Hesitant to make the jump. Frac Sand via flatbed for AmeriField

I appreciate the heads up Chalupa. It looks like I have 2 job options and neither are appearing to be very stable in terms of what the future brings. Unfortunately, I have to take one of them to make ends meet, it's just trying to decipher which is the better of the 2 evils and sadly, there is no "right answer." I just have to pick one and hope for the best unfortunately lol. Both could leave me sitting on my ### wondering what happened, which is not something I'm comfortable with, but that's the current dilemma. I didn't expect sunshine and rainbows when I made this post, but I did expect to hear a few more positive reviews, but maybe that's just the money hungry side of me. At least with the 1099 deal, if it turned to shambles, atleast I'm home every night with a good work schedule, although the money isn't nearly as good. But from what I'm hearing it might no be THAT far off in terms of money, if I end up going to the oil field and end up not running in the manor I was expecting.

Dave

 

Not a lot of activity on this side of the forum it seems compared to others, just a genuine BUMP for anymore possible opinions or experiences of whats going on out there in West or East TX currently.

 

I appreciate the skepticism, as I too was skeptical but I confirmed that in fact, we are being put in the newER trucks.

Dave

 

Thanks for the insight 4way. I'm hearing everything you're saying loud and clear. My wife and I have been discussing the situation to great lengths and IF I go through with this, we've decided it would only be temporary, in order to save as much money as possible. I was thinking 6 months IF I could get steady enough work to last that long. I actually ran for the local fella last night I mentioned in my original post. Left the yard in Holland at 5pm, ran to Ft. Worth, switched trailers with the other driver from Oklahoma, helped him unload a few engines, transmissions and some doors, then reloaded his trailer with outbound product, and was back at around midnight. That time also includes the 45 minutes I sat in traffic on the way back, as I-35 was shut down last night. I made 160 bucks doing that, and while 160 bucks isn't anything to write home about, it took me 7 hours, or technically 8 if you add in the fact I showed up an hour early to watch them load my trailer. That's what? 20-22 bucks an hours?

However the job isn't necessarily set in stone in regards to a LONG term contract. But atleast I'm home every night with minimal hours, and a short 20 minute commute to the yard. Still, the allure of making a few hundred bucks or more a day if things flow smoothly in the oil field has me very intrigued. Unfortunately, nobody can really tell me what it's going to be like because I've talked to several people, and one guy will say this is possible, while another in the same location will say it's not, which I'm assuming has to do with what company you're running for.

I've asked many questions regarding the oil field deal to my "recruiter" and I told him up front that I'm not looking to be "convinced" I just want the facts whether they're good or bad and so far while I remain skeptical, he's given me decent answers to just about everything I've asked with minimal amounts of collusion.

The short & skinny of what I've gotten from him regarding my questions.

1. We are in fact being put in the 2017 Kenworth's although I would of been happy in a 06' 379 as originally planned.

2. Trucks are governed at 72, no driver facing cameras although I'd prefer to be able to push it to 80-85 as that's what I'm used to.

3. Their supposedly working the Halliburton wells, and said if a well goes down they either re-route you, or you wait if it will only be a day or 2 until it's "operational" but they pay you to sit, "supposedly." I'm still waiting to see HOW MUCH they pay you for sitting as they were supposed to have a "meeting" on that last night.

4. Obviously 21 days on, 7 days off and you dead head back to the yard in Haslet for home time.

5. Of course you don't get paid for the short orientation, or for the trip to Oklahoma to pick up your truck, or for the trip back to Haslet to get your trailer, OR for the trip out to the oilfield so you're looking at multiple hours of free driving there.

6. You can run anytime of day you'd like, I've read that the guys on elogs out there only run during the day, and from my understanding you can run as hard as you like just don't get busted and they don't want to know about it, which is fine with me. Obviously that comes with the territory becasue that's the only reason folks go out there.

7. Paid weekly, benefits after 30 days, yada yada yada

8. Their pneumatic guys are averaging 2 loads a day, some doing more, their loads obviously pay more than the box guys, the sand box guys are averaging 3 or more "supposedly" although I've seen some videos on you-tube of some substantial delays for the guys pulling boxes due to there being no empties.

9. Destination is unknown. From my understanding, it could be West, OR East Tx.

 

That's what I thought when I initially heard it but, that's what I was told verbatim. Although, from my understanding if you're running intrastate in Tx, you can drive up to 12 hours, and be on duty for 15, according to the rules I've been reading. I would hope on a decent day you could get 3-4 loads in that time. But what do I know. Although it was said over the phone so nothing can be proven. I don't think he was PROMOTING the act, he was merely saying they know it goes on, and they fully expect you to NOT get busted for that, but if that's the way you operate, they don't want to know about it. Take what you will from that.