Besides the CDL what else?

Ask yourself this,do you plan on driving for a company that requires those endorsement?Most get hazmat.May not use it often but its there just in case.

 

Depends on what you want to do or don't want to do.

Granted the more endorsements you have, the more flexibility companies have as an employer, to select you as a driver. And depending on a company you want to get on with, you may not have any say so as a lot of companies will specify x, y, z endorsement required or required prior to hiring.

If you're pulling a tanker, then, in this instance, you have no choice in the matter and will need the endorsement. And unless it's strictly food grade, then you'll more than likely wind up needing a hazmat endorsement.

With that said, I don't care for doubles. Doubles generally means "Teams." I don't have any inclination wanting to pull a double set up as it is or for team driving, so.....

Hazmat. For the .01 - .04 on average it presents in added revenue is one more headache I don't have to deal with when trip planning or approaching a scale and my Pre Pass goes green...

One thing I did get was my TWIC card. Had a fellow driver that was sitting with me and we were shooting the breeze. He had been waiting a while for his next load assignment. I had dropped mine and within 2 hrs, received my next load assignment in Charleston. He then asked me "Hey, how come you and everyone else gets down there to Charleston and I've been with the company 3 years now and never been?" I asked him "Got a TWIC Card?" He said "No' to which I responded "Then get one."

 

Most endorsement tests are like 20 questions long. That's probably at most 30 minutes. Most of them are under $30, too. So, none of them are a waste of money. The HAZMAT endorsement is a lengthy process (generally 6-8 weeks, and is under $150 to get). Within hauling a few HAZMAT loads, it's paid for itself. If you take them now, you will not have to take them later on and deal with getting a new CDL licence with them on it (I believe that costs money). The more endorsements, the more of an asset you are to a company. You do not know what the future entails, so why not do it now? You could come across a once in a lifetime job opportunity and not get it, because you didn't want to "waste time or money" now. I understand money is tight everywhere, but you want to set your self up for success. That's my 2 cents. Take it for what it's worth.

Best of luck to you!

 

Depends. I had HAZMAT. Dropped it in 2010 when I had to renew my license. Made no sense to spend an extra $94 (on top of the $220 I was already paying to the State of North Carolina) for an endorsement I didn't use.
I have a tanker endorsement. I have used that one, although it's only given me another task rather than gotten me a job (e.g., running a water truck on occasion for an aggregates and excavation company I was already working for in another capacity, hauling the occasional load of AC oil to an asphalt plant for an infrastructure construction company I was already working for in another capacity, etc.)
I have a doubles endorsement. I have run B-trains, but this was in South Africa, where what I had on my US CDL meant nothing, since I had to get an E+C license there in order to do what I was doing.

But, those are my experiences, and they won't be the same for everyone else. The next person to comment might be someone who runs tankers, or it might be someone who hauls hazmat, or maybe they do hazmat tankers, or maybe they do doubles, whether for LTL or running turnpike doubles or Rocky Mountain doubles.
Maybe the company you're looking at doesn't require any of it, but who's to say that a prospective future employer won't?

 

I had the tanker/hazmat for years before I used them. One day a job became available for tanker/hazmat OTR & because I was prepared, I landed the job plus it was a $15k payraise from pulling reefers. TWIC wasn't required when I was hired, but a few months later it was.

 

I defiantly say make sure you get the hazmat and tanker endorsements. I use to explain it like this to new drivers, you and I both unload at the same place and have the same hours to run. You get unloaded first two hours later i am finished. You have been waiting 2 hours for a load and only one load is available in the market for the rest of the day. It's a hazmat load, you don't have the endorsement, so you get to sit until tomorrow and I get to run... point is, its better to have it and not need it thank to need it and not have it. Why the tanker endorsement? the bulk tanks they put in a van now require you to have the tank endorsement to pull.

 

hazmat and twic are a bit pricey, but they add to your resume, and if you ever need um they are quite valuable. The rest are like 5 bucks a peice so just get um just in case. In pa anyway, doubles/tripples, tanker, passenger, are only a written test. I got um all and now can take a larger variety of CDL jobs

 

If you live in MT, WA and similar states where various trailer combinations are common outside of LTL, the the d/t endorsement may come in handy. If you can get the d/t endorsement now [still] just with written exam, get it

 

Get them all....you never know when an opportunity will show-up....be sad to have the chance of a lifetime come and not have the proper credentials to take advantage of it....get 'em all !