The Fuel Hauler Thread

How did you other Cali guys do with the new tax laws? I ended up paying a lot less (about 2k less) despite making more. But from talking to other people it seems about 50/50 depending on your situation and deductions.

 

KAG absorbed ARCO in San Jose. Williams got a bunch of white Kenworths that primarily haul to the ARCO stations as well. All of the old grey Kenworths say KAG on the door.

 

And all of us ARCO drivers went to the retirement home. It's nothing like the company ARCO when we were working. Now it's just a name with all the pay and benefits cut. Anyway, I wanted to address the situation with the cameras install in the trucks. When they first came out all the old drivers, especially in Vinvale, did not like them. They felt that their driving history should be enough for the company. Well it was and the company came out and explained it's for there own protection. Soon the drivers didn't mind the cameras and felt that if you're driving the way you should you have nothing to worry about. They went on to explain that the company trucks are targets for insurance scams and the cameras will be used to prove that in court. It all sounded good until driver supervisors would evaluate the drivers performance at the end of their shift. Again the old timers had nothing to fear because they were excellent drivers. So if nothing has change, the way I see it if you're a good professional driver and applying all the tricks from a system like the "Smith System" you have nothing to worry about. Also you have to remember that you're not the only driver to sit in a seat and be watched. If you're such a bad driver the company is using the system against you then maybe you don't need to be driving a gasoline tanker to begin with. Today, I'd drive for a company that has the system installed.

 

That's for sure. I always kept the carriers as follows, 1 major oil company drivers, 2 dedicated drivers, then 3 common carriers. If you were a new driver and needed experience if you were lucky you'd start at a common carrier. If you have been hauling gasoline for many years and had a somewhat perfect record you could get on with the major oil companies. You got paid and had the best benefits with the number 1 jobs. The pay went down hill from there. Of course there are some exceptions depending on the location and company. I'm just glad I got out when I did.

 

Went through a Tornado last night. This happened to the driver that was loading as I was leaving the rack. He was about 20 minutes behind me. That's a telephone pole guide wire anchor driven into the side of the tank, about 10 feet behind the drivers seat!
It started raining/hailing harder than I've ever seen, in 40+ years of driving. I could not see the road, I knew that one of our stores was about 1/4 mile away, so I went by the white line and reflectors on guide rail, and pulled off to wait it out. Power went out just as it calmed down enough for me to continue.

 

God dam rook lmao in 10 hours I can do 5 loads lol but anyway how are you liking it so far ?

 

Let him go at his own pace. I would do 6 loads in less than 10 hours but it all depends on how far the stations are from the rack. Some days it would take longer and some days they would fly by. The company had each station timed and it was reasonable. However, it was timed for the experienced driver. I remember when I was new and how long it took. He'll get and hopefully he'll have his own routine down.

 

Yep stick to your company's procedures, build a routine, and never deviate from the routine. If you want to go faster, work on more efficiently executing your existing routine, don't try to change the order of things or cut corners. My company changed our procedures a while back to require us to unload higher grade products before we unloaded regular grade. Sounds good in theory because a downgrade is cheaper than a cross. But this completely messed me up because my routine for years had been to always start on whatever tank was furthest back and work my way forward. So I just kept doing what I always do and 5 years later I have never so much as hooked up the wrong compartment to the wrong tank, much less cracked the wrong valve, because I've been doing exactly the same thing for so long, and I never change it.