best endorsements

I have everything except passenger. You never know where life will lead and what will happen. So I have my hazmat, tanker and my TWIC card. Also have doubles and triples. I had them for 15 years before I ever started pulling doubles. But when I lost my gas hauling gig I needed a new job and was able to get on at FedEx and pull doubles for the first time. Already having the endorsements made getting hired a quicker process.

 

The main ones are Combination & air brakes but I recommend get them all & get it overwith except the Hazmat written test when you renew..

 

Here in Utah we focus on:

1) Class-A without restrictions (if you fail your air brake test you would have a restriction against that for example)
2) Haz-mat (never know when you need it)
3) Double/Triple
4) Tanker w/Hazmat (in Utah we haul a lot of gas and crude oil in bulk tankers)

 

I got tanker and double/triples. It surprises me that I just got my CDL A and they will let me get endorsements this quick. I am not sure why any company would hire a newbie like me to do double/triple or a tanker that has a constantly shifting load...

 

Get all of them at once. Yes that inculdes the Hazmat and Passenger endorsements. This will give you more opportunities to find work. I know Hazmat is a pita,but it beats sitting in the middle of nowhere a day or two waiting for a load when a hazmat load is available. The Passenger endorsement is a good thing to have if you get tired of driving a T/T,but still want to drive. Charter bus drivers can make good money in tips. I don't have TWIC since I don't go into ports very much.

 

Tanker. Nuff said.

 

I've used Passenger, Tanker, and HazMat in my career up to this point. I also have the Doubles/Triples on my license. In my current gig, though, the HazMat loads are few & far between, and they just don't pay well enough (compared to the non-HazMat freight) to justify going through the time & expense of renewing that endorsement.

So, the last time my license came up for renewal, I dropped the HazMat. A month later, I was offered a load that required tank & hazmat...but I couldn't haul it. Part of me really didn't care though...most of the time those HazMat loads go places I really don't care to go anyway, and not having the endorsement gave me the perfect excuse to refuse the load.

 

Hazmat costs about $110 by the time you get done getting fingerprinted,written test & background check...TWIC is a $50 card similar to Hazmat for fast entry into the ports...A FAST card is similar to the TWIC & is for getting into Canada & Mexico....All run fingerprints & background checks thru Homeland Security & cost money out of your pocket to get..