A fuel tanker has baffles, so it is not as unstable as a smooth bore tanker. However there will be times when you might have a small load and your compartments are not completely full-this is when you need to be extra careful. You want to take turns very cautiously escpecially if it is uneven ground-for example making a turn where you are turning and going down hill at the same time. You need to watch for everyone else. I get cut off more in a tanker than I ever did pulling a van. People have no respect for the power of a gas tanker and the damage it can do. Be mindful of what you are hauling, but dont let it scare you or you wont last long. Also an empty tanker is an explosive tanker. When you drop the gas you are also collecting all the vapors from the tank you are dropping into and transporting them back to the terminal. One other thing is, when empty, tankers are very light so you will need to slow down in bad weather. As far as the shifts, you usually go home when your done. It might be 8,10,or 12 hours. A pump off is when you take gas out of the ground. Some reasons might be water in the tank, bad gas, or somebody may have dropped regular in the premium tank or whatever.

 

I did fuel delivery from 1988 through 2003. 16 years of those were nights, 14 of those were by choice. Started driving at a Carrier in 1988, working for dozen different accounts, doing everything from diesel to lube oil, pump off's...into bulk storage, to pump-out's..emptying contaminated UST's. Pay was by the hour, but bennies were minimal.
Moved from the Carrier company in 1989 to a Major. Hauled only gasoline, did only C-store delivery, was paid by the hour, ($15.90 per hour in 1989, $25.90 an hour + $1.00 an hour shift differential in 2003)had Teamster type bennies, but was non-union, had a 4 on- 3 off work schedule, and worked as many 5th days as I chose to work. Started at #36 on the board, was number 12 when laid off in 2003. Was happy to take lay-off, as the job had moved from being fun in 1988 to being miserable in 2003. Of the 65 drivers that were working at the terminal in 2003, when I took that lay-off, there are now only 18. Every one of them are wishing they had taken the lay-off, since they lost all the great bennies and OT, and now work 40 hour weeks, at $4.80 less an hour than they were making in 2003.

Here were I am now, the fuel hauling jobs are paid by the load, average load pay's the driver $32.50 and takes between 3 hours and 3.5 hours to complete. If a driver has to load all the loads at the Motiva (re; Shell) load rack, you can easily add 45 minutes to each load.

 

Are you asking about me?

Most drops ate gravity drops with the tank underground. But every once in a while, someone has a tank above ground..we just hook up the pump to unload to the pipes that are fitted.

We have different meanings for pump off. To me, it's pumping the fuel off the truck. We have a different team to pump it out of the tank if needed. :wink: