Owner, but not Operator (Tanker questions)

Hi everyone, this is my first post since Ive joined. There is an immense wealth of knowledge here but have not been able to find the answers Im looking for just yet.

Im the VP of a small chemical manufacturing company here in Northeast Oklahoma. We manufacture water treatment chemicals.

Our company sent out roughly 65 tankers this last year, all local-run. The company we have been using for these loads has become incredibly unreliable. No-call, No-shows, hours late, etc. It has become an issue that we can no longer keep them as "Plan A".

My father and I have got together and decided that we will consider purchasing a daycab and tanker for these runs. But I have some questions first because Im not quite sure how to make all this work.

My biggest question is pay and drivers. Since there wont be enough work to keep a driver on full-time, how do we get involved in a driver pool for a load a couple of times per week? The run doesnt take more than 8 hours and its only about 200 miles round trip.

2nd question is, would it make more sense to purchase just the tanker and then hire O/O's to pull it when we need them?

3rd question, what is the average wages and how is it paid for hazmat drivers from a pool. Are they paid by the hour or by the mile?

Thanks for all the newbie help, this is still in the planning stages but it looks like a good opportunity for us.

Cale

 

Thank You!

 

unfortunately the plant is completely full and I dont have a spot for another worker. Plus most of the jobs are specialized or degreed. I dont think our chemists would want to drive a tanker and I dont think our tanker driver would want to work in the lab. I really think that having a handful of on-call drivers would be the best idea but Im not sure if they even have driver pools or anything like that..

Any idea what an average per mile rate would be for a hazmat tanker driver on a short haul?

 

We have two small Freightliner straight trucks now so we have the knowledge of the oklahoma DOT rules at least and since we arent crossing state lines, we dont have to deal with as much BS as you guys have to. But we want to have a seperate company that owns the new tanker truck. My two drivers I have now dont have any interest in running the tanker because it would be less pay than the specialized work that they perform now. They dont just drive, they also do custom blending on-site for our customers and it pays very well.
Thanks for the help on the DriverSource idea, that definately gave me a starting point. I think we would rather purchase than lease though, due to the depreciation schedules being in our favor.

 

Im a little confused, what did you mean by that last part? Did you mean they would bring us a different truck each time we request one?

If we lease one, does it stay on our property or is it returned after the load is hauled? That would be a real hassle for us.