Is Hopper Right for Me?

1) What are the most most annoying aspects of the job? (scaling? customers? equipment? no rest areas on the routes?)
-i heard the mixes freeze sometimes. not sure what the solution is for that

2) In terms of hassle how does it compare overall to flatbedding?

3) how often is there a pickup or delivery in a big city metropolitan area (minneapolis, chicago, denver, seattle, L.A., atlanta, the five burroughs, etc)

4) do they have condo sleepers or is it always midroofs?

5) are there teaming positions or is it a 100% solo driver thing?

6) Is there an off or slow season?

 

To answer your questions contact Foltz Trucking, Detroit Lakes MN a large hopper trucking company.

 

I think he'd rather talk to a driver. Most of us would. You get a better and unbiased look at the industry that way. A company, even a reputable one, tends to skew facts in their favor.

 

Sadly -- you pretty much nailed it.

Last week -- I talked to a manager at a Love's about a fuel tanker job with them.

Even though he was not in a position to hire me -- he still laid it on pretty thick....

-- Lual

 

1.)Customers have scales, paid Ton/100 weight/Bushel, Run normal routes.

2.)Ton easier than flatbedding

3.) Normal, Atlanta, Chicago, Houston

4.) About like tanks, condos and mids, Midroofs are easier.

5.) Id day solo, but maybe team if you had husband/wife, most loads 1 day same day unload maybe next, lot of hours, not miles.
500-1000 mile loads usually

6.) Winter gets slowish, Meal loads freeze and are pain in the neck, vibrators/dead low/rubber mallet/extendable handle broom are must

Cleveland Vibrator - Industrial vibrators, vibratory equipment from Cleveland Vibrator Company

 

Team would be husband and wife. otherwise just solo driving with her as passenger.

What do you mean "lot of hours, not miles"? Do the customers waste a lot of your time? Is it like reefer in that respect?
Not that bad. 500 mile loads are pretty short. 1000 is better. Can't expect much longer I guess. I'd rather run pretty much exclusively in the great plains anyway.

What sort of places do deliveries go typically? I assume pickups are at grain elevators 90% of the time.

Are those vibrators and other tools typically provided by the company? If not, are they found at the local wally world?

 

Some may run longer, most don’t, hopper pay is typically better for shorter.
Deadblow and rubber mallet at walmart, Foltz, and a few others furnish the shakers.
Not all are grain elevators.
Tysons, Simmons, and such for By-products m, chicken meal, feather meal, chicken by-products, and such.
Ethanol plants, DDG, and such.
Hours line in, ‘We’re fulll. Be a few hours.”
Aflatoxin, mycotoxins and such tests on gray. about an hour waiting for results? may get rejected and redirected either back where you got it or go somewhere else.
usually 4-5 hours to unload, 2-3 to load(always a few trucks ahead)
Usually 45 minutes to 1 hour to load, adobe faster some slower, but that’s average.
Usually I run 500-800 mike trips and there the next day to unload regardless of when I get loaded

 

Probably not, I haven’t got detention since August last year.
I wasn’t getting my part so i don’t even write it down anymore

 

Hoppers spend a long time waiting in line to unload at grain elevators during harvest season, especially in the port cities (the ones where you hear commodity prices announced on the radio).