New to tanker driving; starting soon...

Been a little while since I've been on here, thought I'd throw out an update. More or less it's been ok, had one bad trip where it seemed nothing was lining up right and it went that way for over a week. But that wasn't any series of headaches a guy wouldn't deal with pulling any other sort of freight for a lot of other companies.

It hasn't been quite as good as I was hoping, though it hasn't been bad. But, it's already looking like I might be flipping this job for something closer to home. A not too big local-ish fuel hauler that has two gas stations in my home town wants to hire me, so it looks like I'll be studying for my hazmat and making the jump to hauling gas. Met a manager the other day, I liked what I was hearing for the most part. Long days, but they're days, home almost every night, and most weekends (he emphasized they like to have everyone off for sundays, and just a handful of guys take Saturday loads any given Saturday). Sounded like they were real flexible for needing to take a day off for taking care of a sick kid or something. Supposedly should make as much as I am now without much effort, and maybe a bit more. No driving far away or through any cities of real consequence (unless you count Fargo or Winnipeg).

They pay mileage, that isn't super high, but they also pay 15 a pop for every pickup and every stop, and pay 15/hr detention at the loading rack after half an hour. It was sounding like two loads a day was typical, which may include more than one stop or pickup per load. But he said the range of what other guys were making was, on the low end, about what I'm on track to make doing what I'm doing right now. For where I live, it sounds decent (I am in the sticks where opportunities don't happen every day, to say the least). And he said making extra for taking a load or two on saturdays was usually an option, and doing so occasionally would make getting a raise at the end of the year more likely.

I wasn't expecting to get any sort of offer for a hazmat job around there so soon after starting pulling a tank, but it's kind of what I was hoping would happen. The wife is excited for this to work out maybe as much as I am. Telling my current employer I'm quitting after only three months; they probably won't be as excited. Nothing personal, hope they aren't too mad about it, but this is the economy we live in. Gotta take a step up when someone puts it in front of you, right?

So, pending me passing the hazmat endorsement (anyone on here taken it recently have any advice? Figured I'd study the hazmat section in the CDL manual from the gov and go for it next time I'm home) which I did once 15 years ago when I first got the CDL, I should be giving this a go in the next month or so. I don't remember it being particularly difficult...

 

I'm guessing that, as with everything else, having a current TWIC doesn't make the background/fingerprinting for the hazmat any easier?

 

Ok, got through the hazmat test last week (pretty easy after reading the manual and spending some time on the practice tests) and even made the trek to the nearest TSA-approved office yesterday for the rest of it (a short 150 miles away...) *and put in my notice. Looking at starting the paperwork/orientation third week of September, hopefully the new license doesn't take much longer than that to get here.

Definitely looking forward to being home every night again; every time I've taken a break from over the road and go back to it, I somehow forget how much it sucks to shower in truckstops and live out of a duffel bag.

 

TWIC doesn't seem to be useful for much outside of a very narrow purpose... I forgot to ask if it could count as a form of proof of ID (like, instead of a birth certificate). Still had to make the long drive, pay the same fee, do it all over again, with or without the TWIC.

Really don't understand why that couldn't be used for more things; like instead of getting a pass card or whatever that passport light thing is, or just get rid of TWICs and go with the upgraded driver's license for getting into ports...