New to Truck driving and now working with unsafe equipment. Any advice?

Hey Arky,
I live in Springfield Missouri, 3 hours from Tulsa. My wife works here and we have our home here. I had planned to get a cheap apt. in Tulsa and get home on off days, which I don't know if that is even feasible. The short load issue concerns me, if I can't make $1200-$1500 a week I don't think it would make sense. Problem is I have no plans to haul OTR, if it came to that I would pursue a different career. I have searched and searched for tanker or any type of driving job in the oil fields that I could secure right of school and make decent money but Sunoco seems to be it. Your thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

 

You can $1200+/wk "most" weeks over in the Cushing/Stillwater area. I saw apartements in Stillwater for $350-$450/mo. Most of the guys in that area avg $225-$260/day. You will have safety meeting days, bad weather days, etc...all that reduces income by some amount...but its not terrible and you would be gaining experience. When you work a 6th day ( its up to you most of the time), you get paid $120 extra + your normal pay. Holidays worked are paid accordingly as well. There was some talk about them going to a 5/2-5/3 schedule where you would get 2 days off one week and 3 the next. That would be a great fit for you. In your position, its worth a look. I think their closest yard would be Tulsa, but they have others. You may or not be able to get where you want immediately but in time there is plenty of opportunity to move around from yard to yard.

 

Arky,
In your opinion would the income be roughly the same in Tulsa as in Cushing/Stillwater? How long did you stay with them before you moved on? Management better in Oklahoma as compared to Texas?

 

For the most part, it's probably a toss up. You'll haul a lot more of the newer wells the farther west you go. Most of the wells east of Cushing are older wells. I did fine with the older wells though...made some of best paychecks running them. For a while there I could pick up loads from older wells over toward Tulsa and take the oil up to Ponca City...I did decent with that. A lot of that changed though. From what I have seen in the oilfield so far, the longer the trips, the better the money...which is exactly opposite of what it should be in my opinion.

Management "attitude" was entirely better in OK than in TX. In TX, it was completely old school ("if you don't like what your doing today...wait and see we give you tomorrow"). In OK, they really were good to work with. But, the longer loads were in TX...and the better money.

I was with Sunoco 10 months. That was enough to get most doors open.

 

Arky,
Thats awesome information and glad you are doing well with where you are now.
Also one big question I had was when they say "accredited school" what exactly is accredited. The school I am attending is part of Ozarks technical college here in Springfield, I am assuming that would qualify as accredited but wanted your thoughts. Any advice as I move forward would be greatly appreciated. I already have my Class A permit but start school in about 2 weeks. Should I get my Hazmat in MO or wait to get it there? Hopefully someday I will be able to reciprocate for the helpful advice you are giving to me. Thanks again.

 

I still have my AR cdl. That's another thing you shouldn't have to worry about in OK. Don't get me wrong, the best money is probably in south and/or west TX...but you can make decent money and be fairly close to home for now while you gain experience. 6 months in the patch and you'll see a lot of opportunities.

 

Arky,
So I should go ahead and get all my endorsements here in Missouri? Once my schooling is done I thought I would apply online as you had mentioned in a previous thread then drive to Tulsa and stop in at their offices and introduce myself, good idea you think?

 

Ya i was with a ND company...bald tires, no lights...we were on indian reservation and our owner had tribal privilage..they never cared about maintaining thier trucks..I had to xerox copy my DVIR with all the problems listed...saved me 25 minutes a day, still feel pretty crafty over that one...
I was surprised how bad trucks were...
I had a tractor that the brakes would lock...(s-cam's flipped?)...a bunch of times

 

Sorry..thought I had replied already. You should be fine with getting your endorsements in MO... as long as you work in OK. You can still work in TX with an out of state cell as well...as long as you don't stay in the state for more than 30 days (I think?)... or.. at least don't admit to being there more than 30 days.

You would need to go to Drumright to talk to anybody and you'll need get it setup in advance... they are inside a locked gate.

 

i would have told them to take there truck and shove it. bald tires and brakes so worn there camming over I'm not driving it. its one thing to drive a truck that is in need of some repairs, its another to drive something that's totally unsafe.