Indian River

Hah.... Being real? Depends if there is a issue with the truck or trailer ... From about 1.5 hours to 8 if you have a issue and it pumps slowly. But again pump drivers haul few and far between. Some have pump trucks and never have had to.

Learning curve my case was a bit different. I learned over the phone. You normally have a whole day class on it to answer your question. It's not overly difficult and worth the extra $75 to hook up a couple lines to the trailer, vent the hatch, hook up the rear line and adaptor and flip a couple levers.

 

If you only pump a couple of times a year, that's basically like doing it for the first time every time.

 

So, I'm interested in this line of work, but honestly I have the impression that there's a lot of waiting. Waiting for loads. Waiting during loads. Waiting for two days before being eligible for breakdown pay. Waiting for washouts. Sounds like with all the waiting it's on par with reefer. Sure there's a handful of regular posters on this thread who would beg to differ, but there are also many other threads that talk about this with irt and the occasional poster that pops in every once in a while on this thread that talk about all the waiting, like
@¿MadHatter¿

 

It really depends on the product. If you are hauling dairy to a plant, you should plan on being there hours. It's not an IRT thing, it's a dairy thing. Dairy plants always wash the tank before they load it and after they unload it.

A dairy wash takes roughly an hour, add in the actual loading or unloading time and even if there are no other trucks in front of you and they take you right in, you are looking at anywhere from 2-4 hrs, depending on the dairy product and the speed of the pumps etc. Get 2 or 3 trucks in front of you then multiply that time by the number of trucks. Throw in a wild card with plant equipment or production issues and that 2 hrs can turn into 2 days...yes really. To be honest though dispatch usually works something out as far as dropping the tank, cancelling the pickup or rerouting you somewhere else if things are that bad.

Luckily we do have a few dairy customers that are drop and hook for pickup or delivery so that mitigates some of the dairy grief. Even so, I am not a fan of dairy loads, but I do them anyway as the good loads more than compensates.

As far as waiting for a load/layover, things have slowed down considerably in the past two months. Not to the point where I am in layover territory, but there is a noticeable gap in-between loads. In my experience though, dispatch doesn't hesitate to deadhead you where loads can be found. I have had many settlements where empty miles exceeded loaded miles. Other drivers may not be so lucky as I have heard complaints from other drivers having to sit and collect layover. I honestly cannot speak to the frequency of this happening as I have only heard of this from 2 or 3 drivers.

Are things slow enough to make me look elsewhere?. Not yet, but again, my experience (and tolerance for slowdown) may differ wildly from someone else.

Dairy aside, any load that you have to live load/unload will take time. It's not like dry van or reefer where a forklift operator that is on the ball can knock out 26 pallets in 25 minutes. Tankers are at the mercy of the pumping equipment, be it hose size, pump speed and storage capacity. No way around that when loading or unloading.

The record fastest unload I have experienced was orange juice in 27 minutes, but that is only at one regular customer, every other customer I have been to takes much longer.

 

seems your outfit actually correctly DHs you guys to keep everything running, just spoke to a buddy at old reefer outfit & he's b*thcin about sitting around for free & he's got seniority there (blue puffin bird on side of trailer) cause layover is pretty much non existent there... when's detention start? loading unloading is unpaid? Required washouts are unpaid? you guys primarily do 10s at customers dont say many tankers at truck stops...know you got Bojangles available in Cordele 75 loves but that's your private property...

 

Detention starts after 2 hrs up to a maximum of 10 I believe. The usual caveats apply, have to be on time etc.

Loading and unloading is unpaid unless you are running a pump. There are a couple exceptions where you *can* be paid for loading, but that's only at a couple dedicated customers and only if you aren't delivering the load.

Tank washes are unpaid, having said, the area I run in I very rarely have to sit at a tank wash. I work mainly the east coast and Winter Haven, Cordele and Bensalem terminals all have tank washes so it's a drop and hook operation there. The main 3rd party tank washes we use in my area are also drop dirty and hook a clean.

Most customers I go to will allow a 10 on site, or I usually know of a little hidey hole nearby. I don't usually need to take a 10 at the major truck stops unless I am heading to FL from the NE. Also, most tank washes usually allow you to take a 10 and the better ones actually have showers and laundry facilities we can use. I have even seen plush driver lounges at a few washes, with recliners, big screen TV, pool tables and weights etc.

 

thanks for being transparent! No matter what lane or trailer division you run, there's always something a driver has to give up but there's also good things which I see the dispatch seem to run you guys correctly with miles... interesting to hear the tanker w/o facilities offering basically what truck stops offer, that's pretty cool of them... thanks again for the info! trying to make an informed decision still have OTR driving in me

 

To be honest only tank wash I've been in was in Tulare. Did you have any recommendations or ones you normally go to?

Detention is also not paid out if your really early or late at all. I will say IRT does give plenty of time on every load I've had. Seems most loads or at least in my case can be ran in 8 hour days.

 

At times we may be sitting for a day or two depending on where you are geographically and the day of the week. I know many others as well as I are still running a avg of 2500-3000 miles. While at times we may wait longer than we would like, there's a lot of companies drivers and not even breaking 2k miles a week with the freight shortage or stuck on 2-400 mile runs. My average length on loads are 1800 mile + runs. I'll take a coast to cost runs over short runs. I'm currently on a 1300 mile deadhead to keep me running.

I'll say when I ran dry van that 4/5 of my loads I would deal with shippers and receiver's and often treated like drivers ####. The tanker side I've only dealt with people that are glad your there, or very helpful. That in it's self is worth something after being on the road all day.your not treated like scum. Every division or trucking has it pros and cons. I'm personally happy with the switch and wish I had come to the tanker world sooner.