Reality Check

I once worked 38 hours straight doing frac sand. I mean STRAIGHT through. Drive, load, drive, unload, drive. The Boss lost track of the fact that the crew of 5 that I was in weren't getting ANY breaks because the other 90 Trucks were working other Wells. Just something to keep in mind, Dave.

 

Been there done that.
Nobody believes it until they do it.
Then one day you sit in that drivers seat and say
This #### is crazy, got to be a easier way to make a living.
That's why I try to warn anybody that wants to do it.
All they see is that money that's advertised.
You earn every penny of it.
I'll never do that crazy #### again.

 

And the money wasn't that great when I did that. Schlumberger almost killed the company I had just joined 3 weeks after I got there. And it was still busy and crude was high priced. SLB was squeezing them so hard that they almost closed. They had a little work for Weatherford and that's what saved their bacon. I had a o/o tell me that 6 months ago SLB was paying higher rates than any other of the Bigs. I was shocked. And for the rest of my life I'll hate SLB for what they put me through for peanuts. Weatherford is always fair to very good but SLB has made me an enemy for life. You have to treat me pretty bad to make me feel that strong.
And they did.

 

The days of 2500 dollar a week frac sand are long gone.
That was 10 years ago when at the beginning of the
Last boom when North Dakota and Texas where
Both going at it.
And that was 30 hours sleep in a week.

The truth is right now they make less than a OTR
Driver over a years time.
There just ain't enough work.
The risk ain't worth the reward.

 

The first year I was doing that the checks sucked. Several $500 ones in a row with a lot of 650. I think I got a 1100 two or three times. The next time was much better 1800 was normal and I got plenty of rest too. But the Saudis decided to pour it on and I knew the rates were gonna fall so I left. Most of the people I worked with had kids and needed the money worse than me.

 

Idk how it is in Texas, but that held true when I was in ND lol. You could run days straight they didn’t care, as long as sand got moved no one said anything about it.

 

DOT knows this and randomly checks sand haulers also. 1845 Oilfield Services didn't last too long in Pennsylvania back in 2014.

 

I never worked for them. One of the three companies that combined into 1845 seemed like a decent outfit but since they combined expressly so they could get the biggest chunk of SLB's sand contracts I wouldn't work for them ever. I've never heard anything good about them but I have heard several bad things from workers. Looks like they have a lot of turnover.