Eagle Transport (Gas Haulers)

Wow only two terminals? I think in Nashville we have about 8. I have been to 5 of them. 3 you have to wear FR clothing along with a hard hat and safety glasses.

 

Yep that FRC is incredibly hot .... jumpsuits over your own clothing ... goggles that cover your whole face and a hard hat just to keep the heat in ... it's a freakin' wonder that nobody has come down with heat stroke yet ... but I have seen a few folks walking kinda wobbly kneed trying to keep the sweat outta their eyes. BP and Marathon are the main culprits in Charlotte.

Been out studying for my cdl renewal ... all hazmat this time around ... passed it when the computer gave up after only 24 questions ... sign said "24 Correct, 0 Wrong, You have passed". Sure beats the heck out of all the questions on everything back in 92. That seemed to be about 3 hours long and this was about 15 minutes.

 

Wouldn't even want to try that at Ft Hood ... as Dirty Harry always says "A mans got to know his limitations" ... at my age I'd probably end up puking in the suit ... hydrated or not yuk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

TSA letter was pretty fast .... seemed to be about 2 weeks. Got the license in the mail today, NC mails them to you now instead of giving them to you when you pass the test at DMV.

 

Don't have to have a TWIC card in NC ... don't even know what it is.

 

I can't believe that a terminal would require a firesuit to load a truck. I've been retired for some time now but out in Las Vegas we only had to have safety shoes and gloves. Sometimes you had to move fast if a mistake was made and it seems to me that with all that gear on you'll have a bigger problem because of the gear.

You guys talk about heat!!! Try working all day when it's so hot the city has to close the airport because the planes can not get any lift on their wings. It was 120° and I had 6 loads. It was funny that we all knew when it was too hot for us. Any temp. that was over 105° we could tell.

To top it off the city had 1 terminal to pull from. It was a common carrier tank farm that was owned at first by CalNev pipeline but Kinder Morgan bought them out. It didn't matter who owned them they always had problems. We were a major customer that had our own lanes to load at but the computer went down all the time. It didn't affect our pay because we got paid by the hour but it was frustrating.

Here's a question for anyone. Does any of the majors still pay by the hour? Out there it was just about all the drivers goal to work up into the majors. I was asked all the time from other company drivers if there was any job openings. Our waiting list was about 5 years. We worked 4 10 hour days and anything over 10 hours was OT. Anything over 40 hours a week was OT. So we could always work one of our three days off to make it a 5 day work week plus we always took an extra load for 12 hours so we'd get 60 hours in the week. With that 20 hours was time and half. The last time I talk with my friend at that company the pay was at $29.50 an hour for the southern california terminal.

 

I remember about 2 years before BP got rid of all their drivers and trucks ... that would have been about 1997 ... they had a bulletin board entry saying that BP was hiring at $13.50/hour with time and a half over 40. Heck, I was making that much for a small time oil jobber ... but they did have us beat on benefits, especially on the health insurance.

Yep ... they sure do require fire resistant clothing at two terminals in Charlotte which works out pretty well in the winter, but in summer it is almost more than I can stand. Ya know those load racks are so close together and the trucks block all air flow and on top of that you are inside a booth which even further blocks any air flow. Alot of us old timers are fairly slim, but when I see one of those 300 pound drivers get out of the cab and start loading I really feel badly for them ... I just don't wanna see anyone come down with heat stroke. Heck ... when they first started this crap they had a rule in effect about you not being able to idle the trucks (run the A/C) on terminal property while you waited in line.

To answer your question about drivers aspiring to get on with the majors ... there are no more majors operating out of the Charlotte market ... it's ALL common carriers. No more Exxon company trucks ... nor Texaco ... nor Crown ... nor Marathon ... nor Conoco ... nor AMOCO ... nor Citgo ... nor Shell .............. they all got rid of their trucks and drivers and none of their drivers would lower themselves to work for a common carrier ... which isn't really all that surprising.

 

There are no more majors in nyc. BP just layed off thier drivers in december. I hear Mobil drivers will be next. All common carriers looking to do by the load pay in the most congested traffic area in the country. I've relocated to Phoenix Az. area, Any good leads will be greatly apreciated.