Curious about leaving LTL Company for fuel Tanker Job

[Phreddo]

I dunno, i hear union, i think UAW, i see GM bleeding all over the place, and i wonder if a Union is a short term gain, long term loss for the worker.

I would prefer to work for a company that will stay in business, and try and save money on my own. :/

[Daddy's Rig]

Hey Timber,What was your biggest challenge when you 1st started hauling gas,the surge locating the stores as well as drop zones? Looking to make a switch next year..

[NoBama]

Hey Timberwolf...My honest opinion is that you are NOT certifiable. Your aspirations and goals are very similar to my own. I to have worked for two LTL companies. One of which filed for bankruptcy and the other company laid me off in March of this year. Personally been wanting to aquire employment with a company affiliated with transporting liquids or gasses. No goals have been acheived as of yet. I have two seasons of hauling asphalt cement in to Shelly plants in Ohio. The tanks are loaded in Michigan therefore Haz-mat endorsements are required. Ohio does not consider elevated temperature loads Haz-mat. Wondering if that has'nt hindered my goals. I have applied to three companies and replies sent back have said that my experience does not meet their qualifications. I'm thinking that having this type of "tanker" experience isn't doing anything for me. My ultimate goal is to haul cryogenic loads for Linde, Air Liquide or Praxxair. My MVR is spotless. No criminal history. No DUI's. I do wonder if driving for 4.5 years is hindering a positive outcome; or the economy. Like many others I just enjoy pulling a tank. I hope you have a positive outcome and wish you the best. I don't get on here very much so I want to wish everyone a "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year". God Bless.

[Orangetxguy]

Hey Timberwolf...My honest opinion is that you are NOT certifiable. Your aspirations and goals are very similar to my own. I to have worked for two LTL companies. One of which filed for bankruptcy and the other company laid me off in March of this year. Personally been wanting to aquire employment with a company affiliated with transporting liquids or gasses. No goals have been acheived as of yet. I have two seasons of hauling asphalt cement in to Shelly plants in Ohio. The tanks are loaded in Michigan therefore Haz-mat endorsements are required. Ohio does not consider elevated temperature loads Haz-mat. Wondering if that has'nt hindered my goals. I have applied to three companies and replies sent back have said that my experience does not meet their qualifications. I'm thinking that having this type of "tanker" experience isn't doing anything for me. My ultimate goal is to haul cryogenic loads for Linde, Air Liquide or Praxxair. My MVR is spotless. No criminal history. No DUI's. I do wonder if driving for 4.5 years is hindering a positive outcome; or the economy. Like many others I just enjoy pulling a tank. I hope you have a positive outcome and wish you the best. I don't get on here very much so I want to wish everyone a "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year". God Bless.

Ohio may not consider "Elevated Temperature" liquids hazardous.....BUT the USDOT does...and has....for a very long time. Cryogenic liquids are also consider hazardous...and require the Haz-Mat endorsement, as well as product specific training. If the feds require the endorsement to move the product, the state is required to recognize that. The regulation which "Provides for the greater safety" is the regulation which is enforced. Usually...not "always"...but usually (99.5% of the time) the federal regulation takes precedence.

Elevated temp is officially 240 degrees F. But I guarantee you......170 degree product hurts like billy blue blazes if it gets on you (if enough gets on you......yer dead anyway).....and a negative temp product...even if it is only -24 degrees, is not pleasant......below -40 things start turning weird colors.....below -100 things freeze instantly and start falling off.

At -245, trailer parts start to fall off (should there be a leak while under way) if the equipment is on a rough road and taking a lot of hits.


Get the endorsement....learn a little....start small and work your way up. Really....this is pretty cheesey work if you can get the hang of some of the safety regulations. 31 years and counting for me.

[feederfred]

Hey Timberwolf...My honest opinion is that you are NOT certifiable. Your aspirations and goals are very similar to my own. I to have worked for two LTL companies. One of which filed for bankruptcy and the other company laid me off in March of this year. Personally been wanting to aquire employment with a company affiliated with transporting liquids or gasses. No goals have been acheived as of yet. I have two seasons of hauling asphalt cement in to Shelly plants in Ohio. The tanks are loaded in Michigan therefore Haz-mat endorsements are required. Ohio does not consider elevated temperature loads Haz-mat. Wondering if that has'nt hindered my goals. I have applied to three companies and replies sent back have said that my experience does not meet their qualifications. I'm thinking that having this type of "tanker" experience isn't doing anything for me. My ultimate goal is to haul cryogenic loads for Linde, Air Liquide or Praxxair. My MVR is spotless. No criminal history. No DUI's. I do wonder if driving for 4.5 years is hindering a positive outcome; or the economy. Like many others I just enjoy pulling a tank. I hope you have a positive outcome and wish you the best. I don't get on here very much so I want to wish everyone a "Merry Christmas" and "Happy New Year". God Bless.

