From milk to fuel

Don't smoke when unloading or loading...

 

You made a wise decision. I have done both and can truthfully say that there is no comparison. Much better pay and benefits on the fuel side. Plus have a more set schedule. Fuel will be a little more physical but not bad. You will not have the "surge" with fuel as you did with milk. Everything is "bottom loaded" and many times, I was in and out within 25 minutes. Dropping a load of diesel at a truck stop, gone within 20 minutes or better.

 

You'll probably like fuel. There are a lot of safety oriented rules to follow but once you get dialed in they'll make more sense.

You'll start out with a trainer while you learn the loading and unloading Tanker trainers are usually the older hands who have been around a while. Listen to what they tell you. They've probably made or heard about every mistake in the book and their experience will make things easier for you.

If you're hired by a large outfit you'll very probably start out working nights and move to day shift when seniority allows. Personally, I always preferred night shift because deliveries into stations and mini-marts is less crowded and therefore easier.

I know very few tanker drivers that ever switched back to hauling anything else.

The only heavy work you'll do...and it isn't very heavy at all...is curl-walking a hose down to drain after unloading. There are some good tricks to that that your trainer can show you.

 

Tell me, I waited 33 hrs at one plant. Day after Christmas a couple of years ago, 24 hrs. It is getting worse by the day. There is more milk than room to put it.

 

Haha yep. I hauled milk in PA for 3 years. You'll like fuel much better. In terms of pay and scheduling. Good luck, my friend. I hope you make 30 an hour and get all the hours you want.

 

If you switch from milk to fuel, definitely wash out the tanker first LOL. I hauled fuel briefly out of Memphis and the wait times weren’t too bad, especially with multiple lanes and the hoses filled the compartments quickly. The physically demanding part isn’t bad, you use a measuring stick to check initial amount. Then it’s just unloading some lightweight hoses, hooking up the couplings, then open the valve. Once empty you then unhook the hose and raise it up to drain it all, switch the coupling and hose to the next trailer compartment and respective in ground tank and repeat, then check the tank depths with the meter stick. Once you do it a few times, it’s simple. I have never hauled milk though so I wish you good luck.

 

One more thing...don't drop your hose ends on the ground, set them down gently.
Dropping them can make the camlock fittings egg shaped and then you have a problem.