Question For Houston Tanker Drivers

hopefully a tanker driver will be along to answer your questions.

Have you talked to your recruiter? Mine was 100% honest with me. Seriously, I know it sounds dumb but she never lied, she knew I was looking at like 6 companies and she gave me Schneider straight up, and I appreciated that.

I would check, but last I know they didn't hire new drivers for bulk? Maybe they changed that.

 

They very well may, I never looked into bulk, so I could very well be mistaken.

Thanks for your service btw, I am former military as well, so i can relate, I just wish I would have gotten into trucking right after I got out instead of waiting so long.

 

I'm in the bulk division...been there for a couple years now. The loads coming out of Houston go everywhere basically. That's where most of the refineries and chemical plants are located. When I get a load out of there I usually end up going to the northeast. If you're wondering where the terminal is located it's off of I-10 at exit 781, just south of the interstate. As far as the hometime promise of 6 days off every month, it's true. I usually stay out for 3 weeks and take my 6 days off at once. If you have any questions that you want answered just ask me.

 

Oscar,
Pumpkin has a local Houston gig also. 200 mile range with preloads but it's cheap. I also see vans parked at the terminal and I see they stole Family Dollar from Weiner man so I imagine they have something for you.

Good place to start..... good hunting.

 

Per their recruiter they had a desperate need for 6 local guys to do preloads, ( take wagon to plant, load it and ret. it to terminal for road dawg) and they had local work ranging inside of 200 miles.

They were offering .32 for this venture and that's cheap for chemicals considering you can get J.B. drop and hook with beer for the same .32. The difference is you could wear street clothes on the drop hook and it's likely no one would ever bother you VS. chemicals you're flying a placard, have to wear PPE, have the potential to bust hoses,spill, mix and you will draw unwanted attention from the bears because of the tank. ( more so than any van or flat)

Jmo

 

The 'pre-load' gig is going to be primarily loading trailers at Baker Petrolite and Nalco (some others also) which are all located just south (one exception, there is a Baker plant about 5 miles north of the terminal) and then dropping them at the Houston O.C. for the OTR guys to take. They might not get paid well my the mile but they do get more (usually) for loading and unloading pay. And yes, the van division shares the same facility as the tanker division.
As far as orientation goes, the bulk division is about 2 weeks in length which consists of classroom and hands-on tanker unloading proceedures. Whether you would have to spend time on the road with a trainer would depend on the amount of previous experience that you have. They do take on recent driving school grads for bulk by the way. Again, if I've left anything out just post some questions and I'll get around to answering them as soon as I can.