ruan

Thanks for the in depth write up. My experience in talking to a couple of Ruan drivers out of Tulare was that they were pretty happy. Not acting like their jobs were the greatest thing ever, but not complaining about their jobs either. It does seem like most of the guys I've talked to were relatively new drivers, as is under 6 months with the company. Sometimes it can be hard to get a good feel for a company in that time.

I've been looking at Ruan, they have a run that looks pretty good right by my house, but they never seem to be hiring for it. Probably a good reason for that. That's a dry van run. They are also hiring for the Tulare location now and again for milk guys, and I've looked at them as a means to get tanker experience. Seems like a lot of the fuel companies want tanker experience. Probably to weed out the guys who can't understand the concept of how to drive a tanker, they'd rather not have the accident occur with one of their tankers loaded with gasoline of diesel.

I just got a new job, though, so now it isn't likely that I'll be looking to switch over again too soon. If I'm looking to change again in another year or two, I'll make it a point to really hunt down some Ruan drivers at the truck stops and see how they feel about the place.

Moloko, do you think that they are a bad place to get the tanker experience if I'm willing to deal with the stuff you discussed, the 16 hour days and such? Do they at least have equipment maintained well enough that I'm not going to be getting violations on my record? Do they at least tend to leave your DAC alone if you have personal problems with the management/dispatchers?

 

Well, that depends. Ruan did get me the amount of tanker experience I needed to land a fuel hauling position. The driving experience was undoubtedly an asset to my resume. The smoothbore tanker experience is probably the most "dangerous" and therefore, most sought after if you are going in the direction of chemicals or fuel hauling.

And I'm not sure if Tulare would have all the problems the Ripon and Acampo terminals (RIP) had. Tulare seems like the corporate hub of it all down in California; they probably have more stringent hiring standards. I would think they are more professional , since the big bosses are looking over everyone's shoulders..

The equipment really leaves something to be desired. It is hit and miss. You can get a really nice freight liner or an old, 800,000 mile piece of doo doo. You will jump trucks many, many times a day; and that is something I couldn't stand. The dispatcher will put you in 5 different trucks a day.. when you are stuck at the creamery.

As for the DAC report, I'm not sure. But if you get hurt at work, they do a root cause analysis where they try to manipulate you into accepting 100 percent liability for their issue. A number of coworkers were threatened with termination for getting medical attention before getting management's "approval." And on that note, my employment lawyer told me we could probably take them down for a fat lawsuit if or when they ever did that to me Highly unethical... but from what I gather, nobody lifts a finger without corporate's approval. I couldn't even get a wage statement for an apartment rental, without corporate approving it. It is likely that a pissed off manager couldn't trash your DAC report over personal issues. On that note, even if they did, you could probably fire off a retaliation case against them ...

 

Thanks for the insight into the company. I'll definitely keep them on my short list if I have to jump ship here, but I'll try to hunt down some local drivers first to see what I can learn.

 

As of a few days ago, I was let go from the terminal over here in Clovis over some rather, minor thing.
No accident involved, just dozed off for about 10 minutes while waiting for the tank to get done pumping(after having been there for an hour prior waiting on the lines to get washed).
We're on our third terminal manager since I got on here in July '12.
While I was expecting a suspension/reassignment at the very most(no disciplinary actions for anything up to this point), I was canned after being told not to come to work for the following night.
The previous managers would've been somewhat more sympathetic to the minor offense, but this new guy just pulls the nuclear option and ends it right there.

Luckily, I've found a few other, locally based gigs to get onto in the area before I proceed back to my original plan of getting moved back out to a larger city.
Indian River and Cardinal have pretty much already approved me.
So while the sour taste of that new, crude terminal manager remains somewhat, at least I was able to make a soft landing elsewhere.
Also, with the shortage of tanker drivers locally and the way they are pushed there, this guy's going to end up taking the terminal further downhill than it's already been.

Other than that, the three year ride was great and I'm proud to say I lasted that long at one place.