Return loads. Walmart drivers also pick up loads back to the DC. Paint, automotive supplies, etc., are HAZMAT. That is why they require it.

 

Same deal with me as a Reefer driver. Many of my backloads are dry. Never know what is available with us. Having my endorsement has kept me more valuable. I've hauled solvents and other chemical loads in 55 gals drums as backloads, at times. Pays better than a lot of loads I might have had to haul otherwise. Good endorsement to hang onto.

 

We haul a some chemicals. Our customers buy chemicals for their dishwashers, etc, and our nursing homes buy chemicals for laundry, etc. I dont too much about the regs when it comes to HAZMAT, but it has something to do with the weight. We dont haul enough chemicals for HAZMAT.

 

You Haul OMD. We haul the same to our customers. Your safe as long as the weight is under 1,000 LBS. Most of the time in Foodservice, you will never exceed 1,000 lbs.

 

It's so easy a trucker can do it.

 

Yeah, that's right. Under 1,000 lbs. Although, sometimes I wonder if it's over 1,000 lbs. Some routes have lots of chemicals.

 

Does SYSCO give the drivers a MSDS sheet? If so, the weight will be on it. They(the drivers) have to have some kind of documents that says there is HAZMAT in the load. Even if it is under 1,000 LBS.

 

Yeah. We have a whatever it was you said sheet. :lol: :P
It has the name of the chemical, weight, and all that good stuff.

 

HAZMAT isn't something you want on your truck, without knowing all of the pertinant information. Plaqards are required under 2 circumstances, with small quantities of hazardous materials. Over 1000 pounds or any reportable quantity. 2 gallons of some chemicals, are reportable quantities. Usually..those types of chemicals, you are forbidden from hauling with any consumable items. Clothing qualifies as a consumable item.

Fines get big quick with hazardous materials. You can be fined bigtime for not having a hazmat bol on top of the manifest or flagged for distinction. You can also be fined for failing to have your bol's on the drivers seat or in the door pouch, when you are away from the truck. One wrong bol can cost the driver, the shipper and the carrier $1,500.00 EACH, just for an uncaught misprint.
And yes...there are plenty of "Local" dot officers, that are going around looking in truck windows, checking for paperwork placement. As more and more municipalities get their officers certified on dot regulations, more and more municipalities are using those officers for revenue generation.

In october I was parked at the Petro in Glendale KY. Came back to the truck after showering, to find a deputy sheriff standing on the steps of the truck..he was looking for my paperwork, which was on the seat, because I had UN1247 placards on the trailer. LOL..he was shocked when I informed him that I also had a copy of the BOL and msds in the trailer mailbox, as a just in case!

 

one time I was hauling sulfuric acid and the dot man was standing by the scale checking log books. after looking at my log, he said let me see your bills, I got them from the dash pocket and he said, okay, I dont need to see them, I just wanted to make sure you didnt have to get up to get them..