I work for Linde and we are still doing some hiring..check out the Linde website..Driver Positions It's a pretty good gig..any questions just ask.. Praxxair is delivered by a contractor (TriMac) and Air Liquide has a pretty good history of screwing it's drivers over..Ollie78, another poster here just got on with us in Vancouver, WA..I had the pleasure of meeting him up there while we were on a temporary assignment up there...nice guy..

[NoBama]

This is not my thread so I'll try to keep it short. I would like to thank Orangetxguy and Feederfred for their replies and knowledge. I have recently applied again to Linde; and will keep trying. They have a terminal in Fostoria, OH. and Lima, OH. so they are both within forty miles of my home. I wonder if my age is also a factor...I'm 39. Thank-you and God bless.

[feederfred]

Nope, age is NOT an issue...Clean record and background is. They hired me and I'm in my mid-fifties after I retired from UPS..Keep bugging them..

[TimberWolf]

Sorry guys for the late reply I have been spending way to much time on another side of this board.

Daddy's rig my biggest challenge in the beginning was getting over the nerves of pulling fuel (in general)
During my first week of training it seemed like every corner we came to my trainer told me "Yep we lost a driver on this one" , "yep we paid to rebuild this portion of this bridge as one of our trucks burned it down".
"A driver from another company lost it on this corner and he left his wife and two kids behind" Those kinds of words make you really think if you can handle the job, then my trainer would say stuff like do you brush your teeth the same way every day? how do you put your pants on in the morning? then he followed up by stating do this juob just like that and you will be ok. Repatition is the key PERIOD.. "The same way every time" no deviations from you routine and you will be ok.

The surge is not to bad you can feel a good pull if you take corners to quick and a decent push if you stop quick, but it is nowhere close to a food grade tanker. Respect your tank and drive accordingly.

Finding stops and drop zones that I have never been to before can start out a little intemidating, but I try to ask another driver and 99% of them are more then happy to help you out, if I cant find one I try dispatch and directions, if that does not work I wing it and hope for the best, 95% of the time you can find another driver to help out. I do the same for other drivers as well, we even had a competitor under cut us and took a few of our stations and I still gave the driver a map as to how to get in and out of the station, it is the right thing to do. In the Orlando area all the drivers I have come across are great guys no matter who they drive for, you will see guys from other companies jump in and help a driver get hooked up and loading if it is close to lock out time at 11:30pm.

Nobama,
I have no experience hauling commpressed gas even though I think I would enjoy it, however just as with fuel my wife and I saw this story on tv once and it showed a driver delivering some sort of commpressed gas to a site, next thing you see is the air fill with a mist of gas (a lot of it) followed by and explosion, and then sirens and noise and fear, after a 15 minutes or so the guys tanker explodes and you are just sitting there going holly sh.t he has to be dead. at the end I think he survived but not without severe injuries. wish I could remember what show it was.
There was a tanker explosion last year in the Tampa area off I-75, that paticular day I was pulling out of the Port Of Tampa and my wife got word of the explosion and started to call me, while on the rack you cant take calls so I did not answer right away, she was freaked! So with the job comes that fears of you family, along with not taking the family crap to work with you, all it takes is your mind on one of the kids screwing up or pisssing you off to make you forget one step and presto a mistake can happen large or small..

Feederfred is right age is not an issue we have several guys in their late 60"s pulling fuel and one is in his early 70's still doing 4 to 5 loads a day. This is an old mans job if you do it right.

All in all this was the best move I could have ever made and I love pulling a tanker the job is awesome and I will never make the move back to pulling a box.

Good Luck guys if you have any other questions just let me know.

Timberwolf

[Daddy's Rig]

Sorry guys for the late reply I have been spending way to much time on another side of this board.

Daddy's rig my biggest challenge in the beginning was getting over the nerves of pulling fuel (in general)
During my first week of training it seemed like every corner we came to my trainer told me "Yep we lost a driver on this one" , "yep we paid to rebuild this portion of this bridge as one of our trucks burned it down".
"A driver from another company lost it on this corner and he left his wife and two kids behind" Those kinds of words make you really think if you can handle the job, then my trainer would say stuff like do you brush your teeth the same way every day? how do you put your pants on in the morning? then he followed up by stating do this juob just like that and you will be ok. Repatition is the key PERIOD.. "The same way every time" no deviations from you routine and you will be ok.

