Arky's Sunoco adventure begins in the west TX oilfields!

A lot of the equipment issues have been resolved in SA. They have a new regional manager that I'm told is determined to get rid of the million+ mile junkers they were shoving people into. They have already brought in enough new trucks that the really old ones are only being used as they should be now...as spares when the assigned trucks are in for maintenance.

My job in SA improved quite a bit over the last 5-6 weeks. Better equipment, lots of easy LACT to station loads. Most of the issues in SA now could be attributed to growing pains. San Angelo is a nice, quiet little town to live in and the work at Sunoco is good work. But...for me...I'm moving to Oklahoma. I don't look forward to learning a new set of wells...or dodging tornadoes! Other than that, I'm excited about the move on many personal levels. Mainly, I will be much closer to family in AR. I will still be with Sunoco.

For what it's worth...learning the job of crude hauling and finding leases for the first time are the hardest parts. Once you get the job down and get a majority of the more common leases under your belt, crude hauling is not a bad job at all. There are a lot of safety precautions to follow...and they should be followed...but once you get it down, it becomes second nature. Those who have pulled tankers before, like RSQdriver take to it like a duck to water. Those of us who have never pulled a tanker before... well... the learning curve is a bit tougher.. but it's very possible.

 

We get paid basicly any time we have something that keeps us from hauling oil. If the day driver brings the truck in late, we get paid for waiting, if we find a tire issue during pretrip, we sit at the yard until the tire is repaired and we are paid for that time. What you have to remember is that when you are being paid on commission, if that truck isn't hauling oil, your not making money unless they pay you for these things. In a slip seat truck, you have a set number of hours to make your money on any given day...so if there is an issue that keeps you from hauling oil..you don't get a chance to make that up...the breakdown pay is your only chance for compensation for that time. I sat near a lease one night for six hours on breakdown pay.. sound asleep a good part of that time. I flipped the dimmer switch on one of those older trucks and completely lost my headlights. After going over all the fuses and tracing wires, etc..I couldn't find anything wrong. It turned out to be the headlight switch that was bad. I was convinced that the dimmer switch was bad since that is when the lights went out..but anyway... it took 6 hours for Penske to get there and replace it. I took a nap

 

I was wandering about you...I havent even noticed your p/u parked in the mudhole lately...lol. I crossed the OK state line about an hour ago...got a room and going to meet my new supervisor tomorrow. Sounds like their doing a lot of short runs up here. Oh the joy of finding new tank batteries...lol