouldn't have liked a couple jobs I had, then. My first hazmat job was hauling UF6 and UO2 to the dirty side and then, later on, sodium cyanide. All done on flats.

 

Celadon is now paying the drivers to get it

 

What peaks my curiosity is this TWIC. I thought this went active already. Does that mean I'm not allowed in ports? If so, I'll actually be thankful to Uncle Sam for doing something with that 1/3 he gets.