Indian River

Who in their right mind stays at a place like Cypress for 30+ years?

 

Lol! Why? You worked there? They're a decent company.

 

Longevity is the way to go. Every company or type of equipment doesn't work for each driver but if you are satisfied where you are working stay and make it a career there. It's like a good marriage, if you're happy and satisfied stay with it. A good woman is like a gift so be thankful.

 

Agreed.

 

That's definitely true. I used to struggle with realizing what a good company is and kept job hopping because "the grass is greener". I finally committed to working at a company for at least a year even if I was ready to quit after a few months. As long as I was making decent enough money, I stuck with it and it actually got better as time went on. After doing a year I still wanted to quit, but it was more of a calculated and well thought out decision rather than a short sighted "grass is greener" quick decision. Now I realize that even when I find the right company to work for I might have doubts. I might look at another company and think "I might be happier there". But if I stick with it for a while and really think on it I might get over it and be able to finally stay somewhere for a while.

 

Seals and wash tickets. Very important and I know you aren't used to dealing with either of them with flatbed.

Every tank will have a top opening (dome) and a rear opening (outlet). Make sure every clean or loaded tank you pick up has seals on both openings. Make sure you check the numbers on the seals and match them to the paperwork. If a seal is missing or numbers don't match, don't move the tank until you make some calls and get that squared away.

Wash tickets are like gold. If you don't have one for a clean tank or there isn't one with the paperwork for a loaded tank, don't move until you get it fixed. You *will* get rejected if you show up to any customer without a valid wash ticket. Hopefully dispatch can get a copy of the wash ticket from the tank wash or shipper, but if they can't, they won't be happy about eating the cost of whatever the product is and it can be very expensive.

Tank washes also expire, it can be anywhere from 24-72 hours depending on the customer so double check the time and date on the ticket. Call dispatch and confirm with them that the ticket you have is valid for the customer. Sometimes tanks can sit at a tank wash for too long and the ticket expires. Dispatch *should* know which tanks are good, but cover yourself if they send you to a tank wash to pick up a pre-cleaned tank.

Dairy plants will wash the tank after unloading it and very often they will seal the wash ticket inside the rear outlet dust cover so you can't physically check it. Those scenarios are the only ones where you would move a clean tank without being able to check wash ticket. You should still check that top and outlet are sealed though. Most dairies use plastic seals so be careful handling them if you have to twist it to see the number. If the seal breaks you have to deal with it before you leave.

I have had a tank rejected for a broken plastic seal. I really don't think I broke it when I was checking the number, but the shipper said it was broken and they get the final say.

Metal wire seals are best...if you have a good cutter to remove them. Occasionally you may run into a customer that doesn't have the means to cut a metal seal or have a policy that their employees are not allowed on top of tanks which means you will be climbing up to open the top.

As for driving, tanks are only about 45 feet long and the tandems are at the back so they are easier to back up and you don't have trailer tail swing to worry about. The load surge is real and it can hit very hard if the liquid is thin and you need to make sudden braking/acceleration movements. If you have ever been rear ended in a car it can feel as bad as that. Thicker liquids will surge much less. Something like frozen concentrated juice you probably won't feel at all. Single strength (NFC) juice or water, watch out.

This is probably too long, so any food grade specific questions (I don't know Bynum stuff), feel free to ask. It will help any new Indian River drivers also so hopefully Tanker82 won't mind them in his thread.

 

I don’t even pull a tanker and know this is all great advice. Excellent write up.

 

Also always double check that the dome lid is closed and dog ears are on and tight. A lot of tank washes at least in the chemical world will just close the lid on a dog ear, or just close it and not tighten any of the ears, and you show up and don’t think to check it until it’s too late.

 

I carry a hard plastic deadblow hammer specifically to tighten the dog ears. Sometimes that dome seal just isn't up to the task.

Many times I have rolled down the road with the back half of the tank streaked in cranberry juice. It probably looks like a murder scene.