Good points / Bad points about Dry van, Reefer, Tankers and doubles.

I am a recent CDL graduate from a local college. I have my tanker, doubles & triples, and HAZMAT endorsements. I thought that I could start out with tankers but, so far, no tanker company in the DFW area will talk to me without a year of "verifiable" experience. I have agreed to start with Roehl to get the apparently requisite experience. My questions are:

What are the up and down sides to driving a tanker?
Is there a better approach to getting in with a tanker company?

 

Schneider will take you straight out of CDL school... and they are looking for tanker drivers.

I've only pulled tankers so theres little to compare to, but in reading these forums you'll find most tankers drivers wouldn't pull anything else.

 

You are so right 22 years on a dry van and now 2 years on a tank I'll NEVER pull any box trailer ever again

 

I pull a milk tanker, and the plus side is loading and unloading is done by an electric pump, so all you have to do is wait for the pump to do its work. Most times the hose connection is done by the plant person. The down side is it takes up to an hour to unload and another half hour for the pump to wash out the trailer.

If I have a 1 pm app't at Quaker Oats and I get there at 10 a.m., they will unload me if they don't have truck in the bay. Usually with tankers you are backing into a building to unload, and that is like backing into a black hole. But there is usually a plant person there to wave you in. Many plants are drive through but the older narrow ones are not.

I pulled milk tankers right out of school. I learned quick that you take it easy on the throttle and the brakes, to avoid surges. Milk tankers are smooth bore with no baffles. Gas trucks have baffles and/or 3 or 4 separate tanks. The surge on a smooth bore will slam the trailer forward hard on the kingpin and you will hear and feel the bang when it does that....the trailer is telling you to take it easy on the throttle!!! You better listen. When the tank is mostly full, there is very little surge. It is when you are half or 3/4 full that you can really get a surge.

Tankers are shorter and it is easier to see around the tanker than a van trailer. I have pulled tankers with a day cab and a sleeper truck, depending on how far the load is going...I liked both.

I have pulled bottom dump trailers hauling corn, beans, and fertilizer and I like those too. Either to an elevator or an ethanol plant. You can unload in about 4 - 5 minutes. Loading time depends on where you are loading, in the field or from a bin. This was local hauling work.

I like both equally.

I do not see in my future ever pulling a reefer, van, or flatbed.

 

Here is my answer to your 2nd question. When I got my CDL, I got started pulling a milk tanker with a small 5 truck milk hauler that hauled from IA to SD, WI, western MN, St. Louis and Indianapolis. Usually the small companies have an insurance company that does not restrict them to hiring drivers with at least 1 or 2 years of experience, it seems to me. If you can find a small company that is looking for a driver, you can get your 1 or 2 years experience pulling a tanker for them.

 

Guess it depends on the company,I received 3 cents more.How much more per mile do you receive?Even with dry van I don't ever recall deadheading too far for a load.My last company the most was 25 miles.Then many times I picked up in the same city.What I hated the most about it was the apt times and lumpers.

 

Tanker companies that hire new CDL grads:

SVTN
Schneider
Superior-Carriers
CTL