Schneider Oil Field Truck Driver Jobs/ The Texas shales and beyond

Sounds like a sucker's game to me. I'd rather bypass that BS and go straight to the oil patch where the tanker seats are empty and the money is aplenty. Don't be jealous of those of us who found a better way to do it than you did.

 

It's not about you or I, kid. It's about the saftey of the public.
These oil companies are taking an enormous risk letting these wage vultures come in and use folks with zero tanker experience (AND! zero commercial driving experience) drive their oil just to save a few bucks up front.
When one of y'all flip it and kill someone the lawyers are coming after the oil companies ( they are already documenting everything for the inevitable near future civil litigation ). The oil companies will sue the trucking companies for not hiring folks with tanker experience.

Gunn
$1,100.00 per week is not money a plenty. I make more than that in North Dakota in less than three days (dime a dozen up here). So you're gonna help drive down driver pay (not company rates) and put the public in even greater risk and your proud of that.
OK

 

I know I'm new BUT....doesn't it come down to training? If there is proper training, wouldn't there be less risk? Also, especially here in San Antonio, I think any type of trucking divison has risks. We have had so many truckers getting into accidents...from Refers to tankers carrying acid....it seems like at least 2 or so a week! And, again I'm new...seemed like just careless mistakes in each instance! What trucker would haul a full load making a sharp turn on the highway at 50MPH?!?! Again I'm a newbie and this is just my OPINION.....I think it comes down to training and how serious/professional a trucker is about their profession.

 

Time for me to chime in I think. First off, I think it is a great thing to have an opportunity, such as these energy booms going on now. How I wish they existed when I was young and new.

I started driving in the army a long time ago in Panama central America. Military driving was a whole lot different than commercial civilian driving. I did a lot of off road driving in conditions that make some of the worst lease roads in this country seem tame. Of course there was never ice or snow but, try driving jungle roads during the rainy season, especial in military vehicles with non directional tread tires.

I came out of the army after three years of honorable service. My first thought was driving as a civilian OTR. Driving schools back then did not get you hired, in most cases a lot of companies wouldn't consider you, if you were a driver school grad. (unless it was their own school of course) Basically I had to lie my way into a truck. In some ways I'm not proud of this but, in some ways, I did what I had to. I got on with a North American Van Lines agent, for six months than on to a division of N.A.V.L. called comtrans, where I stayed a year. Some older drivers made fun of my youth and talked crapp about the company I worked for. Many drivers had no constructive input at all. But I was fortunate to have some drivers around me that truly cared about the future of our industry, that was helpful. In many cases these hard old truck drivers saved me from myself lol. When I started working for big C.F. a year later I was so green and dumb I didn't even know to drain the air from my conversion gear before I tried to break my set. (set of doubles) When I worked as a freight hauler so many big trucks used to fly past me and be critical. I was the one laughing really though....all the way to the bank.

Since my early days driving I have worked doing many different driving jobs, right steady now for 26 years. I have hauled feed to farms, worked for private carriers, and have been yanking tankers around for about 17 years.

One thing I have always remembered is this. Everyone and I mean EVERYONE has to start somewhere. It isn't always the best pay, or the most glamorous job out there. But it is a place to start, and get your feet wet. Take your job seriously, and be as good and as safe as you can be. Listen to those drivers that have been there before you. But remember, always have the bull-dung filter on as well. Myself I take pride in helping new or younger drivers every chance I can. It is an easy thing to be critical, not as easy to be constructive at times. I was fortunate to have a lot of old tough hard drivers and terminal managers (most were former drivers then) to help me, and not just criticize, my inexperience or my youth.

There isn't anything wrong with new drivers doing what they have to to get time and experience. Working for Schneider or whomever. Many may say "they are cheapfreighting" but if they weren't someone else would of course. That is why we call this the free enterprise system. So good luck to all of you out there in the patch, hope to join you all very soon, just not sure which company yet.

 

I agree with your assessment, however (and I don't want to sound to old), nothing can take the place of experience. I was involved in hiring
tanker drivers at one time. New drivers almost never made a major mistake in the beginning. They had their major mistake at the 3-6month mark. They get the "this is not that tough" mindset and then the incident. Establish a routine, fine tune it, and always follow it. Every time. ("We're not haullin' apple juice" --Cliff R)

 

OK, enough with all the sanctimonious BS. You're obviously quite full of yourself and enjoy standing on your soap box. I will certainly have trouble sleeping tonight now that you pointed out that I'm single handedly responsible for driving down wages. Here's a couple reality checks for you :
1) The economy is in the crapper. I'm pretty sure that's the reason wages have been driven down, not because of little ol' me. I guess I should have joined Occupy Wall Street and held out my hand for assistance instead of spending my last dollar to move my family and get a decent paying job.

2) If the liability/risk was really that enormous, large corporations such as Nabors, Key, Schneider wouldn't be placing new drivers behind the wheel of 80,000 pound vehicles.

3) Hate to break it to you, but driving a tanker isn't nearly as complicated
as people like yourself like to think. Sure, you're full of cool sayings like "own the wave, fear the surge" and other crap like that. If you can shift smoothly, break gently and early, and otherwise keep your wits about you, you can drive a tanker. And what's this about HazMat experience? Does it require special skills to slap a placard on your tanker? Stop making the job sound more complicated than it is.

Please get over yourself and let those of us who came to make a living do so without being harassed by those of you who are ticked off because we found a way around the OTR scam.

 

The liability is on the oil companies. The invitation to bid on oil haulin is very much based on a trucking company's CSA. These trucking companies are basically fudging the CSA by showing their other tanker/hazmat divisions as a lateral comparison with the new crude haulin thang they have goin on. The other divisions are manned with drivers who have gone through the non hazmat tanker haulin process and have earned spots in tanker hazmat trucking. These experienced tanker/hazmat drivers are hauling on pavement. Now with the new crude haulin thang is Texas these OTR companies are hiring folks with no CDL experience to haul hazmat/tanker. They can't afford to man these tankers with drivers that only have pavement tanker/hazmat (nevermind off road well site lease roads in wet mountainous terrain) experience cause they have bid below profit in their ongoing effort to put folks out of business and control the rates a few years down the line.
I guess lying to the oil companies and putting the public at risk is something that can be called free market activity.
Kinda like kiddie porn or crack dealin is free market.....

 

Excellent advice and I hope I never get ####y enough to forget the hazards associated with driving a tanker. I hope I didn't offend anyone in my previous post. Driving a tanker requires skill and concentration. I just don't think it's nearly as complicated as kdc1899 would have us believe.

 

As difficult as it is to haul food grade ( no baffles ) the crude can be more difficult cause 250 barrels is like a half load. Food grade is darn close to being a full load (less wave and surge).