Should I get my hazmat endorsement?

Get it now so you're prepared when a decent job becomes available somewhere that required hazmat.

 

just get it, it is really easy test and it makes you more marketable.

 

Absolutely get it now, while it’s free, if they’re offering it. Just another tool in your toolbox. You’d be surprised how many companies require it, and barely ever use it. Could just be a pallet of paint that you’ll need it for.

 

That's a good example; I pulled reefers and hauled a load of paint from Ohio to Los Angeles. If I hadn't had the hazmat endorsement would have had to sit until the next day and then hoped for a load.

 

What else have you got to do now?
Are they waiting for you on the eastern front?

 

The DMV won't allow him to take his cat inside the building.

 

Just hang a sign on the cat that says: Service Animal.
They'll allow him anywhere.

 

This is a picture of my cat.

 

No one pays extra for something you possess as a endorsement. If they did everyone will have all the endorsements.

If you are able to get hazmat and want to do it, go for it. It will take you some time to get it done. (*And money and a interview with TSA/Homeland)

I held hazmat most of my life as part of class A and later CDL. There isnt any difference hauling toilet paper or battery acid in that trailer to me. With one exception. Hazmat requires certain routes around a city or areas banned against Hazmat loads. I had a dispatcher give me a very hard time taking 40 extra minutes bypassing Baltimore downtown on the Key Bridge to the south. And in a moment of temper I removed the hazmat at the DMV within the hour. And therefore that particular problem dispatcher no longer continued to be a factor in life. (I had by then just about all the hazmat I could stand anyway, it was essentially a perfect no loss record with it)

Even if they paid extra, you probably wont notice in payroll. Maybe a extra 30 dollars a week for a few cents a mile. It's not a incentive. Now if a company wants to salary a bonus 1000 minimum for holding and using a hazmat in addition to basic pay then sure, I'll be at the DMV right away to get it. but there is no money in it for the extra detail work and rule following in such loads. It's literally not worth it to me.