Should i get a Hazmat / Tanker endorsement on my CDL ?

Are you sure? Last time I had the hazmat in Georgia I had to retest every 2 years

 

From everything I have been told by current truck drivers and the school I am planning on attending is to get all of your endorsements weather you plan on using them or not. Even if you plan on just hualing dry van, Refer, or flatbed to start, something may come up with your carrier for a hazmat load, doubles, or tanker load that unless you have the endorsement you can do the load. Basicly the endorsements just increase your chances for getting work and staying busy, there isn't any money sitting and waiting for a load. Also like others here have said, the more endorsements you have the more "marketable" you are to a prospective employer. Getting the "P" endorsement is also a good idea, even thou it has nothing to do with trucking. The passenger endorsement allows you to drive a bus and may come in handy in case you need it. Here in Arizona the passenger endorsement is free, and I'd rather drive a bus than work at Mcdonalds if I couldn't get a truck driving job. Passport and TWIC card are also highly encouraged, once again might not use either of them depending on who you hire on with, but without them there are places you can't get into.

 

get it now and get both endorsments I'm not sure the start time but now when you haul the bulk containers like the 440 gallon totes you will be required to have a tanker endorsment may wanna look under the new rules

 

Maybe it's how I read it, but in the context bubbavirus wrote it, it appeared (to me) that he was saying they will give a Hazmat load to anyone (whether they have an endorsement or not, and whether the reportable quantity was exceeded or not). At least that's what it sounded like to me.

Naturally, placarding is only required for hazmat loads meeting or exceeding reportable quantity/placarding requirements.
My total loads have run about 50% non-hazmat, 30% placarded hazmat, and 20% placards not required hazmat.

 

The only expiration date on my license is the date it expires, 1/2/2016. I checked my license status through the dds website and it says everything is valid. My guess is it probably changed when they started all the fingerprint stuff to keep people from having to get fingerprinted every other year.

 

Give yourself every tool that you can to make $.

 

... and to help get your app on top of the potential applicants stack that's a foot high. You may never use it, but it may well get you hired where you may otherwise have not have been (in some situations) Having the hazmat also proves your not afraid of a background check and a little extra scrutiny and have a little more pride in your abilities and capabilities.

 

Simple is most often the best way.....Yes get them.

 

Like everyone else here is saying, get all the endorsements you can from the start. Its all about marketing yourself, the more you have the more valuable you are to potential employers. And having the hazmat endorsement may mean the difference between having a load now or sitting, waiting for a load. Its all about making money, if you have the endorsement and the next guy doesn't, hazmat load comes up, you are rolling and the other guy is sitting.