Is Pulling Tanks and Flatbed an East Coast thing???

Majority of the steel industry is in the eastern half of the US. Matter of fact it used to be the eastern/northern half of Ohio and the western half of PA up into MI.

 

They're so clueless when it comes to freight on this side of the country the salesman at Western Trailer told us about their heavy duty flats rated for 25,000 in 4'.

 

Are you kidding me???? Did you fall out of the chair laughing?

 

You've got to remember that the west coast is a newer area as towns go so there's more rail lines that can haul the goods. If you have a very dangerous cargo the safest way to ship it would be by rail. Maybe that's why you see more tankers back east. Just a theory. Plus the towns are spread out in the west too.

Anyway, just about everywhere you go companies will want experience with tankers and flatbeds. They require a little more knowledge to drive so the insurance will put that on companies. I do not agree with it and I liked our old way of hiring. Safety would take a clean driver with no experience behind any truck. They had a division that would teach these new drivers on their way of hauling gasoline around town and in and out of gas stations. After weeks of everyday training these new drivers would be ready to have a ride-a-long for a week. So after 30 loads of loading,unloading,driving,and a fire and safety demonstration then they would need to pass the company's evaluation. If you passed then you were a driver. They stopped that program many years ago and all of us wondered why. There were some great drivers that came out of that program.

It's hard to find a company that will give you a shot at that type of driving with no experience. The only way you're going to know is if you get out there and knock and talk.

 

With the exception of fuel hauling, the tanker industry tends to be found found where there are an abundance of chemical plants in the vicinity.