Old newbie seeks advice.

There is no dark side. The best tanker jobs are hazmat. Tanker/hazmat drivers think they're in poverty if they take home less than $1000.00 weekly & that goes for local or OTR. You an make a good living with tanker jobs in non-hazmat or food grade also, but the big bucks are with hazmat. I averaged $65K annually, but you can make much more, over $75K and $100K. I only worked 11 months a year, because I have a home in the Orient and liked to have at least a month off to travel that far.

 

Well, let's see; only downside I found is wearing a chem suit to unload in hot weather on acid loads, like in July unloading in Houston or Phoenix or Bakersfield. Upside, take about 45 min. to 1 hour to unload, then deadhead back to the East Coast for the next load. Company driver, pay the same empty or loaded.

If you can get into tanker work in the beginning of your trucking career, good, you won't have those measley paychecks so many complain about as rookies.

Reasons for so much deadhead with hazmat/tanker, which doesn't affect the drivers pay at all, is some customers don't want anyone else's loads on a trailer they use for fear of contamination. Plus, a backhaul may require different hoses, an expensive tank washout, changing gaskets in the tank, etc.

 

You want have the required experience and satisfactory driving record for at least a year of safe driving unless you want to go to work for a bottom feeder.