tanker life vs dry van life?

I switched from vans to tankers. No comparison. Much less waiting and you're almost always treated like a real person pulling tankers.

 

^^^^^^^
This, and when you do wait, you get paid good.

You've been-----\/\/\/\-----Thunderstruck!!!

 

I was wondering this myself also, only done van or reefer but thinking about trying tanker.

Haven't looked into it yet, but I guess CO has some oil/water tanker jobs around...

 

Matlack took legitimate detention allthe way to collection. I had one owner operator, who was having some problems, quit. When he stopped working, his unpaid fuel and other assorted bills came to $1,200.00 or so...

I ran into him a year later, He remarked that he was still collecting dention checks; his debt had been wiped out and he was still making income...

Not every company was this good. Some may pay the detention up-front and then deduct any that isn't paid later...gota' watch that!

Almost every load had some kind of test or sample analysis b/4 you could unload. Merck & Co. in Rahway, NJ was around a 4 hour wait, up in a driver's room w/ a TV and vending, nice John and NO SMOKING back when most drivers smoked! Lotsof other places you waited in the cab. Lots of Pharma plants had cafeterias you could visit that eased the wait but you still get used to watching the dust settle on the dash.

4 hours of lousy free coffee and soaps while you waited. Same thing might happen at the shipper. Usually they had two hours to load or unload so detention pay was common but can be quirky.

Same w/ washouts, extra hoses, pump, blower, vacuum, etc. lots of places and things that add to the job and some of them them bring in extra revenue.

On the other hand. Everyone I trained was amazed to find out that hauling haz mat doesn't bring in more income. Stuff that can kill you, and others, and some LTL jocky still makes $3.00 - $4.00 more an hour...

Spcialized tankers [gas haulers, dry bulk & more] are more likely to be local or regional. Not always home everynight but not living on the road.

Your mileage may vary.

 

Of course it all depends on what type of tanker and what product you're hauling. I can only speak for gasoline. But I believe no matter what I'm loading in the tanker I'd never switch back to van trailers or lowboys. To me it's just a challenge everyday to do my job better than the day before. There's a lot of regulations that go with tankers and then you through hazmat on top of that you have to have some wits about you. Plus I believe there's more jobs with tankers that pay a higher scale than any other type.

 

One thing I much appreciate with chemical tanker is that at load/unload you're dealing with professionals rather than day labor or somebody's idiot cousin. (Management and assorted office monkeys excluded). So you gotta be on your "A" game too.

 

My loading , unloading usually takes less than 2 hours , even with samples being tested . Conditions depend on the customers and products hauled . Many of our loads are drop and hook and many loads are preloaded by local drivers .
A lot of loads are regional and dedicated . No 2 terminals are alike . Newbies would most likely have to start with Schneider for tank or run van for a couple of years for experience and then go to a better tank carrier .