Insurance companies and 2yrs Experience

I didn't say come to NV , the jobs are here for the taking. What I am saying is there are some local jobs that pay well and some that pay very well no matter where you are. Anytime you get into specialized hauling the money is going to be better than just the regular driver. That can cover a wide range of fields from heavy hauling to hauling just gasoline.

However, most of the time it's all proportional. The wages match what the cost of living is. I'm sure there in AR you can find some nice property with a nice house for a reasonable cost. But to say all local jobs do not pay well is not an accurate assessment of the situation. Not all truck driving is just pulling frieght from point A to point B. If it were then you'd be 100% correct.

 

There's a company here called Star. It's not the Star out of Nashville or the other one in Illinois. It's Star out of Arkansas. They are a "specialized" carrier like what you do. They haul gas as well. I guarantee it won't be hard to get a local job there. Local work is all they do. I will also guarantee you that you won't get more than $9.50 to $10.50 an hour doing it.


Gashauler. You have a misconception like a lot of people do. You are in a different state. You have opportunities. You have employers and a state that "allows" you to make a decent living. Bring yourself to Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, Oklahoma and a few other states and you will be begging to get back to where you are. The pay is not here like it is there.

I have an uncle that lives in Illinois and he comes down here ever so often. A few months ago he come down and took my mom, and some of my family out to dinner. He got the bill and couldn't believe that it was no where near $100. He said "You can't do that in Illinois" We all got a kick out of that.

Different places have different rules and pay. There is NO jobs here that pay over $12 unless you are in a very specialized field.

My girlfriend just completed 5 years of college training. She works as a nurse for a surgical physician. Guess what???She doesn't get over $12 an hour. It's just not going to happen around here. I don't mean to piss on your parade, but I have struggled in Arkansas for the last 20 years or so. The pay I was getting in 1988 is about $100 less a week than what the pay is now. I started out making $4.50 an hour with no benefits with my very first job. Now you can get a job here for $7.25 to $9.00. More pay for more specialized work like you are talking about. Trouble is...there's no jobs like that here.

Arkansas isn't Nevada. Like I said if you think it's like that then come here and disprove what I have been fighting with for 20 years. Do you think I actually WANT to be OTR instead of getting a $1000 plus a week local job?

I have found the "trick" to getting the high pay here though. You have to have 20-30 years in the same job. I know of a guy that started at Wendy's restaurant when he was in high school. He now owns 4 Wendy's in my area. He's very wealthy but he has been through the mill getting there.

Just coming here and saying " Oh I do specialized work and I demand a high salary" will do nothing but get you some strange stares.

I don't mean to rant but I really don't think a lot of you guys out there understand. When I was around 25 I saw an ad in the paper for a delivery person. The job required you to use your own vehicle and provide commercial insurance on it. The job said great pay and benefits. I called and went to go apply. They told me on the phone where they were taking applications. I got there and i saw a crowd of people gathered. I walked up to a guy and said "What's all these people doing here? I just need to get into the building for a job interview." He said "This is the interview line buddy. You will just have to wait like the rest of us." I couldn't believe it so I went home. I would estimate there was 30 to 40 people there for ONE job. I later on found out they wanted someone with a pickup to deliver and fill soda machines. The job paid $8.00 an hour plus a small percentage of the profits. You were responsible for your vehicle and maintenance and gas and commercial insurance. The reason there was so many people there is because it was and 8 to 5 Monday through Friday job.

 

You have no idea what type of driving I did and you have no idea how the larger refiners work. So you can guarantee all you want because that means nothing also. I officially retired from ARCO a major refiner in the year of 2000. My pay then was $23.50 an hour not including overtime. Star is not a major and what they do is mostly common carrier work. Ask anybody you know if they can get work with Chervon or any other of the refiners? You may find work with Star ,but I would never darken their door. That's like asking a successful O/O to give his truck away and go work for Swift.

P.S. look at the pic's. If you think Star has trucks like those I think you need glasses.

 

Gas hauler you and I are talking about two different horses. You are trying to brag about what you are doing. I'm not saying that at all. I'm glad you have/ had a good deal. The original guy was talking about how hard it was getting into something like you have. I was agreeing with him that it's not easy here either to find that PERFECT job.

What I'm guarantying is that you will NOT get a job around where I live hauling gas or any other specialised community for above $10.00 an hour or so. If you get that above that then I'm proud for you. You should count your lucky stars that you didn't live you life in Arkansas. I know you wouldn't have that kind of deal here.

There's NO trucks like you show in your pic within hundreds of miles of where I live. We don't pull double tankers around here. Star, the company I was talking about is strictly a tanker company that hauls gas from the refineries to the local gas stations. Another I know around here does the same but they run straight trucks only.