The surge is not to bad you can feel a good pull if you take corners to quick and a decent push if you stop quick, but it is nowhere close to a food grade tanker. Respect your tank and drive accordingly.

Finding stops and drop zones that I have never been to before can start out a little intemidating, but I try to ask another driver and 99% of them are more then happy to help you out, if I cant find one I try dispatch and directions, if that does not work I wing it and hope for the best, 95% of the time you can find another driver to help out. I do the same for other drivers as well, we even had a competitor under cut us and took a few of our stations and I still gave the driver a map as to how to get in and out of the station, it is the right thing to do. In the Orlando area all the drivers I have come across are great guys no matter who they drive for, you will see guys from other companies jump in and help a driver get hooked up and loading if it is close to lock out time at 11:30pm.

Nobama,
I have no experience hauling commpressed gas even though I think I would enjoy it, however just as with fuel my wife and I saw this story on tv once and it showed a driver delivering some sort of commpressed gas to a site, next thing you see is the air fill with a mist of gas (a lot of it) followed by and explosion, and then sirens and noise and fear, after a 15 minutes or so the guys tanker explodes and you are just sitting there going holly sh.t he has to be dead. at the end I think he survived but not without severe injuries. wish I could remember what show it was.
There was a tanker explosion last year in the Tampa area off I-75, that paticular day I was pulling out of the Port Of Tampa and my wife got word of the explosion and started to call me, while on the rack you cant take calls so I did not answer right away, she was freaked! So with the job comes that fears of you family, along with not taking the family crap to work with you, all it takes is your mind on one of the kids screwing up or pisssing you off to make you forget one step and presto a mistake can happen large or small..

Feederfred is right age is not an issue we have several guys in their late 60"s pulling fuel and one is in his early 70's still doing 4 to 5 loads a day. This is an old mans job if you do it right.

All in all this was the best move I could have ever made and I love pulling a tanker the job is awesome and I will never make the move back to pulling a box.

Good Luck guys if you have any other questions just let me know.

Timberwolf

Hey Thanks Timber..Sent you a PM a while ago..

[Joey Shabadoo]

Gas haulers go by seniority too.
Guys with more time in with the company get to bid on the daylite shifts, better runs, etc.
Starting out, you will most likely be working at night and on the weekends.

I know a guy who used to haul fuel.
He got stabbed one night delivering to a gas station.
He told me daytime is no picnic either.
People running over your hoses, flicking cigarrettes out the window where you're working, more traffic and congestion to contend with, dealing with all the "Wacky Iraquis" who seem to own all those places.
Then you see idiots cutting off those gas haulers (and every other truck on the road) all the time.
One wrong move and BOOM! goes the dynamite.
Every year it seems, there's a story round these parts about some guy burning to death in his cab.

Yeah, the money's good.
But the risks are higher.
Just something to think about.

[cdswans]

. . One wrong move and BOOM! goes the dynamite. Every year it seems, there's a story round these parts about some guy burning to death in his cab . .

Like this one, for instance . .

Tanker truck flips, explodes, closes LI Expressway - washingtonpost.com

[feederfred]

Sure, hauling hazmat can be dangerous..But it also has very good pay, great working conditions and what I like best: Being treated like a valued human being with a brain. I pay attention to my job. I haul LPG, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the course of a week. All of which could ignite, detonate and kill me in the blink of an eye...Do I have a death wish ? Not at all, I love life just as much as you do. I enjoy the challenge of having to THINK about my "freight"...Of minimizing the risks to both myself and your loved ones who may be on that freeway with me. The business I'm in still values professional "input", and is willing to pay for it. Not everyone can go to work each day (or night), hook up and realize that the stuff 4 feet behind their head can kill them (and a lot of innocent people) and just do the job at hand. But, I'm glad they do, because without them everyday life would be a lot harder.

[Orangetxguy]

Sure, hauling hazmat can be dangerous..But it also has very good pay, great working conditions and what I like best: Being treated like a valued human being with a brain. I pay attention to my job. I haul LPG, liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen in the course of a week. All of which could ignite, detonate and kill me in the blink of an eye...Do I have a death wish ? Not at all, I love life just as much as you do. I enjoy the challenge of having to THINK about my "freight"...Of minimizing the risks to both myself and your loved ones who may be on that freeway with me. The business I'm in still values professional "input", and is willing to pay for it. Not everyone can go to work each day (or night), hook up and realize that the stuff 4 feet behind their head can kill them (and a lot of innocent people) and just do the job at hand. But, I'm glad they do, because without them everyday life would be a lot harder.

Sort of along the lines of being an under paid airline pilot...........with more shazam!

Any driver who approaches the job with the respect it deserves, does the job properly, and treats the cargo with the respect it requires........will quickly understand that there are very few dangers.

No...we cannot control outside forces. But by using due diligence, and driving with your eyes open and your attention directed where it belongs, you can limit those outside forces and mitigate the damage they can cause.

CD posted a great example of a driver whom failed to give due diligence to the job. Had he been driving with his eyes open, he would not have needed to take evasive action, thus rolling his unit. That is cut and dried. I am sorry he is dead....but the car he swerved to evade was not at fault, he was.

Yeah Yeah....I am a cold hearted S. O. B.

I would have more compassion had he been a victim of suicide...which is far more prevelant in this job (Hazmat hauling) than the public is aware of. Gasoline tankers are the number one target.

Due diligence gives a driver the edge towards limiting damages.


When you read Timber's posts as he learned the job, you can see that he became comfortable with what he was doing, and understands what he needs to do. From that last post, it is clear he had a very easy going trainer, who did not waste time teaching things that were un-necessary! And he is right. 99.9% of all fuel haulers work together on directions and how to make each delivery the easiest, safest way possible. Though.....like any job...there are the "Rambos".









okay....I'm off the soap box.

[ollie78]

I just started at Linde exactly 92 days ago.........AWSOME!!! I have been fortunate enough to work for several top dollar multi-billion dollar companies in my driving career, but, at least at Linde, cyrogenics is a dream job. I never even talk to my supervisors and the central dispatch is insanely low pressure. For what you have to do(I wouldn't even call it work) and what you get paid, you can't beat it--with the exception of "Big Brown", maybe.

Even if Linde isn't hiring in your area, get your foot in the door and tell them that you are willing to wait. That's exactly what I did. It took about a year and a half to get on, but it has been like a dream come true ever since.

Also, kudos to FeederFred for helping me in the early stages of considering employment with Linde. Without his insight, I may have passed on an amazing opportunity.

[NoBama]

Congrats Ollie78. I'm sure if I ever succeed at being considered for a bulk driver at Linde I can see myself feeling the same way you do. I've applied 3 times at the Lima,OH. terminal and taken my resume, filled out a paper app. , and have talked with the transportation director at the Fostoria,OH. terminal. I call Him at least once a week; to let Him know I'm still interested. I sure feel like I'm bugging Him. Hey Ollie any secrets you'd like to devulge? Take care and God-Bless.

[ollie78]

It sounds as if you may be on the right track. Similar to what I had done. I kept in contact with the transportation manager at my terminal for nearly a year and a half and assured him that I was content to stay with my current employer(UPS Freight at that time) and wait until Linde was ready to bring me over. I did this by calling him once every 3-4 weeks.

I know that you feel that you may be bugging them, but if you are intermitent enough in facilitating contact what you are doing is actually a good thing. This is a way of conveying genuine interest in employment. In fact, I spoke with my current manager about this recently and he agreed(just don't over do it!!!).

Just make sure you pick out certain phrases and ideas for each brief period that you may speak to your prospective employer. Let them know that you are talking with other company drivers(Linde in this case) via the internet, that you are following the company's news and stock performance(which you should be doing by now, in my opinion) to let them know that you are not just looking for another job, but rather, you are making an informed decision as to the direction you would like to take your driving career.

And, it is always a professional courtesy to issue a thank you letter with any interview you are granted(I even went as far as to send one to the driver that did my pre-employment drive test). Sometimes higher profile jobs can take a bit of work to earn if you don't know anyone within the company. But, a good amount of effort and a degree of professionalism goes a long way because most managers will have two to three candidates lined up when they are ready to hire and you need to have that edge over your competition.

Best of luck to you with this one. I could go on and on with how happy I am with driving for Linde, but if all goes well for you NoBama you can learn why first hand.

[Mackman]

I applied at Linde and got this back.


Dear Brandon,

RE: Driver, Job ID: 851547

Thank you for your interest in the above-noted position.

While we have carefully reviewed your qualifications, regrettably, they do not meet our requirements for this specific position.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Linde. While your skills did not match this particular vacancy we encourage you to continually check our website for additional opportunities.

Linde Staffing Team

I didn't think i would get it. But just wanted to try lol

[Orangetxguy]

I applied at Linde and got this back.


Dear Brandon,

RE: Driver, Job ID: 851547

Thank you for your interest in the above-noted position.

While we have carefully reviewed your qualifications, regrettably, they do not meet our requirements for this specific position.

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your interest in Linde. While your skills did not match this particular vacancy we encourage you to continually check our website for additional opportunities.

Linde Staffing Team

I didn't think i would get it. But just wanted to try lol

Young Bedouin Brandon....start small...work big!!


Or.....haul some fuel for a while.