Gasoline Tanker: Tips on how to make fast drops at stations

I just started Gas hauling in Florida, man i have a new found respect for you guys, been reading this thread and i do everything safely, my loads at the rack are around 30 Mins and i had to demonstrate to the people running the rack i could do it safely, my drops are slower, primarily because my extensive time over the road have made me seriously out of shape, but i average 1hr 10 minutes to drop, my drops are safe, i follow a checklist to drill into my head the proper procedures, my company is very supportive and applies no pressure, just finished my first week alone and they say i am doing phenomenal, i hope that's a good thing, anyway i do like the job, thanks for this thread, every bit of information helps

i have done a drop with my trainer in 30 Minutes, it was a perfect drop everything done correctly, but it was 8800 of regular, one of the worst areas for traffic, had several people ignore the cones and run them over, oh what fun

 

Just take your time. How long it takes to drop isn't important now. Your emphasis should be on no cross drops or spills. Good luck with your new job.

 

Tell your boss to eat **** . These companies today don't seem to care about a persons safety, they just care about getting their product sold.

 

Sounds like you're doing ok. Get into a routine and do the drops the same way every time. I don't care how many years someone has been doing this ALWAYS double check the product tags to make sure you're dropping the right product into the right tank. It's the same when you load. Get a routine down and stick to it. I would always make a copy of my dispatch then figure out my load before I even got over to the rack. During my pre-trip I would flip the compartment tags to read the right product. And when that compartment ran dry I would flip it to the next load. At the rack remember it's smallest to biggest to hook and biggest to smallest to unhook. Hook your scully,vapor,product arm. unhook-unhook product arm, vapor then scully. You'll get your routine down that another problem will pop up. COMPLACENCY. That's when you're on auto mode and a problem can slip by and you don't even notice it. That's why each of us do our routine and don't worry about time. The time will come down as you get better.

Safety is paramount. When I put my cones out that was my space inside the coned off area. If a car came into that area I made sure the driver knew he or she was wrong. Just make sure you place your cones to where you have enough space to work and there's some space between the cones and the hoses. Keep your head on a swivel and always beware of what's going on around you. You have some power with the manager because you have what they need and any problems you have at the drop should be worked out after you go to the manager. I'd give them 15 mins. then I would be gone. But check with your company on that policy. Wecome to the world of gashaulers and I'm sure you'll never go anywhere else.

 

Great info!How long were you guys with your trainer,before being out solo?
Also,how many loading racks did you guys get clearance to load from?Im hoping
to test for my cards this week,if we get in those other racks.
Been pulling mostly from the same place,so the new racks get confusing.
The speed seems to depend on how crowded the stations are.We've been
averaging 30-40 minutes.Usually 7500 reg,and 1500 prem,and the occasional diesel
mixed in.
I like the job,but sometimes its frustrating.People don't give you a whole lot of respect
carrying something that could put us into orbit while theyre smoking.

Then you gotta move the milk man,coke,beer guys,and all the other vendors cause we cant unload but in one spot

 

Agreed I have blocked trafic for a tanker to back out of a station befor in my personal car befor this station you had to pull up then back out into a 2 lane road that is very busy all the time. I have gotten to know him aswell he runs that station all the time. Its where I get gas for my car all the time he has slipped me 10 to 20 gallons of gas befor what wouldnt fit into the tanks and in this day and age thats 40 to 50 bucks I'll take lol. Always around there around his dropping days he get there after i get off work.

 

I wouldn't have put that fuel in my tank for the sake of my fuel filter. What a lot of people don't know is in the fuel pump itself is another fuel filter in them. Have you ever put fuel in your car and the pump is going really slow, well it's the filter clogging up and it needs to be replaced. Only ever had that problem at run down service stations.

 

I drive a beater car so it prob would help some more if it was bad fuel. I put 500 to 550 miles on my car every week so I dont use brand new car I have a 89 Plymouth horizion I get around 30 MPG give or take so if i have to replace fuel filter to save 50-60 bucks thats fine fuel filter for that car is $10 so ya not gonna fret over that I do all maintenance on that car minus wheel alignment every 10k and new tires.

Also did not know that glad to know learn somthing new everyday.

 

In that case then, go for it. My Saturns fuel filter is around $50 and is extremely hard to get to.

 

You are weird. We put gas in our cars outta the tank all the time. Company didn't care about the residual in the tank at the end if day. Tons of guys do it. It's Not gonna hurt your whittle car car.