West Texas deadhead miles

8 hr shift in the oilfield? Didn't know they were hiring part time workers these days...

 

Heir Doctor,

I can tell you that's normal for my haulers minus the Pecos yard. Your company is under contract is why they do it also. ( To the buyer )

From a producer stand point trucks are a pain and expensive ( hence my job ). LACT and pipeline is the only way to go. Your wells are likely too far from a pipeline to come in OR its just not built yet.

The oil buyer is paying the truck 90 % of the time too and the buyer has 48 hours to answer our call for load which makes life difficult sometimes and in our case 100% of the time.

JMO

 

Just thinking out loud, if thats not your truck consider looking at Enterprise. They are the oil buyer so the middleman is cut out.

And don't even think of hauling rock here, trust me.

Good luck

 

Hi Chalupa, I'm a newer driver (dry van) and thinking about buying a truck to go owner operator for frac sand. Do you have any suggestions for companies in West Texas? I'm looking at one called Swaggin Wagon... I read your post above about how this guy is driving around and wasting gas,time,wear and tear to vehicle. How can I position myself to avoid his situation? Any tips appreciated. Thanks!

 

In oil, you can't. Is what it is. Water trucks are plentiful right now so their cheap, Sand cans are plentiful right now also. Waiting time being paid is also gone for the moment.

I would not buy right now if oilfield is your desire. Plenty of cheap iron still available. What you can do is save your money and take a company job out here and learn the ropes. If and when it takes off you can buy then and take a run at it.

All the chatter had oil in the good range by now but it's not here and I don't think it's going to do much this year. Most folks are just fracking their DUC 's from last year....which does add a little jingle but not like $70 oil would.

If you just have too then I recommend you stay away from 1845 sand hauler. They appears to be the bottom of the barrel.

Good luck

 

Aquajosh,

I'm a current o/o in the Texas oil fields hauling sand. This is an extremely hard transition from otr in my opinion. Hours are longer, and as much as no one admits it hos at companies are often overlooked. If you play the out of hours card, they'll let you shut down, but magically you'll get crap runs for a week.

Also, the equipment needed is expensive as well, the truck, trailer, blower, hoses, ppe, and all the other expensive crap that your truck will need due to the ever decreasing quality of the lease roads.

That being said, as an o/o most weeks I go home with around 3000 - 3800 after expenses, so there is money to be made in my opinion.

 

ThisXStyle, Thanks for the comment. In your opinion, do you think If I worked for a local Concrete company doing a Mixer Truck or Transport Sand/aggregate would help prepare me for Oil Field work? I need another 4-6 months of CDL experience is what the recruiter said. Also, I got a lot of flack asking about buying a "Plastic" truck for the Oil Field. Ex: A Freightliner or Kenworth T something... Can you recommend a solid "Metal" Oil Field truck that will last a bit longer? Thanks again for the help. That's awesome if you are bringing home 3 grand a week after all expenses. Is that roughly $144,000 a year? Good work

 

In my opinion, readymix/concrete wont do you much good unless you're hauling a pneumatic tank. Most aggregate haul belly dumps or end dumps. Point is, the job descriptions are entirely different.

You can get hired out here with a year of experience if you have it. If you don't, you can still find something, it'll just be a bit harder to find something. Oil field has high turnover like every other segment of trucking, so I wouldn't worry about that part very much.

In my opinion, you're asking the wrong questions about a truck. The load doesn't care about the make of the truck that's hauling it. Get something that fits your needs. I have an 01 Volvo, I get plenty of crap about it, but I like my truck. It's older than most, and it's lasted well so far. The specs are more important in my opinion. Bigger rears, (I have 3.90), fuel economy, turning radius, blower size, etc. In the end it's not what you equipment you have, but how much of the revenue you make turns into profit. --on a side note, I'd try to get an 05 or newer, simply for leasing on ease.

If you can find a cheaper "plastic" truck, and it's in good enough shape to get you profitable faster, then that's the truck you probably should get. Not everyone feels this way, but my life is what's at home, not this truck or job. My main goal is keeping my costs low as possible and my revenue high as I can. Hope this helps.