0/o with universal am can

I'm thinking real hard about leasing on with someone I have been frighting trying to find loads over 2.00 a mile I can't keep running cheap and brokers are slow paying the he'll out of me have two bonds filled on that's over $5,300 now over 90 days
I called Landstar and marked them off my list every driver has to have hazmat and I'm not doing it
I'm looking for a company that pays me for what I'm worth

 

the hazmat isnt a problem, many times its just roofing materials sometimes.

 

I'm just not going to add it not worth it for just a few times a year and having to go wait in line 7 hours to redo your license no if ever load paid the same than I would think about it but in 10 years I have only missed out on 3 loads

 

I understand not wanting to get it, but you don't wait in line 7 hours (unless that's a texas thing) but I just have to renew my hazmat when my license is due. You make an appt to have your finger prints taken (takes all of 30 min) and then I go to the DMV with my letter and renew it. All said and done, takes me maybe 1 hour at the max. And I'd have to go anyways because my license expires.

Mercer may be a good company for you to look into, you live in a good area for them.

 

Although all LS drivers are required to have a hazmat endorsement, none of us are required to haul it. BTW, when I do pull the occassional hazmat load, it does pay.

 

Hazmat background check is payed by YOU! That's why Landstarve wants you to get it. Save's them the cost of criminal background check.

3 cheers for the stockholders.

 

While that may be true, have you spoken with shippers and agents/brokers who ship out hazmat loads for flatbeds??? I can't even begin to tell you how many shippers I have been to and ask why it is that they have such a hard time finding people to haul a flatbed hazmat load. Well, that is because not very many flatbed companies even deal with hazmat stuff. The last hazmat load I pulled was rolled roofing and it paid well over $5 a mile to the truck because they couldn't get anyone to haul it. I also have pulled paint in totes that always pays well into the $4 mile range, and even one load that went to denver that paid me $7 mile from Chicago, all of those said they could not get any of the big companies to haul it because they "don't have proper qualifications to haul hazmat" as the shipping manager at Dupont told me a few weeks ago.

I think it is just easy money to be honest, and if people are that scared of hauling hazmat then the more money to be made by me.

 

Hauled Radioactive 7 yesterday $1385.00 for 120 miles

 

Mercer does not require Hazmat endorsement. I also do not care to have it.

 

Of course it is paid by me, it is my license and my expense, not theirs. Why would they pay for something that is not theirs? Would you pay for my tires? Of course not! The question is, why do they require us all to have the endorsement, even though we are not required to haul it? Could it be that Agent OZR can put a load of hazmat on my truck (not knowing anything more about me than I am a qualified LS driver) and know it is on a qualified truck, thus not having to worry about an unqualified driver being caught and risking violation of the regs and risking out Hazmat Safety Permit?
The penalties for violating the hazmat regs are very high. Why take the risk, when it is so easy to avoid? A simple placard violation can be as high as $2500 to the driver and $25,000 to the carrier, per placard.