Soon to be new driver considering tanker vs flatbed?

I've not heard 1 bad thing about Superior. Houston is ground zero for tanker work. I would jump on Superior if they will hire you with no experience.

 

I do HazMat tanker. The hardest part for me is standing around in hot weather wearing a rubber suit. You do a serious amount of blind-side backing but the 48 ft trailer is so much easier than a 53 ft box. The slosh/surge is something to pay attention to, but not something to avoid. It feels the most violent when you start moving if you slam the throttle. The main thing is you must get your speed down BEFORE you take curves. Starting in tankers means learning a driving style that will work in any other type of trucking. Customers are so much nicer than dry van/reefers. That alone is a big plus.

 

Unless you are hard-core stubborn, learning to drive in a tanker is a great start. When I was considering giving up 20 years in dry van to haul HazMat tanker the most common info I found was most tanker drivers kept saying "I wish I had started sooner." I wish I had started tanker sooner. I have t done food-grade tanker. I hate wearing the rubber suit I wear for HazMat. I doubt food-grade has to wear anything other than a hair not on some unloads. Most customers unload for themself. Slosh/surge is easily controlled by careful driving. It's nothing to be feared or avoided. I almost backed out of this job over surge. I'm glad I didn't.

 

Am I crazy because I want to get into tanker BECAUSE of the surge? For some reason, the challenge of timing my acceleration and shifts to being bumped by thousands of pounds of liquid appeals to me lol.

 

Try Builders Transportation in Memphis. They'll get you home almost every weekend. I worked there years ago, and they were a good outfit then. A little strict but the money is good. I talked to a trainer over there, and he is still happy there. Theres been some changes since joining Daseke. They are going with 53 foot flatbed trailers. They rarely went anywhere west of San Antonio

 

I would suggest you talk to Trimac. Unfortunately, I don't believe they're currently hiring, but it wouldn't hurt to make an appearance. If interested, shoot me a PM and I'll give you a few names at the Pasadena branch. Trimac is a solid company, IMHO. They're not going anywhere as they're one of the companies doing some of the buying that you hear about.

 

I made it by my local terminal this past Wednesday. As it just so happened, one of the VPs was there, so it kinda turned into an interview lol. Everyone there was super nice, and both the terminal manager and VP made it known that they were very impressed with what I had to say. I really think you're not gonna do much better as a new CDL holder with Superior. Just be ready to get your ducks in a row if you get the same response as I did. I've already applied for my TWIC and will be applying for my passport next weekend. As soon as I get the TWIC in the mail and have my permit, I'll be applying to test for my endorsements too. Good luck!

 

I honestly wouldn't worry about that for the time being. The only places I've heard this rumor is this website and that one Freightwaves article. I really really wanted to ask about that, but I didn't want to put the VP on the spot like that before I'm even working for them lol.