Indian River

How about their hometime policy? I remember reading an old post of yours where you talked about taking off multiple weeks at a time. How does that work?

 

So I am leaving for orientation with them Monday. They have put me on the pump truck fleet. Ive hauled tanker before and have an idea of what it entails but they are going to train me. I am not worried about this. They pay you 75 dollars for each load you load or unload. This will entail a big heavy hose at the customer OR on your truck depending the setup. Climbing on top popping the seal. Hook up the hose either you have to pull out/assemble? then connect. OR the customer has their hose already connected and you just hook it up, put the safety clasps and a safety hook. Mush button. Disconnect etc. The DM told me that the Pump truck loads are lighter alot of times. Takes about 25 to 30 minutes to pump a load of asphault, dunno about other liquids yet.

Pet policy as explained to me as I have considered one.
- 50 pounds limit is "ideal". I think there is some wiggle room in there.
- 100 dollar non-refundable cleaning fee and 400 dollar refundable deposit for damages totally 500.
- They take the 500 @50 a check.
- Must be spayed or neutered. Must have all shots up to date especially if you are going to canada with records.

I didn't see a home time policy listed. When I asked the recruiter about it, he said I can come home up to 4 days every two weeks but dont be mad when my checks look weak. I spoke to the DM about it, and she just asked me what my needs were. I get the impression they want to build a balance for what works for you.

 

That might be part of the reason they don't want to rehire me. Yeah, I used to take summers off.

Other times there would be a lull in business, and I was free to park the truck at the yard and go play for several days.

Hometime was always four days off or more if it was slow, and it was never difficult requesting and receiving hometime.

 

When did you last try reapplying?. I know they just rehired a guy that took 4 months off and he had worked for the company less than a year before he took the time off.

He works 48 state OTR, if you wanted a particular region that they didn't need drivers for then that would make a big difference.

 

Solid info there, thanks for posting it as the pet question comes up often and I never had the info.

Hometime *can* be flexible, but it really depends on the individual driver and whether they have earned that flexibility if that makes any sense. I find it best to just give written company policy when people ask as I don't want to mislead anyone.

I have very limited experience with pumping off loads using the tractor PTO. It was a customer that was filling up IBC containers so it took ages as you had to stop pumping as each one was filled and they swapped hose over to an empty one.

Product viscosity will also have a huge impact. The thickest stuff I have hauled is frozen concentrated orange juice and that took 3ish hours to unload using customer pump. By contrast, Regular OJ only takes 30 mins. These are different customers so their pumps and equipment are most likely different too.

Where is orientation?. I was just in Winter Haven last week and there must have been 30 brand new pump tractors stacked up there. You may luck out and get put in one of those.

 

Only time I have come across a situation like that was because the customer wouldn't take delivery early or changed delivery date etc so the tank was dropped at the terminal rather than have a driver sit on it for days.

I have had to take a tank 60ish miles to final destination to live unload it and they do put you on hourly pay for it but it's nowhere near what you would have earned had you been running miles.

Not a fan of those situations, but you take the bad with the good and the money I make doing regular runs more than makes up for it so they won't hear any complaints from me.