You said in one of your posts that it doesn't matter what area you live in. That you can find that kind of deal anywhere as long as it's like what your doing.

I'll give you a challange. If you can do it anywhere then name a company that is here where I can get a local job getting $23.00 and hour. I have looked for a job like that for 20 years and about $11.00 and hour is as close as I have found here. If you are so sure it can be done then tell me where here I should look for it. I believe you that YOU can get it in NEVADA, but like I said ARKANSAS is NOT NEVADA. So I will wait to hear from you telling me where that deal is in ARKANSAS. I will be there first thing in the morning to apply for it.

Instead of coming on here bragging about what you do and what you haul, why don't you help? I was trying to help the guy. I didn't come on here with my chest puffed out bragging about what I have done. I was trying to give him good advice and point him in the right direction. If you so sure ANYONE can haul specialized stuff anywhere for $23.00 an hour then tell the guy where to go apply in Illinios. I want to know where to go in Arkansas too. Come on don't keep it to yourself.

There's no Chevron jobs in Arkansas that I know of. There's local gas hauling jobs, but your not getting over $11.00 an hour to work there. I think your very fortunate for having what you have. Others try a lifetime to get it and can't. I'm one of them.

The Star I was talking about is strickly a tanker company that strickly hauls gas. They run daycabs. It's not a general freight company. They don't have one single dry van or one single flatbed. It's all tankers and all gas haulers and they pay about $11.00 an hour. Like I said you are lucky and fortunate. It's not EVERYWHERE that you can get a job like your talking about. If it was then a #### load of guys around here would be off of the OTR trucks and would be back home hauling gas.

 

I'm sorry if you see it as bragging, I had no intention of that. My intention was to illustrate to you that you have no idea how the gasoline industry works and the grass is greener no matter where you're at.

For your challenge try Exxon, Chevron, and even Pilot. I don't know if you would qualify or not but if you go out and haul gasoline for $9 to $10 an hour you're a fool. BTW they're not doubles they are truck and trailers ( a big difference). Enough said.

 

Like I said it's not what you do. It's where you are. You are jaded if you think you can go anywhere in this country and get the same deal your getting there. The challenge still applies. Come here and prove me wrong. No matter if you haul gas, dynamite, haz-mats, or general freight..around here local work doesn't pay crap. Specalized or cardboard it doesn't matter. Local work is local work here. You say people are fools for taking a job like that. You are a fool here if you turn down a job because there will be 20 other people pushing you out of the way to take it. Most jobs here never make it to the papers. As soon as there is a job opening it gets filled the next day. I know of several guys that have worked for years and years and years here and never made more than $35,000 a year. I was an assistant manager at a grocery store before I started driving a truck. I worked 70 hours plus a week. Never had a weekend off, worked every holiday. I never came close to $35,000 a year and I was there for 7 years. Plus I recieved ZERO benefits at that job. In 7 years I got one bonus. A free turkey for thanksgiving. I think it was about $12.00. LOL.

I've applied to construction companies, asphalt companies, lumber yards and even applied once to a crane company. It was the big ### cranes that you drive. The ones that extend hundreds of feet up in the air. Still it was an $11.50 an hour job and it required you to have mechanic skills to be able to work on the crane. Concrete trucks around here pay even less. The best one's pay around $9.00 an hour.

You better stay where you are and pray every night that you have a great job.

 

I do understand what he is saying about different areas paying different wages for exactly the same job.
I could go right now to Southern MD where I use to drive and get a job driving a garbage truck for 21.00 an hour.
Or I could go and get a job where I live driving the same type truck on the same type routes and it would only pay 10.00.
This is mostly due to cost of living.
In Southern MD I could not find even a cheap house for less than 100,000. In my area I can get a nice house in town for 30,000 or a really nice house in the country for 120,000.
Thus the pay is not the same in each area.
You can actually live on 10-12 bucks an hour in my area, not well, but you can pay the bills if you are careful.
In Southern MD you would need at least 18 an hour to even find a cheap place to rent. If you could find it.

 

I've said this before that southern MD is the only place I've been were the cost of living does not match the job wages. I was station at Indian Head and the housing cost us more there than CA. However, my point was the bigger oil companies pay better no matter where you're at. I'm sure if you went up to a Chevron driver he'd tell you he makes well above $10 an hour. In southern MD the cost of living is based on you working in DC. You and I found it hard when we didn't. I try to put the idea into new drivers that if you keep your driving record clean and get aggressive in job hunting after you've got some solid experience it will pay off no matter where you are. I do that from past experience and not from "I know this guy" or "I heard on the radio".