Solar transport (about to pull the trigger )

Hi there,
I have a phone interview with solar tomorrow. I noticed that "hot.hogs" stated he/she worked out of he Colorado springs terminal which is where i will be 4pm-4am. I joined just waiting to get his/her personal opinion on the company now that he/she has been there awhile if still there. Please respond and thanks for your time hot.hogs
The reason I ask is I'm with a good company now but looking for better pay and "communication" and really want to see if its worth it before pulling trigger

 

yeah Im no longer with Solar but I'll do my best to answer any questions. I left them around august 2015 when my old job (throwing trash) called me up offering me higher pay for much less stress than fuel tankers. The biggest problem I ran into was their dispatching. Probably 3 times a week I'd pull into a station with a load that wouldnt fit. drop what you can and go on to the next store.

When I was there the local springs loads and loads south to trinidad or westcliffe were reserved for the guys with years and years of experience. Newbs grab their empty truck from either the ryder yard or paclease yard and head straight to denver. They run peoplenet in the trucks with e logs and last I saw they were starting to install drivecams in the trucks. normally cram 3 loads in up there as long as allocation and lines allow, then take a load back down here for a kum and go or costco.

I had a decent time there. certainly a love/hate relationship with that place. Once they ditched those junk internationals and went to new kenworths t680's and freightliner cascadias things got better. dont expect nice new equipment at all when you start there. eventaully you will move up to nicer trailers and such just takes seniority. thy are all load based pay, and no that deadhead to denver is not paid. If you have any more specific questions ask away,most of the people I ran with there have moved on to better companies. Solar is a pretty decent starter co to get into hauling gas.

 

Thanks!
is the pay just based off "you get x" per load dropped or is it a percentage of the load?
As for seniority, and you can guess, how long before you are considered that, or do you just have to wait for people to take off?
And just wondering what were considered the better fuel hauling companies?
Last question, did you consistently bring home that 1200ish per week, and was that before or after deductions?

Thanks again!! This is a step towards where I eventually want to be which is a OO fuel delivery.

 

It's a set dollar amount per load, based on distance traveled from load point to drop point. So longer drive more pay. However most Denver loads that deliver in the Denver metro area pay the base $45 per load. Then they have a bunch of "extras" like demurrage, extra drop pay, weekend premium pay, military base pay, mountain run pay etc.

There are some old timers in the springs that have been there forever. It may take a year or 2 to make a good dent in the seniority ladder but you can climb it. It took me nearly a year to get a new truck and half way decent trailer.

My weekly fluctuated quite a bit. Depending on how long wait times at the rack were, how close or spread out the loads were delivering to, allocation issues causing you to have to give back a load in order to get the truck back in time for your slip seat driver. Lots of factors. Best day was $325. Worst day was $100. Some sundays you might be able to slip in 5 loads. Most of the night guys were easily able to do 5 loads due to less traffic and waiting at the rack. It all comes down to demand. One day I only had 2 loads cuz that's all that was needed of me that day.

Finally as for better companies, all the drivers that left ended up with petro chemical transport/kenan advantage. Hourly pay and much better run company from what I was told. Still have my old trainee calling me every now and then trying to get me to come over.

 

I think you can make $1200 a week, usually I would take home 900. Sometimes more if I worked 6th day. Depends if you like to hustle. You have to work smart and you'll make more. Take advantage of dispatch stupidity, like I said, if they send you to load full load of regular and you know it won't fit because you'll get to know the stores, load it, go there, drop what you can and call em up and they'll send you elsewhere with the rest. Few times I took one load to 3 stores, and one time I sat at a store stuck on a hose for 5 hours that just got new tanks put in because the readings were way off. I liked it I just wish it paid more and hated working weekends. I now deliver cookies and crackers for way more money and am home every night and every weekend. Good luck man