Crude hauling vs frac fueling.

You seem to be quoting and re-quoting my original post in order to make a point...or engage me in some sort of debate? So...here goes. I've been frac fueling for close to a month for a company that pays quite a bit less than what I'm told is the going rate for frac fuelers. Even at the lesser rates, I'm making very close to as much as I ever made hauling crude. With all expenses paid plus a per diem, I'm putting the same amount of cash away. I have my own reasons for taking this particular job and I will re-evaluate soon, but for now I have no complaints about the job. It's the absolute easiest job I've had in years.

Now, as for your other comments. First off, my last employer was Hoffman Trucking out of Jamestown, ND (imagine that?...somehow I think you knew?). I'll give you this, you must know them pretty well since the claims you make on here resemble the claims they kept making. Problem was... I did follow them to ND when they pulled out of OK. I was supposed to be going "through ND to get a trailer, take some of their training, then go on to CO/WY...thats what I agreed to do). I hauled their oil for their main customer that they bragged about constantly. Honestly? My paycheck was just as good when we were in OK. Was a $3k/week paycheck possible in ND? maybe, if you work the 18 hour days you mention. The 18 hours would be pretty easy to do, since it could very easily happen that your 2nd or 3rd 30 mile run might have you at the end of your 14 hrs and sitting in line at the LACT for 2 hrs to get "to" the LACT, then another 1hr+ to unload. The problem I experienced was that after working for 2 or 3 days, they would be caught up and you might sit for a day or more....it wasn't just me either. The yard in Tioga would be packed with trucks ALL day. They were telling me how much work they had in ND (supposedly, that's why they had to keep me there instead of sending me on to CO/WY like was agreed to), but then we were sitting? Oh...and btw... those loads weren't paying anywhere near enough to make $3k/week once you threw in all the wait time...and there was a LOT of wait time. I did finally get to CO/WY with Hoffman. That's when I finally figured out why they were talking in so many circles about keeping me in ND against my will. The work that they had originally claimed to have in CO/WY was not there either. We were working a day, then taking off a day...or two. The loads were paying good, but not as good as we were told when we were being recruited to leave OK and go north with them. So, in summary, pretty much every promise they made to get us to follow them north out of OK turned out to be false. They didn't have the work they claimed to have and it didn't pay what they claimed it would pay. That along with other problems led me to find other work.

In summary, I would not necessarily discourage anyone from working for Hoffman if ND is where you want to work. I wouldn't encourage anyone to work for them since I just had too much trouble getting a consistently straight story from them. They did have very nice trucks and they had some major contracts. Out of the 4 trucks that I drove for them in 4 months or so...I think only one had more than 100,000 miles on it. They all had nice, well equipped sleepers and they did a good job of maintaining them. I think they were juggling between keeping enough trucks available to bring on new customers and keeping those same trucks busy when the new customers didn't come through as they hoped. In the end, they just seemed to be grasping straws too much for me. They did have several drivers in Tioga that had been with them for a few years. That is not common in the oil fields, so those drivers were obviously happy.

So, Mr. Porkchop, I would challenge you to prove your claims of $3k/wk on a consistent basis. I'm sure you have seen a $3k week, but how many have you seen that would allow you say that it is the norm? I do believe that 2-3 years ago, that kind of money was being made in ND...and it may be being made now, but I didn't see it. One thing that I see from a lot of crude haulers is that they make a good check one week...or even on a fairly consistent basis. They multiply that check by 50 and making big claims as to how much annual income they are bringing in. They forget to account for the short weeks, their days/weeks off (if on a rotation). They leave out the slow days in the winter where you just can't produce at 100%. It's easy to make claims on the internet and I try hard not to exaggerate. I don't like to see anyone misled because I know the sacrifices some people are making to move to the oil fields. My request to you, porkchop, is to back up what you say. You managed to get my story out of me...let's here yours. Do you work for Hoffman? Can you back up the $3k/week claims that you made?